Well into my thirties, I was lucky enough to have friends with whom I could talk about anything. Anything—except the subjects of porn and masturbation. It had always been that way for me, outside of a few explosive arguments with ex-partners. The rest of the time we didn’t talk about it because we didn’t need to, because everyone was cool with it—or so our silence seemed to be saying. Except I was fairly clear that beneath this facade, I wasn’t cool with it—I’d almost never had conversations about porn, and because I hadn’t worked out my feelings and thoughts, I felt terrified to even begin. This seemed to indicate that I needed to bite the bullet and talk about it, and I imagined that other people probably did too.

So, over the course of 2020, when many of us were at home, I began to speak with friends and acquaintances on the topic of porn, recording and transcribing our conversations. Initially, I thought that if I published the chats at all, I would somehow incorporate them into essays—a safer and more literary and urbane strategy. Over time, I came to understand that these were conversations that needed to be presented as they were—in part to convince other people of the benefits of speaking about porn, and to give an insight into what those conversations could actually look like in practice. What follows are extracts from three of the nineteen porn chats I had.

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“Don’t back down, double down”. Aleksandar Mitrović appears to have been following the advice of Limmy this weekend. Was the incident even that bad? Chris Sutton thinks it was, so we probably have to disagree.

Today Marcus, Vish, Jim and Pete relive a weekend in which football seemed to malfunction and the end result was glorious chaos. Vish questions whether an Arsenal-supporting AI bot has taken over Antonio Conte and we hoot with delight at the thought of Roy Hodgson returning to his Selhurst Park nest. We're also concerned for Fizzer now that the Kim Kardashian curse could be coming to Miami. You don’t want to miss this.

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Former Crystal Palace star Clint Morrison has discussed William Saliba’s presence in the Arsenal team.

The Gunners face Palace in their next game and the Eagles will play the league leaders days after their manager was sacked.

Everton defeated Arsenal after changing managers earlier in the season to show that the new manager bounce is real.

Palace could also do that and Morrison believes it could be a problem for Arsenal if Saliba misses the game.

He told Premier League Productions:

Gabby Agbonlahor does not believe Ben White is good enough to be Arsenal’s main right-back, but the former attacker is also not convinced by Denzel Dumfries, who has been linked with a move to the Emirates.

The Inter Milan wing-back is one of the finest in Europe, but he is used to playing on the wings in a three-at-the-back system.

Arsenal plays with four at the back, with White playing as their right-back for much of this season and the defender has done well.

But he does not convince Agbonlahor, who continues to insist the defender is not good enough. He has again urged Arsenal to find someone better.

He tells Football Insider:

Moises Caicedo was the subject of transfer interest from Arsenal in January and the Gunners are reportedly still keen on signing him.

The Ecuador international has signed a new contract at Brighton, which should discourage Arsenal from thinking about his signature.

However, that hasn’t been the case and the Gunners look set to reignite their interest in the 21-year-old at the end of the season.

But former Scottish player Tam McManus says it makes no sense for them to spend up to £90million on his services because he will not even be the first choice at the Emirates.

He tells Football Insider:

Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish insists the mood at the club is good ahead of their match against Arsenal after Patrick Vieira was sacked as the club’s manager.

Veira was booted out after his team’s winless 2023 continued, pushing them closer to the relegation spots.

The Eagles had a good start to the season but have not been in great shape in the last few months, which cost the former Arsenal midfielder his job.

Mikel Arteta’s side has just been eliminated from the Europa League and is expected to get back to winning ways in the game.

This means Palace is facing another tough test, yet Parish insists the mood is good at Selhurst Park.

Arsenal lost William Saliba to injury in their penalty shootout defeat to Sporting Club in the Europa League.

The Gunners remain the leading club in the Premier League and can now turn their attention towards winning the competition as they have no other commitments.

Their next game will be against managerless Crystal Palace and it is the first of their must-win games between now and the end of the season.

The Gunners will want to field their best players in the fixture and one man their fans want to see on the field is Saliba.

However, the French defender is still a doubt and a report in the Daily Mail claims Arsenal is still sweating over his fitness ahead of the game.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill Friday prohibiting abortion pills, making it the first state to ban abortion medication independent of an overall ban on abortion. Separate legislation, which Gordon did not sign but allowed to become law, put a near-total abortion ban into place. 

The majority of abortions are performed with medication. Wyoming’s only clinic exclusively performs medication abortion and would be shut down by the new law, which goes into effect in July. Thirteen other states have bans on the medication, but also ban all abortions. Another 15 states have partially restricted access to the pills. 

While the law wouldn’t affect doctors and clinics outside of Wyoming, the state does control who can offer online medical care to residents. That means it could limit their ability to get the medication through telehealth or Internet mail-order. (The law does not go as far as legislation pending in Texas which would make it a crime to host, create, or manage a website that provides information about or access to abortion medication.) 

The abortion restrictions which Gordon allowed to become law without his signature would make performing the procedure a felony, leaving only narrow exceptions for cases involving rape, incest, or threat to the mother’s life. In a letter accompanying his signature on the medication bill, Gordon wrote that he “acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law.”

Earlier this week, a federal judge in Texas heard arguments in a case to ban the medication mifepristone, which is one of two drugs used in medical abortions—and which is banned by Wyoming’s new law. In that case, a Christian legal group has asked the judge to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug for use in medical abortions, saying the FDA didn’t consider all side effects when it approved it 23 years ago. The judge, a conservative Donald Trump appointee, appeared open to the idea and is poised to issue a ruling that could include a nationwide ban any day.