The Awl

The Ladies Who Fake Orgasms

Alex Balk — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:50:48 +0000

Here are further datapoints for our continuing research into orgasm fakers: "Cooper surveyed 366 females ages 18 to 32 who had indicated they endorse faking orgasms, about their sexual habits, their reasons for faking it during a past relationship and their feelings about intimacy. Many of these women said they faked it due to their own fear of intimacy; they also reported faking orgasm because they felt insecure about their sexual functioning, or because they want to get it over with. There was also a small group of participants who did it to enhance their own sexual experience."

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Acid Hoaxer Sure Tried To Push A Lot Of Buttons During Her Fake-Out

Maura Johnston — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:40:37 +0000

Bethany Storro, the self-proclaimed "nice girl" from Vancouver, Wash., who claimed that she was accosted by a woman who called her "pretty girl" and offered her a drink — then threw a cup full of acid in her face, resulting in fairly severe chemical burns on her face and neck — has admitted that she made up the whole thing. "In many ways this is something that just got bigger than what she expected," a flack for the local police said. It sure did! And it sure makes certain details from the story originally recounting the attack stand out even more:

Neuwelt said it was unusual that Storro was wearing the sunglasses that protected her eyes.

"She on a whim decided to buy a pair," only about 20 minutes before the attack, Neuwelt said. "The weird thing is, she doesn't like to wear sunglasses."

The police actually credited the "weird" aspect of this particular detail with helping them crack the case. Of course, now it makes sense: How else was she going to know which buttons on her phone to press in order to dial 911 immediately after dousing herself?

The assailant was described as a black woman between 25 and 35, who wore a green shirt and khaki shorts. She had medium-length black hair that was pulled back, said Stefan, who is hoping for more information from the public.

Sigh. Etc.

Neuwelt said her daughter had never seen the assailant before, and it would be only speculation to try to explain a chemical attack she called "senseless."

"It happens in the Middle East all the time," the mother said.

All the time. Somehow there are only about 550 results for this young woman's name and "Park51." I'm kind of surprised! ~~Maybe it's because she's Canadian.~~ (Actually, she's from Vancouver, Washington. So restore my surprise!)

Anyway, it's a good thing that the rumored Oprah interview didn't quite work out. Could you imagine the public shaming that would have resulted in?

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Many of Your Favorite Bloggers are Fake

Choire Sicha — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:20:23 +0000

One of the things that's always mystified me about bloggers is that sometimes they are writing as a persona and not as themselves. It's something I never expect, and when I realize such a thing is happening, I'm always shocked, and even feel betrayed. I suppose it seems natural; people amplify a part of themselves, and disguise other parts, and use "techniques" to emphasize attention on what they are "supposed" to be covering. Many bloggers that you probably know and like have, you may be surprised to learn, been "acting" as if they were someone they only sort of are! One of them, as it turns out, was Moe Tkacik, late of Jezebel, then late of Gawker.

Moe has this piece in CJR now that seems to me to somewhat be two pieces (or two of what should be five!) but that very well conveys the cannibalizing of personhood in the Age of The Brand and the self-destroying economic model of The Way We Print Words (And/Or Money) Now. All excellent points. And, in relation to those two things, or because of them, she says that much of her blogging work was a performance.

Of all the resentments I had accumulated before coming to Jezebel, I had never much dwelled on the misfortune of being born a woman. But women, who so disproportionately bear the nothing-based economy's unrelenting fusillade of invented insecurities and predatory sales pitches, were ideally positioned to share my list of grievances. It makes sense, in retrospect, that a readership so universally practiced in the faking of things-orgasms, hair color, age, disinterest in men one was actually interested in, etc.-would humor the intolerance for fakery that helped define the "Moe Tkacik brand," which was basically an angrier, more recklessly confessional, and more contemptuous version of myself.

This is odd for me because I never thought she was "performing" a "persona," and why would I? I suppose I thought she was sort of a freewheeling lady about town who also thought oversharing was a tactic to get at writing about what she cared about, for sure. But I did not ever think that she might have made a decision that "contempt would just have to be part of the 'Moe Tkacik brand.'" And now, in light of this piece, thinking back on all of her work that I've read before, I'm actually not even sure I know which is the persona: is it the outlandish and contemptuous one or the one that now defines that behavior as a brand strategy?

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Orgasm Fakers: Who Are They?

Alex Balk — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:10:49 +0000

Who is most likely to pretend to orgasm? Economist Hugo M. Mialon has it all figured out: "[M]en and women who believe their partner can tell whether they are faking are less likely to fake; men and women who love their partner are more likely to fake; and men who are closer to age eighteen and women who are closer to age thirty are less likely to fake." There is also a correlation between education and the potential for prevarication, which once again proves my theory that college is a waste of time.

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Frank Gehry Is Just A Scam

Choire Sicha — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:50:36 +0000

Here is how Frank Gehry designs a hat, which is pretty much like how he designs a building: "Gehry said that he had done the initial drawing on his iPhone, which an assistant then produced: a violet scribble with a black-and-blue iris at the center." SCAM ARTIST.

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