Village Voice Axes Tristan Taormino Column

Citing company-wide budget cuts, Village Voice editor Tony Ortega informed Taormino on Friday that her column would cease. Taormino’s column was syndicated throughout the other alt-weeklies that fall under the Village Voice Media banner.

“I believe him simply because the economy sucks, as we know,” Taormino told XBIZ. “The physical paper has been getting smaller because there is less advertising and the other big conglomerate of alternative-weeklies filed for bankruptcy.”

For Taormino, her bi-weekly column represented a way to stay plugged into the sex community for ideas and inspiration; it was the longest continuous job she’s had with the same company. Taormino’s also an accomplished author of four books, the latest is Opening Up: Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, published earlier this year.

“For me [my column] was a way to stay connected to the pulse of sex in the country,” Taormino said. “Because I had to come up with a topic every other week, which isn’t as easy as it sounds, it really forced me to be up on everything that was going on whether it was an event, trend, or some figure in the sex industry that was really interesting.”

Taormino has received a few offers to continue “Pucker Up” but is undecided about future publication of the column.

Staying busy has never been a problem for Taormino, though. She’s currently writing two new books for Quiver Press, a publisher of “how to” sex books illustrated with full-color softcore photos. Taormino’s first book will cover anal sex positions and the second one is titled “The Sex Toy Bible.”

Tied into her book on anal sex positions, Taormino proudly said she’s named a favorite position of hers that doesn’t have a popularized name. The position is when the person receiving the anal penetration lies flat on their stomach and the person giving it lays flat on top of them.

It’s called ‘tailgating’!” Taormino said. “It evokes a lot; it’s actually a surfing term from the surfer lying flat on their board as they paddle out. The giver also can extend their arms to thrust more, which I call ‘power tailgating.’ Or they could just lay flat and rock back and forth a little more instead of thrusting.”