“Holy shit, you masturbate for a living?!” This is how people often respond when I tell them what I do, and honestly, I can’t blame them. On the surface, “sex toy tester” sounds like a dream job. “You’re so lucky!” they exclaim. “You get paid to orgasm!” But this is an oversimplification — and it starts to get annoying after a while. Aside from dismissing all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a blog, it glosses over the aspects of this job that are less than idyllic. While being a sex toy reviewer is definitely more fun than most jobs and has its fair share of perks,1 there are a number of drawbacks too. The following is a list of 22 unfortunate . . . read more

Do you dream of becoming a sex blogger — or becoming a better sex blogger? Like the idea of an intensive online class to kick your ass into gear? Prefer pajama pants to actual pants? Perfect, because I’m teaching my popular online sex blogging group class again this fall, with my good friend and expert sex writer JoEllen Notte! We’re offering early bird pricing of $100 off through the end of May (with payment plans available), and — get this — we’ve expanded it into a six-week long class! September 1st through October 20th, we’ll gather virtually with our students for six weeks of camaraderie and critique. Our course is exhaustive and epic. It covers everything JoEllen and I have learned in our over 15 years combined . . . read more

I never know my name anymore. A few months ago, I was at sex educator friend’s party getting high out of a homemade bong and listening to Dark Side of the Moon. It was the most high school moment of my life — particularly so because, aside from meeting boys off the internet in mall parking garages, I never did anything terribly forbidden in high school. Amidst dramatic readings of Sextrology and attempts at acting out #buttstuff in charades, a woman I’d never met arrived at the party and asked my name. As I often do these days, I hesitated. The same thing happened at the airport coming home from Woodhull, when the restaurant hostess asked for a name to reserve a table. It happened when I . . . read more

Want to ask me a question? Email me at hey.epiphora [at] gmail [dot] com, or ask here. I’ve been on the search for a gold silicone dildo for a while and I can’t seem to find one. I just wanna pretend I’m getting plowed by Apollo, is that so much to ask? Oh, they are hard to come by! I’m only aware of two that come pre-made: the special edition gold Vixen Leo which is sold only at Babeland (I liiiike the Leo), and the Godemiche Adam. Otherwise, Vamp makes custom designs, including glittery toys, and there are dildo-makers on Etsy who could probably mix you the gold of your dreams. What would you say were the biggest eureka moments you had on your way to becoming a professional blogger? Overall, . . . read more

What’s that, you say? You wanna be a badass sex blogger and pay the bills? Uncover my blogging secrets? Find out all my strange productivity techniques and social media philosophies? Now you can, anytime you want! The Business of Blogging About Sex, the intensive online class I run with JoEllen Notte (Redhead Bedhead), is officially back and better than ever! Months in the making, now there are even more ways to learn to accommodate different schedules, learning styles, and needs! One thing remains the same, though: you can (and should) stay in your pajamas as you learn. I’m kind of really proud. The various lessons, which you can purchase individually or in packages, cover everything JoEllen and I have learned in our decade of combined experience sex . . . read more

I have a proposition for you, peeps. If you’ve ever wanted to start a sex blog, or take your current sex blog to a higher level of awesome… …let me teach you how! This October, I’m teaming up with expert sex writer JoEllen Notte (Redhead Bedhead) for a four-week interactive online class on the business of blogging about sex! We will spill all the insider secrets we’ve amassed in our decade of combined experience sex blogging. Having turned our one-time hobbies into profitable online businesses, we have our share of triumphs and horror stories — and we’re champing at the bit to share them with you. I taught a version of this class last year with Lauren Marie Fleming, and it was a rousing success. Attendees said very nice things afterward, such as . . . read more

Sex toy temporary tattoos and the lengths we go through to photograph them. Photo by Kate Sinclaire. 7 sex bloggers were standing outside a glass blowing studio. We’d been waiting for an hour and there was no sign of the studio owners, who’d previously agreed to a private glass dildo making session. It was clear that we’d have to reschedule with them, but how? None of us wanted to pick up the phone. Finally, Girly Juice volunteered to call the studio the next day. The rest of us sighed with relief. Girly Juice thought it was funny that we kept calling her Girly Juice. But none of us could help it — and I’m sure we inadvertently scared everyone at the grocery store as . . . read more

I first wrote this post on June 26, 2013, when Blogger changed its content policy in order to prohibit the monetization of adult content. At that point, they still allowed adult content as long as it was marked as such — and as long as you didn’t make a goddamn cent from it. It felt begrudging: “okay, fine, we’ll allow you heathens to exist on our platform, but not if you make any money.” In February 2015, I had to publish an updated version of this post when Google updated their content policy to disallow any blogs containing “sexually explicit” material. It read, in part: Starting March 23, 2015, you won’t be able to publicly share images and video that are sexually explicit . . . read more

Aerie greets me at the airport with a bouquet of hand-drawn sex toys. Eleven toys, all of them my favorites, with green pipe cleaner stems. On the romance scale, this may surpass the CD that my boyfriend made for one of our anniversaries which included a Tegan & Sara cover and 5 minutes of our cat purring into a microphone. – – – Aerie lives in a swanky condo on the third level. It has sparkling wooden floors, kitchen appliances that beep at you if you don’t do their bidding, and best of all, air conditioning. We make delicious coffee in the morning with a hand grinder and a french press. Their bed is swathed in comfy grey sheets and pillows. I feel like I’m in a . . . read more