‘Special’s Ryan O’Connell on Living with Cerebral Palsy on TV, the Millennial-Fueled Decline of Deodorant and an Argument Against ‘Foreplay’

Here’s a gross way to end the day: Andrew Fiouzi reports that the future of the deodorant-antiperspirant complex may very well be in peril, after it was revealed in a survey that 40 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t slap on some Speed Stick before heading to work or school. In this writer’s opinion, there’s nothing radical about ditching deodorant to go au naturel — it just makes you undateable.

Oh, and no, pheromones aren’t a thing, you stinky heathens.

Must Read

“Ryan O’Connell Dares You to Ignore Him”
While becoming internet-famous for his confessional Thought Catalog essays about being a millennial before “being a millennial” was even really a thing, Ryan O’Connell hid one of the most self-defining things about himself: That he has cerebral palsy. A peculiar choice, considering that it wasn’t until he published a memoir about living with his condition, that IRL fame arrived in the form of the new Netflix series, Special, starring O’Connell as himself. Tierney Finster interviewed O’Connell about his new show, what it means to share your life online and giving yourself permission to be visible, “flaws” and all. READ MORE

Forget Foreplay

Normally, when we think “sex,” we think penetration, typically penis-in-vagina. Anything else that happens when we’re intimate? Well, that’s just foreplay. Except, for tons of people –– women in particular –– intercourse isn’t even the most pleasurable part of a sexual encounter. So we really ought to do away with the concept of foreplay altogether, and start broadening our idea of what constitutes sex. 

The Pandering of Pride Month

Chubbies, the shorts brand typically popular among frat bros, certainly wasn’t the only company to see synergy between their bottom line and the LGBTQ+ community when they put out a rainbow-themed product line for Pride Month. But Chubbies mistake was they got caught — caught trying to make a buck from their “inclusivity” after it was revealed that none of their sales would go to charity, quickly turning them into poster boys for the corporate “pinkwashing” of Pride. It’s just another in a long line of brands co-opting the movement for profit.

Mmm, Steamed Oddish

It’s Pokémon canon that humans eat Pokémon. I mean, duh, they look positively tasty. But which ones are tastiest, and more importantly, which Pokémon pairs well with a 2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon? We asked professional chefs which species of Pokémon might be the most delicious, and the best ways to prepare said Pokémon. Their responses were far more thorough — and frankly, more mouth-watering — than they needed to be. 

But But, The Airplanes!

We get it: Trump is a doofus of the highest order who literally can’t properly pronounce common words, and doesn’t even know what century airplanes were invented. But by getting hung up on such inconsequential shit, the media wastes its time roasting him when they should be unraveling his more complex and insidious lies.

Make Middle America Sexy Again

There’s no category for it on xHamster per se, but dig a little deeper and you’ll notice that more and more porn has begun celebrating a “Middle America” brand of horniness: Taking a Walmart employee home for a romp, or getting a quick BJ in a Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s a sharp contrast from the glossy porn of yesteryear — i.e., some buff guy wearing only a Rolex having a threesome in his Miami penthouse. It turns out many of us want porn that looks more like our regular lives, as boring as they might be. 

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Magdalene Taylor

Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.