The Year in Sex

Baseball, Apple Pie and Money Shots: America Warms to porn

Not since suburban couples lined up to see Deep Throat in 1972 has the mainstream so embraced pornography. When the FCC rules that it's okay to utter the F word on TV, you know things are loosening up. Adult-film queen Jenna Jameson sexed up a sanitized Times Square on a five-story billboard and graced a New York magazine cover proclaiming porn's ubiquity. It's been 17 years since the end of Traci Lords's XXX career, but fans lined up for her to sign her hump-and-tell autobiography. And when unreformed starlet Mary Carey (bottom left) leaped into California's 135-candidate gubernatorial race, she came in 10th. In one online survey, two thirds of HR professionals said they had found porn on employees' computers. Indeed, the public seems to prefer the real deal: The Fox series Skin, which grafted the Romeo and Juliet love story onto the world of porn, was canceled because of flaccid ratings. Apparently the plot got in the way of the fun.

Less Taste, More Thrilling

And waaay more fun than beer ads starring ex-jocks. Miller Lite's catfight caught everyone's attention—and won Kitana Baker a Playboy Special Editions Model of the Year title.

Free to moon about the Cabin

Clients of Houston's Castaways Travel took off—everything—on a "Naked Air" flight from Miami to Cancún. The security check was a breeze.

Edifice Sex

"It's art!" huffed a rep for the Brussels bank where this Magritte blowup, hiding renovations, sparked more complaints than new accounts.

California gets a Hands-On Governor

So what if Arnold Schwarzenegger was a serial groper, as a number of women complained in the final days of his gubernatorial bid? California voters swept him into office to replace Gray Davis in a wild and woolly recall election. Maybe they were impressed by his muscleman's physique, which the fairer sex groped in a 1975 Playboy photo shoot (above right).

Penalty Flick

We'd give them perfect 10s, but when former Romanian gymnasts posed topless for a Japanese video, they were banned from coaching in their homeland.

Sportsmen behaving badly, Part One

Lakers star Kobe Bryant denied rape charges but admitted to adultery. His wife, Vanessa, got a $4 million diamond ring to help her overlook the transgression.

A Kiss is just a kiss...Unless the lip lockers are famous

The public smooch became such a popular celebrity stunt that you needed a scorecard to keep track. Most notorious: (1) Madonna passing the tongue torch to Britney Spears at the VMAs. (2) Adrien Brody started the craze by mauling Halle Berry at the Oscars. Also getting in on the act were (3) Meredith Vieira and reporter Christy Lemire on The View, (4) Sharon Stone selling a $50,000 spit swap for charity, (5) Madonna and Christina Aguilera at the VMAs and (6) sexually ambiguous Russian pop duo Tatu. At the other end of the spectrum: (7) Liza Minnelli and David Gest's sexless smooch forecast their icy split.

Mac Attack

Strip poker, anyone? To combat AIDS, the cosmetics firm MAC recruited 52 celebrities to paint designs (in makeup and tattoo crystals) onto nude models. Result: one hot deck of cards.

Slappy Trails

Hiker Steve Gough is determined to walk the length of Britain in just his backpack and boots, but he keeps getting arrested. At last report he was still Scotland-bound.

Horny Potter

Toymaker Mattel recalled its popular Harry Potter buzzing broomstick after parents complained that their daughters spent too much time riding it. Wait till they see the "Chamber of Secrets" magic wand.

Let's hear it for the trophy Guys!

Younger fellas enjoying older women: (1) Ashton Kutcher, 25, and Demi Moore, 41; (2) Justin Timberlake, 22, and Cameron Diaz, 31; (3) Adans Lopez Peres, 29, and Monaco's Princess Stephanie, 38; (4) John Corbett, 42, and Bo Derek, 47; (5) Coldplay's Chris Martin, 26, and Gwyneth Paltrow. 31.

The Unkindest Cuts

Utah's Ray Lines runs CleanFlicks, a company that trims DVDs for "family use." As a public service, we hereby restore Halle Berry to her Swordfish glory.

We said Matrix, not Dominatrix!

Pay attention—there will be a quiz: The romance of Matrix director Larry Wachowski and dominatrix Karin Winslow (together, left) broke up not only Wachowski's marriage to his high school sweetheart but Winslow's to her husband, who was born female but has undergone sex-change surgery. Now Wachowski wants to switch genders too; he's taking hormone shots. As Neo would no doubt say, "Whoa."

Oops, She did it for The First Time

Just in case the Kiss didn't fuel enough male fantasies, 22-year-old pop super star Britney Spears kept forgetting to wear various articles of clothing in a series of high-profile magazine shoots promoting her latest album. And in the ultimate blow to her former Mouseketeer image, Spears admitted that she'd finally lost her virginity to former flame Justin Timberlake (after he blabbed about it first). So is this budding glamour icon the next Madonna or the next Marilyn Monroe? When you're this hot, why choose? All we know is that both appeared in Playboy.

Last one in the pool is Blind!

Busby Berkeley would've loved it: Members of Spain's synchronized swimming team posed starkers for Interviú magazine.

Gay Rights Vs. Gay Rites?

While the Supreme Court tossed out sodomy laws without serious protest, the ordination of gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson sparked a worldwide Anglican rift.

Strip Pleas

In a trend we noted last year, activists are still doffing their duds for causes such as (1) PETA's campaign against fur. (2) In London, a woman protested U.S. plans to invade Iraq. (3) The same message was sent by 30 freezing females in New York City's Central Park and (4) by 300 women on a sports field in Sydney. (5) Lost retirement benefits prompted ex-employees of a bankrupt British steelmaker to go the full monty during a Labour Party conference.

Tiger Who?

Stealing golf fans' attention at the U.S. Open, an interner gambling site put its money where our mouth wants to be.

Sportsmen behaving badly, Part Two

No sooner had the marriage of Nascar champ Jeff Gordon hit the wall over his affair with Deanna Merryman (left) than he was linked to model Amanda Church (below).

Bad Will Hunting

Though Hunting for Bambi, a Vegas business said to charge men $10,000 to stalk naked women with paintball guns, was exposed as a hoax, the creator vowed that he would stage the safaris—in New York.

Truth is wilder than Fiction

As if all the hot-tub antics of reality TV weren't enough, tabloids kept a close watch on contestants' extracurricular dating habits and brushes with the law. Playboy readers, however, caught a bonus look at Survivor: Amazon's Jenna Morasca and Heidi Strobel.

Spice Rollback

Wal-Mart masked the covers of racy women's titles such as Cosmo and Glamour. But Playboy.com found some Wal-Mart employees, including Tesha Mullen (below), who wanted you to see it all.

The PM, his Wife and her Guru

British media bayed at Tony Blair when his wife, Cherie (right), dabbled in shady deals with the aid of "spiritual guru" (and ex-topless model) Carole Caplin. Care for a spot of T&A?

Train Spotting

NYC spoilsports have busted Spencer Tunick five times for his public nude photography. In October they relented, closing Grand Central Station for this pose.

To all the Men She's Love

In her uninhibited memoir, former model Janice Dickinson spills the beans on the bedroom qualifications of some Hollywood horn dogs, including Liam Neeson, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Sylvester Stallone (who, she reports, likes to utter "Bam, ham, slam" after sex).

Fowl Play

Louis Vuitton's parties leading up to the America's Cup races are legendary. At the 2003 bash in Auckland all eyes were on the model sporting this egg-cellent bra. No word on whether she got plucked later.

Sportsmen Behaving Badly, Part Three

When Turkish players questioned soccer star David Beckham's sexuality, he blew them a kiss. We would have pointed to hot wife Posh Spice.

Less Stick, More Joy

Realistic graphics (and horny designers) made video game vixens even bouncier this year. Clockwise from right: Half-vampire Rayne sunk her fangs into Hitler's henchmen in BloodRayne; Tomb Raider's Lara Croft defended her title as the original buxom hero; Cy Girls's Ice and Backyard Wrestling's Kitana popped on the scene—literally.

At Least it made us forget about Gigli

The fairy tale/publicity juggernaut that is the Jennifer Lopez-Ben Affleck romance screeched to a halt for a few weeks when his wild night at a Vancouver strip club was revealed. J. Lo can't be happy about claims by dancer Tammy Morris (right) that Ben performed oral sex on her. But J. Lo is still flashing the engagement ring—for now.