When: Saturday, April 9, 2011, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, doors open at 6:30 PM
What: WRITERS WITH DRINKS TURNS TEN!
Who: Rick Moody, Maxine Hong Kingston, Monica Youn, Regina Lynn, Keith
Knight and the contributors to Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St. between Mission and Valencia,
San Francisco
How much: $5 to $10 sliding scale, all proceeds benefit the Center for Sex and Culture.

About the readers/performers:

Rick Moody’s latest book is The Four Fingers of Death. His first
novel, Garden State, won the 1991 Editor’s Choice Award from the
Pushcart Press. His other books include Demonology, The Ice Storm, The
Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven, The Diviners and Right
Livelihoods: Three Novellas.

Maxine Hong Kingston’s latest book is I Love A Broad Margin to My
Life. She won the National Book Award for her novel China Men. Her
other books include The Fifth Book of Peace, To Be the Poet,
Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book, Through The Black Curtain and The
Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts.

Sean McLain Brown, Scott Morrison, Joanne Palamountain, Julie Thi
Underhill and Lee Swenson are contributors to the anthology Veterans
of War, Veterans of Peace, edited by Maxine Hong Kingston.

Monica Youn’s latest book of poems is called Ignatz. Her first book of
poems was called Barter. Her poems have appeared in Tin House, Cue: A
Journal of Prose Poetry and elsewhere.

Regina Lynn was the award-winning Sex Drive columnist at Wired.com and
the Tuesday “Sex in the News” guest on Playboy Radio: Afternoon Advice
with Tiffany Granath. She is the author of Sexier Sex: Lessons from
the Brave New Sexual Frontier and The Sexual Revolution 2.0.

Keith Knight is the creator of the K Chronicles, (th)ink and The
Knight Life, which have been collected in ten books so far. He won the
2007 Harvey Award and the 2010 Inkpot Award at Comic Con. His art has
appeared in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Salon.com,
Ebony, ESPN the Magazine, L.A. Weekly, MAD Magazine, and the Funny
Times.

About Writers With Drinks:

Writers With Drinks has won “Best Literary Night” from the SF Bay
Guardian readers’ poll six years in a row and was named “Best Literary
Drinking” by the SF Weekly. The spoken word “variety show” mixes
genres to raise money for local worthy causes. The award-winning show
includes poetry, stand-up comedy, science fiction, fantasy, romance,
mystery, literary fiction, erotica, memoir, zines and blogs in a
freewheeling format.

I’ll be at the Lanai Lounge on Friday, September 17, from 6pm to 9pm, for the EstaNoche.com official launch party. If you’re in town, come on by and introduce yourself — I’d love to meet you! I’ll even attempt to chat with you in my gringa Español, if you prefer.

Ignite Your Amor Sensual
Lanai Rooftop Lounge
422 North Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701

• Free food & drinks (try Z Tequila’s “Amor Latino,” created just for the party)
• Deep discounts on EstaNoche purchases
• Renowned sex experts will be on hand to give you the advice you need to turn your love life up a notch
• Help launch the first ever site to help Latinos… and those who love them… keep it caliente in the bedroom

Toys, sex-positive conversation, and Z Tequila? Oh yeah.

Y se habla Español. (Yo hablo un poquito de Español, más o menos, pero EstaNoche bloguera Elvira Marin y otros que hablan Español verdad.)

Welcome to the first annual MOMENTUM Conference taking place on April 1 to April 3, 2011 in Washington, DC.

The phenomenal growth of online communication has given rise to an amazing amount of sharing, learning and experimenting with different expressions of sexuality, relationships and feminism. MOMENTUM provides a safe place to listen, discuss and learn about the ways the web has impacted our sexuality without the fear of reprisal or shaming. It is a space for acceptance and appreciation of diversity, including for those in the LGBTQ, sex-work, BDSM and non-monogamous communities.

During MOMENTUM we will discuss ways to bridge the baffling dichotomies our culture creates around sexuality. While on one hand we have unprecedented sexual freedom, on the other we continue to police sexuality with a frightening vigor. Abortion laws, restrictions on gay marriage, abstinence programs, medicalization of sex, fear of pornography and prosecutions for teenage sexting are examples of one side of the spectrum. The discomfort that strives to make us keep our sexuality hidden conflicts with the use of sex — especially the female body — to sell everything from food to cars to “performance enhancing” products.

I’m tempted to apply to give my “how to have great cybersex” presentation, if for no other reason than to provide some comic relief.

It’s a clever adult company that can jump on current events and stay in the news. Pink Visual just recently got a lot of attention by getting banned from the iPhone store, and now it’s offering free online porn to government workers, some of whom “are going to watch porn no matter what you do.”

This may be the latest method by which porn drives technology. Not so much in creating new hardware or software, but in developing expertise in social media, manipulating its power (that’s us, folks!) to build a presence as a relevant, culturally savvy organization. Becoming cool, hip, alternative, funny, and sticking it to The Man, but as a peer, rather than a crusader. No first amendment court battles here, just social commentary and a tongue firmly planted in a cheek. And, incidentally, porn for every device you prefer to experience it on.

Free porn for government workers

VAN NUYS, Calif. — In light of recent revelations that dozens of Securities and Exchange Commission employees spent their time watching Internet pornography while the country’s economy was being turned upside-down by the very people the SEC is supposed to oversee, one company is stepping forward with a solution designed to prevent this sort of travesty from occurring again.

Adult entertainment studio Pink Visual today announced a discount program aimed at government workers, in which starting on May 5, new customers who sign up using a “.gov” email address will be given a free 2-week trial to the company’s flagship subscription website PinkVisualPass.com provided that the workers only use the site between 6pm and 6am.

“Our thinking is that a certain percentage of government employees are going to watch porn no matter what you do, and there’s nothing wrong with that, so long as they are doing it on their own time, said Pink Visual Brand and Product Manager Kim Kysar. By offering them incentive to use the site only after work hours, we’re doing our part to encourage them to be productive when they are on the clock, and save their porn surfing for more appropriate times.”

Kysar said that the website will be set to deny access to members who take advantage of the promotional offer if they attempt to sign in during the work day.

“After hours, they will be able to enter the site and download content like any other member, Kysar said. During the work day, they will be greeted by a message that says “Stop wasting our tax dollars and get back to work!” We think this strikes a nice balance between honoring the rights of government employees to enjoy adult entertainment, while respecting the fact that they have an important job to do.”

Asked how their promotion would stop government workers from visiting other porn sites during work hours, Kysar conceded that Pink Visual’s public service efforts “will not be a cure-all for the problem of government workers wasting their time.”

“Ultimately, all we can do is offer incentive for them to be more conscientious about how they spend their time at work; it’s still up to the individual to do the right thing,” Kysar said. “We know that our movies are like an irresistible siren’s call for many people, and apparently government employees in particular, so we felt compelled to try to be part of the solution here, and not just a source of temptation. It’s a lot like all those TV ads you see from beer companies encouraging you to ‘drink responsibly,’ when you think about it.”

All the info at sex20con.com, with a nice summary in this press release (I know, it’s lazy of me, but I’m on deadline for an article about the history of vibrators):

WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 27, 2009. Now in our second year, Sex 2.0, a one-day unconference, will take place on May 9, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Sex 2.0 will focus on the intersection of social media, feminism, and sexuality. How is social media enabling people to learn, grow, and connect sexually? How is sexual expression tied to social activism? Does the concept of transparency online offer new opportunities or present new roadblocks � or both? Sex 2.0 is an unconference, which means that sessions will be informal conversations organized by people attending the event. Session leaders with some knowledge in a subject area facilitate conversations among the participants.

Sessions will include: �Internet Advocacy for Sexual Freedom� with Ricci Joy Levy of the Woodhull Foundation; �Polyamory in Media�s Spotlight� with Anita Wagner; �Craigslist Red, Craigslist Blue: Why we should dismantle the �internet red light district� with Melissa Gira Grant and Joanne McNeill; �Kick Ass Twitter Apps� with Cunning Minx; �Revenge Porn� with Maria Diaz; and �Sex Writing Beyond Erotica, Beyond Porn� with Jack Murnighan, Nerve.com editor-at-large. The keynote speaker will be Nikol Hasler, creator of the Midwest Teen Sex Show (http://midwestteensexshow.com). A complete list of sessions may be viewed at: http://sex20con.com/2009-schedule/sessions/

Sex 2.0 will be held in a Washington, D.C. hotel. (To ensure everyone�s privacy, location information will be email once you are registered). It will offer five conference rooms, a lounge (with free WiFi), vendor area as well as space for various sex-positive outreach groups to set up informational displays and tables.

The event is managed by volunteers and funded by sponsors. We are pleased to have SEXTOY.com as our presenting sponsor this year. SEXTOY.com has been focusing on building a relationship within the blogger community with the recent start-up of its sex toy reviewer program. SEXTOY.com is honored to be the official sponsor for Sex 2.0 and looks forward to a mutually rewarding relationship with the blogger Community. Two SEXTOY.com associates will be attending Sex 2.0 this year: Erik Van Riper and Domina Doll; who both look forward to meeting everyone, attending the talks and participating in discussions. Sex 2.0 is also pleased to have community sponsor Bound Not Gagged (www.boundnotgagged.com), hospitality sponsor Kimberleecline.com and technology sponsor PosAlt.com supporting this years conference.

While the event itself is on Saturday, May 9, there are participant-organized meetups, outings, and parties being planned for Friday night and Saturday evening, as well as a Sunday brunch. For more information, visit the Sex 2.0 website at www.sex20con.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/sex20con.