Terri-Jean Bedford, a woman titling herself Canada's most famous dominatrix, has launched a constitutional challenge with three other sex-workers and Allan Young, a law professor from Osgoode Hall, to repeal three provisions of the Criminal Code dealing with sex work.

The three provisions have to do with the ban on bawdy houses, communication with potential clients and living in the avails of prostitution. At the heart of this protest against these provisions are concerns over the safety of sex-workers and, in a statement by the group known as the Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), "the provisions challenged in this application operate to deny sex workers safe legal options for the conducting of legal business".

After all, prostitution is legal in Canada, as long as it's of the independent outcall variety, but this places the onus on the individual woman to ensure her own safety while simultaneously acknowledging the current laws.

A popular theme with sex advice columnists is the heretofore "vanilla" individual who, having experienced some new twist on their regular sexual adventures, has their panties in a knot over how this will affect their relations with their partner of choice.

It's easy to make light of the idea of confessing some sexual perversion to one's partner in the abstract but it's an entirely different thing to confess that there's nothing you'd like better than to piss in your loved one's mouth, for example. After all, you have no idea how they'll react and many a newly-uncovered a kink has been the end of a previously-perfect relationship.

Me, I always enjoyed these accounts but I figured I knew myself pretty well. After all, I was 27 years-old and had presumably progressed beyond my college days to embrace the well-oiled sexual practices of the post-grad. I was no longer "figuring things out" (or at least I thought not).

I've lived in Toronto for seven years and have moved through a dozen or so social circles in my time here. Things are generally tight and without prodding, most groups tend to avoid long-term co-mingling. People move in and out but a core group tends to remain.

I've also had my share of fun and several relationships but I've noticed a distinct shift in terms of whom I choose to get closer with. Most of my hook-ups are close friends that I've known for awhile. While I've dated some of them briefly, all of them are people I feel comfortable with.

According to the ever-useful NOW Magazine Love and Sex Guide "35 percent of men and 39 percent of woman" identify as single while engaging in sexual relations with a friend.

Allowing for the demographics of those who cared to respond to the survey, that's still a substantial number.

Photo: "Contact @ MOCCA" by Peter Grevstad, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Friday May 09th, 2008:

With oil prices up to $125 a barrel, the price at the pump will correspondingly be raised to a rather steep $1.25 per litre. I remember when it used to be only 79 cents... it was only a matter of time before we fell in line with the rest of the world.

Parents (and fiscally-responsible taxpayers everywhere) are shocked after a government report showed that Catholic School Board trustees were living high on the hog and claiming excessive personal expenses to the overall tune of $1 million. A $100,000 average per official suggests they're claiming more than just travel expenses and health benefits.

Photo: "Cleaners" by Metrix X, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Thursday May 8th, 2008:

After much hemming and hawwing plans to open an Africentric high school will come to fruition by 2010.

Need another reason to quit driving? Hundreds of dump trucks are planning a protest that will see large portions of Toronto's highways tied up as part of an effort to improve their wages and working conditions.

Photo: "crystal palace" by jhccheng, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Tuesday May 06, 2008:

In a move that will piss off drinkers everywhere, we can expect to see beer prices rise $2-$3 more per case over the year. It's one thing that they raise gas prices but when my personal fuel becomes more expensive, I start to question exactly why I'm living here (and just as beer was becoming so much more interesting in Ontario).

Buyer beware if you're thinking about buying a condo around Yonge & Sheppard: City councillors in North York voted to provide a warning to would-be residents concerning the massive traffic gridlock in the area that has experienced rapid growth as of late.