Masturbation for the masses

May is National Masturbation Month! And if you want to observe it in the privacy of your own home, that's perfectly fine, but if you'd like to do something a little different -- and benefit some good causes in addition to your own satisfaction -- check out the following. It's taken from a press release from Carol Queen, organizer and creator of the event. I'm donating at least one free story and three copies of Your Erotic Personality to this event, so now you have one more incentive to participate!

The 2007 official Live Masturbate-a-Thon will be held on Saturday, May 26th at 415 Jessie Street in San Francisco and is sponsored by The Center for Sex and Culture.

CSC’s National Masturbation Month plans climax with the Live Masturbate-a-Thon in San Francisco. Founder and director Carol Queen, Ph.D. announced that the Center for Sex & Culture will hold its sixth annual fund-raising Masturbate-a-Thon on May 26, 2007, doors open at 4:00 pm for regular participants and at 2:00 pm for those attempting to set this year's time/orgasm records. CSC's Masturbate-a-Thon is a live group event at which participants will raise funds by getting others to sponsor them for each minute they masturbate or each orgasm they claim.

Founded by San Francisco's own Good Vibrations, National Masturbation Month seeks to raise awareness and dispel shame about this most common and natural of sexual activities. GV acted in the wake of then-Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders' firing in 1994 for stating that masturbation "is perhaps something that should be taught" about when discussing young people’s sexual options. Good Vibrations and its sister sex toy stores, as well as sex-positive nonprofits, have been celebrating National Masturbation Month across the US and Canada since 1995. More information about Good Vibrations' role in NMM will be available on GV's website in early May. The Masturbate-a-Thon became the centerpiece of National Masturbation Month when it was added to Good Vibrations' slate of activities a few years later. GV sponsors the Masturbate-a-Thon as a private event, as most masturbation is; the Center for Sex & Culture celebrates it as a live group activity.

The most recent Masturbate-a-Thon was held in August, 2006 in London, England. With 154 participants and produced for the benefit of Marie Stopes International, the UK’s premier sexual health nonprofit, that event was filmed for British television and set several new world records, including Most Orgasms for both women (49) and men (6). Last year's Center for Sex & Culture Masturbate-a-Thon raised close to $3000 from participants and their sponsors, who pledge a variable amount per minute to support their friends' efforts. One female and one male participant won trophies for Longest Time Spent Masturbating (the longest, a man, spent nearly eight and a half hours), and one person received the trophy for Most Orgasms (CSC director Carol Queen had predicted a woman was likely to win this particular award, and was proved correct). A reporter from Reuters was on hand, as were representatives from several Bay Area publications. The entire event was webcast by bondage.com and so was available for interested supporters outside the region.

This year the event will feature a news commentary desk, commercials by and for masturbators, a barn stage, an opera singer, a castle interior, a bar stage, live masturbation stages for men and women and appearances by local adult movie performers Tom Orr, Tassy Pink, Robert Black, Michael Starr and the Bay area's own well loved Nina Hartley.

Who participates in a live Masturbate-a-Thon? Not surprisingly, representatives from various sexual communities attend to come for a cause; the Center for Sex & Culture is arranging this year's co-sponsorships among gay men's clubs, erotica producers, and other sexual adventurers. Separate areas of the Masturbate-a-Thon site spaces will be set aside for both mixed- and single-gender groups. Only part of the room will be set aside for the webcast cameras, so less exhibitionistic attendees can participate somewhat more privately. Participants have also been drawn to past Masturbate-a-Thons to publicly acknowledge the importance of solo sexuality in their lives, so not everyone handing in a pledge sheet will be a committed erotic adventurer; many will never have done anything like this before

Word of the Masturbate-a-Thon has spread around the globe. Last year our best-treaveled competitor (and winner of the “Longest Distance Come to Come” award) arrived from Hong Kong. We expect participants to come from as far away as Australia this year; in past years press hits have come in from Spain, Ireland, Austria, Britain, Germany, China, South Africa, France, Brazil, Ireland, India, and elsewhere.
In fact, international press has paid more attention to the Masturbate-a-Thon than has US media, particularly during the London event in 2006, when CSC Director Carol Queen spent seven and a half hours talking to the press. Although international press coverage of the event in Europe and throughout the Americas is quite well covered, US coverage including local Bay Area news outlets has been quite sparse. The on line event has historically shown a viewer moment of about 40,000 people drawing approximately .015% of the internet on the day of production (Alexa 2007)

Pledge sheets and co-sponsorship links are available at the Masturbate-a-Thon's website. Participants can download a pledge sheet and begin collecting pledges right away; after the Masturbate-a-Thon they will let their pledgers know how much to remit. Pledges can be paid by check and sent to CSC; they can also be remitted via the event website. All monies raised will be used to support the Center for Sex & Culture's educational and sex-positive cultural programming. People who wish to participate but who can't find pledgers may pledge themselves at any amount plus pay a $20.00 entry fee. Online supporters who live too far away to attend can tune in to the webcast that evening (May 26); interested parties who prefer a private Masturbate-a-Thon can download the pledge sheet, stay home and participate, and remit by mail, or they can participate in Good Vibrations's private Masturbate-a-Thon.

Visitors to these sites and Masturbate-a-Thon participants should be 18 and over only.

The Center for Sex & Culture (CSC) received its nonprofit status in late 2002 and was declared "Best Emerging Sex Nonprofit" in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay issue in June 2004. It is open by appointment and for events. The Center for Sex & Culture is a largely-volunteer organization that subsists on donations from the public, including donations of books, art, videos, archival materials, etc. CSC's mailing address (where donations can be sent) is 2215-R Market Street, #455, San Francisco, CA 94114. Website donations can be made online . Telephone: (415) 255-1155. Masturbate-a-Thon™ Open Enterprises Inc.; used by permission.

Would you like to write with me?

(Sorry to tell you about this so late, but I didn't know the contest had started until a few days ago! So, I apologize if the contest if over by the time you go check it out.)

Good Vibrations magazine is having a contest to see who can offer up the best ending to one of my unfinished stories. Give it a shot! If the editors at Good Vibrations think your submission is the best, you'll win a gift card and the dubious honor of saying that you and Sage Vivant wrote a story together. Clearly, the gift card will have considerably more value...!

Here's the story they'd like you to finish:

The Contest Winner
By Sage Vivant

She’d read many entries, every one of them a seemingly earnest plea for her unique brand of punishment. Each week she had to choose one contest winner—one recipient who seemed more deserving than the others to endure whatever torture she chose to exact on them. But this week, one letter piqued her interest.

Dear Mistress,
My transgression is an ongoing one and I hope that you can cure me of it. Whenever I am exposed to pussy, my tongue emerges from my mouth, wagging and hungry to touch it and taste it, altogether beyond my control. In my previous requests for discipline, I have been ordered to wear blindfolds but this doesn’t help, as I respond to the merest aroma of cunt, as well as the heat of it. I want to be rid of this affliction and hope that you can help me.

Signed,
Oral Fixation

He arrived at her bidding, on time and suitably contrite. Although in his mid-forties, he carried himself with the ease of a man in his twenties. When he stripped naked at her request, she noted the fine physique and exceptional cock. Even flaccid, it hung a good six inches, which made her plan that much simpler to implement.

Without explaining herself, she cuffed his wrists and elbows into the special rack that tilted from vertical to horizontal. Seconds after securing him to the rack, she decided that a diagonal pose with feet to ceiling and head to floor would suit his needs best.

He was docile and she liked that. He didn’t presume to even look at her, let alone speak to her. Serenity sat like a veil on his face. The angle she’d placed him in caused his cock to flop toward his belly with a reassuring fwap just before she tied the leash around his balls. Still, he lay there expressionless.

“Tell me to stop if this pain is more than you can bear,” she said in her signature snarl. She slipped out of her thong panties and now wore only her stockings, boots, elbow-length gloves, and corset (the one that made her tits look ready to spill out at any moment).

She planted one high-heeled boot alongside each of his ears and waited a moment as she dangled the leash across his chest. She positioned herself so she could watch his cock grow. Just a little something she did for herself.

She allowed him to look at her naked snatch for a full minute, secretly delighted by how quickly his meat swelled with appreciation. His cock, of course, wasn’t the problem he sought her help with, but she used it to gauge how his tongue might be behaving. When she looked down at his face, his lips were parted and the tip of his tongue struggled to stay behind his teeth.

She tugged at the leash and he winced. His lips slammed shut.

She launched into a partial knee bend to bring her steadily juicing cunt closer to his face.

Her scent was unmistakable, as was the anguished expression on his face. Yet once again, his mouth went into a natural O shape and the eager, pink tongue squirmed forward.

Another yank at his slightly blue balls, and his tongue retracted but his mouth did not close. She lowered herself a few inches more, now hovering so close that his struggle had to be excruciating.

“Do you want to eat my pussy?”

She promised herself that if he said nothing, she’d reward him but that if he spoke, she’d end the session and send him on his way.

She waited, still hovering over him with phenomenal control. High heels made the position a bit easier, truth be told.

He said nothing. She looked down between her squatting knees and saw the reason for his silence. His tongue was extended so far, it threatened to skim her pussy lips. In all her years as a dominatrix, she had never seen a tongue so long or so fervent in its desire to lap at cunt. Her juices trickled along the lips of her labia.

She tugged at the leash, lowered herself just enough to wipe her cunt against his tongue, then straightened into a standing position. The tip of his tongue was slightly rough, like a cat’s. The brief swipe of it against her clit nearly upset her balance.

“You have a lot of training ahead of you,” she announced, disappointed that his tongue was now back in his mouth. “You’re going to need a lot more than this leash,” she added, walking over to her tool box to select her next implement of discipline.

She might give this client more time, she thought to herself as she perused her inventory, rubbing her clit as she considered her options……….

Some nice reviews

Anytime a writer sends out a book for a review, she hopes that she isn't sealing her doom. I only know of four reviews that have been posted online for Your Erotic Personality , but I'm relieved to note that they're all positive.

I guess the real hammer will fall when Publisher's Weekly does its special brand of smackdown on it...!

So, if you're interested, here are links to the reviews so you can see what people have to say about it:

[The Joy of Sex], and so many others that came after it, focused on the specific acts of men and women having sex. What sets Sage Vivant’s book apart is that it focuses more on the psychology of sex and the eroticism of it: what type of erotic personality are you? What type of behavior appeals to you most? If you can pin that down (and most of us, as Sage points out, will be a combination of types ...), then you can practically jump start your way to more satisfying sexual experiences, and better target sexual partners who will share, enhance, or compliment your erotic interests.

-- Marilyn Jaye Lewis, internationally published erotica author
Read the full review here.

"I cannot recommend this book enough. Very few times do you get an opportunity to have an enjoyable read which will almost assuredly translate into tangible benefits for your own sense of self identity, as well as your confidence, which can then flow over into your meaningful relationships. This is a unique dose of sexual self-help which will open up new possibilities and understandings."

-- Kelly Arthur, The Erotic Woman
Read the full review here.

"In a market which is overcrowded with books on how to spice up your sex life, Your Erotic Personality offers something refreshingly different. Witty and informative, it will have you looking at what (and who) pushes your buttons on in a whole new light."

-- Elizabeth Coldwell, Forum UK magazine
Read the full review here.

"The information on each type is incredibly in-depth. This is made all the more fascinating because this isn't something Sage has read about and re-written, it's information she has gleaned from her customers at CES over the years she has been running it. This is first-hand information, from someone who knows!"

-- Lucy Felthouse
Read the full review here.

Many thanks to you, Marilyn, Kelly, Elizabeth, and Lucy!

Another great workshop

As Your Erotic Personality gets more exposure, I'm coming into contact with people who are doing some extraordinary work with people to help them understand themselves sexually. LiYana Silver of Re-Defining Monogamy is one of them. Her workshops go beyond the standard "talk about your feelings with your partner" formula and tap into new and mostly unexplored areas of relationships -- including the relationship one has with oneself! I love LiYana's fresh approach and her dedication to helping people understand that a relationship doesn't thrive in rigid boundaries that don't fully respect the needs of the participants.

Here's what's coming up soon:

Crafting Extraordinary Relationships
Part 1: Relationship with Yourself

Friday-Sunday, May 4-6, 2007
Clear Point Center, CT

Get out of the City for an powerful 3-day workshop with LiYana Silver
and rejuvenating retreat in the springtime Connecticut mountains.

Join LiYana if you want:

- To stop being stopped by self-doubt, stagnation, and confusion
- A profoundly loving relationship with yourself
- Ownership of your happiness and self-confidence
- To become vibrantly connected to your passion and purpose
- Relationships that are a vehicle for your growth and joy

- Clear HOW-TO's and TOOLS

- And you know it all begins with YOU...


For a full description of the workshop:
http://www.redefiningmonogamy.com/crafting-2.html

If you are ready to register, contact Steve Munn:

Steve@YourClearPoint.com
860.684.3994


Through interactive lecture, physical and writing exercises and individual
coaching, we will dive into:

- Why you are always attracted to the wrong person
- How to befriend and cultivate intimacy
- The five simple steps to shift any unhealthy pattern
- What turns you on and lights you up

- Getting in the driver's seat of your life
- How to adore yourself in your own skin
- An introduction to exceptional communication skills
- How to take it all back into real life, including dating!
- And more...


For a full description of the workshop:
http://www.redefiningmonogamy.com/crafting-2.html


* * * * *
Early Bird Special: Register before April 15th

$550, or $450 if you register with a friend, partner or family member

Includes workshop, lovingly-prepared meals and accommodation

Limited to 16 - so register soon!

* * * * *

To register, or ask questions, contact Steve Munn:

Steve@YourClearPoint.com
860.684.3994

Sexy words, sexy music

It's finally happened. I now have an audio CD -- and it has music!

British composer David Courtney contacted me almost two years ago with an idea for an erotic story with a musical score. We worked out story details, he composed music, and at long last, we have the final product! The CD is called Sex With a Stranger and it's now available for sale at CD Baby.

CD Baby lets you listen to samples before you buy, so check it out before you plunk down any money. But frankly, I think you're going to like it.