We’re having a summer blowout sale at the Pucker Up store to make room for new inventory! 25% off all books & DVDs + free domestic shipping on ALL orders over $50. Use coupon code SEXNERD at checkout. This sale goes through the weekend, so get shopping now!
This week’s episode of Sex Out Loud features our final interview from the CatalystCon series with Francisco Ramirez, known for giving Free Sex Advice on the streets in NYC every week, answering questions about relationships, sex, and dating. He’ll discuss the inspiration for his project, how he’s turning people’s stories into a podcast, and the phone app he’s developing. Then, Airial Clark, known for her site TheSexPositiveParent.com, will be interviewed live in the second half of the show. Clark has created sex education curriculum and led workshops where she provides parents and caregivers the tools they need to become the resident sexuality expert for their families.
This second half of this week’s show is live, so find out all the ways to listen here and you can call in with questions at 1-866-472-5788, join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or even e-mail me via tristan(at)puckerup.com and I’ll read them live on the air!
Francisco Ramirez holds a Master of Public Health (concentration in sexuality) from Columbia University. For 15 years, Francisco has addressed the sexual health needs of diverse communities worldwide. He is a long-term consultant at the United Nations and has led multi-lingual education initiatives for: the UN, MTV Networks, Planned Parenthood, New York Academy of Medicine, and the NAACP. Since 2008 Francisco has offered Free Advice on sex to passersby in NYC parks. He is a prominent voice in the media on sex. At MTV Voices and MTV Staying Alive, he is an on-camera host and producer of sex-related content. In 2010 he guest-hosted the Savage LoveCast with Dan Savage. Currently, he is developing an original TV series and co-hosting a forthcoming web series on sex. Francisco lectures at universities and is creating a mobile app focused on sex ed. Francisco has worked in over 10 countries and is based in NYC.
Airial Clark, M.A is the founder of The Sex-Positive Parent. She has a Master’s degree in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State and also a rambunctious single-parent of two teenage sons. Airial graduated from UC Berkeley in 2007 with a BA in English Literature and Anthropology. She is a contributing writer for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Oakland Local, Good Vibrations Magazine, the Sex Positive Photo Project of the SF Bay Area and Shades Magazine. Airial presented her graduate level research on the intersections of race, non-monogamy and parenting at the Open SF conference and will be presenting two sessions at this year’s CatalysCon West. Airial sees the mission of her work to provide strategies and support for sex-positive parenting; specializing in community building for parents with alternative sexualities. She leads parent-education workshops, provides one-on-one parent coaching and consults other sex educators on how to include parents in their work.
This Friday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET, a new episode of Sex Out Loud is taking on an unexpected topic. Internationally accredited, widely-published investigative reporter Eric Francis Coppolino offers a clear, original analysis of world events through the lens of astrology. He’s been reporting on breaking news stories as an astrologer since 1995 and last year Francis called on astrologers at the United Astrology Conference to start including more sex and relationship education to their work. Tristan will talk to Eric Francis about his work, sex-positive chart readings, polyamory, and more. Be prepared to have your views and assumptions on astrology expanded and challenged!
Eric Francis is the founder of Planet Waves, the sexpositive astrology website, and the author of Book of Blue, an erotic memoir told in photos and essays. He hosts Planet Waves FM, which is webcast at www.PlanetWaves.fm. Tristan appeared as a guest on Planet Waves on May 1, 2013, you can listen to the interview here.
One year ago, Sex Out Loud radio began with interviewing Dan Savage for the very first episode. Join me this Friday, May 31st at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET for an hour revisiting that first show as well as some of my favorite moments from the past 50 episodes, including talking with Real Housewives of Atlanta Kandi Burruss, adult legend Nina Hartley, gender outlaw Kate Bornstein, sex start-up powerhouse Cindy Gallop, rockstar academic Jack Halberstam, and many more. With highlights and behind-the-scenes stories, I look back on a year of talking about sex out loud and then take us forward into season two of the show.
Cosmopolitan magazine did a Q&A with me on the topic of feminist porn. I’m excited that the ideas of the movement are finally making their way into mainstream media. Here’s a quote from the interview:
I have no interest in policing or judging anyone’s desires, fantasies, and porn preferences, and I know that plenty of women have fantasies of dominance and submission. Images of dominance and submission are not anti-feminist in and of themselves, but one of the reasons feminists critique them is because consent is not always explicit and because of the repetition of men dominating women, making it the main type of power exchange we see in a lot of mainstream pornography. I think there is a stereotype that women want kinder, gentler, more romantic porn; some women do, but not all women. Feminist pornographers don’t want to do away with sexual power dynamics; many of us want to explore them in an explicitly consensual and more diverse, nuanced, non-stereotypical way.
This Friday at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sex Out Loud we feature sex educator and author Ducky Doolittle, interviewed live at CatalystCon. Over the years Ducky has used her writing and sense of humor to pursue her deep lust for knowledge and understanding in regard to sexuality, class, race, gender, culture, compassion and human rights. She’ll talk about her blog, Lipstick Stains on Your Pillow, and how her counseling experiences has informed her work as an sex educator. Then, we have Malay Vannouvong from ANEROS discussing how she came to work for the company that transformed the manufacturing of prostate stimulators, and Tom Stewart, the founder and CEO of Sportsheets, who will discuss how his products have broken out of the dungeon to great sales success, mainstream media attention, and numerous industry and mainstream awards.
Ducky Doolittle is the author of Sex With The Lights On: 200 Illuminating Sex Questions Answered. She has spent the last two decades working in the field of sexuality. She is a certified emergency room Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Counselor and has trained with Planned Parenthood in comprehensive STD prevention and comprehensive & medically accurate sex education. Ducky tours internationally, performing on campuses, medical schools, bachelorette parties, homeless youth drop-in centers, book clubs, church groups, sex shops and anywhere else she can gather a crowd. She has appeared on HBOs Real Sex, The Morning Show, MTV, NPR, The Howard Stern Show, and Playboy TV… to name a few. Ducky’s unabashed openness about her life developed into a successful career as a journalist and advice columnist.
Tom Stewart, Founder and CEO of Sportsheets International, Inc., created the Sportsheet, the “Velcro” Bondage Bedsheet, while serving as a helicopter pilot in the Marines in the late 1980’s. Tom banked on this unique idea for a never-before-made product, unknowingly, on the cusp of the adult novelty industry explosion. Inspired by an episode of the David Letterman Show, he developed a product that would allow you to restrain your partner with safe and easy-to-use Velcro. A key selling point on the Sportsheet is that “you’re only as tied us as you want to be,” which makes the product very alluring to women. Over the last two decades Tom continued to build his company on the fantasy bondage concept, developing more than 500 different products for curious couples.
Malay Vannouvong has been a part of the ANEROS team for almost 5 years. Fresh out of the Univ. of Houston in 2008, Aneros gave her her first real job and she was appointed Dir. of Client Relations at the end of 2012. What started off as a cool option, an alternative to a cubicle within a restrictive corporate setting, has quickly transformed into a passion. ANEROS is the home of products scientifically designed for sexual wellness and pleasure. Backed by years of testimonials from happy customers, and great reviews on the radio, books, magazines, and the web, ANEROS has established itself as the ultimate source for sexual fulfillment.
The BDSM culture is not only applicable to kinky people, Taormino said, as some of the principles of consent and communication could be readily applied to “vanilla,” or nonkinky, relationships. Any couple looking to improve their sexual relationship could do so by putting these ideas into practice, she said.
Read it all here: Students talk BDSM in Fifty Shades of Grey dialogues
This Friday on Sex Out Loud at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET, we feature jessica drake: writer, director, producer and host of jessica drake’s Guide to Wicked Sex. This series of educational DVDs from Wicked Pictures is inspired by her experiences and observations as one of the industry’s legendary Wicked Girls. She’ll talk about how she helps men and women become more sexually aware in Sex for the Wicked Woman, a series of seminars illuminated by her vast expertise and passion for research. With a lifetime of rigorous analysis coupled with years of peerless professional experience, jessica drake will also discuss her journey from a performer to one of the leading voices in progressive sexual education. This interview was recorded live in front of a studio audience at CatalystCon in Washington DC.
One of adult film’s most celebrated actresses, Wicked Pictures contract star jessica drake is making her mark as a sex educator by combining her passion for teaching sexual responsibility with her goal of helping couples discover their erotic potential. Uniting a lifetime of study with a decade’s worth of experiential research, this charming Texan is sharing her expertise with audiences around the globe in jessica drake’s Guide to Wicked Sex. Each subject is explored with the same distinct blend of factual demonstration and good humor that has led Gawker Media’s Fleshbot to laud this three-time AVN Best Actress winner for bringing a “sexy, articulate and professional” voice to the sexual self-help genre. A source of sexual inspiration for the adult industry as well as society at large, jessica is also spearheading Wicked Pictures’ involvement in Adult Production Health & Safety Services, a program designed by the Free Speech Coalition to provide producers and performers with a reliable protocol and database for STI testing.
This Friday, May 10th at 5pm PT / 8pm ET on Sex Out Loud, we have our third interview from the CatalystCon series and the second time we talk with relationship geek Reid Mihalko. This time he brings along his creative collaborator, Cathy Vartuli aka The Intimacy Dojo. They discuss coaching, communicating, and why being relationship geeks can lead to better sex. Reid discusses how he’s improving people’s relationships by 10 and Cathy shares how she creates a place where people can learn, practice, and play the art of intimacy.
Sex and relationship expert Reid Mihalko of www.ReidAboutSex.com helps adults create more self-esteem, self-confidence and greater health in relationships and sex lives with an inspiring mixture of humor and knowledge. Reid has appeared on Oprah’s Our America With Lisa Ling on OWN, the Emmy award-winning talk show Montel, Dr. Phil’s The Doctors on CBS, Bravo’s Miss Advised, Fox News, in Newsweek, Seventeen, GQ, The Washington Post, and in thirteen countries and at least seven languages. His workshops and lectures have been attended by close to 40,000 men and women.
Cathy Vartuli is a sex-positive Emotional Freedom and Relationship Coach who helps people transform their traumas into their greatest strengths using love, laughter and inner guidance. Cathy is a PhD scientist and engineer with 18 patents and author of over 50 scientific publications and 70 conference presentations. She is a certified AAMET Advanced Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner, and offers a wide range of programs and services – from audio products and programs, to group and individual coaching. She’s been coaching for 6 years and has worked with over a thousand clients. She has co-lead programs and products with Reid Mihalko, and created a PSA on body image with Buck Angel. Cathy has been featured on EFT Hub World Video Summit, the EFT-Universe, Living Energy Secrets, and Create Your Dream Life Summit.
The editors, Feona Attwood (Middlesex University) and Clarissa Smith (University of Sunderland), and Routledge are pleased to announce the launch of a new journal devoted to the study of pornography.
Porn Studies is the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal to critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic and their cultural, economic, historical, institutional, legal and social contexts. Porn Studies will publish innovative work examining specifically sexual and explicit media forms, their connections to wider media landscapes and their links to the broader spheres of (sex) work across historical periods and national contexts.
Porn Studies is an interdisciplinary journal informed by critical sexuality studies and work exploring the intersection of sexuality, gender, race, class, age and ability. It focuses on developing knowledge of pornographies past and present, in all their variations and around the world. Because pornography studies are still in their infancy we are also interested in discussions that focus on theoretical approaches, methodology and research ethics. Alongside articles, the journal includes a forum devoted to shorter observations, developments, debates or issues in porn studies, designed to encourage exchange and debate.
Porn Studies invites submissions for publication, commencing with its first issue in Spring 2014. Articles should be between 5000 and 8000 words. Forum submissions should be 500-1500 words. Book reviews should be between 800 and 1500 words. Submissions will be refereed anonymously by at least two referees.
In the first instance submissions, queries and suggestions should be sent to: editorspstudies@gmail.com