#anuser

[mothgenes]

S Q U A R E . . . . . O N E . . ?

[duckprintspress]

hey, I was poking around on the website, and I'm confused by the choice to use "penis in vagina sex" as a tag for erotica when you could use "vaginal sex" or "vaginal penetration" to say the same thing?

Hi!

There are lots of things that can be inserted in a vagina that aren't a penis, and those differences matter.

Specifying anatomy is a clear ways to communicate the information of who is putting what, where. Using straight-forward terms enables people to get a clear sense of what they'll be reading and what the body part(s) of the people involved are. Some people may be comfortable with a story that involves a penis going in a vagina, but may not be comfortable with a story in which a tentacle goes into a vagina. Someone may be comfortable reading a story where a dildo goes in a vagina, but not one where a penis goes in a vagina.

(Aside: we have a "dildo in vagina" tag, but it hasn't been applied it as consistently as I should be - at the moment, "penis" and "distinctly penis-shaped things" have both often ended up under "penis in vagina." This came up just yesterday, in fact, and I have Regrets, looking back, for not being more careful about differentiation for those cases. I'll be doing an overhaul on our tags in September for unrelated reasons (our website software has changed how it handles certain things) so there's no point in my fixing/changing this until then.)

There have been instances where authors have indicated that they're uncomfortable with that phrasing because of their own feelings about anatomy. In those cases, we work with the author to find a compromise that fits within our controlled vocabulary and also fits their comfort level. For example, in our upcoming erotica anthology, there's a m/m/m story for which that specific story DOES have the "vaginal sex" tag. That matches the author's comfort levels, and we felt that, when coupled with the m/m/m ship tag and the trans male tag, reader's will be able to assess and decide if it's a story they're comfortable reading.

I'll own, I'm also confused by this ask, because to me, the differences seem pretty clear? Neither "vaginal penetration" nor "vaginal sex" conveys the same information as "penis in vagina sex," like, those aren't synonyms.

In and of itself, "vaginal sex" is virtually useless as a tag in my opinion, because "vaginal sex" is...any sex involving stimulation to a vagina. And there's lots of ways to make a vagina feel good that have fuck-all to do with a penis, which is why we have things like clitoral fingering, vaginal fingering, and cunnilingus as separate tags.

Likewise, all "vaginal penetration" tells you is that someone's got something going into their vagina, without specifying what, and while some people might be comfortable discovering while reading that "what" is a penis, other people may not be.

In a world as gender-diverse as the one we live in, and one in which we as a publisher are juggling competing needs (the need to create a consistent system across stories, the need to ensure readers can determine with specificity what the contents of a story are, the need to accurately describe each story, the need to find terminology that is comfortable for the author, etc.), we decided a system that focused on simplicity and clarity, accuracy and specificity, would be the most applicable across the most situations. And the current system isn't perfect, and we tweak it fairly often to course correct, increase accuracy, fix mistakes, or address oversight. But well. All the above is why we use "penis in vagina sex" (and "tentacle in vagina sex," and "vaginal fingering," and "dildo in vagina sex," etc.) instead of just "vaginal sex" or "vaginal penetration."

[iwaasfairy]

me personally i hated cyberpunk :(( it just wasn’t giving

If nothing else I wanna watch it for the art and the art direction. Cyberpunk has visually been one of my favorite anime of the last 10 years bc of all the cool shit they manage to do. But people seem to like it so I still have high hopes!!!

[moonlightdistractions]

ever see a photo and think, huh that'd be cool as a scifi-Matrix-halftone version and then spend your bedtime playing with your inadequate phone app to create that image? well, that's what happened upon seeing this photo of Jared Padalecki.

[neotrances]

[fatcowboys]

i am in a duel with a box of raisins. they are on my side table. i forgot they had a smell. i love the little box. arfid brain will NOT shut up about the smell.

[odietamox]

oh and btw she also has hoarding tendecies!!

[hanarutos]

me coming back to tumblr after arguing with sasusaku shippers on twitter: daddys home

[todropscience]

TWO INJURED SEA COMBS CAN FUSE INTO A SINGLE ENTITY, AND THRIVE

In a surprising new discovery, scientists have found that two injured individuals of Mnemiopsis leidyi, a species of comb jellies or ctenophores, can fuse into a single entity. This phenomenon, which challenges our typical understanding of biological processes, reveals just how remarkable these planktonic creatures truly are.

Ctenophores, known for their translucent beauty and delicate movement in the ocean, appear to lack a mechanism called allorecognition—the ability to distinguish between self and non-self. This means that, when two comb jellies are injured and placed close together, they can merge, not just physically, but also functionally. Their nervous systems combine, allowing them to share nerve signals (or action potentials), and even their digestive systems become one.

The discovery was made by Dr. Jokura and his team, who were observing comb jellies in a seawater tank. After removing parts of their lobes and placing them side by side, they were astonished to see 9 out of 10 injured comb jellies fuse to form a single organism. Even more fascinating, the newly formed organism survived for at least three weeks, with its muscle contractions fully synchronized within just two hours. The digestive system also fused, enabling food taken in by one mouth to travel through their shared canal and exit through both anuses—although not at the same time!

While the exact benefits of this fusion are still unclear, the researchers believe that studying this phenomenon could provide valuable insights into how organisms integrate nervous systems and even how tissue regeneration occurs. It may also offer clues about immune system functions in species where the lines between individual organisms become blurred.

This discovery offers a glimpse into the hidden potential of the ocean’s lesser-known inhabitants, challenging what we think we know about biological boundaries and cooperation.

Video: Kei Jokura

Reference: Jakura et al., 2024. Rapid physiological integration of fused ctenophores. Current Biology