• Live@HOPE, Monochrom’s Grenzfuthner: "The future is like the Jetsons, plus rape" | Gizmodo – Arse Elektronika, a conference about technology and sex, came screaming into the world. "It was true," says Grenzfuthner. Everything he's seen in three years has confirmed that we do use sex to drive tech. "Mankind is a tool-using species and a sexual species and we can't forget that," he says, "Innovation has always been tied to porn." He went on to say that Gutenberg supported his bible printing habit with the next thing he printed—pornographic texts.
• Orgasm Just by Thinking: Is it Medically Possible? – Health Blog – CBS News – Carrellas is featured in a new "Strange Sex" series on TLC, but her brand of sexual pleasure may not be as strange as one might think. Researchers at Rutgers University have been studying the mind-body-sex connection, and have found that there seems to be documented evidence of Carrellas' claims. They put her in an MRI, had her "think off" and found that the parts of her brain that should light up when she climaxes did just that.
• Child sex abuse and women’s ordination: the Vatican’s immoral equivalency | Washington post – You can now be defrocked for raping a child or for conferring Holy Orders on a woman.

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• Grab Your Dick and Double Click : Librarian Hot – It should come as no surprise that I really enjoyed the Blue and Lust books, while I wanted to throw the Jensen and Paul books across the room (or out the window, or off of a really big cliff). I do agree with them about a few things: for one, that pornography addiction is real, and it can cause serious damage to relationships (as can, of course, any addiction or compulsive behavior). I also agree that most mainstream porn is indeed extremely misogynistic. But do you know what I find even more demeaning to women? Anti-porn crusaders’ tired gender essentialism arguments.
• How the Media Should Treat the Sexual Assault Allegations Against Al Gore | The Nation – A handful of feminist blogs, including Feministing, precede me in decrying the media's haste to impugn the credibility of the accuser. As they rightly observe, almost all other media coverage of the story has given the rest of us permission to giggle, when what we really need is a sober dose of reality: that these are credible charges against a very powerful and influential man. It's in our shared interest to take them seriously, evaluate them based on whatever information comes to light and demand answers and accountability.
• The New Abortion Providers – NYTimes.com – This abortion-rights campaign, led by physicians themselves, is trying to recast doctors, changing them from a weak link of abortion to a strong one. Its leaders have built residency programs and fellowships at university hospitals, with the hope that, eventually, more and more doctors will use their training to bring abortion into their practices. The bold idea at the heart of this effort is to integrate abortion so that it’s a seamless part of health care for women — embraced rather than shunned.
• For Women, Social Media is More Than "Girl Talk" | Mashable – It turns out that sociolinguists have found women to be innovators when it comes to communication, especially with new forms of languages. … The practical benefits that social media affords, combined with its emotionally fulfilling features make it likely that women will not only continue to engage with social media, but with future related innovations, as well.

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Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp
Northern Maryland
September 15-20, 2010

Imagine a vacation that brings together sexuality, spirituality, education, and play in a fun, diverse environment where fantasy becomes reality.

Dark Odyssey: Summer Camp 2010, a journey of sexual exploration for the spiritual and creative sex-positive communities returns for its seventh year. It will be held at a secluded, two hundred acre retreat in Northern Maryland. Our mission is to cross-pollinate ideas and concepts between groups of individuals who desire to explore different areas of alternative sexuality.

The event, from September 15-20, 2010 will feature dynamic workshops taught by top-notch sex educators, relationship experts, SM masters, and spiritual teachers from around the world, including:

• Amy Jo Goddard
• Barbara Carrellas
• Bear
• Bobby
• Dr. Ruthie
• Felice Shays
• Ignacio Rivera
• Lady Hilary and The Marine
• Lolita Wolf
• Marcia Baczynski
• Mark Frazier
• Mark Michaels & Patricia Johnson
• Nina Hartley
• Not That Don
• Phonenix B.
• Reid Mihalko & Allie Moon
• Sarah Sloane
• Sharrin Spector
• Sir C
• SwitchMe
• Tristan Taormino
• Wintersong Tashlin

Descriptions of all workshops and events are online now! In addition to workshops, Dark Odyssey features creative social activities, nightly special events, erotic rituals, lakeside bonfires, the Sex-O-Rama playspace, and a 10,000 square foot fully equipped dungeon open for play around the clock.

All this happens in a fun camp environment at a retreat with great accommodations: forty cabins with real beds, full bathrooms, hot water showers, electricity and great centrally located swimming pool; plus, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight snack included.

Unlike a typical conference event, where you have to pay for registration fees, hotel room costs, plus meals, Dark Odyssey is an all-inclusive event. Weekend rates range from $365 to $445 depending on when you register, and if you are a member of a participating group. Early registration rates are good through August 1st. Remember that Summer Camp SOLD OUT last year in record time, so sign up today!

(Remember, readers of this blog are entitled to a participating group discount.)

Dozens of community organizations have signed on as participating groups in Dark Odyssey, and we add new groups every day. Check the website to see if your group is one of them, and you’ll be entitled to a registration discount. If your group would like to be added to this list, please contact greg@darkodyssey.com

Visit our website, http://www.darkodyssey.com for more details. We hope you will join us for this exciting event!

Best Regards,

The Producers of Dark Odyssey:
Greg, Tristan, Karri, and Colten
For more information:
http://www.darkodyssey.com

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There’s a new group in town call NYC Submissive Society. Their first monthly meeting is with guest host Eric Pride on Thursday.

Also Thursday night is Lip Service, a pansexual kissing and cocktails party.

On Friday night, submissive women are invited to preview and critique a new movie, Absolute Trust. 6pm at the LGBT Center.

Looks like there is a new bi-monthly play party in town: Wicked NYC. Saturday night. This is in the space where LSM had their Leather Pride party – really nice.

Sunday night is Suspension! You can play outside on the roof!

Monday night, check out The Pleasure Chest‘s free class: Blow Jobs and Beyond.

Tuesday night at TES, it’s a Hands-On evening of Sensation & Deprivation.

Corey Alexander presents “You Don’t Just Do It Once: Ongoing Relationship Negotiation in Polyamory” at TES on Wednesday night.

James Deen and Cali Lakai on sexandsubmission.com

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SMOOTH HOTEL features Barbara Nitke‘s provocative photographs of chic people misbehaving in anonymous hotel settings. The photography series is in collaboration with New York fashion designers Tom and Linda Platt. You can see it at 69 Gansevoort Street, NYC through August 22, 2010.

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To celebrate our 7th birthday,  For The Girls is holding an erotic film competition. Our aim is to discover new short films that depict an erotic subject from a female point of view.

THE FEMALE GAZE

The “gaze” is a term used to describe the way visual depictions present people and situations from a gendered perspective. Almost all mainstream movies and porn is presented with a male gaze; it assumes the audience is male and the camera acts like a man’s eye, looking at things as a man would.

The female gaze is the opposite. Films and photos shot using the female gaze speak to a female audience and depict a woman’s perspective.

Our short film competition aims to encourage the female gaze in erotic film.

THE COMPETITION

We are seeking original high quality short films up to 10 minutes in length that offer an erotic experience from a female perspective. Films do not have to be explicit but should deal with erotic or sexual themes in some way. Ideally we want to see arousing, thought-proving and moving films that capture a woman’s experience of sex or sexuality.

Entries don’t have to be made by professionals. First-time filmmakers are welcome. We are happy to see submissions from anyone with a desire to create good female-friendly erotic art.

Films should feature the official signature item, the number 7, in some way. The signature item can be peripheral or central to the story but it must be present in some form in order for the film to be eligible.

There are no fees to enter this competition.

THE PRIZES

First Prize is US$400 and a screening of the winning film at Cinekink Film Festival in New York in 2011.

Second Prize is US$100.

The top 5 films will also go onto Cinekink for automatic consideration in that festival.

The two winning films will feature prominently within the member’s area of For The Girls. We will also consider non-exclusively licensing other entries for use within the site.

DEADLINE

The Female Gaze erotic film competition officially opens on Monday June 14, 2010

Final deadline for entries is Monday, August 16, 2010

Winners will be announced on Monday August 30, 2010

More information: http://www.thefemalegaze.com/

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• N.Y.U. Doesn’t Want Film of Larry Rivers’s Naked Daughters – NYTimes.com – After it came to light last week that films and videotapes made by the artist Larry Rivers included footage of his two daughters naked, New York University informed his foundation that it did not want those materials included as part of the archive it was purchasing, said John Beckman, a spokesman for N.Y.U.<br />
  <br />
  That leaves the question of what to do with the films and tapes, which are now in the hands of the Larry Rivers Foundation and which Mr. Rivers’s younger daughter, Emma Tamburlini, wants turned over to her and her sister, Gwynne Rivers. Mr. Rivers died in 2002.
• Buttman v. The Man: D.C.’s First Big Obscenity Trial in Decades Fails to Determine the Obscenity of Milk Enemas – The Sexist – Washington City Paper – But after the trial, jurors were more concerned with what wasn’t in Milk Nymphos: Violence. Rape. Bestiality. Kids. “These people were adults and they were willing. No one put a gun to their head,” Crawford said. “Had they brought a child out in pampers, then we would have been like, hell no,” Mordecai added. In opening arguments, the defense emphasized that the only entity forcing anyone to watch porn is the government. “The movies are not—and are not meant to be—distributed to these 14 strangers sitting in a federal courthouse,” defense attorney Paul Cambria said. The films feature “adults putting on a performance…for another adult, who would make that choice [to watch it] if that were his or her cup of tea.”
• Stagliano Case: A Pyrrhic Victory? « Blogging Censorship – Not prepared to alienate anybody, Holder told a panel of congressmen that he will pursue, with limited resources, obscenity cases that have the “greatest potential for harm” while being aware of First Amendment considerations.
• District To Pay Lesbian Teen $35K Over Prom Dispute : NPR – A school district in rural Mississippi that canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the ACLU filed on her behalf.

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Location: Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, NYC 10002  (Pink awning says “Xie He Health”)
Cost: FREE

We hope to see you August 4th at the Happy Ending Lounge. We’re there the first Wednesday of every month. This event is free.

The Pleasure Salon has been created to build community, allowing sex-positive activists to cross-pollinate. Our gatherings bring together members of the BDSM, swinger, alternative gender, LGBTQ, sex-activist, sex educator, nudist, sex-magic, polyamory, Pagan, radical faerie, tantra, dark odyssey, sex-blogger, porn, pervert and sex-worker communities, and others whose passion is sex. (Let us know if we missed any one of you!) Through building networks in the sex-positive community, The Pleasure Salon hopes to help create a sex-positive world. It is a place for the open exchange of ideas and sensual expression.

Join us in building New York’s pleasure positive community, and bring your like-minded friends to this social gathering. The Pleasure Salon embraces respect, acceptance, and non-judgmental support in this public space.

When you RSVP, include your web address or something about yourself, so we can learn more about each other, but please don’t promote any specific events or email other guests.

In pleasure,
Patricia Johnson, Selina Fire & Mark Michaels

Evite: http://bit.ly/9krqe9
Facebook: http://bit.ly/aE81Cr
Fetlife: http://fetlife.com/events/24075

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• Samuel Steward’s Life in ‘Secret Historian’ – NYTimes.com – When the author Justin Spring finally tracked down the executor of Samuel Steward’s estate, he had no idea what this sexual outlaw and little-known literary figure had left behind after his death in 1993…So he was taken unawares by the 80 boxes full of drawings, letters, photographs, sexual paraphernalia, manuscripts and other items, including an autograph and reliquary with pubic hair from Rudolph Valentino, a thousand-page confessional journal Steward created at the request of the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, and a green metal card catalog labeled “Stud File,” which contained a meticulously documented record on index cards of every sexual experience and partner — Rock Hudson, Thornton Wilder, “One-eyed Sadist” — that Steward said he had had over 50 years.
• Interrogating Sexual Intentions on Mad Men | Cory Silverberg – Whatever the season brings I plan to follow Don's lesson about sex to Peggy; "Sex doesn't sell. You are the product. You feeling something is what sells." Watching characters we know have sex, particularly the ones we think are hot, may be fun, but it's what the sex makes them feel, makes us feel, that's far more interesting.
• The Lesbians Who Love Male Gay Porn – The Daily Beast – “I wouldn’t have guessed lesbians would want to watch porn that didn’t have women,” said a straight woman who recently saw the Lisa Cholodenko comedy.
• Prohibitionists, where are the answers when comparing sex work and straight work « Bound, Not Gagged – I have been far more harmed by “straight jobs” than I ever was as either a stripper or an independent escort.
• GLAAD – Publications – Network Responsibility Index: 2009 – 2010 – The fourth annual GLAAD Network Responsibility Index is an evaluation of the quantity, quality and diversity of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on television. It is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBT media representations.<br />
  <br />
  Primetime programming on the five broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC) was evaluated as well as 10 highly-rated cable networks (A&E, ABC Family, FX, HBO, Lifetime, MTV, Showtime, TBS, TNT and USA). Based on the analysis, a grade was assigned to each network: Excellent, Good, Adequate, or Failing.

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Where: Joria Studios, Address: 260 West 36th Street, 3rd floor, NY, NY
Cost: $4 for TES Members, students with ID, or members of other fetish groups with ID cards, $8 for Non-members

Securing large cold metal objects into your partner can be a lot of fun. Unfortunately they have a tendency to come out if they are not secured properly. In this class we will demonstrate how to keep pussy and ass hooks in place with rope. Add a vibrator and some more rope and you are all set for a fun scene.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m., Meeting starts at 8 p.m.

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Midori by Michele Serchuk (www.photodiva.com). Reprinted with permission

Where: Purple Passion
Address: 211 West 20th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues
Phone:  212.807.0486
Cost: $25 (and enjoy a 15% discount on shopping before or after the class)(Class size is limited so prepaying is advised. Our last class was sold out. Don’t be turned away. Reserve your spot at the store.)

Elegance, power and confidence… Do you want to know how to be a dominant without being a bad cliché? How do you find a sexy style of erotic dominance that’s authentic to you? Using a special technique she developed, Midori will help you to find your inner power femme archetype, allowing you to pursue erotic fulfillment of sensual power play. Not your typical how-to class, you’ll discover the difference between constructive and destructive desires and point you towards ways of bringing satisfaction in bedroom play for both you and your partner.

Midori will share with you her secrets of the feminine art of dominance. She will discuss the psychology, practical exercises, techniques, fashion, how to discover what makes your partner weak-kneed, and more. This class is not limited to a gender, but for all who harbor the powerful woman within! Something for everyone from the novice to the experienced player. This is a prerequisite to Art of Feminine Dominance Level II and an excellent foundation for the Forte Femme women’s weekend.

About Midori

Most people know her as the quirky and glam globe-trotting sexuality educator and writer. Her classes are humanistic, funny and warm, revving up sex lives, encourage self discovery and personal growth. Some of you may know her long time leather community activism and ground breaking education work that challenge people to authenticity and passion. In 2001 she founded Rope Bondage Dojo (R) and later Forte Femme: Women’s Dominance Intensive. Sainted by the notorious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, she delves deeply into HIV fund raising, her controversial installation art and performances, and dotes on her spouse and cats. She’s originally from Japan, now based in San Francisco, where she strives to collect tons of frequent flier miles. She’s the author of bestselling books The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage and Wild Side Sex. Learn more about her projects at www.PlanetMidori.com.

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Hello,

I’m Violet Blue: bestselling and award-winning author, and educator who speaks from UCSF and UC Berkley (Boalt) to Google Inc. Tech Talks on my field of expertise — exactly what this Facebook group page was about.

My page did not violate any of the reasons stated for deletion. It was under constant attack by people who disagreed with our point of view, and constantly reported our posts and images, even though we were very careful not to violate your Terms. May I find out why the page was removed? It is my utmost priority to follow and uphold Facebook community rules and standards. With national media attention to the page, questions will be raised and I hope to be able to furnish answers. Especially with a higher minded page of over 3000 members seeking community and discussion around a topic that did not target any group, threaten anyone, or link/depict/suggest inappropriate content. In fact, I policed the posts hourly for spam and attacks on our members, of which there were many. We never posted obscenity in links or images, though innocent user photos seemed to be increasingly mysteriously removed.

I feel that our page was targeted, and that we did nothing to violate the community standards of Facebook, which we sought to uphold. Any help to find out why this has happened would be deeply appreciated. I do not want to be talking to press about this in the next few days and be left guessing. We sought a safe place to discuss sex culture in media, and that is all.

I sincerely hope we can resolve this. Salon and Examiner wrote about our page as a signifier of community organization around women’s empowerment, calling it a new movement for women’s rights. I could tell we were under attack by those who violently opposed our discussions and representation as a community intersection for enriched discussions about important women’s rights issues. This development is confusing and saddening.

This fostering of group community around female empowerment and the page topic stems from my work as a talkshow guest (Oprah), international conference speaker, and columnist for various national and international magazines and publications (Oprah Magazine, Forbes.com, MacLife, etc) and media pundit (Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Esquire, Redbook, Wired, etc).

Please help me understand what I can tell media outlets asking about this, and the over 3K member we had in the page group.

Sincere thanks,
Violet Blue

Link

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A new munch in NYC: “Dom Women/Masculine Sub Men First Munch” on Friday at 7:30pm at Pot Luck Asian Cuisine, 255 W 26th St. They’ll be going on to the TES Papparazzo Party across the street at Paddles afterward.

Saturday night check out the Submit Party for Women and Trans in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Call for exact location 718-789-4053

On Sunday, MAsT Metro NY‘s topic is “Feeding the Master Heart/slave heart.”

Sir Guy will be at TES with his “Styles of Dominance: Leadership” class on Tuesday.

I wish I could be at two places at once on Wednesday: Pleasure Salon as well as the TES Bondage SIG with Zelda teaching “Insertable Hooks.”

Felony and Curt Wooster on DivineBitches.com

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Full gallery (16 pictures)

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• Mad Men Gets Kinkier: What Don Draper’s New Fetish Says About Ours | New York – Don’s shocking but brief, slap-happy sexual interlude is not just stratospherically, nakedly Oedipal, it makes sense — both for him, and as a kind of mirror of fans' obsession with the show.
• Can you think yourself into an orgasm? | CNN video – HLN's Joy Behar talks with Barbara Carrellas, who claims she can "think herself" into an orgasm without physical contact.
• My letter to Facebook about removing the Our Porn, Ourselves page #proporn – DAILY VIOLET –

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