YEAR IN SEX

YEAR IN SEX

Features

Politics and protest, privacy and pregnancy—a look at 2017’s craggy sexual landscape

LIZ SUMAN

SAMANTHA SAIYAVONGSA

PUSSY POWER

ATTACK OF THE 26-FOOT WOMAN

Our Evolution (right), a towering digital portrait of a nude woman created by artists Mia Hardwick and Marty Kenney, arrived in November at the National Mall, where it stood as a statement of female empowerment at Catharsis on the Mall, a three-day free-speech version of Burning Man.

UNCAGED

Three days before the Women’s March, artist and activist Natalie White (above), who’s no stranger to bringing exposure to a cause, staged a topless demonstration called Women’s Equality Jail in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

HAT TIP

The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, a sea of pink cat ears flooded the nation’s capital for the Women’s March. “Pussyhats” became the unofficial uniform of the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

PLEASURE CRAFT

Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi spent a week in jail on obscenity charges for e-mailing 3-D scans of her vulva that she’d used to build her vagina-kayak.

In October Igarashi, who works under the name Rokudenashiko (loosely translated: “good-for-nothing girl”) joined forces with PEN America on an initiative to protect artists from censorship and government persecution.

RECKONING

DOWNFALL Hollywood megaproducer Harvey Weinstein was dumped from his own company after dozens of women accused him of unwanted advances and worse. The revelations of one man’s misconduct rapidly snowballed into a national conversation about sex and power—and harassment allegations against many other wellknown men.

VOICES RISING The #MeToo hashtag exploded in response to the Weinstein charges, with more than 500,000 people tweeting their stories of harassment and abuse.

FUTURE SEX

THE DROIDS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR

Nearly 50 percent of Americans believe sex with robots will be common within the next 50 years.

One in four men said they’d consider having robot sex, while fewer than one in 10 women

would; 52 percent of those open to botboinking said it’s important that the robot resemble a human.

GET TESTED

A crop of new companies, including Mately, myLAB Box and Private iDNA, is making it easier than ever to get tested quickly and quietly for STDs. Order a kit online, send your sample to the lab and then share the results digitally.

IT’S IN YOUR HANDS

Voted one of the best sex inventions of 2017, Biem is an app that aims to be a “virtual health clinic.” Schedule consultations, video chat with doctors and access results via smartphone. The makers say they hope

to encourage people to take charge of their sexual health.

ELECTRIC LOVE

Sex researchers in Los Angeles may have found a way to deliver electrical currents to your brain to help boost or curb your sex drive. Liberos LLC offers “brain-stim” consultations—and for a $50 donation to sex research will send you a “prototype anal probe.”

PRIVACY. PLEASE

DOCUDRAMA

April saw the release of Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, the Netflix docuseries, coproduced by Rashida Jones, about sex, tech and amateur porn stars. A thoughtprovoking look at cam girls and sex workers, the show was criticized by two women who said one episode used footage of their Periscope feeds without their consent.

SOMEONE’S GOING DOWN

Rapper Cardi B’s eye-catching album art (left), in which a heavily

tattooed man buries his head between her bare legs, caught a lawsuit in October. The distinctive ink apparently belongs to a man who says he never posed or gave permission for his likeness to be used; he wants $5 million for his troubles.

SOMETIMES CHEATERS WIN

Users of Ashley Madison, a dating site for married

people, slapped the company with a huge class-action lawsuit in 2015 after their personal records—from financial data to sexual proclivities—were leaked. In July a federal judge approved an $11.2 million settlement against the website.

HACK IS WHACK

Hackers again stole private photos and videos from major stars, then dumped them onto the web for all

to see. Some of the targeted celebs, including Kristen Stewart (left) and Stella Maxwell, fought back with legal action.

HOT MAMAS

OH, BEY-BEY

Wearing a bra and panties and little else, Beyonce (right) made the sexiest pregnancy announcement in the history of the internet in early February.

POWER POSE

Exactly 26 years after Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of a nude, pregnant Demi Moore graced the cover of Vanity Fair, Serena Williams appeared on a similar belly-baring cover (below), also captured by Leibovitz. Another beautiful reminder that maternity and sexuality are not mutually exclusive.

PLAYMPM Playmate of the Year 2017 Brook Power's dreamy Mansion shoot went down just three months after the Hawaiian beauty gave birth. As you can see, mot~erhood suits her quite well.

TRANSCENDING

A FREE WOMAN

Before exiting office, Barack Obama commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence for leaking military secrets. Manning celebrated by releasing the first photo of herself as a woman. Soon after, September’s Vogue featured her in a red swimsuit.

TRANSACTIONS

In July President Trump tweeted he’d ban transgender people in the military. The ACLU swiftly told him, “We’ll see you in court.” In October afederaljudge blocked the ban on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEAUTY

In November model Ines Rau (below) became PLAYBOY’S first trans Playmate—her second appearance in the magazine. Selected shortly before Hugh Hefner’s death, she called it “the most beautiful compliment I’ve ever received.”

SLANG Five terms that pricked up our ears in 2077

HALF-NIGHT STAND: a hookup for which you don’t stay the entire night.

CUCKBOY: a fuckboy who is also a feminist.

BREADCRUMBING: giving someone just enough attention to make them think you’re interested.

HATFISHING: wearing a hat at all times to hide a bald spot, bad hair or other perceived flaw.

GRAPE FRUITING: giving a blow job while using a shaftgripping citrus assist.

BARE IS THE NEW BLACK

SHEER GENIUS

Marc Jacobs ended his New York Fashion Week show in September withKendallJennerina seethrough top (far left). Jenner isn’t nipple-shy off the runway either....

EQUAL EXPOSURE

As part of his fall collection, Calvin Klein dressed both men and women in transparent plasticand-mesh tops. A comment on gender equality, perhaps, but not on class equality—the pieces retail for more than $1,000.

TEEING OFF

Braless models took to the runway wearing designer Prabal Gurung’s protest tees (left). Emblazoned with phrases such as THE FUTURE IS FEMALE and OUR BODIES, OUR MINDS, OUR POWER, the shirts we re inspired by the Women’s March.

SEX SELLS

Design duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta said they were looking for authenticity when they asked couples to have sex for their spring ad campaign (top). Strategically pixelated, the resulting ads were so hot the label’s site crashed after they were posted.

CIRCLE OF LIFE

Studying the sex habits of millennial and...cadavers?

TREASURE CHESTS Young men apparently aren’t into breasts so much: Male porn consumers ages 18 to 24 search for breast-related content nearly 20 percent less than older men do, a Pornhub study found.

HOT SHEETS The award for most sexually active age group goes to the i8-to-29 bracket, who get it on about 112 times a year. A Kinsey Institute study that surprised no one suggests age may be a predictor of how often a person has sex.

DEAD SEXY? The “plastinated” human bodies that populate Gunther von Hagens’s Body Worlds: Pulse exhibit, at the California Science Center through February, include a copulating cadaver couple (reverse cowgirl, we’ve heard).

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HARD TO KEEP UP

In the decade since Vivid Entertainment released Kim Kardashian, Superstar, the 41-minute home video has generated more than $100 million; Keeping Up With

the Kardashians has filmed 14 seasons; and members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan have amassed an estimated collective net worth of $373 million.

DECADE OF DECADENCE

Since opening in May 2007, Pornhub has gained more than 22 million registered users and 170 years’ worth of video content. For its 10th anniversary the site awarded premium memberships to 100 winners of a social-media contest. The

porn powerhouse followed the milestone with an unexpected move: expanding its safe-forwork content.

MORE MOSEX

New York City’s Museum of Sex (above) celebrated its 15th birthday after a rebranding that positioned it as a thoughtful institution for exploring sex through a playful intellectual lens. The museum has more than 30,000 artifacts—some of them donated by Playboy.

GOOD TIMES

SMELL-O-VISION

Yes, it’s kind of like a gas mask—but a sexy gas mask! CamSoda’s device (above) combines virtual reality with actual scents, such as sweat, that correspond to the visuals.

HANDYMAN SPECIAL

DIY enthusiasts’ delight: From butt plugs to vibrating saddles, you can download toy designs at SexSh0p3D.com, then print and play.

THERUBDOWN

The futuristic Cobra Libre II (below) from Germany’s Fun Factory is proof positive that erotic massages aren’t just for women.

NICE PACKAGE

An Unbound subscription is like Birchbox for sex toys: Get a goodie box in the mail every three months—think cock rings, nipple balm and arousal gel.

DUPED BY GOOP

Gwyneth Paltrow found herself in hot water this year after promoting “Yoni eggs”—vaginally insertedjade ovoids—on her website, Goop. The gemstones were advertised as increasing feminine energy and confidence, but watch groups say the health claims are unsubstantiated. Others warn the eggs can get stuck. Among other products Goop hypes: a $15,000 gold-plated vibrator (right).