Forensic Architecture: Sleuthing for Justice (part 2)

January 16, 2025

Last week, I wrote about the patterns Forensic Architecture searches for in its interrogations of violent conflicts and environmental destruction. These patterns help to establish intent, a prerequisite for judicial determination of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I referred to the Israeli government’s intent to commit a Genocide against the Palestinian people, how that shows up in examination of various government policies and actions since 1948. In order to have all the land, there is also a need on Israel’s part to destroy a certain sense of Palestinians as refugees, which has existed since the 1948 Nakba. With awareness and recognition of refugees, under international law comes their well-established right of return, something the Israelis have sought to deny from the very beginning. A significant thorn in Israel’s side is the existence of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief & Works Agency, specifically established after the 1948 Nakba to assist Palestinian refugees. UNRWA’s existence was intended to be only temporary, until refugees could return to their homes and lands. We have seen Israel in 2024 accuse UNWRA employees of being Hamas members, without providing any evidence, and Western nations moving in lockstep to defund UNRWA – the single organization upon which Gazans, 75% of whom are descendants of 1948 refugees, most depend for education, supplemental food, medical aid, and emergency shelter. UNRWA is the one organization fully capable of delivering such support. It has all the infrastructure in place. Many of these nations have reestablished their support of UNRWA under sustained pressure from protesting citizens. Forensic Architecture’s efforts help us to understand that the current Israeli intention to destroy UNRWA is all part of yet another pattern of erasure of Palestinians from the landscape. If there are no refugees, all those claims against the land of “Eretz Israel” evaporate.

Another example comes to mind: the pattern of destruction of health infrastructure was earlier evident in Israel’s deliberate targeting of ambulances in the West Bank and in Gaza, together with the killing of medics, during Gaza’s 18 month-long Great March of Return (2018-2019), which the world ignored. Dr. Alice Rothchild, retired physican/faculty member of Harvard Medical School, has followed the Israeli onslaught on Palestinian health care systems for decades. She has taught and worked in the West Bank and Gaza. Her latest book, Condition Critical, details her findings, and shows the long pattern of oppression and suffering of Palestinians through the health care system, at the hands of the Israeli occupation. All the work of such reputable scholars, with no agenda other than uncovering the truth in service of justice, shows that this entire catastrophe we are witnessing in Gaza did not begin on October 7^th, 2023. It began when Zionism took hold as an ideology and a strategy for creating a homeland for Jewish people at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian people.

What is unique about Forensic Architecture’s approach is that it involves a whole way of thinking, a kind of integrated knowledge where the model constructed is a multi-dimensional system. Using vast amounts of information – such as aerial photos, land-based photos, eyewitness testimonies, and survivor’s accounts, they superimpose multiple data points on maps and show how every bit of information relates to the whole, in time and in space. They

are at the forefront of information modelling. Once they have the digital model, they can change the parameters of that model and “see” it through time. They eliminate the possibility of ambiguity wherever possible, using methodology that is irrefutable. If you go to the link: www.gaza.forensic-architecture.org, you can discover their compelling work for yourself.

As an Israeli himself, Eyal Weizman has a very particular connection to the history and the land of Israel-Palestine. As he recounts, “Israelis are the perpetrators of Apartheid but also can’t breathe within it”. He would like to see a world where everyone can breathe.

h/t Michael McNamara for architectural context

How To Be Happy In A Genocidal Dystopia On A Dying World

January 16, 2025

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

JAN 13, 2025

I honestly don’t know if we’ll make it.

I can’t say with any degree of certainty that truth and sanity will prevail, that the world will stop burning, that we’ll stop being cruel to each other and start moving toward health and harmony.

Maybe our species is approaching the end of its run here. I cannot tell you for sure that it isn’t.

What I can tell you for sure is that there is a magpie outside my window, and that my eyes are dripping with love for it.

I can tell you I went for a walk about an hour ago, and the ground felt delicious on my feet while the wind caressed my hair.

Maybe we don’t get to be here for much longer. I can’t honestly tell you otherwise. But I can tell you it’s very possible to relish each precious instant we are here.

The universe will sing to you, if you listen. There are kisses hidden in the rustling leaves. There are galaxies hidden in the sounds of trains.

We can live from there. Even amid the raging fires. Even amid the genocide and pain. Even amid all the advertising, the vapid Hollywood dogshit, the fast fashion, the phoniness, the deceit. We can cherish the world like a mother cherishes a newborn baby, even if we wind up doing so while watching it die.

We are living in dystopia, but we don’t need to be living in hell. As fraudulent and destructive as this civilization is, and as all-pervasive as its madness seems to be, it is still built on the surface of an ancient planet which pulsates with primordial wisdom. Just below the superficial layer of the cacophony of human madness, there are uncharted depths in which strange leviathans swim.

I’m not here to tell you we’re going to win this thing. I’m not here to sell a false and unearned certainty in a happy ending. I’m here to tell you that this world is one hell of a glorious ride regardless of what happens, and that it would be a damn shame if you didn’t appreciate it while it lasts.

You don’t need to waste your life as one of those jaded, world-weary politically conscious people who think they know too much to be happy, and that everything is too dark and dismal to enjoy their time here. You don’t need to choose between being happy and being well-informed. We are engulfed in an endless explosion of miracles and beauty in every living instant on this earth no matter what happens and no matter how much we we know. It is only a failure of our own perception if we don’t recognize this.

We’ve got a lot of work to do here, and we’re going to continue seeing some very ugly things happening in our world for the foreseeable future. It does nobody any good for us to let the darkness burn us out and exhaust us instead of learning to enjoy our time on this planet while we fight.

I know I’ve shared this same message before in various ways, but that’s only because I see a great need for it. I’ve heard too many people saying they are feeling torn down and broken by the terrible things happening in this world, and that they don’t know how to go on.

You go on by going in. By diving right in to reality, in all its burning, blood-soaked, agonizing glory. By feeling it all, all the way through, without trying to lean back and compartmentalize any part of yourself away from it. The ocean is unbothered by the waves not because it is separate from them but because it is inseparably one with them.

Feel the pain. Cry the tears. Witness the suffering. Experience the beauty. Notice the endless eruption of love which lies at the heart of all things. Celebrate the magpie. Cherish the wind in your hair and the ground beneath your feet.

No matter what happens, nobody can take these things from you. No matter what else the bastards might take, they can never take away your innate exuberance at living a human life on this terrestrial wonderball.

That’s the secret to finding happiness in the midst of a genocidal dystopia on a dying world. Not by hiding from the reality of it, but by diving right into it without holding anything back.

If you do this, you will find that there is so very, very much more joy, love, beauty and exhilaration in this adventure than there is heartbreak and pain. There is vast delight to be found in the smallest of things.

Our minds tend to focus on what’s wrong and what’s bad, while overlooking how absolutely fucking amazing it is to be living as a human organism on this earth. This habit can be unlearned. The gift of each moment can be appreciated as it comes. Everything that arises can be met for the first time with wide-eyed marvel.

And we can keep fighting in the meantime. And we can do so with deep gratitude in our chests for every magical instant.

______________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to find video versions of my articles. If you’d prefer to listen to audio of these articles, you can subscribe to them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or YouTube. Go hereto buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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Featured image via Adobe Stock.

Letter to the Editor – Harvey Abramson

January 16, 2025

Contrary to Trumpelstiltskin’s assertion that many Canadians wish that Canada would become the 51st state of the U.S., there may actually be one or two who are stupid enough or ignorant enough to wish for Canada to be absorbed into a country with endemic violence, racism, the pathological misogyny of the anti-abortion movement, a health care “system” which is of benefit only to the insurance companies which control it, etc. The list of U.S. deficiencies and malignities could go on and on. On the other hand there are many citizens of the U.S. who wish that they could become Canadian and live under Canadian conditions. Rather than Canada becoming the 51st state, perhaps Canada could acquire new provinces by annexing the former states of New York and those grouped under the name of New England, of Washington and Oregon and California and a few other geographically scattered states. What is left then of the U.S. would quickly devolve into Margaret Atwood’s Republic of Gilead, or even into something worse than that.

Finally, perhaps the best response to Trumpelstiltskin’s ravings is to quote from “America”, a poem in Allen Ginsberg’s book “Howl and other poems”: “Go fuck yourself with your atomic bomb.”

Harvey Abramson

Letter to the Editor – Perri Gorrara

January 16, 2025

There is so much talk about Canada’s sovereignty amidst the 51st state nonsense that Trump is yammering about these days. The reality is that we are not, and have never been an independent nation .

It is a myth that we believe we are an independent country. In fact, we are still a colony under the supervision of the British Crown.

A great demonstration of this reality has just occurred. Our government was just prorogued by the King of England’s, Governor General of Canada this week, when the vaste majority of Canadians wanted a snap election.

If we are serious about true independence, it is time to end our colonial hangover and become the independent Republic of Canada.

A country with a strong constitution and a real Charter of Rights and Freedoms that Canadian governments must respect and adhere to.

Carpe Diem!!!!

Perri Gorrara

Peeling back the layers

January 16, 2025

Peeling back the layers

You grow them yourself.

Lovingly, preparing the soil.

Planting, mulching,

weeding and watering.

Confident your harvest

will yield a sound crop.

Are you not known far and wide

for your fabulous onions!

The day comes when you reach for the first one.

It looks so firm and wholesome.

But when you squeeze it, it feels a little squishy.

When you sniff it, you get a faint whiff

of something slightly amiss.

You gingerly peel back the first firm layer

to expose the second.

Brown and yucky. Superficial you think.

Onto the next. Worse.

One by one you peel back the layers,

hoping you will eventually get to

a solid, healthy, honest core.

Alas, each layer reveals even more damage.

All you have before you is a rotten slimy mess.

You can be sure you have more bad onions in your stash.

You know what to look for.

Start squeezing, sniffing and peeling back the layers.

It’s time to sort your onions.

Doppelgänger

January 16, 2025

Helliwell habitat work continues

January 9, 2025

Helliwell habitat work continues

By Chris Junck, Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project

Hornby Island Community School students from Miranda Guzzo’s classes made a significant contribution to the habitat restoration project in Helliwell Provincial Park this fall. On October 22, they planted yarrow, woolly sunflower, California brome, Junegrass and blue wildrye in bare patches of soil in the park after piles of dead branches and other forest fire fuels were burned last winter. The native plants were grown for the restoration project by Hornby Island Natural History Centre stewards.

Neil Wilson, one of the stewards, said, “thanks everyone for your work in setting up and pulling off our eighth successful Hornby Island Community School, Natural History Centre, BC Parks, and Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project collaboration. We managed to plant 592 native plant plugs for the Taylor’s checkerspots!”

“Wow – what an awesome effort,” said Hornby Island Community School Principal Lisa Malones.

The long-term project is enhancing Helliwell’s Garry oak and coastal bluff meadow habitat and reducing forest fire fuels. More dead branches and selective trees will be removed and burned this winter, followed by native plant seeding and planting.

The project aims to improve habitat for endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies and other at-risk species. The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team is cautiously optimistic that the work is paying off. Taylor’s checkerspots that were raised at the Greater Vancouver Zoo by Wildlife Preservation Canada staff and released in Helliwell last year reproduced. Their larvae overwintered and emerged in the spring. This is an encouraging sign that the butterflies may re-establish a population in the park.

The project team would like to thank the Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Homalco, K’ómoks, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, Penelakut, Qualicum, Snaw’Naw’As, Stz’uminus, Tla’amin, We Wai Kai, and We Wai Kum First Nations for allowing us to restore ecosystems in their traditional territories. Several local volunteers from Conservancy Hornby Island, the Hornby Island Natural History Centre, the Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee, and others also contributed to the success of this project.

The recovery project has benefited from funding and in-kind contributions from the BC Parks Licence Plate Program, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, the Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund, and the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (Ecosystems Branch), Canada Pollinator Partnership and others.

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team includes biological consultants and representatives from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, B.C. Ministry of Environment and Parks, BC Parks, Denman Conservancy Association, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Mosaic Forest Management, Wildlife Preservation Canada, and others.

Learn more about the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly:

https: //goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/

and

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/species-ecosystems-at-risk/implementation/conservation-projects-partnerships/taylors-checkerspot

BC Parks conservation specialist Stephanie Govier provided information about the coastal bluff restoration work and planting instructions. Photo: Bill Hamilton

Hornby Island Community School students, their teacher Miranda Guzzo, parents, Natural History Centre stewards, and BC Parks staff worked quickly to plant areas where brush piles were burned last winter. Photo: Bill Hamilton

The group had dirty hands and big smiles after planting nearly 600 native plant seedling plugs.

Background Information

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori)

Also known as Edith’s checkerspot.
Historical range was Hornby Island, southeastern Vancouver Island, Puget Trough and to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In B.C., they were once abundant at 10 sites in the Greater Victoria Area, one site each near Mill Bay and Comox, and sites on Hornby Island (including Helliwell Provincial Park).
They were thought to have been extirpated (became locally extinct) from Canada by 2000 when no Taylor’s checkerspots could be found in their last known sites on Hornby Island despite intensive searches. However, new populations were discovered on Denman Island in 2005 and near Campbell River in 2018.
It is federally listed as Endangered (COSEWIC, SARA Schedule 1), and is on the BC Red list of at-risk species.
Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies need open sunny meadows where they can find suitable host plants (food for larvae and nectar producing flowers for adults), such as woolly sunflower, common camas, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, wild strawberry, sea blush, and yarrow.
Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation are major factors in the species’ decline. For example, the meadows along the coastal bluffs in Helliwell Provincial Park became less suitable for butterflies due to invasions of non-native plants and encroaching forests.
Habitat enhancement work (weeding, selective limbing +/or removal of conifers, re-planting and seeding with native species) has been ongoing in Helliwell Provincial Park for several years.

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project

The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project is led by Jennifer Heron of the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship and is guided by the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team’s Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Implementation Group. It is a collaborative effort to restore Taylor’s checkerspot populations in British Columbia through habitat enhancement, captive butterfly rearing and release, monitoring, public outreach, and other activities.

Team Members

Jennifer Heron (Chair), B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship, Vancouver, B.C.

Erika Bland and Andrew Fyson, Denman Island Conservancy Association, Denman Island, B.C.

Deborah Bishop, Denman Island, B.C.

Menita Prasad, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Aldergrove, B.C.

Eric Gross and Ross Vennesland, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, B.C.

Crispin Guppy, Entomologist, Whitehorse, Y.T.

Molly Hudson and David Vey, Mosaic Forest Management, Nanaimo, B.C.

Chris Junck, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team and B.C. Conservation Foundation, Victoria, B.C.

Suzie Lavallee, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Vancouver, B.C.

Patrick Lilley, Private Consultant, North Vancouver, B.C.

Erica McClaren and Stephanie Govier, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.

Kristen Miskelly, Satinflower Nurseries, Victoria, B.C.

Derek Moore, Area Supervisor Von Donop Area, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.

Nick Page, Raincoast Applied Ecology, Vancouver, B.C.

Hazel Wheeler, Andrea Gielens and Jay Athwal, Wildlife Preservation Canada, Guelph, ON.

Bonnie Zand, B.C. Conservation Foundation, Fanny Bay, B.C.

Supporters

B.C. Conservation Foundation

B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship

BC Parks

BC Parks License Plate Fund

Conservancy Hornby Island

Denman Conservancy Association

Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund

Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team

Greater Vancouver Zoo

Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation

Hornby Island Community School

Hornby Island Co-op

Hornby Island Natural History Centre

Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee

Mosaic Forest Management

Sea Breeze Lodge

University of British Columbia

Wildlife Preservation Canada

For more information about the Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project, visit: www.goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/

Or contact:

Project Lead/GOERT Invertebrates at Risk RIG Chair

Jennifer Heron

Provincial Invertebrate Conservation Specialist

B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship

Office: 778-572-2273

Jennifer.Heron@gov.bc.ca

Public Outreach Coordinator

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team

Chris Junck

chris_junck@hotmail.com

* More photos available by request

BC Parks

Stephanie Govier

Conservation Specialist

BC Parks

Office:778-974-2781

Stephanie.Govier@gov.bc.ca

Denman Island Garden Society News

January 9, 2025

Now that the New Year is upon us, it’s not too early to start thinking about this year’s garden. However, we are still in the doldrums between the fall cleanup in the garden and the frantic season that begins with seed starting. Now is a good time to reflect on last year’s successes and failures, make plans for this year’s garden layout, and pore over the tantalizing seed catalogues that arrive in the mail and in garden centres.

Our first DIGS monthly meeting of the year will take place on Wednesday, January 15th from 1 to 3 pm at the Gathering Place at the United Church. Peter Karsten will start us off with a powerpoint presentation entitled Denman Garden Secrets. Those who heard Peter speak at our meeting in April 2024 will know that we are in for a treat.

The garden club welcomes new members, whether you are a beginning gardener or a seasoned expert. You can purchase a membership at any meeting (memberships are $15 per year for an individual or $20 for a family), or you can just come and sit in first to see if it’s for you. Our members enjoy monthly speakers, seed and plant exchanges, field trips, garden visits, and a whole lot of camaraderie and sharing of garden knowledge and lore. DIGS is a great place to make new friends and get inspired to create a standout garden.

– submitted by Nairn Stewart

Green Wizardries: Mulch While You Are Young

January 9, 2025

There is plenty of time and energy to do heavy work while you are young. Now, this brings us to the vexing question of what do we mean by young and what do we mean by old? On our islands, the concept of age is different than in other places. Because we have so many older people, standards are higher here for claiming to be old.

I tuned sixty last summer and felt I had finally arrived as an adult. I felt sixty was the beginning of old. One of my very fit octogenarian friends was taking a walk with me when I announced that I was now old. She felt that being sixty, I was a mere giddy and unreliable girl. Another octogenarian friend explained that she felt old only begins after the age of seventy five. I have yet to ask my nonagenarian (people in their nineties) friend what she thinks.

Young is also different here. I had a lovely young woman tell me that she really was not a girl despite having just had a baby in her early forties. I explained that on Denman, a girl who is still fertile is considered little better than fetal herself.

Just let us agree that people who are brimming with energy and have few chronic injuries are to be classified as young. It is to these happy few that I wish to talk about mulch. Yes, mulch does attract slugs but that is just an example of the cussedness of life. Mulch is essential to cover the delicate and nutrient-poor soils we have. Mulch also nourishes the soil life, enriching the soil after being digested by innumerable tiny, hungry mouths. You can keep the explosion of slugs down with applications of organic slug bait available at the Hardware Store on Denman.

The largest soil organisms, the worms, dig tunnels in the soil allowing air and water to penetrate the soil readily. They also line these tunnels with their excrement in the form of worm castings. There is a really good experiment to do with children and gardeners. You get a large clear-plastic soda bottle and pour some damp soil in the top, shake it flat. Add some dried leaf matter, sand, clay, manure in layers. Now, add a few garden worms and cover the body of the soda bottle with dark paper.

Leave it in a cool, dark place such as the boot cupboard and take a look at it every two weeks and note the changes. The worms will work like the dickens to eat all the goodies. They will swim to the top and dive to the bottom. After a month or so, the entire contents of the soda bottle will be thoroughly mixed together.

This is what will happen in your garden if you mulch with organic matter such as stable waste, sand for clay gardens, seaweed which is such a boost to our mineral-poor soils, fallen leaves and compost. The worms will breed like mad in the protected soil with such a huge reserve of food. They will mix the soil and the amendments so you don’t have to.

A thick layer of mulch on top of a paper or cardboard layer will kill off any weeds except buttercup which seems to have supernatural powers of endurance. A layer of newspapers six deep should be enough to kill or really slow down most weeds. Paper feed bags and layers of cardboard will certainly kill off most weeds. When the buttercups pop a couple of leaves to the surface, you will find the soil so fluffy that it will be easy to pull these nasty weeds out. Even buttercup will perish if it is placed in a really hot compost pile.

The key to having a very fertile garden is to increase the amount of organic matter in the soil, no matter what sort of soil you are starting with. If you can mulch your garden beds hugely every year, when you are young, when you become old, you can get away with far smaller quantities of mulch which will make your old age much easier. You want to make your gardens look as if they are covered with a feather bed, ten inches tall of compost. It is not too late, nor too cold to do that now. My husband and I just spent part of today mulching our beds.

Another thing to do while you are still young is to build a covered porch for your house. We did and it made our house so much bigger. We have an outdoor bath and a kitchen under the porch. This is an excellent place to bake bread in the summer, take a bath looking at the beautiful sky and trees and to sit outside during a downpour or on a really hot day when you need some shade to be outside.

Shucking Oysters: Virtual Encounters

January 9, 2025

TRIGGER WARNING: The following contains everything you didn’t care to know about sex.

Canadians are assumed to be boring, well-behaved, nice folks. Far from it, when it comes to adult entertainment, we great white northerners are rather adventurous. In fact, worldwide, we all seem to be on the same page when it comes to our private proclivities.

In Pornhub’s 2024 annual report, for the second time in a row, the top search for Canadians was “MILF.” Some may remember back in 2013, during an interview on Courtenay JetFM, a DJ asked then BC premier Christy Clark, what it was like to be a MILF. Ever the professional, Clark responded, “You know, I take that as a compliment…better a MILF than a cougar.” The term was also the top search in several other countries, including the US, the UK, and Spain.

The number two search for Canada was “hentai.” It seems that we aren’t the only ones intrigued by the kinky Japanese cartoon genre, as it was also the most-searched term in the US, Brazil and the Ukraine. And in third place, Canadians searched for “Asian,” bumping the “lesbian” category to fourth.

Some quirky stats: Canadian searches for “dominant woman” grew by a whopping 886%, “big natural chubby” (+764%) and “really old MILF” (+657%). Not sure what this reveals about us, but Germans have similar tastes.

The report did not have data by province, but did have info for US states. For instance, North Dakota searched “lesbian strap on” the most while South Dakota preferred “hot babes.” And for California, the largest state, “friend’s mom” was the winner.

In the most watched category, lesbian was once again, the top choice for Canadians, with MILF in the second spot. We did stand out globally with our viewing tastes, however. The “small tits” category was watched 82% more in Canada than the world average, and “virtual reality” and “red head” also saw a noticeable uptick in popularity.

With no surprise, the US was top of the list for traffic. The sheer amount of US visits to Pornhub was twice as much as both #2 France and #3 Philippines combined (Canada was #10). The endurance award goes to the Mexicans who spent just over 11 minutes per visit, followed by the Netherlands, the US, and Canada. Poland placed lowest at a mere 8 minutes and 35 seconds. Australians enjoy women loving women as well, where “lesbian” was their most viewed category. In the US and many parts of Africa, “ebony” was number one. Across the pond, Greenland was more into watching lesbians and most of Europe were loving the MILF category. Not too surprising, the French were in love with themselves, as was their neighbour in Italy, and Brazil as well. Meaning, for example, to
put it locally, we Islanders only watch “islander” videos like “Busty Hippy Pleasures Her Neighbour.”

And what about women? Not only are women watching porn, but they’re spending 17 seconds longer compared to the guys. Philippine female visitors topped the list again this year, with 59% of the traffic (versus the men at 41%). Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico all had similar viewing ratios of women over men. This could be explained by the culture of machismo in these countries. Hopefully the women were getting some quality time.

In the US, 29% of Pornhub viewers were women. This has remained consistent year after year. Canada, Australia, the UK and Germany had the same percentage, which once again can be explained by our culture. It’s not all about boinking either, women are much more likely to view videos featuring scissoring, cunnilingus, and solo sex. And just to be clear, scissoring does not involve cutting or running naked with.

So, where does artificial intelligence play in all this? A lot. Millions of people are interacting with AI-designed virtual companions online. One company, Replika, has users creating custom digital girlfriends.

No surprise, the clientele are male, Caucasian, and under age 30. The women are catching on, one announced on social media that she had “married” her Replika AI boyfriend, calling the chatbot the “best husband she has ever had.”

Sex doll vendors such as Joy Love Dolls offer interactive real-life sex-bots by mail order, with not only custom breast size, among other preferences, but also “complete control” of features including movement, heating, and AI-enabled “moans, squeals, and even flirting from your doll, making her a great companion.” At the budget level, you can choose Samantha for around $2,000 or if you dare, in the premium category, Kendra Lust, who’s name says it all, for $6,000. One site optimistically explains that buying a sex doll may be a bit of an investment, but “it’s cheaper than a girlfriend!”

Another company, realdoll, only has a selection of five male dolls (versus 41 female) – Michael, Nate, Lucas, Nick and Johnny – who all look, kind of creepy, like drug-addled serial killers. Or you can create your own model (but you’re stuck with the faces). Not for the faint of heart, these silicone pseudo hunks with custom penis attachments can cost over $8,000.

There’s something not quite right about replacing a real human being with a totally submissive lust machine. Can you hear the talk? “I hear Barry has a new girlfriend, but I’ve never seen her.” “Me, neither.
But, he looks happy.”