Dear Sasha: Do you have any idea if you can damage your hand joints or bones from using a hand-held vibrator too much? Can it cause arthritis? » Shaken

Dear Shaken,
It's about time someone asked. For about two years now I have had a numbing pain in my wrist that I've boiled down to three activities:

(a) trying to hoist myself up on street signs to prove that even though I gained 20 pounds quitting smoking, I can still pole dance like a supple 20 year old; (b) sleeping with the backside of my hand smushed awkwardly against my face; and (c) jerking off relentlessly with a very powerful vibrator.

A chiropractor friend offered some relieving insight. Regular arthritis, osteoarthritis it's called, is caused by advancing wear and tear. "If someone fractures their hand, then their bone and hand becomes more susceptible [to osteoarthritis]," she says, but adds she wouldn't be worried about instigating arthritis from using a hand-held vibrator.

Drew Sahai, an occupational hygienist with the Construction Safety Association of Ontario, says that construction workers who use heavy vibration equipment for prolonged periods of time get what is called White Finger Syndrome, which they often take to be arthritis but is not. Unless you're shopping for sex toys at Canadian Tire and masturbating is your job, it is doubtful that you would suffer the same.

As for other possible self-pollution-related afflictions, the chiropractor says, "Your body is designed for certain things, but anytime it's put to doing something too long, you risk something called a repetitive strain injury." Masturbation is an activity like any other. There are various activities that you do that may strain your wrist: waitressing, using a computer, playing racketball. A combination of things may contribute to aches in your hand and wrist, and if you've strained it doing some, others might hurt as a result.

"Overall, there's nothing to worry about," she says. "If, for some reason, through this activity or not, your hand is more fragile, the vibrating might tip it over the edge. But if your hand is sore and is limiting your enjoyment, go get it checked out."

Dear Sasha: I am currently seeking to meet shemales with a difference: I weigh well over 300 pounds so I seek one that is extra large and can travel to Southern California, as I am unemployed. Can you help me? » John Llamas

Dear John,
You're straightforward, and that's a wonderful quality, but I'm going to first encourage you to get a job so that you can offer to help pay for a plane ticket for your lady caller. I don't know if your weight is preventing you from finding employment (in other words, if it's a physical challenge for you to move freely) and I am sorry if my suggestion to do so seems insensitive, but of all the women I know, shemales are at the top of the list when it comes to requiring a companion with some solvency. They're the new trophy wives, and, as my friend and shemale Amanda Taylor once said to me, "I must have my things!"

Dear Sasha: You describe one Toronto merchant's dilemma with Paypal, which, of course, is a global one; merchants in the adult industry are all facing this crisis. We have created an alternative to Paypal called myVirtualCard. » Joshua Ungar

Hurrah! And www.myvirtualcard.com has the added bonus of being a Montreal-based company. I called Joshua Ungar, the VP of marketing, to talk about the burgeoning new business.

Ungar says they were swamped with inquiries at an adult-industry-based Internet conference in Florida recently. I was interested to know that one of the reasons Paypal claims they severed their ties with the entire adult industry is because of massive charge backs. Ungar says that myVirtualCard, while not eliminating this risk altogether, has developed technology that leaves an audit trail. Sounds like a pretty simple solution to me.

Got any questions for Sasha? Write her at
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