Feature image of Golden Curlz in Crash Pad Series episode 209. 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!

Kissy Burgundy and Cinnamon Maxxine in Covid Edition: Kissy Burgundy

“In learning to love my soft belly I am learning to love myself,” writes Kirthan Aujlay at Refinery 29 as she discusses applying the love she feels for partners’ bodies to her own:

“And now there is my Lexi. Sweet, sensuous Lexi. Like me, she struggled with her body image for years but didn’t make peace with it until she was at her highest weight. As Lexi explained to me, “My belly is stretch-marked, cut, scarred, and flabby, and I am not in love with it but have certainly learned to love and accept and enjoy it.” I adore every inch of Lexi but I cherish her belly. I usually make a beeline for her stomach, kissing a path all over while caressing her beautifully imperfect soft skin that has housed and nourished two babies. It was only recently that I realized if I loved her belly so much, maybe it wasn’t such a stretch that my own could be loved in the same way. Like most women I know, it’s been far easier for me to admire certain physical traits in others than in myself. But I’m trying.”

Adina and Saffron in Crash Pad Series episode 303

Anxious and polyamorous? At Salty, Cleopatra Tatabele writes about being a relationship anarchist with anxiety:

“One of the first lessons I learned was to speak my needs, even if I feel panicked, because if I am not clear and honest with my needs and wants in a relationship, then there’s no way I’ll have the relationship I need or want. Later in life, when I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety, I finally had a framework to identify the pattern through which my disability could be impacting my ability to communicate my needs. I recognized that advocating for myself might always feel difficult, even in safe relationships with good people. My body is on high alert a lot of the time, signaling feelings of distress, worry, fear, even when the situation doesn’t necessarily call for that response.

I find that when it’s time to talk to my partner(s) about something I need, it’s important that I check in with what I feel in my body. Am I sleep deprived? Have I taken alone time or time with a friend to reflect on what I’d like to advocate for? Taking time to rest, drink water, and eat before entering any situation that could feel particularly difficult, has been the most effective way I’ve found to take proactive measures. When I take care of my body, the mind’s wellness follows.”

Byron DuBois and Daizy Blaze in Crash Pad Series episode 296

Here’s how to successfully argue with yourself on big decisions and over text with someone else because sometimes you gotta.

Dead vibrator jokes are over.

There’s lesbian sex in Ammonite and it is “not like eating a sandwich.” If you have thoughts about what parts of lesbian sex are like eating a sandwich, besides a moment after having lesbian sex in which you and your lesbian sex partner share a literal sandwich, let’s discuss.

If you’re into audio erotica and mindfulness, Ferly is “like Headspace but with masturbation,” writes Alex Peters at Dazed.

Barbary Rose and Rion Rhodes in Crash Pad Series episode 277

Cuffing season: if you accept a premise that it’s a thing that comes for all of us in different ways, even lesbian penguins, then this year’s is early and brutal:

“In many places in the U.S., winter means hibernation—and the desire to share it with a warm body, possibly one connected to someone you might actually like. As the air turns frigid, we’re entering a much-earlier-than-usual cuffing season—a period that normally kicks into high gear in the fall, when single people scramble to find a partner with whom to weather the chilly, cocoa-filled nights. Cuffing someone means a winter full of sex, cuddling, kissing, and cozying. But with coronavirus hanging over us, locking someone down means being vulnerable not only with your heart, but your health. As a result, this cuffing season is set to be the most brutal, panic-driven one in recent history.”

Chocolate Chip and Emperatrix in Crash Pad Series episode 278

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