Girl on the Net

Payment processors don’t want our money, social networks keep shadowbanning (or even just plain banning) us, and ad networks won’t let us use their systems because our work is considered too risqué. No matter how successful you are as a sex blogger, you will never have access to the same channels as other bloggers, so creating a successful platform is always going to be just that little bit harder. That’s why I wanted to write a quick post to say thank you to the UK Blog Awards – this year they bucked the trend of companies stripping sex content from their sites – instead they listened to requests from fellow bloggers and actually added a ‘sex’ category to their awards.

Thank you! I know the world won’t be flipped upside down as a result of this, but if more companies could acknowledge that sex isn’t something to be ashamed of, the world will gradually start becoming a better place. One in which we can discuss the hot things we enjoy alongside all the other stuff we do – without having to worry that we’ll get shut down at any minute because we shared a story about sex toys with a group of consenting strangers.

So huge huge thanks to the UK Blog Awards for adding a ‘sex’ category to their award list this year. Thank you too to the fabulous bloggers who lobbied for our inclusion: MollysDailyKiss, DomSigns and theotherlivvy.

To celebrate, I thought it’d be nice to share some of the amazing work produced by the fantastic finalists in the UK Blog Awards Sex category. All incredible people, with amazing things to add to the discussion on sex and relationships. Thanks to the UK Blog Awards for giving me a ‘highly commended’ in the category (which I have buried in the middle of this post because I have internalised the idea that winning commendations is something I should hide in case people think I’m a narcissist) but far more importantly thanks for adding a ‘sex’ category in the first place! For highlighting these awesome nominees and giving more people the opportunity to discover their brilliant work.

UK Blog Awards Sex Finalists

Jaye Rose

The winner of the UK Blog Awards! Congratulations Jaye! Her fabulous blog is a haven of practical tips and advice – like this guide on how to get into sex work or this reply to a reader who wanted to try out new kinks, as well as guest posts and behind the scenes info on what her work is like. She’s a brilliant blogger and she even once guested for me here about her love of phone sex – check it out!

Scandarella

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you’ll know how much I adore Scandarella. She’s absolute fucking filth. I love her. Her erotica spans from hyper-goth creepy/horny fantasy to gutturally sexy real-life scenario.

“He tries putting his hand on the back of her head to shorten her range but she just splays her palms on his thighs and sinks further down on him. That pop at the back of her throat is his undoing. He can feel the roll of a purr in the back of her throat as his dick pulses against her tongue.” 

See what I mean? Unngh.

On Queer Street

Relatively new blogger and exceptionally talented writer On Queer Street writes so much glorious stuff it’s hard to pick just a few faves but I’ll give it a go: she writes beautiful, thoughtful political posts for a start and then weaves them in with blog posts that ache with longing and remind you what it is to love life, and others that are filthy as fuck. Check her out immediately please.

Rebels Notes

Marie Rebel is the absolute angel and powerhouse behind Wicked Wednesday (I think the blog meme that I’ve contributed most to, because I really like the prompts she gives!) and she also runs the incredible Smut Marathon (go check that out too because there is SO MUCH SEXY FILTH all in one place). She writes touching, thoughtful personal blogs as well as super-hot erotic fiction. Read her work, she’s fab.

MollysDailyKiss

Molly isn’t just an incredible blogger, she’s also the hub of so many sex blogging community projects. Without her we would have no Eroticon, no Sinful Sunday, no Kink of the Week (I’ve joined in quite a bit with that one too – it’s awesome) and so much more. She’s also a fucking great writer and an exceptional photographer. Inevitably I’m going to link to her Haunting You blog post here, because it’s one of my favourite things ever. But I also need to nudge you towards Your Loss, because it’s a fiercely brilliant ‘fuck you’ to an ageist media outlet.

Eve Adler

Eve writes on a really broad range of topics – advice guides for everyone (like this on figuring out oral sex) as well as advice direct to the sex industry (like this on how to make sex toys more accessible) to personal posts about communication and pain during sex and interesting info from behind the scenes in the sex industry. Eve’s blog is a glorious and fascinating mix of the personal and the political. I went to a talk she gave at Eroticon a couple of years ago and was massively grateful for her insight and education. She’s brilliant, check her out too.

CoffeeAndKink

Another amazing blogger, CCK freelances at other outlets as well as writing on her own blog. She writes with a really compelling honesty about her own struggles – for example in this recent blog post ‘What Would Amy Do?‘ – and she also reviews sex toys and gives practical advice to readers (like explaining what happens when you go for an STI test). She’s written a couple of amazing guest blogs for me here before too: on female orgasm denial (which is also available as audio porn), the ethics of age gap relationships, and most recently a glorious explanation of how to cultivate compersion.

Thanks to the UK Blog Awards!

Massive massive thank you to the UK Blog Awards for including a sex category this year – it means a lot to those of us who write/photograph/talk about the sexy things in our lives. Thanks too to the judge for our category – Naomi Narrative – for taking the time to look through everyone’s blog and pick a winner. I’m simultaneously delighted and also embarrassed to have got one of the badges, because of the aforementioned awkwardness-about-commendations thing and also intense imposter syndrome because all the other people nominated are so fucking brilliant. But I’m including the badge here – along with links – because I know that the awards couldn’t continue without lots of us talking about/linking to them. And I really want lots of people to talk about/link to them, so they know that including a ‘sex’ category was well worth their while, and next year we’ll get the same opportunity to show off the incredible people who write about sex.