A message from SG guest columnist Margaret Cho:


This past summer I had the honor of marrying two couples, lesbians and gay men, and when we were reading the vows we could not stop crying because it was so beautiful that these people were finally able to celebrate their love and become joined in the eyes of the law.

It humanized the struggle for me immensely. Before, I had been fighting the fight of marriage equality with a lot of anger and rage at the way that the government wanted to treat us as second class citizens. After performing the ceremonies it was as if I was able to return some of the humanity lost through the ignorance and homophobia of others. It was profound and life changing.

This was why Proposition 8 passing hurt so badly. We must do everything possible to repeal Prop 8, in order to return our own humanity, not only ours but to the ones who wish to take it away.

Everyone should be trying to do something to repeal Prop 8. It's not just about gay marriage, it is about the idea of equality. It's all about fairness.




Margaret Cho will be performing at Ian Harvie's No on H8! benefit, alongside special guests Leslie Jordan, Alec Mapa, Joria Fox, Ant, Erin Foley and Jon Brion, next Wednesday, December 10 at Largo at The Coronet Theater, West Hollywood, CA at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $30, with all proceeds going to Equality California. For reservations call: 310 855 0350.

Click HERE to watch Margaret perform with Jack Black and a cast of several in Funny or Die's every expense spared, hilarious production of Prop 8 - The Musical.

Guest columnist Margaret Cho writes....

A lover once looked very dismayed at my Hitachi Magic Wand vibrator -- the Cadillac of sex toys and my true BFF -- and said, "I wish you would lose that thing and I could really make you cum." This was very upsetting to me, for a number of reasons. First of all, what does it mean to "really make you cum?" Is sex without toys somehow more legitimate? If that is the case I am guilty of having bastard orgasms for much of my adult fucking life now.

I love my bastard orgasms! It took me a long time to find my way to them! I have a different kind of setup downstairs. I have never read anything anywhere that showed me how to get off that actually worked. It took many years of trial and error. There were lots and lots of lovers of many genders and shapes and sizes and techniques and styles. I tried workshops and therapists and sex clubs and dominants and submissives and oral geniuses and big cocks and little cocks and fake cocks and no cocks and tantric workshops and anal college and softball games and g-shot finding expeditions and it wasn't until I accidentally misused my back massager that I struck gold!

Since then, my Hitachi and I have been joined at the -- um -- hip, and I love it. They are supposed to have a lifetime guarantee, but I must have been getting more than a lifetime's worth of enjoyment because they tend to burn out on me after a couple of years. No worries because they only cost about $65 retail -- and one of the reasons I spent two years on the board of Good Vibrations is because I would get them for free -- and of course I stocked up!

These marvelous inventions give me earth shattering orgasms, every time -- and the best part about it is that I am now free from the worry of "What if don't cum? What if I can't cum? What if, what if, what if?" It is no longer a concern. I can freely have sex and know that I will be able to get that internal fuse lit that goes to the dynamite that makes it all go bang, bang.

So it really fucks me up when someone, a lover, someone I am supposed to be close with, someone who is supposed to accept all of me, someone who is supposed to love me -- as a lover is supposed to do -- comments that my orgasms are somehow the wrong kind of orgasm.

Why are they wrong? I don't understand. Aren't all orgasms a good thing? Why qualify? What makes one orgasm better than another type of orgasm? Do you assign them to categories after you have them?

I get insecure about myself sexually, because I don't have sex like a porn star. In movies people can cum from just fucking! I wish I could do this because I think I might be a more conventional lay. In erotica and romantic women's literature, people can climax at the same time! I have never done this. I don't know what it would feel like. I might be sad about it, because I really enjoy watching my partner get off and if I was doing so at the same time I feel like I would miss it. But climaxing separately, as I am used to, which I really love, some people think is also missing something.

You can't win! But at least you can cum. If you are like me, and have a unique arrangement in your pants, then don't delay; Get a Hitachi today!

Margaret Cho is currently on a nationwide tour, and will be recording her fifth live DVD (to be released in 2009) at her Long Beach performances at the Terrace Theatre on October 25. Click HERE for ticket info and her full Beautiful Tour schedule.

Guest columnist Margaret Cho writes….

I was reading Marisa DiMattia's musings on the eroticness of ink and it inspired me to put some ink of my own down...on paper rather than on my skin. In her September 3 column she stated that she got 561 responses to a survey she did on Tattoos & Sex; Consider me respondent # 562!

Question 1: Did sexual attractiveness play a role in your decision to get tattooed –– that is, did you get tattooed to be more attractive to (potential) sexual partners?

Answer: Definitely. I think tattooed girls are sexy as hell... just look at Marisa!! I want to be tattooed because I think it looks sexy. It is like lingerie that you never take off. It enhances the body and it gives the beholder a view into your rebellious heart. Tattoos are sexier than just plain old skin.

Question 2: If sexual attractiveness did not play a part in your initial tattoo decision, has it ever become a factor afterward? For example, did you later find that more people were attracted to you or that you felt more attractive being tattooed?

Answer: Definitely. I felt way sexier after getting tattooed, and because I felt sexier people responded to me more sexually. It is hot!

Question 3: How do you rate your attractiveness with tattoos?


Answer: More attractive with tattoos. I am way hotter as a heavily tattooed woman now than as a plain untattooed Jane.

Question 4: Do the tattoos of (potential) sexual partners play a role in whether you are attracted to them?

Answer: Often. I am very attracted to tattooed people. They are the most beautiful. I am always pawing heavily tattooed people, pulling off their clothes, wanting to see more ink, more flesh, wanting to hear the stories that are written on their skin.

Question 5: Does the quality of a sexual partner's tattoo work affect your attraction to that person?

Answer: Never. Hmm, I am not sure, maybe. Bad art would be a turn off. I have only seen good ones on the people I want to do it with! Or they are good just because I like them. I am not sure!

Question 6: Has the sexual attractiveness of a tattoo artist ever played a role in deciding whether to get work from that artist?


Answer: Definitely. I am always in love with my artist –– whoever happens to be tattooing me at the time. Whether it is Kat von D or my latest tattoo crush, Mike Davis, I am totally into my artist. You have to be in love with someone who is covered in your blood!


Question 7: If the sexual attractiveness of your tattoo artist was not a factor in your initial decision, have you ever become attracted to your artist during or after getting a tattoo from him or her?

Answer: Definitely. It’s just a sexy experience, having someone who is drawing on you. They are in your personal space. They are opening up your body and putting something in. That is hot!

Question 8: Have you ever become sexually aroused while getting tattooed?

Answer: Definitely. Well, I must say I have a bit of masochism in my nature, so I don't mind the pain at all. I wouldn't say it is as arousing as having a hot, amazing tattoo artist all up on you and breathing on you and everything, but it isn't so bad.


Question 9: Have you ever been brought to orgasm while getting tattooed?

Answer: No Comment. Not yet but I wouldn't rule it out
.

Question 10: If there's an aspect on sexuality and tattooing that you wish to further share your opinion or story, please do so here.

Answer: I just think that people who are tattooed are sexy, and the process is sexy, and art is sexy, and we are sexy!!!


Margaret Cho is currently on a nationwide tour, and will be recording her fifth live DVD (to be released in 2009) at her Long Beach performances at the Terrace Theatre on October 25. Click HERE for her full Beautiful Tour schedule. Margaret can also be seen on VH1’s Cho Show, which airs on Thursdays at 11 pm EDT.

I've been obsessed with celebrity tattoos lately. They're inescapable. I've seen clients walk into tattoo studios brandishing CD covers, wrestling magazines, and Perez Hilton print-outs. Online tattoo forums flame over whether it's cool to get Bam Magera's body art. And the news headlines, well, they taunt me.

All I want to do is sit back and reflect upon the national repercussions of the Scooter Libby trial, but then Robbie Williams busts outta rehab with a new tattoo and I'm forced to take stock of this momentous event.



By getting love tattooed across his knuckles on his right hand, what is Robbie telling us? Did he find God's love in detox? Or was he lonely and relegated to self-love? I'd also like to know what it is about rehab that drives people to the tattoo studio. Not once, but twice, we witnessed America's train wreck begging for the needle after stays in luxury treatment centers.

It's not like these celebs are going Straight Edge. The booze-filled post-tattoo partying does not indicate a non-tox trend, and I don't see tattoos like these catching on in Hollywood.

Instead, many actors and musicians--you know, creative types--search the depths of their platinum souls for body art that speaks for them, illustrating their very essence. Here's what they come up with: the backside bow, the mini wings, the forearm dice, and of course, the scratcher portrait of your TrimSpa suga-mama.

Ok, I'll accept that last one. Being Anna Nicole's bitch was limited in its lucrativeness. However, there's no excuse for multi-platinum artists, even if they are straight outta Compton.

The Game, aka Jayceon Tylor, refuses to pay for his tattoos--and it shows. ContactMusic.com quotes the rapper on his body decoration decisions:

I wouldn't call it sage tattoo advice but, then again, I aint gangsta. I suppose it's a g-thang: Money. Cash. Hoes. Sub-par body art.

In other headlines, Nylon magazine's March issue featured the fabulous Christina Ricci on the cover with the tag "Tattooed Rebel or Girl Next Door?", which I thought was funny as most of Ricci's patchwork tattoos were covered in the photo except some small blur on her ankle. Now Ricci's got a number of tattoos and a kick-ass style but I wouldn't trumpet her as the tattoo rebel darling. This crown clearly goes to Saint Angelina, and who among us here is not on Team Jolie?

Finally, in this needled celeb round-up, I'd like to welcome my fave comedian/activist/rapper Margaret Cho into the loving arms of freakdom. She's just added another beautiful Japanese inspired tattoo to her fabulous collection, which includes an Ed Hardy piece that winds around her belly-dancing waist. Her latest work of art is by Andrew Moore of Shogun Tattoo in Pasadena, CA.


Photo by Ian Harvie.

I'm hoping more celebrities show the same tattoo intelligence and not treat ink as swag. Free does not necessarily equal good. If more beautiful artwork adorned the bodies of tabloid staples, perhaps tattooing as fine art would become a trend, not a post-rehab adventure.


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.