Meanwhile, back at the Krafft-Ebing household.
“Ah, Richard, there you are—where have you been?”
“My dearest, I’ve been out…er…shopping.”
“Shopping? I hope you’ve not been buying any more of those dirty postcards with images of sexual congress and strange and unnatural fetishes.”
“Well, em, yes, as a matter of fact, I have.”
“But darling, you promised...”
“I know, I know, but these images of sexual congress and strange and unnatural fetishes are essential for my scientific research!”
“Your scientific research?”
“Yes, my sweet. These are not merely dirty postcards—these are prime examples of diverse sexual practices, which are essential research for the book I am writing.”
“Oh, I see. Well, I suppose that’s all right then.”
“Yes, it certainly is. Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I must…er…examine these new specimens… in private.”

I am sure it was never like that, but then again who knows? As Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) certainly did have a fine excuse for collecting “French postcards” and assorted erotica during his lifetime. This Austro-German psychiatrist took a keen interest in all aspects of human sexual behavior and wrote an early pioneering book on the subject called Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886. This tome was intended as “a medico-forensic study,” a kind of reference book to be used by psychiatrists or as he described it: “men engaged in serious study in the domains of natural philosophy and medical jurisprudence.” Krafft-Ebing’s study popularized the terms “sadism,” “masochism” and “fetishism,” and was the first medical science book to examine homosexuality, bi-sexuality, necrophilia, pederasty, coprophilia, bestiality, transvestism, and exhibitionism.

However, some of his ideas reflected the mores of the day rather than objective scientific investigation—for example, he considered any non-procreational sex as “a perversion of the sex drive.”

“With opportunity for the natural satisfaction of the sexual instinct, every expression of it that does not correspond with the purpose of nature,—i.e., propagation,—must be regarded as perverse.”

He also thought homosexuality was an “inversion of the brain” caused during pregnancy. So he was far more vanilla than his personal collection of erotica might suggest.

Psychopathia Sexualis was of major importance in its day—but was quickly superseded by the work of an Austrian neurologist, the cocaine-injecting Sigmund Freud, whose studies into sex, dreams and human behavior made him the father of psychoanalysis.

This rather small selection of postcards and photographs is (apparently) nearly all that remains of Krafft-Ebing’s personal collection of erotica. The images deal with transvestism, with some reference to S&M, and mainly feature one particular individual. It is unknown who any of the people are, though two are rather fun examples of the infamous dirty or “French” postcard, which were popular across Europe from the 1880s onward.
 

 
More from Krafft-Ebing’s personal collection of erotica, after the jump…

 
Designers Constantin Bolimond (Russia) and Maksim Ali (U.S.) have teamed up to create bars of chocolate in the shape of female breasts. The product is called Titses.

At this point the product appears to be in the prototype stage.

These milk chocolate bars are molded in the shape of women’s breasts. Customers can choose from sizes S to XL. Perhaps in an effort to deflect attention from their own sillier or baser instincts, Bolimond and Ali have given their prototype a veneer of intellectual sophistication by appealing to gender inequality: “The aim of the project Titses milk is to attract mens’ attention to the product that is so loved by women but is often overlooked by a strong half of the population.”

In the world of pop culture, chocolate appeals inordinately to women—the cliché holds that single, unloved women distract from their sorrows by consuming Godiva chocolate, or whatever, which leads to weight gain and decreased attractiveness, an unfortunate cycle. However, it’s still kinda questionable that chocolate, as one of the world’s most popular products, really has an exclusive relationship with one gender or the other.

It’s much more likely that the driving impulse here, rather than rectifying some imbalance, was, you know, to make boobies out of chocolate.
 

 

 
More edible breast candy after the jump…

 
In 1901 Dr. Duncan “Om” MacDougall began a series of experiments wherein he placed elderly, terminal tuberculosis patients on massive industrial scales, hospital bed and all. MacDougall weighed six subjects before and after death, and concluded from the postmortem weight loss that the human soul weighs 21 grams—hence the name of designer Mark Sturkenboom‘s “memory-box.”

With 21 Grams Sturkenboom has managed to create an opportunity for a truly libidinal mourning experience. The “kit” comes in a sleek, Jobsian case, openable only with a key that doubles as a lovely pendant necklace. Inside you find an atomizer bulb (to spritz your beloved’s perfume), a set of internal speakers to amplify music from the iPhone dock in the back, and a blown-glass dildo containing a tiny urn of ashes—21 grams of ashes, to be precise. Sturkenboom describes the project thusly:

21 Grams is a memory-box that allows a widow to go back to the intimate memories of a lost beloved one. After a passing, the missing of intimacy with that person is only one aspect of the pain and grieve. This forms the base for 21 Grams. The urn offers the possibility to conserve 21 grams of ashes of the diseased and displays an immortal desire. By bringing different nostalgic moments together like the scent of his perfume, ‘their’ music and reviving the moment he gave her her first ring, it opens a window to go back to moments of love and intimacy.She is able to have an intimate night with her sweetheart again.

Before you go all Social Justice Warrior on Sturkenboom for the heteronormativity of “widow,” (for who wouldn’t want to be penetrated by a loved one’s earthly remains, regardless of gender or marital status?!?), the inspiration for 21 Grams ” is actually an elderly widow—he sometimes helps her carry her groceries. Sturkenboom noticed the urn containing her husband’s ashes, remarking, “she always speaks with so much love about him but the jar he was in didn’t reflect that at all.”

Sturkenboom has not said whether or not his muse is flattered by his tribute.
 

 

 
Continues after the jump…

 
These fantastic introduction cards were used in the United States during the 1870s and 1880s. According to Alan Mays, who collects them, they were “used by the less formal male in approaches to the less formal female.” We think of nineteenth-century courtship as being impossibly straight-laced and buttoned-down, and certainly a printed card inquiring for permission to accompany a young miss to her door is consistent with that, but the eager men found plenty of ways to work clever jokes and insinuations into their calling cards.

My favorite one is from the fella who claims to live on “Hugtite Lane” in “Squeezemburg.”

You can find out more about this cheeky tradition in The Encyclopedia of Ephemera by Maurice Rickards.

For more of these great cards, go to Mays’ exhaustive Flickr collection.
 

 

 
More of these great cards after the jump…....

 
Japanese game show Sing What Happens seriously tests their male contestants’ karaoke skills by giving them hand jobs while they sing. The object of the game is for the contestants to know the song by heart and to not be distracted by the hand job. They need to be able to hit the proper notes—perfectly—in order to win. Sometimes a hand is used and other times feet are used for zee sexual gratification. The contestants must be able to carry a tune until they ejaculate. Stiff competition indeed. The winner wins a whole bunch of shit.

I’m not sure if there are any female contestants on this show, but that could be interesting too.

I’d like to see one of the contestants do a karaoke version of Bad Brains’ “Pay to Cum.” Now THAT’s entertainment!

 
via Death and Taxes

 
They’re naked and they dance—is a fair description of Get ‘Em Off a documentary that celebrates 100 years of striptease. How or why it’s 100 years of striptease is never quite fully explained, though there are references in the commentary to ancient Egyptian strippers, Parisian can-can dancers, the night they raided Minsky’s and some risque music hall acts form the early 1900s.

Made in 1976, the summer of the great heatwave that swept across Britain bringing drought, hosepipe bans and melting roads, Get ‘Em Off captures the slowly fading sleazy world of London’s strip clubs. Filmed mainly at Soho’s Nell Gwynne Club, the documentary strikes an awkward balance between laddish banter and documenting the performances by the strippers: Miss Anne, Miss Alby, Miss Chastity, Miss Cher, Miss Carmen, Miss Anna, Miss Linda, Miss Coursetta. we see these girls perform their routines in front of tinsel, drapes, under Kenneth Anger-style lighting.

“Strippers,” we are told, “have their own language.”

There’s a movement called ‘The Coffee Grinder’. You write the letter O with your axel, know what I mean?, whilst in the bump the hips spring forward, sometimes called bump and grind. There’s the ‘The Trailer’ which is the strut before the strip, that’s what we’ve been looking at up to now; we’ve seen three examples of it; then there’s the quiver and the shimmer and the we’re going to see the lot.

Many of these strip clubs became the venues for punks and New Romantics, starting a whole new world of club culture during the 1980s and early 1990s.
 

 
The commentary is performed by actor Kenneth Macleod and presenter Hugh Scully, best known for his work with the BBC on Nationwide and the Antiques Road Show. The inclusion of these two rather straight, respectable individuals (a bit like having the Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf in attendance) gives the film a nod of establishment approval. The pair continue:

They don’t believe in giving it to them all at once or too quickly; Strippers have motto’s like:
‘Make ‘em wait and
‘Don’t be too eager’
‘Give Hell’
‘Make them go dry at the mouth’
‘Freeze to marble in their seats’
‘Give them a create of blink in case they miss something’
‘Make them beg with their eyes and howl like wolves under a full moon’
After all, they have come here to have a good time. The tease is the thing; Men in a hurry shouldn’t go to strip clubs. For every customer who loses his cool and shouts ‘Get It Off!’ the stripper is ready with the answer “Can’t You See Anything Yet?’

What they do see is refreshingly absent of silicon, Botox, and vajazzle.
 

 
The full NSFW documentary ‘Get ‘Em Off,’ after the jump…
 

 
Czech photographer Jacques Biederer began his Parisian career in 1913 with G-rated portraiture, but soon moved on to more prurient subject matter—though this was still fairly “conventional” sexy materials for the day—ladies in their underwear, really. Then Biederer went through a period of full-on classical nudes, sometimes with couples, sometimes shot “on location,” outdoors or on a carefully arranged set. Then he got into fetish photography—whips, domination, corseting, pony play—pretty scandalous stuff, but always shot with an artistic eye. Biederer was a forerunner of someone like Irving Klaw in the US.

Biederer’s work—whether a smiling ingenue or a dominatrix always valued composition, the emotions of his subjects, and sexuality—rather than simple sex mechanics. Even if it ain’t your bag, the photos are lovely and weird—they have a sense of humor about them they and aren’t misogynist or pretentious. His dames were often the doms, whipping their male slaves, but sometimes it was the other way around.These are some of the more “safe for work” pictures, but you can see (slightly) more explicit stuff here, though he never did anything “hardcore.” He also made some giggly stag films, but again, we’re talking a lot of cutesy, sapphic slap and tickle (literally, dude was apparently way into spanking).

When France was occupied by the Nazis, Biederer who was Jewish was sent to Auschwitz where he died.
 

 

 

 
More after the jump…

 
The advice usually given to many a young hopeful entrepreneur is to find a hole in the market and… er… fill it. Taking that suggestion literally appears to be exactly what Sporkwood has done with this handmade solid metal design for personal “fetish wear.”

This shiny little toy is intended for “mature” enjoyment and (I guess) for the hardcore Doctor Who fan. It’s available with either a blue “TARDIS” or “Bad Wolf” logo, and if you’re interested, one of these playthings will cost you £24.53 (approx $36).

It would certainly get that old sci-fi convention swinging.... One also has to wonder: Did the BBC authorize these?
 

 

 
With thanks to Elizabeth Veldon!
 

 
Scientists have discovered that Steve McQueen’s aftershave may have made him even more attractive to women. McQueen wore Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage which contains the chemical Hedione, that can cause “sex-specific activation patterns” in nasal tissue that in turn stimulates an area of the brain responsible for releasing sex hormones in women.

This is the first time scientists have shown how a scent can activate the pheromone receptor VN1R in humans.

Hedione is the chemical name Methyl dihydrojasmonate an ester and a diffusive aroma compound, with a smell vaguely similar to jasmine. The name derives from the Greek hedone—meaning for fun, pleasure, lust.

Discussing the investigation into the arousal properties of Hedione, scent researcher Professor Hanns Hatt of Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany told the Telegraph:

“These results constitute compelling evidence that a pheromone effect different from normal olfactory perception indeed exists in humans…”

Scientists analyzed brain activity when a person smells Hedione. This was compared with phenylethyl alcohol and the scent of flowers. It was discovered that:

Hedione activated brain areas in the limbic system significantly more strongly than phenylethyl alcohol. The limbic system is associated with emotions, memory and motivation.

But more significantly, Hedione also activated a specific area of the hypothalamus in women which is known to promote sexual responsiveness by flooding the body with sex hormones.

It was originally believed the special organ at the base of the nasal septum which picks up pheromones was no longer used. Now, this new evidence shows that Hedione can activate this area in humans.

“In the next stage, we want to find out which physiological and psychological parameters are affected when Hedione activates the pheromone receptor,” added Prof Hatt.

“We have already launched the relevant studies. But we also have to search for scent molecules in bodily secretions, which resemble Hedione and activate the receptor. With its help, humans could actually communicate with each other.”

Hedione was discovered in 1957, when it was noted for its importance in plants “for seed germination, root growth, flowering, fruit ripening, and senescence.” In 1966, perfume manufacturer Christian Dior added Hedione to the aftershave Eau Savage. The brand became so popular that some women began to use the brand, leading Dior to create a women’s version Diorella in 1972.

Eau Savage was Steve McQueen’s preferred brand of aftershave, and it may even explain why so many gorgeous women were attracted to him.

Since Dior first put Hedione in its products, it has been used in First by Van Cleef & Arpels; Chamade by Guerlain; Chanel no. 19; L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake, Angel by Thierry Mugler, Blush by Marc Jacobs, Paco by Paco Rabanne and CK One.

Now everyone can smell as attractive as Steve McQueen….

Below a long dead Steve McQueen is used in a car commercial:

 
Via the Telegraph

 
This remarkable laundry label got posted to reddit/imgur yesterday, where it made quite the impression. It seems to have been made in “SINGAPURA,” which perhaps provides a clue as to WTF is going on with this tag. It’s either a prime instance of Engrish or a prime example of in-your-face branding, but probably it’s a little of both.

Here’s the text:
 

HEY BAE
EACH PIECE OF OMIGHTY
CLOTHING IS MADE WITH A
SHIT LOAD OF LOVE
PLEASE HANDLE WITH AS MUCH
LOVE AS YOU WOULD WITH
A 7INCH D***
HANDWASH IN COLD WATER
MILD DETERGENT
FLAT DRY
NO BLEACHING OR SHIT’S GON
BE FUCKED FOR REAL
HAND OVER TO MAMA IF YOU
LAZY AS SHIT
WWW.O-MIGHTY.COM
MADE IN SINGAPURA

 
So many questions! You’re censoring “dick” but not “fucked” or “shit”? Is it necessary to wash 7-inch dicks a certain way? Do 5-inch dicks get a specialized sanitation regimen or (perish the thought) bleaching? Egad!

If you go to WWW.O-MIGHTY.COM, it gets a little clearer what is going on. The website looks like it was designed around 2003 with some kind of out-of-the-box Microsoft HTML package, the animated sun in the sky gives you the finger (and, hedging his bets, the peace sign too) and the typical bodysuit, presumably “made with a shit load of love,” says “LICK ME”  or “TITS TITS TITS” or something classy like that.
 

 
via Styleite