Jul 042016
 

imagesMy name is Sherry Mason and I am a psychology student at the University of Central Oklahoma. I, along with a counselling student, Adam Everson, and professor of psychology, Dr. Alicia Limke, Ph.D., are executing research in an attempt to understand the relationship needs of polyamorous people and how those needs are met through multiple partners. As it stands, there is very little research about this community. This greatly disadvantages therapists as well as individuals/couples seeking treatment.

The survey link is as follows:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/polyamory_and_attachment

The survey takes approximately 45 minutes to complete and consists of questions about relationships, feelings toward being a sexual minority (i.e., polyamorous), and some general questions on personality. This study is open to individuals of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The applicant will also be entered into a random drawing for a $5.00 gift card to Amazon.com. The safety and privacy of all participants is highly important, we ask that anyone be allowed to share the link to this survey, but to refrain from disclosing any information about their involvement to keep their participation completely anonymous. This project has been approved by the University of Central Oklahoma Institutional Review Board #16107.

If you have any question or would like more information please feel free to contact me at: smason5 (at) uco.edu. Or my associate: Adam Everson, aeverson (at) uco.edu. Or my advisor: Dr. Alicia Limke, Ph.D., alike (at) uco.edu.

Thank you for your time and consideration!
Sherry Mason, AA Psychology
University of Central Oklahoma
Department of Psychology

Jan 112016
 

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Announcing the Explore More Summit! A 10-day virtual summit January 28-February 6, 2016 hosted by Dawn Serra. Explore More Summit features intimate interviews with 30 experts from around the world on all things sex, relationships, and self-love including Allison Moon, Amy Jo Goddard, Ashley Manta, Barbara Carrellas, Bianca Laureano, Charlie Glickman, Conner Habib, Cyndi Darnell, Dan Savage, Devi Ward, Elena Lipson, Feminista Jones, Erin Lee Kaufmann, Gina Senarighi, JoEllen Notte, Karen B.K. Chan, Lauren Marie Fleming, Dirty Lola, Meg John Barker, Nadine Thornhill, Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson, Marlene Wasserman, Reid Mihalko, Sophie Delancey, Stacey Herrera, Sunny Megatron and Ken Melvoin-Berg, Toby Hill-Meyer, Victoria Rosa, Virgie Tovar, and me, Tristan Taormino! Trust me…these talks are PHENOMENAL.

All of the talks air for free on their designated day. If you register for the summit before January 28, you’ll also get a free workbook emailed to you each morning during the summit with all kinds of prompts and questions that build on the talks. Get all the details about the free interviews, bonuses, and upgrades!

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Dec 222015
 

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I hope are having a wonderful holiday season with family and friends — and that you are excited about dreaming and visioning for what comes next. I know that the New Year is a great way to set yourself up for new experiences and all the growth you want to achieve. And I want to let you know about an upcoming virtual giveaway that I’m excited to be featured in. It’s called SEX, DESIRE, INTIMACY LIBRARY. It is available now through January 20, 2016.

—> Check it out here 

It’s hosted by my friend and colleague Amy Jo Goddard, sexual empowerment expert and author of “Woman On Fire: 9 Elements to Wake Up Your Erotic Energy, Personal Power and Sexual Intelligence.” Amy Jo has invited some of the luminaries from the worlds to share their brilliance with you in the form of a virtual library that features some of the best sexuality resources online today: videos, audio teachings, eBooks, guides and more—all available at no cost. They will be available until January 20, 2016.

She’s asked me to take part and to offer a special teaching that I’m really excited about, titled “Embrace Your Inner Kinkster and Find Your Voice: Discovering BDSM.” I’m so excited to be part of this event! And here’s why:

  1. This Library features the works of some of the very best sex educators, coaches, speakers, and authors: Reid Mihalko, Kamala Devi, Jaiya, Betty Dodson, Cathy Vartuli, Barbara Carrellas, Monique Darling, Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson, just to name a few.
  2. You’ll learn about a huge range of sexuality topics, everything from activating desire to overcoming sexual shame and trauma, to exploring BDSM and tantra, to deepening your intimate connections, to creating more pleasure in your every day life.
  3. Adult sex education has the potential to transform lives. When you make an effort to learn new sexual skills, so much can open up for you.

So please join me in the SEX, DESIRE, INTIMACY LIBRARY. It is available now through January 20, 2016.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn about in the Library:

– How to ignite desire and activate a sexual practice

– Tools from Tantra and BDSM to have more ecstatic connection

– Ways to communicate more clearly about sex, both in and outside the bedroom

– Authentic seduction – how to attract lovers in a way that feels natural and real

– Energetic sex and how to explore it with yourself and with others

– Overcoming body shame/stigma

– Self-love and pleasure hypnosis

– Pelvic heart integration

– How to touch your lover

– Forgiveness and the language of apology

– Healing sexual trauma

– How to start exploring kinky sex

– How to have more sensuality and pleasure in your life

– A roadmap to exploring polyamory

It’s totally free. Share it with a friend who wants to kick it up a notch this year in their sex and relationships; they’ll love you for it.

Dec 052015
 

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Here’s your chance to be part of a live studio audience! Join host Tristan Taormino as she records a special holiday-themed episode of Sex Out Loud at the world-famous Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Joining her will be an amazing line up of special guests including: the reigning 2015 AVN BBW Performer of the Year April Flores; sex educator and host of the Sex Nerd Sandra podcast Sandra Daugherty; writer, teacher, and former porn performer Conner Habib; and current Southern California Leather Master titleholder Orpheus Black. The guests will give you their naughty and nice sex tips, top holiday gift picks, and answers to all your questions. There will be refreshments and amazing prize giveaways to get you in the holiday spirit. You do not want to miss this!

All the Details:

December 16, 2015, 8:00-10:00 pm
The Pleasure Chest, 7733 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046
Free and open to all on a first come, first served basis so arrive early to reserve your spot!

About the Special Guests:

sandra smile FinalSandra Daugherty punches sexual shame in the face. Also known as Sex Nerd Sandra, she speaks, educates, hosts, podcasts and pundits. Her sex-positive teaching methods include heavy doses of physical comedy, playful insight and delightful factoids. Known the world over for her Nerdist Industries podcast, “Sex Nerd Sandra,” its loyal listenership (almost 13 million downloads) is vocal about Sandra’s impact, describing her as “inspiring” with “contagious enthusiasm” and an “awesome nerd-like ability that [she’s] not afraid to show.”  Sandra can be seen on Fusion TV (The Search for Sexy), The Young Turks (Think Tank, Common Room, The Point) and weekly in your earholes. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is an avid traveler and lover of big questions. Find her on Twitter @SexNerdSandra.

 

aprilfloresApril Flores is a muse, model, and erotic performer but that’s not even scratching the surface. A fearless voluptuous star with scarlet hair, proponent of the queer community, feminist, sex-positive activist, outspoken advocate of body diversity, glamorous art model, avid kink fan, sub and dom both, and all around powerful woman.  April is the first ever BBW to win two consecutive AVN Awards for her groundbreaking work. She has also graced the covers of Bizarre and AVN Magazines, among others, modeled for dozens of fine art photographers, appeared in countless adult films in every genre of the adult industry (from mainstream to queer to kinky to artsy), and spoken out about body image and sexuality at countless venues. She is @TheAprilFlores on Twitter.

OrpheusCurrentOrpheus Black, Southern California’s Leather Master/slave titleholder, is also a published author and erotic educator that specializes in hierarchical dynamics, non-monogamous relationships, and erotic meditation. This two-time Bawdy Storytelling champion has been traveling the country teaching his fun and light-hearted educational events for more than a decade. During this time, Orpheus has become one of California’s most respected educators as well as a favorite interviewee and contributor, lending his expertise to shows such as “Chocolate Radio,” “Night Calls,” “Love, Sex, and Hip Hop,” “The Sex Nerd Sandra Show,” “The Dr. Susan Block Show,” and “The Inner Circle with Neil Strauss.” Orpheus is also a regular presenter at DomConLA and is the founder of Cirque de Sade—a high profile Dominants group whose mission is to advance the art of BDSM through a commitment to innovation, excellence, and active leadership in the D/s, Ms and fetish communities. When not teaching, counseling or performing, Orpheus can be found enjoying his 20-year polyfidelitous, polyamorous relationship with his life partner Indigo Black. He can also be found teaching Urban Survival classes and self defense/MMA classes in his local park.

Conner Habib is an author, a lecturer, and the barwithoutwatermarkVice President of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee. He’s probably the only person alive who’s won awards for writing, teaching, and porn. He lives in Los Angeles, and his twitter is @connerhabib.

 

 

 

Jun 012014
 

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~~ Tina Horn did a great write-up of the Feminist Porn Awards and Feminist Porn Conference for VICE magazine!

“Feminist porn isn’t an oxymoron anymore—it’s a genre, an awards show, a conference, and maybe even a movement. Last month, I traveled to Toronto for the ninth annual Feminist Porn Awards, an event hosted by the sex toy store Good for Her. “

Read more: http://www.vice.com/read/turning-assholes-inside-out-at-the-ninth-annual-feminist-porn-awards

 

~~ BBC news magazine did a great article on the topic as well.
“It’s almost 01:00 in the morning in a hotel room in downtown Toronto, and three porn stars in various states of undress are choreographing the sex scene they are about to film. The performers include a man, a woman, and a transgender man, opening a world of sexual possibilities. “So what are we doing?” James Darling, the 26-year-old transgender performer, asks his co-stars Wolf Hudson and Zahra Stardust. “What are people feeling up to?”
~~ Shar Rednour interviewed me at CatalystCon for her series called “The Deeper Truth” – author, educator, performer, and radio personality Shar Rednour hosts a series of hot, uncensored discussions with some of sexuality’s most exceptional catalysts. These one-on-one talks will put ground-breaking thinkers, activists, educators and innovators in Shar’s sexy hot seat as they share their histories, their inspirations, and their plans for how we can all change the world. As an experienced interviewer and radio host, Shar will take her guests beyond current politics and sound bites to discover the deeper truths about how these inspiring figures became who they are today. You can listen to my interview with Shar here, along with other shows featuring Hernando Chavez, Mo Beesley, and Minister L. Renair Amin Covington.
~~ Check out this great review of my book 50 Shades of Kink on Rebel’s Notes.
“Please do not follow Christian [of 50 Shades of Grey], but follow Tristan Taormino as she is the one who gives honest and correct information.”
If you’d like to win your own copy of 50 Shades of Kink, check out this giveaway: hurry, it ends June 11, 2014!
Apr 022014
 

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Shape Magazine interviewed me for their article “The New Porn That Will Transform Your Sex Life“:

“Feminist porn prioritizes authentic depiction of desire and pleasure, and shows authentic orgasms,” she says. “You’re not going to see a cookie-cutter repetition of ‘one way’ to be for men or for women, or ‘one way’ to have a sexual dynamic. You’re much more likely to see a diversity of bodies, desires, fantasies, and power dynamics.”

Read the whole article here, it also mentions Dusk!TV and Reid Mihalko.

I’m also quoted in the Nerve article by Lux Alptraum, “When Queer People Make Straight Porn.”

Furthermore, shooting heterosexual sex offered her the chance to directly challenge the misogyny and sexism that often comes bundled with ideas about straight porn. “You’re contending with this history of what we see men and women constantly engaging in… It’s actually more challenging for me…to work with the power dynamics when the sex is heterosexual.”

I went to Knoxville to speak at University of Tennessee’s Sex Week and despite legislators trying to stop the events, student attendance went up.

“Colleen Ryan, member of the SEAT executive board and freshman global studies, said Tristan Taormino, a sex educator and pornographic film director, was another favorite. However, he noted, it is typically the edgier events that draw fire from the public and the legislature.”

This weekend I’ll be in Toronto for the Feminist Porn Awards and the Feminist Porn Conference I’m producing. Here’s a mention in the Daily Xtra about both events.

If you can’t make it to the conference this weekend, you can spend some time studying porn at home – the first issue of Porn Studies was released and is available for free online for a limited timePorn Studies is the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal to critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic. It will develop knowledge of the history, modes, aesthetics, genres and subgenres of pornography, examining pornography’s institutional and industrial structures, its consumption and regulation.

Topics covered in the inaugural issue include research methods, psychology and pornography, and fair-trade and porn. Alongside articles, the journal includes a scholarly forum devoted to shorter observations, developments and issues in porn studies, designed to encourage exchange and debate. The first issue will be free to view at www.tandfonline.com until 31st May, after which it will be available via subscription only. All future issues will also be via subscription only.

And finally, check out the latest reviews of my kink book, 50 Shades of Kink. Released as an e-book last year, it’s now available in paper!

From BexTalksSex.com: “It needs to be in the nightstands of every housewife in middle America, next to the fuzzy handcuffs and Ben Wa Balls bought from the sleezy sex shop down the road; and then they need to read it and throw away the fuzzy handcuffs.”

From NightOwlReviews.com: “This is a must read book for anyone wanting to know more about BDSM.”

From ReviewsByAmosLassen.com: “..we now have a nonfiction account that shows us how to make our fantasies become realities.”

For advanced kinksters (or when you’re ready to take it to the next level), Krissy Novacaine talks about my other book, The Ultimate Guide to Kink.

I am picky about what books I recommend to others for kink. I want the whole book to give out sound (safe) advice while still holding on to the erotic element of the subject matter. This is the best book I have ever read to balance those two things.
– Full review here.

Jan 282014
 

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The 60th Anniversary issue of Playboy includes “Sex: A Very Oral Report” by Molly Oswaks, and I’m one of “a dozen influential women, from artists to intellectuals, to discuss what [women] have gained and lost.”

I went to college at Wesleyan and loved my experience there. Although the alumni magazine ignores me, I feel the love in this Wesleying profile Can Sex-Ed Be Sexy? Through Porn and Print, Taormino ’93 Says ‘Yes’ by Gabe Rosenberg.

Dec 052013
 

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The Feminist Porn Book continues to generate lots of press, and here is a roundup of some of the most recent media mentions:

  • “All the writers offer theorized, analytic reflection and many of the scholars reflect on their own relationships to porn. The result is a richly detailed look at feminist porn grounded in diverse personal involvements and critical perspectives.” from Feminist Porn: A review of The Feminist Porn Book by Erica Rand in Jump Cut
  • Originally published in May, Anna Breslaw’s interview with Tristan Taormino, “So What Is Feminist Porn? Find Out from A Woman Who Makes It” on Cosmopolitan.com, received renewed attention in November and lots more traffic and discussion. In fact, it prompted Morality in Media to issue an angry press release and letter-writing campaign where it accused Cosmo of “promoting porn to girls” and feminist pornographers of exploiting female performers. Cosmo replied with this post: Christian Group is Mad About Our Feminist Porn Article.

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    Sinnamon Love and Meghan McCain

  • The Feminist Porn Book was also reviewed in issue 14 of the journal make/shift: feminisms in motion – check out your local newsstand to pick up a copy!

Pick up a copy from Amazon or from the Pucker Up store to directly support me!

Sep 112013
 

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Alan and Michele say even though the Kinky Sex Guide for Couples is geared for newbies, the movie was still hot and worth it for those already kinky:

All in all we won’t hesitate to recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to learn how to get a little kink on. The information given is both valid and useful, and the sex scenes are practical enough for most couples to mimic, if they choose. Even if you’re already a bit kinky you may still enjoy the video just for the sex scenes. We certainly did!

http://alanandmichele.com/2013/08/guide-to-kinky-sex-for-couples-video-review/

Positive Style blog gives a detailed play-by-play of KSGC in their review:

This guide is set up, like some of Taormino’s other titles, to educate and titillate viewers.  The introduction is full of information and ideology, as well as the couples’ own insights into kinky sex and why they love it, which will certainly bring any newbie up to speed.  This also serves to demystify that naughty enigma we know as kink; it is a game and can serve to explore one’s inner desires on one’s own terms.

http://positivestyleblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/review-tristan-taorminos-guide-to-kinky-sex-for-couples/

Poly Aphrodite wrote a great review of my other Adam & Eve release of the summer, The Guide to Bondage for Couples. Her favorite scene was with Derrick and Skin Diamond:

The bed was very squeaky, but the scene was so hot, I hardly noticed at all. At one point to tease her, he Leaves the Magic Wand turned on near her pussy and leaves her alone. Then, they leave the bed to use the Fetish Fantasies Door Swing, which I immediately ordered online. It. Looks. So. Fun! In the scene, she starts reading the instructions, and he shrugs her off, saying he already knows how to use it. It was really cute, and the action was hot once they got it all hung up!

http://polyaphrodite.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/bondage-for-couples/

CoolestPornReviews.com gave Guide to Bondage for Couples a 5 out of 5.

[A]fter she gives an explanation about something, you’re going to have a demonstration from the couple in turn, so you get an idea of how to accomplish things. This is an awesome movie that shows you everything you want to know about soft bondage, plus there are lots of bonus materials to keep you entertained!!

http://coolestpornreviews.com/2013/09/10/tristan-taorminos-guide-bondage-couples-movie-review/

and finally……

Violet Blue of TinyNibbles.com gives the Bondage DVD a mention in this week’s roundup of Sex News!

 

 

Aug 122013
 

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If you’ve been curious about one of my latest DVDs, Tristan Taormino’s Guide to Kinky Sex for Couples, check out these new reviews of the film.

Girly Juice sums it up like this:

It’s the best introduction I can possibly imagine for beginners to the world of kink. It’s easy to understand, full of information that every kinkster of any skill level should know, and the sex scenes are unbelievably hot.

 

Poly Aphrodite ranks it 4 out of 5 stars and their favorite scene is Asa and Derrick:

The fourth and final scene was between Asa and Derrick. This, in my opinion, was the hottest scene of the movie. This is where they bring out the fun toys (again, IMO). They use kegel balls, butt plugs, and the Magic Wand in great combination with spanking and penetration. The scenes involving anal make a point to show that the actors do in fact use lube, to encourage use in your own bedroom.

Sex In Words explains why it’s a great tool for beginners that will warrant re-watching:

As with most great sex—and kinky sex, in particular—the video starts off with much talk from both Tristan and the cast. I am sure this was entirely intentional, a device to mimic how we should approach kinky sex, as beginners. There is also much talk between sexy segments. Many, many themes are explored throughout the video, with many definitions, techniques and toys being discussed and demonstrated. Beginners are getting a very thorough introduction here, one that will likely make this video a start and stop—and then watch over and over adventure.

I’m so glad that people are enjoying my latest film – see it for yourself and get ready to add new erotic play to your life, I guarantee you’ll be inspired.