Feature image of Halo the GxdBody and La Muxer Diosa in Crash Pad Series episode 305. All of the photographs in this NSFW Sunday are from the Crash Pad. The inclusion of a visual here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the model’s gender identity or sexual orientation. If you’re a photographer or model and think your work would be a good fit for NSFW Sunday, please email carolyn at autostraddle dot com.
Welcome to NSFW Sunday!
Golden Curlz in Crash Pad Series episode 209
“The biggest dating app flex is being vaccinated,” duh:
“Adding in your vaccination status may be a sly way to establish a common ground with like-minded people on the apps, says Tennesha Wood, dating coach and founder of The Broom List, a matchmaking firm for Black professionals. It’s not so different from displaying your political party or your relationship with drugs and alcohol on your bio. When you’re swiping on the apps and you come across someone’s vaccine status — or, perhaps, their anti-vaccine standpoint — Wood says you can ask yourself, ‘Is this person thinking about health and safety in the same way that I am?’
She also says that having vaccine statuses be readily available to others may soothe the nerves of a health-conscious swiper. ‘I think that the biggest thing that it really helps to alleviate is the fear of dating again, where people who haven’t really dated during the pandemic are now anxious and scared of getting back out there,’ Wood explains. Meeting someone new carries some risk, but we know from a recent study that vaccinated people are far less at risk for transmitting COVID-19.”
(When only about a fifth of people in the United States vaccinated, I’d hold off on making a call about different values between vaccinated and unvaccinated people at this time, but write off folks with anti-vax rants at your leisure.)
Adina and Saffron in Crash Pad Series episode 303
Mariana Meira has an erotic witch comic at Oh Joy Sex Toy.
You can improve your sex life even with a low libido, if you want to.
Boundaries and consent among friends are important, too.
There are so many uses for the word “slut.”
Petra Collins and Alexa Demie are releasing a book of erotic fairytales.
Rain and Rose in Crash Pad Series episode 242
Asexuality should be part of sex education, writes Ebony Purks at Wear Your Voice:
“The lack of asexual representation in sex education courses in particular proves to be among the most harmful for ace individuals. Not seeing ourselves onscreen, within movements or communities may hinder our self-actualization, but the dismissal of asexual students and asexuality in sexual education creates potentially dangerous environments for ace students to exist in.”
Cinnamon Maxxine and Amani Luxe in Crash Pad Series episode 243
Asking whether someone you’re seeing is or is not on Tinder is not a good way to have a conversation about the future, actually. Instead, talk about what you want:
“While ‘are you still on Tinder?’ is a perfectly OK lead-in to a conversation about what you both want, I do think it’s important to not get stuck on that particular point. Being in a relationship is about more than just saying no to other people; it’s about saying yes to this person, and wholeheartedly signing on to be Something More, whatever that means to the two of you. So even if you were to start with Tinder, I’d suggest quickly moving on to the bigger conversation—to clearly expressing what it is you want.”
IDK, considering the comparatively low vaccination rates at the moment, seeing someone’s vaccination status in their bio seems like showing off. I’d rather disclose my vaccination status when discussing meeting up in person. I’m not going to wave the vaccination flag in my bio. Seems kind of egotistical.
As someone who is medically higher risk and has not dated in the last year that isn’t how I would read it. I’d read it as a sign that in-person contact might be possible in the near future.
I’m honestly a bit puzzled by the idea that it’s an ego flex – It’s purely a piece of risk assessment information for me.
I’ll definitely include my own vaccinated status when I go back on the apps, and appreciate others doing so.
Without both of us vaccinated I would not be meeting up until we were. That seems relevant in a dating profile.