This week’s episode of Sex Out Loud is our first in the CatalystCon Series, interviews recorded live in front of a studio audience at Washington DC during the weekend of CatalystCon. We kick off the series with Dr. Carol Queen, a cultural sexologist and staff member of Good Vibrations, as well as founding director of the Center for Sex & Culture. We talk about her long and storied career in the Bay Area sex-positive scene, favorite exhibits at her Antique Vibrator Museum, and the re-release of Leather Daddy and the Femme. We’ll also discuss the Feminist Porn Conference and Fem Porn Awards happening in Toronto this weekend. Find all the ways to listen along this Friday at 5 pm PT / 8pm ET.

Carol Queen has a PhD in sexology and a prior degree in sociology. She calls herself a cultural sexologist; while she addresses individual and couple’s sexual concerns, her overarching interest is in cultural issues. Queen has worked at Good Vibrations, the woman-founded sexuality company based in San Francisco since 1990. Her current position is Staff Sexologist and Company Historian; her roles include representing the company to the press and the public; overseeing educational programming for staff and others; scripting/hosting a line of sex education videos, the Pleasure-Ed series, for sister company Good Releasing; and curating GV’s Antique Vibrator Museum. She is also the founding director of the Center for Sex & Culture, a non-profit sex ed/arts center San Francisco and is a frequent lecturer at colleges, conferences, and community-based organizations. Her dozen books include a Lambda Literary Award winner, PoMoSexuals, and Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, which are used as texts in some college classes. She blogs at the Good Vibes Magazine and is a sometime contributor to the Boston Dig.