November 06, 2009- LES, NYC, NY: 2010 NYC Sex Blogger Calendar Release Party

From the Sex Blogger Calendar Blog:

photo by JC, Stark-Arts (C)

Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene

Thank to Disinformation: The Podcast and Out There Radio’s Raymond Wiley for posting this here.

UPDATED: CHROMOSOME DAMAGE! A RANDOM CONVERSATION WITH ROBERT ANTON WILSON

Courtesy of The Frogweb:

JN: In your second volume of autobiography, Cosmic Trigger II, there is a hint of resignation. You say that you would like to be shot into space and listen to Scarlatti. Have you given up on mankind?

RAW: The book was an attempt to present different sides of my personality as they’ve developed in time, and so you get the past mixed up with the present. The past does not always unfold chronologically. It’s the same with ideas – some I held for a long time, some I held for just one afternoon. The book’s an attempt to show that there is no consistent ego. It’s a Buddhist book. So the resignation was just a mood that George Bush Senior put me in around the time of the Gulf War.

Everybody has an area of belief and an area of scepticism –

CSICOP’s dogmas are as rigid as anyone else’s

Anti Pro-Life: The Assassination of Doctor Geoge Tiller and the Tweeting of the Extremist Right

Maybe we can finally do away with the evil phrase “pro-life” after today’s murder…I meant “evil” when used by anti-abortion activists. Especially ones who are so life loving they shoot doctors. At church. – Rachel Kramer Bussel (May 31, 2009).

(Updated late June 02, 2009)

In the Flesh Featuring Passages from Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster

Editor’s Intro:  The latest in the series of the In the Flesh reading series , hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel. This month’s reading includes passages read by Craig Yoe from his new book on Superman co-creator, Joe Shuster, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster.

Rachel Kramer Bussel writes:

IN THE FLESH READING SERIES
THURSDAY, MAY 21ST at 8PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

May’s In The Flesh offers a mix of steamy erotica, real-life sex adventures, and an intriguing look at Superman’s fetish art. Featuring novelist Anna David (Bought, Party Girl), erotica writers Jeremy Edwards (Oysters & Chocolate) and Robin Glasser (My Life as a Concubine), memoirist Suzanne Guillette (Much to Your Chagrin), Blaise K (host, How I Learned Reading Series), and Craig Yoe (Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (The Mile High Club, Do Not Disturb, Spanked). Books will be for sale by Mobile Libris. Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

Editor’s Interlude:  A word from Rachel, Twanna A Hines, Brandy Barber, and Audacia Ray…

Tristan Taormino…

I wish a very happy birthday to Tristan Taormino, the writer of Pucker-Up, a long-time column in the Village Voice, and the awesome book, True Lust, which compiles many of the past articles as well as other essays on human sexuality.  The articles and the book brought great joy to my life as it discussed a wrongfully stigmatized subject in western society in an educational yet witty manner the reflects the experiences of Tristan as  explores these usually marginalized worlds and expresses them to readers.

Me, my friend, and Tristan.

Other readers of her works can impart well wishes to her on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.

Erotic Love Letter Writing Workshop with Rachel Kramer Bussel (Feb 12, tonight at the 92Y Tribeca)

Following from Rachel Kramer Bussel:

My 92nd Street Y Tribeca Erotic Writing Workshop 2/12

Reminder: Just in time for Valentine’s Day (though I promise not to be sappy), I’m teaching Erotic Love Letter Writing/Erotica 101 (covering both steamy love letters and publishing erotica) next Thursday, February 12th, 7-9 pm at the 92nd Street Y. You can also indulge in their special chocolate-covered cherry cocktail; it’s $12 without the cocktail, $17 with.

And I’ll be giving out free condoms (courtesy of Rachel Sarah) and selling copies of my books. Register now! (you can also show up and register same day)

On Hip Hop and Homophobia, “If You Are Homophobic, Then You Are Probably Gay?”

Editor: Below is a compelling yet whimsical article by Johann Hari for the Huffington Post.

“…Listen to any album and a list of homophobic howls will hit you: Eminem squeaking “Hate fags? The answer’s yes!”, or Masse saying “I be wastin’ em. That’s what you faggots get!” The music’s mood was summarised in a 1992 Ice Cube hit: “True niggaz ain’t gay.”

This boom-boom-boom of homo-cidal hate has a crushing effect on gay kids. It sends out the message: you are so repulsive you should be killed. It’s one of several reasons why gay teenagers are still — after all the amazing progress we have made — six times more likely to commit suicide than their straight siblings.

Why do they do it? Why do hip-hop artists — often the victims of bigotry themselves — incite this hatred? For ten years, Terrence Dean was at the heart of the hip-hop scene as a producer at MTV and Warner Brothers. His life is as ghetto as any of the big name artists. His mother was a heroin-addicted, AIDS-infected prostitute whose ‘clients’ held Terrence hostage at gunpoint. His drunken grandmother raised him in the slums of Detroit, and he eventually ended up in prison. When he was released, he headed for Hollywood – and he was amazed to stumble into a gay underworld stocked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop”

Read more.

In the Flesh Returns Jan 15 8:00 PM at Happy Ending Lounge

(C) Molly Crabapple via Rachel Kramer Bussel

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
January 15th, 8 pm – 10 pm
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com
With Jeff Mac (Manslations), J.L. Scott (contributor, Nerve: The First Ten Years), Cristy C. Road (author/illustrator of Bad Habits), Diana Spechler (Who By Fire), and podcaster Mia (\\\”I Want Your Sex\\\”). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Free candy and cupcakes will be served.
FREE, 21+
Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC (F/V 2nd Avenue, look for pink awning)

In the Flesh 2008 Finale This Thursday December 18, 2008 at Happy Ending Lounge LES, Manhattan

Rachel Kramer Bussel wrote:

This Thursday True Sex Confessions Night is back!

Featuring Rachel Resnick (author of the memoir Love Junkie), Neal Boulton (editor of Bastardlife.com), Kiki T. (astrosexologist for TheFrisky.com), playwright Christen Clifford (reading from (What I Know About) My Parents’ Sex Life), and blogger Rex Sorgatz (Fimoculous.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Dating Drama columnist, TheFrisky.com, Editor, Best Sex Writing 2009, Spanked).
Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC (B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue)
FREE, 21_

2009 dates:
January 15, February 19 (with Susie Bright!), March 19, April 16, May 21, June 19, July 17, August 21, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18

Also I\’m DESPERATE for someone to tape this. Pay is $100, which I will bump up to $125 if 2 videos can be uploaded by Monday, payment on delivery. Email me at rachelravenous@gmail.com if interested.

Go here for my Top 10 Reasons to attend:

http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-10-reasons-why-you-want-to-come-to.html

In Memoriam: The NOTORIOUS Betty Page

One of the most celebrated women of the 20th Century, and an inspiration of the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s has left this world.  Bettie Page passed away last night.   When I first saw a picture of Bettie Page during my teenage years I realized I was gazing upon one of the most beautiful women in history.  Thank you for your work Bettie.  Below are official statements:

With deep personal sadness I must announce that my dear friend and client Bettie Page passed away at 6:41pm PST this evening in a Los Angles hospital. She died peacefully but had never regained consciousness after suffering a heart attack nine days ago. She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality. She is the embodiment of beauty.

Statement by Mark Roesler, business agent for Bettie Page

(C) The estate of Bettie Page

UTNE’s 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World

A few weeks ago I posted an article entitled, Generation I Dont Give A Shit. Well here are some folks whom UTNE believes really give a damn:

The People’s ArtistFavianna Rodriguez, political artist, activist

She’s going to make you shout. Favianna Rodriguez’s political poster art packs revolutionary punch, fused with crackling colors and don’t-mess-with-us mojo. “Gentrification = Predatory Development” thunders a billboard in her Oakland, California, hometown. “We Say Hell No!”

In an image-saturated world, Rodriguez’s fearless, frank work is impossible to ignore. “I use art to transform global politics,” Rodriguez says.

As the daughter of immigrants and a woman of color who grew up without many role models in the art world, Rodriguez gives voice to the global community, and, stepping outside of the artist’s traditional frame, she’s building infrastructure for next-generation women. Collaborating, educating, organizing, writing books, public speaking, everything—she says—becomes part of the artist’s work. Celebrating the work of other bold souls is also essential to Rodriguez’s vision. She recently coedited Reproduce & Revolt (Soft Skull, 2008), a collection of stunning revolutionary political graphics designed by global artists—all of which are licensed under Creative Commons, free to reproduce.

“Favi is doing something that is extremely unusual right now—declarative political art,” says Soft Skull editorial director Richard Nash. “The dominant trend in political art has been ironic, subversive, which can be marvelous except for the slightly creepy feeling one can get that the only viewers who get it are the ones who already possess the framing techniques needed to deconstruct it. The ones who get it, already got it.

“Favi’s doing the is-what-it-is thing: gorgeous, direct political statements.”

See Favianna Rodriguez talk about what inspires her:

See, read, and here more.

Shill for Rachel Kramer Bussel’s new book, Spanked

(C) Rachel Kramer Bussel

Watch the Spanked book trailer now!

Get a sneak peek at my July book Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica by reading the introduction here.Want a spanked postcard? (U.S. only) Send your mailing address to spankingantho at gmail.com

Pucker Up Finale: Why People Get Off on the Sex-for-Money Scenario

By Tristan Taormino for the Village Voice

Every year at kinky sex camp, we create a multi-room erotic play-space for attendees, and for one night, each room has a theme. We like to keep things fresh, so we change up the themes every couple of years, but one never seems to go out of style: the Brothel. It’s a modest space with eight stations, each with a bed, a little table, and a flimsy curtain separating it from the next bed, plus a back room with a double bed and a little more privacy (which costs more, natch). We have our own currency at the event (kundalini kash), which campers can win, earn, borrow, and eventually spend. There’s a madam who recruits and organizes the whores, collects kash, matches clients with workers, and generally oversees the place. It’s always the busiest room.

People don’t tire of the sex-for-money fantasy. Actually, there is no one fantasy, but multiple scenarios, dynamics, and roles possible within the brothel setting. I talked to a bunch of this year’s whores (who included men, women, transfolk, and cross-dressers) about what they got out of their experiences. Some said they like being a whore because it’s taboo, naughty, and transgressive; the fact that it’s illegal prevents them from pursuing it in real life. For others, being a sex worker is a longtime fantasy, like Nikki, a newcomer to both the camp and the brothel: “Being paid for sex is an ongoing fantasy of mine. If I had had more confidence in my looks and body, and much less emotional baggage when I was still a young woman, I would have loved to have been a call girl or mistress in my real life.” Nikki said she enjoyed the experience so much—with one client, she had her first orgasm ever in a position she usually can’t come in—that she wants to do it again.

Playing this role can trigger other turn-ons, like having sex with strangers, no strings attached, and no pretense of romance. Mr. G., a fortysomething straight guy from New York, told me: “It creates a ‘container’ for the experience of sex. We’re both there for the same reason. There’s a beginning and an end, and no confusion about our roles once they’re negotiated.” Pink Pet, another whore, agreed: “At a club or even a play party, there is usually a certain amount of small talk and flirting that takes place. Don’t get me wrong—I love flirting, but I also love when that barrier is removed and you can get right to the lust. You can walk right up and suggest what scene you want to do. It’s a way to cut to the chase.”

Read more.

In the Flesh returns Thursday October 16, 2008

IN THE FLESH READING SERIES ORAL SEX NIGHT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16TH at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

Celebrate the joys of giving and receiving-—head, that is-—with the first Oral Sex Night at In The Flesh Reading Series, featuring readings from host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthologies, Tasting Him and Tasting Her. Readers including Tasting Him and Her contributors Tish Andersen, Heidi Champa, Emerald, Tsaurah Litzky, Michelle Robinson and Donna George Storey (author of erotic novel Amorous Woman) as well as Daniel Maurer (author of Brocabulary) and Fiona Zedde (author of Hungry for It and A Taste for Sin, among others), who will also read oral sex-themed work. Books will be available for sale and signing. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Free candy and cupcakes will be served. For more information about Tasting Him and Tasting Her, visit http://tastinghim.wordpress.com and http://tastingher.wordpress.com.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times’s UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, Time Out New York, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

The New York Times’s UrbanEye says:

“Writer and host Rachel Kramer Bussel welcomes eroticism of all stripes, spots and textures to the Happy Ending lounge on the Lower East Side.”

“Take these sexy tales home and let your imaginations loose during your own read-along for two while you and your partner share your wildest sexual fantasies. This is one event that will literally knock your socks off.” — Dr. Ruth

“We’re sure Bussel will only be satisfied if you come again and again.” — Flavorpil

More from Rachel here.

Nina Hartley’s Guide to Pregnant Sex

Her latest movie offers a sex-positive approach to that oft-neglected subject

By Tristan Taormino for the Village Voice.

I flew to Minneapolis last month to celebrate the fifth anniversary of feminist-women-owned sex shop the Smitten Kitten (smittenkittenonline.com). Co-founder and owner Jennifer, with her partner Davis, just had a baby, who was then two and half weeks old. Usually they’re up to their eyeballs in dildo harnesses and butt plugs, but this trip, these two sex activists were all about cloth diapers and breast-feeding. Their baby was one of the most chilled-out infants I’ve ever met—he even slept as we partied at a local lesbian bar! The proud parents were so funny: They asked Penny Flame and Adrianna Nicole—stars of my porn reality series Chemistry and special guests at the store’s big anniversary party—to pose for some pictures with their son for the baby book! I mean, I’m sure there’s a page for “My First Photo With Porn Stars,” right? Several people I know have recently gotten pregnant, and as they pore through resources on every aspect of being knocked up, there’s one topic that’s still challenging to find clear, sex-positive information about: sex.

It makes me think of one of the first essays I read on the subject, in a book by Susie Bright (susiebright.com)—she talks frankly and specifically about some of the sexual changes she experienced while she was pregnant in the ’80s. For one thing, she found she couldn’t masturbate the same way: “I was stunned and a little panicky. My engorged clitoris was different under my fingers; too sensitive to touch my usual way, and what other way was there?” She theorizes that one of the reasons some couples stop having sex during a pregnancy is that they’re unprepared for some of the radical changes: “What happens is that your normal sexual patterns don’t work anymore. Unless you and your lover make the transition to new ways of getting excited and reaching orgasm, you are going to be very depressed about sex and start avoiding it altogether.” But who prepares you to cope with such a dramatic shift in your sex life? It’s not usually part of the typical birthing class, your mom’s advice, or the girl talk at a baby shower.

Finally, two of the most capable names in sex ed have created a resource unlike any other. Nina Hartley (nina.com) and Ernest Greene, her husband and the director of her video series for Adam & Eve, have produced Nina Hartley’s Guide to Great Sex During Pregnancy. As porn-industry veterans, this duo knows well how pregnant women are portrayed in the industry: They’re fetishized as Bare-Assed and Pregnant and Maternity Nymphos. (Notably, they’re also often featured alongside big girls and transwomen in series like Fuck a Freak and Perversions). Pregger porn has become a small but viable niche, but no one has ever represented pregnant women in a sensual and thoughtful way, or treated pregnant sex as anything other than a kinky turn-on. No one has made a video that addresses the many issues of pregnant sex. For the mom-to-be, there are changes to her body, hormone levels, and libido. Some women feel extremely sexy when they’re pregnant, while others struggle with their body image. Everything is in flux, from their sexual desires and fantasies to how responsive their bodies are and what positions are comfortable. Their partners can feel neglected, confused about how to interact with their partners sexually, or ambivalent about sex during the pregnancy.

Lesbian activist Del Martin dies at 87

By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO—Del Martin, a pioneering lesbian rights activist who with her lifelong partner became a symbol for the movement to legalize gay marriage, died Wednesday morning. She was 87.Martin died at a San Francisco hospital two weeks after a broken arm exacerbated her existing health problems, according to Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Her partner of more than 55 years and wife of just over two months, Phyllis Lyon, was with her.

“Ever since I met Del 55 years ago, I could never imagine a day would come when she wouldn’t be by my side,” Lyon, 83, said in a statement Wednesday.

“I also never imagined there would be a day that we would actually be able to get married,” she added. “I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed.”

Martin and Lyon exchanged vows at San Francisco City Hall on June 16, the first day same-sex couples could legally wed in California, after being together for more than half a century.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, who officiated the wedding, singled them out to be the first gay couple to be declared “spouses for life” in the city in recognition of their long relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement.

“The greatest way we can honor the life work of Del Martin, is to continue to fight and never give up, until we have achieved equality for all,” Newsom.

Read more.

Tristan Taormino’s PuckerUp: Vice Tries to Bust Me on the Porn Set

For the Village Voice:

from “Vice Tries to Bust Me on the Porn Set”

Unexpected visitors on the porn set

By Tristan Taormino

…Things had just started to get rolling (i.e., the fucking had commenced) when I looked behind me and saw two men I didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?” I asked quietly, knowing that the performers couldn’t see them from their vantage point and not wanting to disturb the fantastic handjob in progress.

“L.A. Vice,” the one in front responded, and he flashed his badge. It looked pretty real to me. I didn’t want to stop rolling, so I led them away from the bedroom into the dining room.

“Do you have a permit?” the vice cop asked.

“Yes, I do,” I said. “I’m not sure where my production manager is—he must be getting lunch. Um, let me look for it.” I started looking through the production binders somewhat frantically as the officers rolled their eyes at me.

“You’re going to have to stop filming until we see a permit,” the first cop said firmly.

“It’s here somewhere, I swear.” They continued to look skeptical. At this point, they clearly did not believe me…

Read more.

Next In The Flesh August 21st (Tommorrow, Free Event)

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
AUGUST 21st at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

Summer heats up as In The Flesh celebrates the release of host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthology Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, with readings from contributors M. David Hornbuckle, Andy Horwitz, and Madlyn March. Also featured are novelist Jessica Anya Blau (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties), comedian and playwright Julie Klausner (Wasp Cove), erotic poet Monica Day (host of A Taste of Sex) and filmmaker Tony Comstock. Copies of Spanked will be available for sale and the book trailer will be shown. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

Read more.

PuckerUp – Deflower Power: New play recounts sexual encounters of the first kind

Tristan Taormino wrote:

I Iove a good sex survey, so when I arrived with my friend Denise to a preview of the play My First Time,we eagerly filled out the questionnaire left on each seat in the theater: Are you a virgin? How old were you when you lost your virginity? Where were you? What was your partner’s first name? Do you still keep in touch? Did you feel pressured by anyone to lose your virginity? Did you plan your first time? Did you use contraception? How would you describe your first time? Afterward, we swapped cards and read each other’s answers before an usher collected them from us.

My First Time (myfirsttimetheplay.com), which opened July 28 at New World Stages, is billed as “a play in the style of The Vagina Monologues,” where four actors share both brief snippets and detailed stories about first-time sexual experiences without costume changes, props, or sets. The stories are culled from more than 40,000 posts on myfirsttime.com, a website launched in 1998 by Peter Foldy and Craig Paddock. The duo originally created the site to do research for a teen-movie script they were working on, and it quickly became a phenomenon. Ken Davenport, who adapted the play from the site and produced and directed it, told me, “I’ve clipped things out and fixed some grammar, but otherwise not a single word has been changed.”

The stories range from funny and touching to sweet, sexy, and silly to downright disturbing. In fact, the darker tales—of date rape, coercion, and incest—are the most complex and compelling. “It’s one of the very few things that almost every single person has experienced no matter where you come from or where you live,” says Davenport. “To me, it’s a unifying experience. But for so many reasons, it is one we rarely talk about.” He has clearly made a conscious effort to represent a fair amount of diversity, with stories from both straight and queer voices of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities. The two men and two women in the cast embody the imagined identities behind the very personal postings with skill and grace. One actor, Josh Heine, was so convincing in both his recounting of the first time with his cousin’s pretty friend in a basement on a pile of laundry and the first time with a boy he sat next to on the bus ride home from school that I left the theater questioning his sexuality. I was struck by the range of feelings and emotions on display in the narratives: love, hate, lust, curiosity, ambivalence, anger, confusion, denial, anxiety, and hope—all of which we still can experience through sex beyond that first go around.

The most crafty and powerful part of the play was the juxtaposition of two stories: One is by a sweet high schooler telling the story of his girlfriend going to the prom with the boy her parents hope will be her future husband, the bishop’s son. The bishop’s son rapes her in a car and leaves her bruised on the side of the road. The other is told by a sleazy bartender played with a brilliant mix of subtlety and terror by Bill Dawes. The bartender gets his friend’s girlfriend drunk and high and fucks her, even though she clearly says no. This play has the potential to make people not only reflect on their first time, but to see what complicated terrain sex can be. “I thought it would attract a hip young crowd, but the audiences are much more diverse than I expected,” says Davenport. “I have seen families with their teenage daughters, all filling out the survey side by side. Hopefully, the play will start a discussion between parents and kids.”

Read more.

“Sex brings rain to farmers”

Thanks to TiamatsVision @ Technoccult.

Ric Spencer wrote for the West Australian:

It’s been wet lately, hasn’t it? Really wet. So wet, in fact, that two artists got bogged on the way to their opening at Kellerberrin last Saturday, arriving only after being dug out by a few of the locals. Still that’s what you get for cloud busting and playing around with orgone energy.

For the past month in Kellerberrin, David Haines and Joyce Hinterding have been chasing atmospheric phenomena in the way someone else might fish for trout. Through hope, coaxing, and a fair degree of positive thinking, Haines and Hinterding have been siphoning sexual energy into the Wheatbelt. Yes, this is cultish, but don’t be alarmed, it’s all in the name of creating rain.

In the 1940s and 50s in the American State of Maine, Wilhelm Reich was investigating the existence in the atmosphere of what he called “orgone” energy. Reich at one stage was part of Freud’s inner circle in Vienna and many of his psychoanalytical methods are still used today. But in the course of time and on a different continent Reich turned his attention to more esoteric issues and in the process, many would argue, instigated the greatest sexual revolution in human history.

His inquiry into universal sexual energy and its application through something called the orgone accumulator also saw him hounded by the FBI. In the end Reich’s inventions were confiscated, his life’s writings burnt and he died in jail. Something tells me there was more to this man than meets the eye.

As with all good contemporary art, Haines and Hinterding at the International Art Space Kellerberrin Australia (IASKA) is thick with research and high on the sub-culture factor. These two are by no means the only artists in the world interested in Reich’s theories but their application of his ideas is timely and offers more than a tongue-in-cheek look at the esoteric history of art.

What If the Bachelorette Was Polyamorous?

How TV shows represent open relationships—and how they could do better

By Tristan Taormino,for the Village Voice.

I watched The Bachelorette. There, I said it. I’ve always been fascinated by these reality dating shows where one person has multiple girlfriends or boyfriends simultaneously. Not only do all the suitors know about each other, but they live together, and some are even friends. On paper, the setup sounds like a recipe for a progressive vision of non-monogamous relationships. The execution is, well, a little trickier. For example, when 25 women vie for one man’s affection on The Bachelor, I can’t get over the subtext of patriarchal privilege: It always feels like a cross between a never-ending catfight and a bad harem fantasy. But when a new season of The Bachelorette (one girl, 25 guys) returned in May (this was the fourth one, compared to 12 installments of The Bachelor), I was anxious to see if, this time, it might live up to its radical potential. Imagine: an empowered woman with multiple partners, calling the shots!

See, when it comes to open relationships on television, there’s pretty slim pickin’s, starting with the scripted HBO series Big Love, which follows the trials and tribulations of a Mormon family consisting of husband Bill Henrickson, his three wives, and their seven children, all living in suburban Utah. They grapple with living in a non-traditional relationship, being in the closet about it, and clashing with their crazy relatives—most of whom live on a cult-like fundamentalist compound full of child brides in prairie dresses. The interactions here are often complex and nuanced, and can even resonate with people who identify as polyamorous. However, it’s all framed in the context of a controversial religious practice. I’d love the show a lot more if they got rid of the Mormonism and the wacky fundamentalists. But then it would probably last 10 minutes.

Read more.

Sex, love, art, and pornoterroristas in Spain

By Tristan Taormino

Is pornography a universal medium? Does sex speak a common language? I contemplated these questions last week when I presented a history of alternative porn in the United States at “PornoPunkFeminism: Queer Micro-Politics and Subaltern Pornographies,” a conference held at Arteleku (arteleku.net), an art center just outside San Sebastian, Spain. It was a four-day event of multimedia presentations and performances by artists, filmmakers, performers, and activists from around the world. The theme centered around the concept of “post-porn,” a term coined by artist Wink van Kempen. “Post-porn” is defined by feminists and artists as sexually explicit work that critiques dominant representations of gender and sexuality and creates a politicized space for alternative, subversive imagery. As conference coordinator B. Preciado explained it: “This event takes post-pornography as a place where three political movements providing a cultural critique converge: feminism, the queer movement, and punk.”

Del LaGrace Volcano (dellagracevolcano.com) is a gender-variant visual artist whose pioneering photography has documented lesbians, punks, transpeople, genderqueers, and other outsiders in stunning, often sexually explicit photos. Volcano presented work from his latest book, Femmes of Power, where he and co-author Ulrika Dahl profile dozens of people around the world who embody queer femininities. He also showed his classic smut film, Pansexual Public Porn, which follows the adventures of several transmen having sex in a popular gay cruising spot in England.

Annie Sprinkle and her partner, Beth Stephens, presented a stunning retrospective of their individual and collective work over the past 30 years, which has ranged from Sprinkle’s famed Public Cervix Announcement to Stephens’s sexually charged multimedia exhibits. In 2004, they began a seven-year performance-art piece together, Love Art Laboratory (loveartlab.org), which culminates each year in a huge wedding. Because Sprinkle’s work originated in porn and has become increasingly about love, she challenged the audience with the questions: “Is there a place in porn for love? Is love the last taboo?”

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