TED Community » Amanda Raynor

About Me

I write erotic fiction and commentary (under my maiden name Amanda Fox) with notable publications online for "The Erotic Woman" and "Cleansheets Magazine" and in print in Violet Blue's "Sweet Love" and Maxim Jakubowski's "The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 9".

My newest endeavor is my relationship column entitled "TheFurFiles". While it is a humorous take on human sexuality and relationships, I feel that it is more of a social commentary than anything else. I plan to use it as a platform to raise money for many of the charities I support. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this yet, but that is the plan.

I have a degree in anthropology and philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, a partial degree in Architecture from Carleton University and a teaching degree from The University of Ottawa.

I am the mother of three rambunctious and precocious teens and the wife of a very busy husband (married 20 years +) who doesn't like when I talk about him on the Internet. OK, I won't say anything else, dear. I also am a fitness fanatic, having worked in the fitness industry for fifteen years.

Location:
Canada, Ottawa
Current role:
writer
Gender:
Female
Areas of expertise:
Fitness, health, sport & recreation, education
I am:
Activist, Agnostic, Artist, Athlete, Blogger, Care taker, Environmentalist, Global soul, Philanthropist, Writer/Editor
Associations:
YMCA
My website links:
TheFurFiles, Foxtales
Universities:
Ottawa University, University of Western Ontario, Carleton University, Ottaw
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More About Me

I'm passionate about

fitness, health, eating well, fashion, design, architecture, music, movies, relationships, philanthropy, animals

Comments

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  • A comment on Conversation: Top Movies and why they inspire us?

    Apr 8 2011: To me, the best movies are the ones that twist your gut or stimulate your brain or warm your heart or set your soul on fire.

    Here are a few of my fav's.

    21 Grams - heart-wrenching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZXR9ZrRR2c
    A Single Man - stunning Colin Firth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aypyJtHzC70
    Don't Move - one of Penelope Cruz's best performances. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sSyxF_GUQc
    City of God - eye-opening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJdW1TevoyA
    Red Road - Andrea Arnold rocks! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfy6UpAXKQ
    The Killer Inside Me - disturbing but very well done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U2LUsfeMwg
    Up - a must see! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkqzFUhGPJg

  • A comment on Conversation: Does sharing ideas change minds?

    Apr 6 2011: I agree with Max in that innovation comes in cycles. We humans are creatures of habit and for many of us, change (both in action and thought) is very difficult. Little bits of information, possibly from many different sources, may be what sways us to change out mind about something. If one person says that it's a good idea to eat prunes for breakfast everyday, it may not be enough to make a person change from eating bacon. But if all of your friends say that eating prunes is a good idea, you just might try it. And the more ideas spread, the more this can happen.

    For the record, whenever I am going out for a night on the town, I ask my husband what I should wear. "Should I wear the red dress or the black pantsuit?" I say as an example. He says, "I think you should wear the red dress." And I ALWAYS end up wearing the black pantsuit LOL. Not sure what that means...

  • A reply on Conversation: What do people see for the future in terms of relationships and sexuality?

    Apr 5 2011: I agree that with all this new technology, we are obliged to get better at managing multi-relationships. I do think sometimes people may be stretching themselves too thin though. More isn't always better, but try telling a teenager that, right? Interesting about the video. Certainly, our relationship circles tend to involve more people these days. I think we live in a world where we take what we can even if we don't need it and discard things too easily. We are bored easily and I think technology, as great as it is, plays a role in this. Just my opinion though.

  • A reply on Conversation: What do people see for the future in terms of relationships and sexuality?

    Apr 5 2011: I'm in the business of asking questions LOL or answering them anyway. And I think you are right, people don't talk about sex as easily as they may talk about their favourite book. I think the younger generation - i.e. university age and twenties - may have an easier time of it. I agree that it is probably not the nature of people that changes, just access to finding people of like mind. Life does seem busy. I know it is hard these days to even sit down to have dinner together let alone spend some quality romantic time. There are many distractions - phone, television, iPod, iPad, laptop, etc. I think sometimes it would probably be easier to have sex with a robot, though I do feel if we sway too far away from each others as individuals, that the pendulum is destined to come back. We are social animals and we do need each other.

  • A reply on Conversation: What do people see for the future in terms of relationships and sexuality?

    Apr 5 2011: What changes have I myself seen in the past 20 years. Well, the ease with which one can access sex (or virtual sex) for one thing - porn now comes at the touch of a button. You don't have to seek it out anymore. It comes to you pretty much. As well, exposure to sexual acts at a much younger age and exposure to sexual activities that go way beyond what is conventional. I think my kids may know more about what people do in the bedroom that I do. It seems to be much more overt. It IS much more overt. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? A little of both I guess. Definitely changing.

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