But what makes this story really interesting is that Bitch isn't your ordinary "no naked ladies, please" feminist magazine—as things go, they're pretty pro-sexy. In the past, they've run ads for porn sites (including a porn site run by yours truly); they've also sponsored burlesque festival Tease-O-Rama (a move they got a good deal of flack for).

So what, pray tell, makes this specific act of sexiness one that's anti-feminist? Is it the fact that the sexiness is gratuitous? Is the pubic hair just a bit over the line? Is it the line about good things in pink boxes? We're scratching our heads over here—but we'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue.

· Rejected Ad Of The Week: Bitch Turns Down Pussy (animalnewyork.com)

Specifically, the California Employment Training Panel, which provides subsidies for training to make in-state corporations more competitive on a national scale. For years, Kink had used the program to provide its employees with video and multimedia training—but alas, they've now been cut off from this training.

What happened? It seems that a certain writer for the San Francisco Weekly decided to investigate why the state of California was subsidizing "torture porn"—and in the process, set off a chain of events that left Kink.com out in the cold. You can read the whole story over on the SF Weekly's website—but be warned, it's peppered with lots of poor reporting, judgmental talk about alternative sexuality, and, well, more poor reporting (though antiporn sources are quoted discussing the obvious abuse of Kink.com's models, not one of the models is quoted discussing his or her experience). A few sample quotes, just to give you a taste:

Riedel denies the victimization charge. "Most of our models have been around longer than the down economy," he said. "We go through an extensive interview process to make sure they're okay with this. We don't like working with models that aren't into this. If it's not consensual, it doesn't work."

San Francisco clinical psychologist Melissa Farley doesn't buy that. In 2007, she posted on her antipornography Web site, Traffick Jamming, the famous photograph of a hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner alongside a photograph she says came from Kink.com of a shackled, blindfolded woman apparently being poked with a cattle prod. "In this economy, this is something women would rather not do, but they feel they have to," she said. "This is a form of economic coercion. But people would rather not think of it that way. People think of it as a matter of rights, rather than ask the question, 'Should people have a right not to do this?'"

The company has passed itself off in articles in The New York Times Magazine, Salon, 7x7, and other publications as a hip, if esoteric, high-tech media startup. Yet its business plan is more medieval than modern, consisting, as it does, of giving people money if they'll agree to being on camera while being stripped, bound, impaled, beaten, and shocked.

Ah, fair and balanced journalism.

· Whipped and Gagged (sfweekly.com)
· See also: SF Weekly's Matt Smith Screws Kink.com: Unfair, Unbalanced, Malfeasant Journalism (sfappeal.com)
· Thumbnail: Mika Tan on Fucking Machines (fuckingmachines.com, via Ask Jolene)

Students at the University of Maryland were all set to attend a screening of the most important porno ever made—until some state legislators caught wind of where, exactly, these pirates were sticking their swords. In response, Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) introduced a bill to withhold state funding from any public university that allowed the screening of a triple-X film, which caused university officials to cancel the screening, which in turn led to a flurry of press (including Adella, DP's director of marketing, appearing on CNN to defend the adult industry).

And it doesn't end there: protesting of the university's decision, a group of students are planning to screen the film anyway, preceding the XXX action with a discussion of free speech, and how it relates to the pride of Porn Valley.

Man, we miss college.

· Porn Flick Screening at U-Md. Still On, as Is Funding Threat (washingtonpost.com)
· Image of Jesse Jane courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

· Erica Ellyson - Penthouse Pet of the Year 2008 (penthouse.com)
· See also: "Don't Vote For Stormy Daniels" (gamelink.com)

* * * * *

Previously: Erica Ellyson: 2008 Penthouse Pet Of The Year

You see, Syvette is actually Tara Madden (which is a much more effective porn name if you ask us) who used to be friends with a girl named Kristen Syvette Wimberly, before the two had a falling out in high school and stopped speaking to each other. Then a few years later, Kristen Syvette discovers Pornstar Syvette and realizes that it's actually her old buddy, Tara. What a coincidence! Original Recipie Syvette is suing, naturally (because nobody loves coincidence more than lawyers), and Vivid may have inadvertently stumbled upon a big "undisclosed settlement" mess. The moral of the story? Never have a name so interesting that someone who knows you but now hates you might want to use it to become a pornstar. The Jane Smith's of the world have it a lot better than they realize.

· "A Porn Star Stole My Name" (read the case @ thesmokinggun.com)
· Syvette Wimberly Videography (Gamelink)
· Thumbnail: Syvette Wimberly TGP Gallery (pornstarvixen.com; see more of Syvette in action @ earlmiller.com)

Previously: Syvette Wimberly in Flesh Flicks: Doing It For All For You