Dear Sasha: I have a question relating to Japanese porn. Inevitably, in this kind of porn, a vibrating egg is produced and rubbed against the woman's underwear. Does the egg actually do anything at all?

My second question is regarding what recourse someone would have if they paid an escort, and, after taking the money, the escort then kicked them out. » Just Wondering

Dear Just,
The vibrating egg is a very popular sex toy, one many women use in their personal lives to get off. Because legal porn follows the laws of its country of origin, the Japanese, who have limited ways of showing explicit genital pleasure because of anti-pubic hair laws, obviously use the egg to imply it. Oppression is the mother of invention and obsession. Judging by some of the films I've seen on the making of pornography (most recently The Secret Lives of Adult Stars), it's difficult, no matter what kind of parameters and apparatus, to get off on set unless you are so inclined or the director insists on filming real female orgasm.

As for your second question, a client has a few options. I'm going to be unsparing here, because I think any escort who works in such an unprincipled manner deserves trouble. If the client acquired the person through an agency, then he or she can call the agency to complain. If the client acquired them independently through the personals, they can post on the various online message boards about their experience. In Montreal, for example, there is the Montreal Escort Review Board, also known as MERB, at www.merb.ca.

I'm a bit afraid, judging by your girly adolescent handwriting and floral paper, that you have some idea that maybe you might be interested in conducting business this way. To be honest, I've never met a hooker stupid enough to do something like this and if this is your intention, I would ask you not to. Men tend to get very angry when they give you $200 and you push them out of your apartment without compensation, and women who work in the sex trade have enough problems without the added drama of nitwit grifters.

Dear Sasha: While I'm at work, I always read my weeklies, and I enjoy them all. But in your column, every time someone needs anything that involves going to a sex store, you only ever mention Come As You Are [www.veneztelsquels.com]. I'm curious why you only mention them as a choice, but not other stores, like Condom Shack [La Capoterie in Montreal, various locations], where I work. Is it favouritism? » Condom Shack Dood

Dear Tyler,
Yes it is. Why? Well, I was raised by a man who would screech to a halt at the sight of a careworn farmer selling vegetables by the side of the road, a runny-nosed kid hawking lemonade off his or her front lawn, or any corner store named Mom and Pop. "These are just marvellous! Nothing like handcrafted!" he'd yell at old women selling combustible polyester slippers and tea cozies at the old folks home bazaars I now walk into like a salmon swimming upstream. In other words, DNA demands that I root for the little guy.

My interest in companies like Come As You Are/Venez Tels Quels and Good Vibrations (www.goodvibrations.com) can also be summed up in one word: utility. Perhaps you've noticed that at many mainstream sex shops, including your own (not a bad joint for condoms, mind you), there is a large section of novelty items. I have a problem with this for a few reasons. There's enough crap littering our planet that has absolutely no use, and people don't need one more thing standing in the way of real gratification, good for nothing other than shits and giggles. Sure, it's the way that many sex shops double and triple their income, but at what expense? Any store that tries to earn its living primarily selling products and information that are genuinely useful should be supported. Come As You Are and Good Vibrations also maintain small businesses down the line, too, since a lot of the products they sell are made by independent craftspeople.

Got any questions for Sasha? Write her at
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