All of the photographs in this NSFW Sunday are courtesy of Substantia Jones and The Adipositivity Project. They have been used with permission. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the model’s gender identity or sexual orientation. If you’re a photographer or model and think your work would be a good fit for NSFW Sunday, please email carolyn at autostraddle dot com.

Welcome to NSFW Sunday! In case you missed it in the excerpt and are somewhere that looking at nipples is not okay for some reason (?): this post contains nipples.

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ Bodies, pleasure and sex are powerful. In an interview at Bitch, one of Adrienne Maree Brown’s sex toys (not a typo) notes:

“[F]or so long pleasure has been controlled and vilified, which I think is because it’s actually so powerful. To know that you can access, in your own body, that kind of liberation and wholeness and being fully present right here, right now—it’s so much easier to dominate people who don’t know how to access their own pleasure.

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ New STIs are spreading, so make sure you have an idea of how to bring up safer sex practices and your status, regardless of what it is, with sex partners:

“The best way to go is straightforward, and do it before things go too far. The other person might even appreciate it: There are a lot of people who have had bad sex ed or immature attitudes about sex out there, and you’re going to have to arm yourself to combat that, and they might actually be glad they’re being taken along for the responsible ride.

When asking about someone’s status, I find that it’s often less awkward if you reveal something about yourself first. If you think you’re going to have sex that night, I think it’s safe to say something like, “The type of protection I want to use is a condom because I’ve had XYZ in the past—how about you?” Or, “Hey, my last STI test was X amount of time ago and I came up clean, how about you?” It can seem intimidating, but being up front communicates to your partner that you’re responsible and you care.”

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ Is making dental dams look sexier (and go hands-free) the answer to getting people to use them?

+ Everything is relative and the arc of knowledge is long and we will look back on this, our modern age, and laugh, but sex ed tests in 1957 were wild. And regardless of what kids today are up to, their parents are failing at teaching them sex ed.

+ If you wear makeup, when do you take it off in front of someone you’re dating?

+ Breaking up kindly and mindfully is possible.

+ Let’s be real: crushes are nightmares no matter your zodiac sign.

+ The San Francisco Armory has ended its era of adult filmmaking.

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ “Most hang-ups are about the perception we have about what everyone is doing, what everyone else wants, and what we believe our bodies should do based on goals and expectations that are usually not our own,” sex coach Dawn Serra tells Bustle. So how do you get over those hang-ups during sex? Remember it’s okay to feel safe, your body is awesome, it’s good to explore, don’t focus on orgasms, and engage with things that make you feel good about yourself instead of bad.

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ You want your partner more when you think they want you less, according to a recent study:

“Oxytocin—released during sex and other intimate moments, it’s also known as the ‘cuddle chemical’—may play a couple of different roles in romantic relationships. One theory is that oxytocin has to do with the honeymoon stage of a relationship; it’s released early on in and helps two people bond. A second theory suggests that the hormone is released when there are perceived threats in a relationship.

In an effort to reconcile these findings, researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of New Mexico, proposed a new theory: That the brain releases oxytocin when ‘cues of relationship vulnerability combine with emotional engagement in the relationship,’ they write. In short, oxytocin may actually be a ‘crisis hormone.’”

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

+ The photos in this week’s NSFW Sunday are part of The Adipositivity Project, a photography series created by New York photo-activist Substantia Jones that she tells Autostraddle is “best described as feminism, fuckyouism, fat.” The project turns ten years old on June 17. “My original intent was to change the minds of the general public, but once I began hearing from people, I realized fat people themselves were also in need of some encouragement, and freedom to revel in their bodies without the glare of judgment. So major changes happened pretty quickly,” says Jones. And then?

“Over the years I observed how people respond to those whom they view as aesthetically pleasing, and how what one finds aesthetically pleasing can be altered through repeated positive exposure to it. I was inspired by my attitude toward my own fat body, and feeling that attitude soften when I began making nude photographs of myself, lovingly, but honestly. I’ve since discovered that this is universal. The most effective way to normalize non-conforming bodies in your mind is simply by looking at them. Not turning away, not allowing our rigid Western beauty ideals to infect us. Just keep looking at photos of unapologetic fat people until your own apologies fade.”

Jones continues:

“We appear to be in a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ cycle regarding acceptance of non-conforming bodies. I’m pleased with the many positive changes which have come about in the last ten years. Folks’ awareness of body shaming and homophobia is a big improvement. But we’re still battling widely accepted sizeism fuelled by the monstrous weight loss industry, the business model of which requires that we hate our bodies, and encourage others to hate theirs, as well. And those whose bodies make them targets for ridicule and violence must live in very real fear, even in big cities like NYC.

My hope is for full-out visibility, normalization, and acceptance of all bodies. You don’t have to love mine. You don’t even have to love your own. But you must accept our right to exist. And to be… everywhere.”

Visit The Adipositivity Project, also on Facebook and Twitter. Jones also runs Uppity Fatty and www.fatpeopleflippingyouoff.com, and encourages submissions to both.

Photo credit: Substantia Jones of The Adipositivity Project

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