Compare the market? Compare the (foot) fetish!

Opening up a new interactive enclosure for meerkats has led to a foot (and up the skirt) fetish among its innocent-looking inhabitants at at a safari park in England.

Keepers at Longleat has discovered that the little meerkats are particularly drawn towards open shoes, including sandals and flip flops. They are also reported to have a penchant for painted toenails. Red and blue hues top their list of must-have polishes. It's thought that the smell of human feet may also be getting the meerkats realy interested.

For the time being, visitors are being asked to keep on their guard.

Official: Vibrators Cause Money Laundering

"Obscene" sex toys can lead to child pornography, money laundering and prostitution according to one Texan assistant DA.

His admission, in an interview with the Family Badge website, follows the arrest of a Lubbock lingerie store clerk who faces jail and the sex offender register for selling vibrators.

Police raided the Somethin' Sexy lingerie store last week for violating Lubbock's sexually- oriented business ordinance.

"I feel like I`m in 1690 Salem, Massachusetts and we`re looking for a witch to burn," said the store’s owner, following his clerk's arrest.

He adds: "I think it`s ridiculous. She`s not a sex offender, she was selling something that I had instructed them it was ok to sell, I think it`s ridiculous."

Earlier this month, four officers raided the shop, confiscating several toys deemed to be illegal by the Texas penal code. (hehehe having a Beavis & Butthead moment)

The state code states "a person who possesses six or more obscene devices is presumed to possess them with intent to promote the same." In other words, intent to sell...but I must wonder, why six?

The owner said: "We went to several places in Dallas where the merchandise that was deemed obscene here they have in open view on the shelves. Lubbock seems to be taking the most hard line approach that we`ve seen anywhere in Texas"

He adds: "We kept it in a closed cabinet, we did not promote it. If someone asked, then we showed them the merchandise. Our guest book, we`ve had over 1500 people sign up to receive emails and mail outs."

Lubbock Assistant District Attorney John Grace explained his definition of obscenity as: "If they tell them this is a candle put in on the birthday cake this is a novelty if they tell you to use it to enjoy sexual gratification, its no longer a candle on the birthday cake."

Grace adds: "What’s considered obscene in LA is different than Lubbock and different than Des Moines. The community ultimately decides what is obscene."

From where I'm sitting, this clerk's arrest is obscene. But Grace continues his diatribe on obscenity.

He assures the interviewer that obscenity laws have been on the books as long as books have been around as they are a way of protecting the community from what he calls the "secondary effects" of obscenity: child pornography, money laundering and prostitution.

He's quick to add, however that it’s the Texas legislature that are responsible for deciding whether a law is unjust - not the D.A.’s - it is merely job to enforce it.

I agree that the DA is responsible for upholding legislation, but surely in their remit they must interpret legislation and choose which cases to pursue!

New York magazine goes fetish!

Fancy a smackdown by a woman of Schwarzenegger-type proportions? New York magazine investigates the sexy world of wrestling sex.

Panda Porn

Reuters Life! reports of Thai zookeepers who are attempting to spice up the love life of their panda couple with a spot of porn....

Like any newlywed, it seems that since panda Chuang Chuang "tied the knot" two years ago, everyone's been asking when he'll get down to that business of making babies.

His sex life has become media fodder with news that zookeepers have put him on a diet to avoid crushing his partner and he's been forced to watch "panda porn" to make him friskier.

This week, Chuang Chuang has received a new supply of risque videos after being taught how to appreciate them.

"We trained him to see footage and to listen to the sound for 15 minutes a day, and we've shown him the footage for a week now," said Sophon Dumnui, head of the state zoo body that looks after the Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand.

Sophon added: "He's learned a little bit, but hasn't yet fully understood. When he heard the sound he showed some interest. We will train him for one more week."

Chuang Chuang and his 'wife' Lin Hui have lived at the Chiang Mai zoo since 2003 and were officially "married" two years ago.

Neither has shown an interest in consummating their marriage. In December, zookeepers separated them in the hope that absence might make the loins grow fonder.

While I am incredibly aware of the dwindling panda population and the fact that every avenue must be explored, I'm just not sure that porn is going to help the poor Chuang Chuang. While most young men and women who use porn do so in the company of a partner or on their own, there's something slightly seedy about doing it in a cage with zoologists watching that would make a stiffy the last thing on your mind...unless of course, you're a panda with some serious fantasies!

Before you discount that possibility as far-stretched, a woman's fantasy which was quite similar features in Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden...although she chose a silverback for company! Perhaps she could hook up with Chuang Chuang!

Cover your eyes, Bambi!

In a bit of necrophilia meets beastiality news, we have one of those annual news events - the man caught having sex with a dead deer story.

The Hartford Courant relays the disturbing tale of Bryan James Hathaway who received probation after being convicted of having sex with a deer corpse.

As part of the 20-year-old's sentence, he is to be evaluated as a sex offender and treated at the Institute for Psychological and Sexual Health in Duluth, Minnesota.

Hathaway pleaded no contest earlier this month to misdemeanor mistreatment of an animal for the incident involving the deer. He was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County Circuit Court.

Judge Michael Lucci said: "The type of behavior is disturbing. It's disturbing to the public. It's disturbing to the court."

Hathaway's probation will be served at the same time as a nine-month jail sentence he received in February for violating his extended supervision.

In April 2005, he was found guilty of felony mistreatment of an animal after he killed a horse with the intention of having sex with it. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and two years of extended supervision on that charge as well as six years of probation for taking and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

Surely after killing a horse to be used as a vehicle for sexual gratification, one would suspect that this individual could do with some evaluation. While I'm relieved he's been sentenced to treatment, I'm just a bit dismayed that it took a romp with Bambi's mother for him to get it!

Surely the name was a dead giveaway!

UK tabloid The Sun reported today of how Welsh singer Charlotte Church is rethinking the location for her wedding next month after learning its a site popular with the dogging community.

Castle Coch? At least we know that even doggers have a sense of humour!

Sex Education Gone Horribly Wrong!

While some say we aren't educating our kids enough about sex, cases like that of a Rhode Island couple who gave a 9-year-old child a practical lesson show just how wrong you can go at playing teacher.

Yesterday, Reuters reported the case of Rebecca Arnold, 37, and David Prata, 33, who received three years probation each after allowing Ms Arnold's daughter to watch them having sex.

Proscuters said they told investigators they thought the practice would help the child to learn. Mike Healey, spokesman for state general attorney Patrick Lynch said: "Basically, and I'm tempted to say idiotically, they believed it was helpful to the girl, Ms. Arnold's daughter; they believed it was helpful to her development to see them engaging in various sex acts in front of her."

While the schoolgirl was not forced to watch the romps, she was allowed the opportunity. The case came to light, according to Healey, after the girl mentioned it to her father while visiting him in Massachusetts.

Surely just a "birds and the bees" chat would do, but I guess some just have to go one step further...oh dear.

I can't have sexual relations any more, I'm 98!

A Mexican widow has had to file a legal complaint against a man half a century younger than her when she rejected his propositions and he threatened to kill her, according to a Reuters report last week.

Maria de Jesus Flores, 98, got to know 48-year-old Manuel Martinez when he began delivering her groceries.

She claims that Martinez began propositioning to her to the point of harassment. Her complaint was filed after she said he tried to kiss her and threatened to kill her if she didn't let him move in with her.

She told the Daily Reforma: "He said he couldn't live without me, that he loved me, but that's not for me ... I can't have sexual relations any more, I'm 98."

She also added that she suspected he wanted her to support him financially rather than romantically.

Gerontophilia refers to those who are attracted to those considerably older or those who treat the elderly as sexual objects of desire.

Among Holywood celebrities, we see milder cases of couples bridging the generation gap, such as:

• Lara Flynn Boyle, 36 and Jack Nicholson, 69
• Ashton Kutcher, 29 and Demi Moore, 44
• Calista Flockhart, 43 and Harrison Ford, 64

And, of course we're reminded of former Playboy Bunny Anna Nicole Smith's marriage to billionaire J Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior.

Have a look through websites such as Sugar Daddy, Apollo Network, or any dating site for that matter - whether straight or gay and you will see adverts which illustrate how common intergenerational relationships are, as well as how they are promoted. You won't have to look long before you see your first mention of: "Looking for my daddy".

The Confessions of a Phone Actress blog mentions a concerning call she had in February with a caller looking for a bit of father/daughter phone fun. She writes of her concern as the caller wanted to engage in father/daughter fun of a more illegal nature: "The client was most interested in how young he imagined my body looked against his and then he began with the “Who’s your Daddy?” comments. Again, nothing unusual until halfway into the fantasy he asks, “You want to get in the shower with me?” Before I can say anything in response he continues with, “Mommy will never know.” Boing! Up went the huge red flag. Crap! How do I get out of it now? "

Another concerning aspect of gerontophilia is the potential danger to the elderly person being 'cherished'. Many young women with much older lovers are referred to as 'gold diggers' as they're concerns mainly focus on the material. However, among young men with this fetish, there are some who only attack elderly women. John Wayne Glover, who was convicted of the North Shore Granny Murders in Sydney, Australia in 1991 killed 6 women aged from 70 to 93. His murder method involved giving the victim a hammer blow to the head followed by strangulation using a pair of the victim's pantyhose.

However, if the web sites and magazines set up to promote cross-generational relationships are anything to go by, incidents such as those involving Glover and Martinez are rare.