Resources from the talk:

• Sex Ed
  • “Abstinence-Only Education Is Ineffective And Unethical, Report Argues” by Sarah McCammon, NPR (2017)
  • Our Whole Lives (OWL): Lifespan sexuality education
• Reproductive Justice
  • SisterSong
• Cisheterosexism
  • LGBTQ+ “Panic” Defense from The LGBT Bar
• Ableism
  • Ableism 101 (PDF)
  • Ableism Is The Bane of My Motherfuckin’ Existence with Patty Berne and Stacey Milbern
  • Disability and Sexuality Access Network, especially their directory
• Anti-fat Bias
  • “The Fear of Fat: Our Last Acceptable Bias” by Shira Feder, Yes Magazine (2019)
  • “The Bizarre and Racist History of the BMI” by Your Fat Friend, Elemental (2019)
  • “I See Fat People” by Carolyn C. Ross M.D., M.P.H., Psychology Today (2013)
  • The Adipositivity Project (all photographs) & About The Adipositivity Project
• Racism
  • The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee (2021)
  • Afrosexology: What We Believe
  • “Sexual Preference vs. Racism: Is There a Difference?” from The Lighthouse
• Sex Work
  • “Why Sex Work Is Real Work” by Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, Teen Vogue (2019)
  • “Sex Work is Real Work, and it’s Time to Treat it That Way” by LaLa B Holston-Zannell, ACLU
  • Sex Workers Outreach Project USA
  • Organizations that support the decriminalization of sex work from the Campaign to Decriminalize Sex Work

Resources from the talk:

• Native Land (maps of Native American and other Indigenous people’s traditional lands)
• My Gender Workbook and My New Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein
• The Gender Unicorn by TSER (Trans Student Educational Resources)
• “What is Gender?” by West Anderson
• The Gender Spectrum: A Scientist Explains Why Gender Isn’t Binary by Cade Hildreth
• The cisgender, transgender, and non-binary umbrellas diagram by Dani (@lesbijun)
• Sexual Intelligence: What We Really Want From Sex by Dr. Marty Klein
• The pizza metaphor is from this fabulous TED Talk by Al Vernacchio
• “What I Mean When I Say I’m Sex-Positive” by Cliff Pervocracy (which includes a fabulous section on what Cliff doesn’t mean)
• The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity home page, and you can check out the work of all of our awesome grantees here and our partners here. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
• Scarleteen has tons of resources for teens and emerging adults
• Pleasure Pie is a grassroots sex-positive org with some fabulous sex-positive zines and other resources
• The Center for Sexual Pleasure & Health offers awesome virtual workshops on a wide range of sexuality-related topics
• The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom promotes consent in the BDSM community & maintains a directory of kink-aware professionals

Resources from the talk:

• Native Land (maps of Native American and other Indigenous people’s traditional lands)
• My Gender Workbook and My New Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein
• The Gender Unicorn by TSER (Trans Student Educational Resources)
• “What is Gender?” by West Anderson
• The Gender Spectrum: A Scientist Explains Why Gender Isn’t Binary by Cade Hildreth
• The cisgender, transgender, and non-binary umbrellas diagram by Dani (@lesbijun)
• Sexual Intelligence: What We Really Want From Sex by Dr. Marty Klein
• The pizza metaphor is from this fabulous TED Talk by Al Vernacchio
• “What I Mean When I Say I’m Sex-Positive” by Cliff Pervocracy (which includes a fabulous section on what Cliff doesn’t mean)
• The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity home page, and you can check out the work of all of our awesome grantees here and our partners here. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
• Scarleteen has tons of resources for teens and emerging adults
• Pleasure Pie is a grassroots sex-positive org with some fabulous sex-positive zines and other resources
• The Center for Sexual Pleasure & Health offers awesome virtual workshops on a wide range of sexuality-related topics
• The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom promotes consent in the BDSM community & maintains a directory of kink-aware professionals

For HOPE 2020, I’m collaborating with the fabulous Sx Noir (@sxnoir) on two sessions:

Title: Empathy, Equity, and Sex/Tech at the Margins
Day/Time: Monday, July 27 – 2200 EDT

Title: Ask A Sex Geek: Hacking + Human Sexuality
Day/Time: Thursday, July 30 – 2300 EDT

Click HERE to submit a question to our Ask A Sex Geek session!
Submissions will open at the start of the session.

• Talk Slides
• Recommendations and Resources

Talk Slides

Recommendations and Resources

• My 501(c)(3) not-for-profit is the Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity (@EffingFound, facebook.com/EffingFoundation). Check out our grant program and please consider making a donation!
• I highly recommend the blog Nonprofit AF by Vu Le as a resource for learning more about equity in the nonprofit sector.
• Captain Awkward writes one of my favorite blogs of all time, offering practical advice for a wide range of tough situations.

• Talk Slides
• Recommendations and Resources

Talk Slides

Recommendations and Resources

• My 501(c)(3) not-for-profit is the Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity (@EffingFound, facebook.com/EffingFoundation). Check out our grant program and please consider making a donation!
• More to be added!

• Our Panelists & Their Sex-Positive Work
• Talk Slides
• Our Faves
• Other Recommendations and Resources

Our Panelists & Their Sex-Positive Work

• Alex Heberling (@alexheberling, she)
  • Colorist for Evil Inc After Dark and Courting Disaster by Brad Guigar (Patreon-exclusive; print book of Evil After Dark)
  • Future home of Alex’s NSFW work: @alexxxheberling
  • Current home of Alex’s SFW series: http://thehues.alexheberling.com
  • Alex is also on Patreon!
• Blue Delliquanti (@bluedelliquanti, she/they)
  • “Miles and Honesty” and “The First Time” available at Blue’s itch.io storefront
  • “Love Triangulation” will be in the upcoming anthology Smut Peddler: Sex Machine from Iron Circus Comics
• ‘trie blasingame (@tentaclemade, they)
  • Work in progress: A Glittering Venery
  • Where to find tentacle-made studios:
    • quixotism and curiosity:  from tentacle-made studios
    • tentacle-made studios on instagram
    • tentacle-made studios on twitter
    • online portfolio (housed on flickr)
    • tentacle-made studios on tumblr
    • tentacle-made studios’ facebook fan page
    • tentacle-made studios on youtube
  • where to support and buy tentacle-made studios’s art:
    • tentacle-made studios commissions
    • tentacle-made studios on redbubble
    • tentacle-made studios on etsy
    • tentacle-made studios on patreon
  • other projects ‘trie is involved in:
    • conversations from the north woods (podcast)
    • the adventures of squid & barnacle (webcomic)
  • Moderator: Kit Stubbs, Ph.D. (@vortacist, they)
    • Founder & Executive Director, The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity (@effingfound). Please consider making a tax-deductible donation as part of your charitable giving this year!
    • Co-organizer of teasecraft kinky maker meetups

  Talk Slides

  Our Faves

  • Alex likes
    • Oglaf (2008-present) by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne
    • Titty Time (2013) by Amanda Lafrenais
  • Blue likes
    • Yes, Roya (2016) by C. Spike Trotman and Emilee Denich
    • The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal (2009-14) by EK Weaver (books available through Iron Circus)
    • Letters for Lucardo (2017) by Noora Heikkilä
  • ‘trie likes
    • Lost Verse (2017) by by Shing Yin Khor (aka Sawdust Bear)
    • Xanadu (1988) by Vicky Wyman
    • STEREK COMIC3 (2013) by Romax Slashpalooza
    • plus these two more not featured in the slides:
      • Sex Criminals (2013 – ongoing) by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
      • ODY-C (2014-2016) by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward
  • Kit likes
    • XXXenophile (1988-2000) by Phil Foglio et al. (formerly at www.xxxenophile.com but that link doesn’t seem to work anymore, and it’s not available at Comixology)
    • Smut Peddler (2012, 2014) edited by C. Spike Trotman, you can buy physical or electronic copies through Iron Circus Comics
    • Shades of A (2013-2014) by Tab Kimpton

Other Recommendations and Resources

• • We touched briefly on the challenges of finding credit card processing for erotic art and sex work; I’ve written about this here as Your Kink Is Not MasterCard’s Kink.
  • FOSTA and SESTA are a misguided online surveillance bill that was passed by Congress and signed by the President in April 2018. Sex workers have clearly spoken out against it as has the Electronic Frontier Foundation — it’s censorship that takes away online tools that sex workers use to stay safe. Information on its impact so far and what you can do to help is available via Fiesty Fox Films.
  • In terms of resources for people who are interested in reclaiming their sexuality after trauma: Faye Hermine,  the Survivor Theatre Project (MA), More Than NO (LA); a couple of articles I’ve found are “Enjoying Sex After Abuse Is Possible, So Here Are 5 Ways To Start Healing” and “The Therapists Helping Sexual-Trauma Survivors Relearn to Love Sex”.
  • Audience recommendation: Dan Savage’s HUMP! Film Festival
  • Blue recommends the comic from the 2014 Smut Peddler by Lin Visel and JB3 (interesting drawn effects, including “boob blur”).
  • ‘trie recommends Michael DeForge’s art as sensual, sexual, and at times trippy.
  • We talked briefly about the difference between erotic art or comics and photo and video, referencing The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.
  • Several panelists recommend Oh Joy Sex Toy as a sex-positive webcomic, which includes toy reviews, education, and some smutty comics, including “Planetrise Delight” by panelist Blue!
  • For folks who like comics, ‘trie recommends “The Wednesday Club” on Geek & Sundry.
  • Audience recommendation: Archer, for representations of women who are sexually empowered.
  • ‘trie recommends Meghan Tonjes as a body-positive/fat vlogger and sex toy reviewer.

Friday, May 25

1:00pm-5:00pm I’m co-organizing the WisCon Bake Sale to benefit the Tiptree Award! If you’re interested in bringing treats or volunteering, all of the info you need is on the WisCon website. Stop by during the Gathering to say Hi and buy some tasty treats. Location: Room 627

Saturday, May 26

9:00pm-10:15pm teasecraft: Meetup for Sex/Kink-Positive Crafters, Makers, and Hackers I’m hosting this meetup for folks interested in making their own sex toys, BDSM equipment, and other kinky/fun things. I’ll have a few creations of my own and look forward to seeing what other folks bring! Location: Conference 2

Sunday, May 27

2:30pm-3:45pm Biology Breaks Binaries: More Wild Alien Sex I’ll be the emcee as we learn about some of the more interesting ways Earth critters partition sexes (or don’t!), use craft materials to imagine our own alien sexes and genders, and then do some show-and-tell with whoever wants to share their creations. (I helped out with this panel last year and had a great time!) Location: Capitol B

4:00pm-5:15pm Hot Off the Presses: Creating & Enjoying Inclusive, Sex-Positive Erotic Comics I’m moderating a panel on sex-positive, smutty comics! Come hear from artists and swap recommendations. Location: Capitol B

8:45pm-Close Superheroes & Serial Fiction Party After the Guest of Honor speeches, I’ll be heading upstairs to hang out at Alexandra Erin’s party. (You’ll probably find me sitting in a corner, chatting with a few folks by the light of my glowing dildo.) Alexandra is a fabulous hostess, especially for those of us who generally don’t like parties. Location: Room 629

• Talk Slides
• References and Resources
• Additional Information about my work and experiences as a sex-positive entrepreneur
• Questions & Answers

Talk Slides

References and Resources

3D Printing

• If you want to design your toy (or mold) programmatically, I recommend OpenSCAD (free and open-source, available for Linux/Unix, Windows, & Mac). Thanks to Mr. O, you can find more information and sample code for designing sex toys in OpenSCAD on this blog at “Better Sex Through Trigonometry.”
• SculptGL by Stéphane Ginier is an open-source, web-based application that lets you do organic modeling from the browser.
• If you want to 3D print your mold and then cast from that, I recommend the video “Silicone Sex Toys with 3D Printing – Part 1” by SexShop3D.
• If you want to try 3D printing directly in silicone, you’ll need a paste extruder. Watch “Silicone Sex Toys with 3D Printing – Part 2″ by SexShop3D for more info.

Silicone

• Jimmie P. Rodgers and I (in cosplay) gave a one-hour intro to casting and moldmaking with a focus on working with silicone in January 2015. The slides and video are available on this blog at “Fun with Silicone.”
• I use platinum-cure silicones from Smooth-On, which I buy from Reynolds Advanced Materials. I’ve written more about my materials in “Working with Silicone for DIY Sex Toys.” Yes, you can ask Reynolds Advanced Materials about making sex toys!

Wrap-Up & Additional Information About My Work

• During this talk, I demonstrated the latest version of The Hammer (Burning Man 2013 Edition), which was also featured in Dig Boston. I gave a tech talk at Arse Elektronika 2012 about the original Hammer, which Cracked.com named the #1 geekiest sex toy of all time.
• Andrew and I co-organize a Boston-area meetup group for sex/kink-positive makers and crafters called teasecraft. We have an email list, or you can find us on FetLife (free membership required).
• I spend most of my time these days working on my startup, the Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity. We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to reduce sexual shame by fostering sex-positive art and education. You can follow us on Facebook or Twitter. If you enjoyed this talk, you can show your appreciation through a donation at http://effing.org/.

Questions & Answers

We’ll update this section after the talk.

What is the Effing Foundation?

It’s a nonprofit that I’ve founded with the mission to reduce sexual shame and normalize conversations around human sexuality by promoting sex-positive art and education. I’ve been working towards getting this organization off the ground for about six years now, and I’ve shared many of my adventures on this blog.

What are you raising money for?

For artists and educators whose work centers on human sexuality, finding financial support can be extremely difficult. I’ve certainly run into hurdles in setting up the Foundation, but it’s even more difficult for the artists and educators I’ve met along the way. The Effing Foundation is launching a grant program to help meet this need.

Our first step is raising $40,000 to fund eight $5,000 pilot grants to eight amazing sex-positive projects. These candidate projects include:

• The Adipositivity Project by Substantia Jones (NYC) — nude portrait series of fat models (including queer/trans models and models of color); empowering fat people as unapologetically sexual beings through artistic photography
• Afrosexology by Dalychia & Rafaella (St. Louis, MO) — education, exploration, and reclaiming of Black sexuality through a new video series featuring Black people of varying genders and sexual orientations discussing their sexualities
• eros&persephone by Lola Rose Eros (LA) — an exploration of the human psyche through the lens of sexuality as a series of short videos by a Black transmasculinefemme self-taught artist; the stories include concepts such as safer sex practices, enthusiastic consent, scene negotiation, queer identities, gender expression, relationship dynamics, kink, and fetish
• More Than No (LA) and Survivor Theatre Project (Boston, MA) —  theater workshops & performances that empower survivors of sexual violence, regardless of gender or sexual orientation
• PolyDallas Millennium Symposium by Ruby Johnson, LCSW (Dallas, TX) — PolyDallas Millennium is a sex-positive sexual health symposium that is a platform for marginalized and oppressed groups. We provide education on ethical non-monogamous relationships in an oppressive and stigmatizing society. Educators, activists, and community leaders that are representative of the attendees engage the audience in shared language and experiences. PolyDallas Millennium is a symposium that has space and joy for all communities and all ways of being.
• Sex Ed A Go Go by Dirty Lola (NYC) — informative & entertaining variety show featuring sex educator Lola and a wide range of guests
• (  ) (“whole”) (NYC) — collaboration between performance company the A.O. Movement Collective & queer/feminist collective AORTA films; body-positive, queer erotic art film including performers who are queer/trans people of color

Why should I make a donation?

If you value the work that I do on this blog — my geeky toys, my DIY tips on working with silicone, my sex/tech talks — this is a concrete way to show your support and to pay it forward to other amazing artists and educators. (All contributions are tax-deductible, too!)

What if I can’t afford to donate now?

No worries! Next year we’ll be looking for folks to become monthly contributors (at just $1 or $5 per month), and so that will be one opportunity to give back.

If you’re comfortable spreading the word about the Foundation and this fundraiser, that’s also a huge help! You can retweet about the fundraiser or reshare our Facebook post.

Are you ready to support sex-positive art and education?
Visit the Effing Foundation website to donate now!