OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Dumb ideas
Czechs End Phallometric Testing For Gay Refugees
The Czech Republic has announced that they will stop hooking up gay refugee claimants to a penile plethysmograph and showing them heterosexual porn. The procedure, dubbed “phallometric testing,” which works in exactly the way it sounds, was used to czech if claimants were gay or not. The idea was that if a guy is measurably aroused by straight porn, then he’s not gay.
Say, here’s a flaw: Heterosexual porn still has guys in it. Just sayin’.
Efficacy aside, The European Agency for Fundamental Rights slammed the test in a report last month, calling it humiliating and potentially in violation of human rights clauses banning inhumane treatment. The agency suggested a slightly less novel replacement: An interview. (Don’t let the word fool you; inter-views aren’t as high tech or expensive as they sound.)
Phallometric testing, incidentally, was invented in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s.
They must be very proud.
(Hat tip to Slap Reader Chris for the story.)
- Czech Republic defends test of gay asylum seekers despite EU criticism [Toronto Star]
- Czechs to end tests of gay asylum seekers [Sify News]
CIA Almost Produced Fake Saddam Gay Sex Tape
The United State’s Central Intelligence Agency’s Iraq Operations Group had proposed creating and circulating a fake gay sex tape depicting Saddam Hussein with a teenage boy. The idea was that Iraqis would be so shocked with the grainy camera footage that the entire Saddam regime would become destabilized and easier to invade.
Thankfully—very, very thankfully—higher authorities at the CIA rejected the idea before it was put into action. A CIA operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity dismissed the plan as having “no resonance in the Middle East.” “Nobody cares,” he said. “Trying to mount such a campaign would show a total misunderstanding of the target. We always mistake our own taboos as universal when, in fact, they are just our taboos.”
Interesting perspective, but with all due respect to this CIA guy, I think having sex with Saddam Freakin’ Hussein was taboo pretty much everywhere.
- CIA’s secret Iraq weapon revealed: a Saddam gay sex tape [The Guardian]
- CIA unit’s wacky idea: Depict Saddam as gay [Washington Post]
Canada Post Foils Your Attempts At Discretion
Anyone who requested a sexy underwear catalogue from Priape, Canada’s most well-known gay adult store, may be surprised to discover that their discreet, opaque packaging suddenly isn’t as discreet as it used to be. In fact, Priape reports that many have been prominently stamped with the words “adult material.”
The stamp was put there without Priape’s knowledge by Canada Post, our beloved mail carriers, in conformance with new policies on “non-mailable matter.” These policies, which came into effect just over a year ago, now mandate that all “sexually suggestive” admail—even commercial mail that is explicitly addressed to the recipient—be clearly labelled as adult material, thwarting all attempts at discretion. This includes all images “that are suggestive of sexual activity,” as well as text that “describes sexual acts in a way that is more than purely technical.” (Ooh, saucy!)
A spokesperson for Canada Post told Xtra that this policy was all to protect the wee ones, explaining: “If you send it to a family and the children open the parcel, now that could be a problem.”
Yes, children opening nondescript envelopes that weren’t addressed to them would be a problem, wouldn’t it? It’s a good thing stamping “adult material” on the parcel will stop them; why, no curious kid would dare open a mysterious, forbidden envelope, labelled strictly for adults only. So thanks, Canada Post, for taking parenting responsibilities out of the hands of, well, parents, who are too burdened to ensure that their solicited, adult-ish materials stay out of their own children’s grasp.
