Cancer Awareness: Penis in a Sock
(Update Below)
One thing in life I never take lightly is cancer or cancer awareness. I’ve had more friends and family than I can count deal with every cancer you can imagine from breast to pancreatic. I’ve lost some. I’ve seen some survive. My mom is a two time cancer survivor, and this past January she was diagnosed with another cancer totally unrelated to the first two. Tony’s mom passed away in 2002 from pancreatic cancer. There isn’t a thing I haven’t seen related to cancer, from stem cell chemo to radiation. And it’s hard…one of the hardest things. But one of the things I found most inspiring in my experiences at places like Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia is that once people (and this includes families and friends) start to deal with it life takes on new meaning and you look at things very differently. One of the most important things, as hard as that is sometimes, is to have a sense of humor.
The Cock in a Sock Campaign was started by a man in the UK, and it’s been sweeping the Internet.
Hello and welcome to the ‘Cock in a Sock’ JustGiving Page!
This campaign has gone viral on Facebook and is growing across the social network community. Our supporters are amazing, donating and sending in their ‘Cock in a Sock’ pictures to raise awareness for male cancers.
Please donate anything you can, and help us raise the 5k we need to become a registered charity!!
All donations made go directly to Cancer Research UK
Of course there have been mixed reactions to this campaign, which is understandable. Cancer terrifies people, too. But the bottom line is that this Internet trend is not only raising awareness but also asking for donations and all the money goes to cancer research. And anything that does something this positive, from pink pumpkins to penis in a sock, can’t be all that bad.
This article talks about some of the controversy surrounding the campaign.
The campaign does not seem to have been completely hindered by the Terms of Service for the social platforms it operates on. According to Queerty, “there are tons of guys being reported for ‘violating community standards'” on Facebook. (For those whose images have been removed, they’re encouraged to share the photo at left.) The Cock in a sock Facebook page has not been shut down however; neither has their Twitter account or their Instagram account, though a celebratory Instagram account that gathered the best photos from around the web is no longer up.
You can view the latest Instagram uploads here.
This is also the first time I’ve seen testicular cancer mentioned on such a large scale…or any male related cancer. I know several men who have been diagnosed with testicular and prostate cancer.
(Update: The Facebook page to Cock in a Sock was removed, with this left in its place…
Sorry, this page isn’t available
The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.)
Facebook Buys Oculus
Oculus is a company that makes a product called “Oculus Rift.” It’s a virtual reality device that received so much attention it has 75,000 orders.
Facebook has agreed to buy Oculus for $2 billion, betting that its virtual reality may be a new way for people to communicate, learn or be entertained.
Facebook Inc. said Tuesday that the deal includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares worth about $1.6 billion. Oculus employees are also eligible for an additional $300 million if the company achieves certain targets.
According to FB, it’s all about virtual reality as the next new trend. I tend to agree. I wouldn’t be surprised to see people reading books on something like this in the near future. Maybe by then the LLF will have broken down and allowed those old fashioned e-books to enter the Lambda Awards? We’ll see.
Gay for Straight Guys
This next article is interesting because it says one out of ten gay men are on dating sites (or Craigslist) looking for straight men to fulfill the straight man fantasy they have. I think that number is highly conservative.
In research published in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, it found one in 10 men who use Craigslist M4M section are specifically seeking out ‘sexual partners who do not identify as gay’.
The researchers reviewed 1,200 personal ads posted on Craigslist for analysis. Researchers believe these men are looking to either fulfill a ‘fantasy’ or because it allows closeted men to seek out others for anonymous sexual encounters.
As I said, I think this is way too conservative and if the truth were really to come out the numbers of gay men…or for that matter straight men who are curious…looking for encounters with straight men would be much more dramatic. And I think the millions of adult entertainment web sites geared toward the gay/straight fantasy would tend to agree with me. I have seen some of the most ridiculous porn sites where the actors are clearly all gay and yet pretend to be straight just because of this fantasy. And I’m not even going to get into the straight men who find transgender sex erotic.