When sex doesn't sell

Why the nation's sex writers are getting pink slips

"These are scary times for sex writers," said Tracy Clark-Flory in Salon. One publication after another has fired star columnists, including The Village Voice's Tristan Taormino and Valleywag's Melissa Gira Grant. Blame the recession—"friends, these are not sexy times."

So, sex doesn't sell after all, said Violet Blue in the San Francisco Chronicle. Gawker media has stripped its porn blog Fleshbot down to a "skeleton crew" because it wasn't bringing in enough money. "Just because something has sex in it, or it's about sex, doesn't necessarily mean that it will automatically be a success."

Sex doesn't always sell, said Steve Hall in the AdRants blog, especially when it's used as a "lame cop-out" for creativity. But it plays a big role in advertising because people respond to it. That hasn't changed and never will, "as long as humans are having sex with each other."