Date: May 13th, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press please contact Carol Queen, Ph.D -- carol@sexandculture.org -- phone messages to (415) 255-1155
or Robert Lawrence, Ed.D. -- robert@sexandculture.org -- phone calls to (415) 246-5477

MASTURBATE-A-THON IN SAN FRANCISCO ATTRACTS COMPETITORS, SEX CELEBS, INTRODUCES TWITTERGASM

San Francisco (May 13, 2008): The Center for Sex and Culture's National Masturbation Month plans once again include a Live Masturbate-a-Thon in San Francisco. Founder and director Carol Queen, Ph.D. announced that the Center for Sex & Culture will hold the seventh annual fund-raising live Masturbate-a-Thon on May 25, 2008. Doors will open at 12:00 for those attempting to set this year's time record, and at 3:00 pm for regular participants who do not anticipate needing a full nine hours for their participation. The event is one of many National Masturbation Month events planned around the US, Canada, and Europe. Unlike most of the others, the CSC's Masturbate-a-Thon is a live group event at which participants will raise funds by getting others to sponsor them for the length of time they masturbate. CSC will hold the event at 1519 Mission Street in San Francisco. Special celebrity guests and MCs include Nina Hartley, gay porn start Robert Black, and performer Tom Orr.

Founded by San Francisco's women-focused sex toy company Good Vibrations in the wake of then-Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders' firing for stating that masturbation "is perhaps something that should be taught" about when discussing youth sexual options, National Masturbation Month seeks to raise awareness and dispel shame about this most common and natural of sexual activities. Good Vibrations and its sister sex toy stores and sex-positive nonprofits have been celebrating National Masturbation Month since 1995. 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 has historically sponsored the Masturbate-a-Thon as a private event, as most masturbation is; the Center for Sex & Culture followed the lead of a private organization in Salt Lake City in celebrating it as a group activity.

The Center for Sex & Culture Masturbate-a-Thons typically raise close to $5000 from participants and their sponsors, who pledge any amount they choose per minute (or hour) to support their friends' efforts. At last year’s event the Longest Time Spent Masturbating award was presented to a man who spent 8 hours and 40 minutes engaged in self-pleasuring; the women’s record has been unbroken since 2004, when a female participant masturbated for 6 hours and 30 minutes. The event’s Most Orgasms Award is held by a woman who came 49 times during the Live London Masturbate-a-Thon in 2006 (filmed for British Channel 4). The distance record, begun last year, is currently 36 inches, held by a male, though in that competition a woman ejaculator came in at second place. The Most Funds Raised Award hovers near $1000.

Who participates in a live Masturbate-a-Thon? Not surprisingly, representatives from various San Francisco sexual subcultures 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 will be set aside for men who would prefer to masturbate together and women who want a single-sex space, with the rest of the room a mixed-gender venue. 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. Tony, a 2004 first-time participant from Los Angeles, emailed CSC afterwards to thank
them for setting up a space where he could feel comfortable and let go of the shame that had been instilled in him about masturbation. CSC director Queen comments: "People like Tony are everywhere; most of us engage in self-pleasure, but there is so little support for doing so that it can become a source of distress. This is exactly why National Masturbation Month is needed; people need to understand that self-stimulation is common, pleasurable, healthful, and nothing to worry about."

Word of the Masturbate-a-Thon has spread around the globe. Online participants have come from as far away as Europe, Asia, and Australia; in past years press hits have come in from South Africa, France, Brazil, Ireland, India, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Pledge sheets and co-sponsorship links are available at the Masturbate-a-Thon's website: http://www.masturbate-a-thon.com. 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 entry fee. Supporters who live too far away to attend can tune in to the webcast on May 25; interested parties who prefe
r a private Masturbate-a-Thon can download the pledge sheet, stay home and participate, and remit by mail or web. At the live event a limited number of voyeur seats will also be available at a $40 admission cost.

New this year: The Live Masturbate-a-Thon on Twitter! Participants at the event and people participating from home can all announce "twittergasms" via cell phone on Twitter's network. Please see the addendum below for full details about Twitter and its role in the Center for Sex & Culture's Masturbate-a-Thon plans. Sponsors this year include GameLink and original Masturbate-a-Thon innovator Good Vibrations.

GameLink.com has added something to the annual self-love fest this year….the online Pornstar Masturbation Marathon.
On May 21st 2008 Nina Hartley will kick off a year-long competition by professional pornstars on GameLinkLive.com called the “Pornstar Masturbation Marathon.” During her 3 hour VIP performance she will attempt to set the record for the online pornstar competition for longest time spent continually masturbating. Each month GameLink will feature another pornstar to compete against her record and/or the title for most orgasms or furthest distance categories.

Records will be reported to the Center for Sex and Culture after each show. Finalists will be announced at the 2009 Masturbate-a-thon annual live event in San Francisco, and on the GameLink.com and website, and will be invited to perform live at the San Francisco Masturbate-a-thon event in 2009.

The Masturbate-a-Thon’s official website is www.masturbate-a-thon.com. Good Vibrations's site is www.goodvibes.com. 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. (It does not yet maintain regular drop-in hours.) The Center for Sex & Culture is a volunteer organization that subsists on support and 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 at www.sexandculture.org. Telephone: (415) 255-1155.

EVENT IN BRIEF
WHAT: The Live Masturbate-a-Thon
WHEN: Sunday, May 25, 2008, doors (for time contestants) 12:00 pm, general admission 3:00 pm.
WHERE: 1519 Mission, San Francisco, CA 94103
HOW MUCH: Bring a filled-out pledge sheet OR $20 at the door; limited voyeur seating is $40
MORE INFO: http://www.masturbate-a-thon.com, http://www.sexandculture.org


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Addendum: More About Twittergasms

What’s a Twittergasm?
Twittergasm: a post to your twitter profile indicating that you just had a real orgasm
ICSW (I came, so what?)
JOSW (jacking off, so what? related term to indicate you are jacking off)
By typing the character string: ICSW to your twitter profile, you say with pride: I Came! Prudes of the world will be forced to realize once and for all that no one really cares what adults do with themselves, and everyone does it.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform accessible from the web, instant messenger clients, and mobile phones, which allows people to post brief messages to share their activities and interests with friends and fans. It links to people’s blogs and Facebook and Myspace pages, too, so it makes possible the updating of many social networks with one entry of 140 characters or less, allowing the sharing of links to websites with brief commentary on why the site is interesting. A short video on twitter explains it very clearly: http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

What does Twitter have to do with Orgasms and Jacking Off?
The 2008 Masturbate-a-thon is participating in twitter in an historic way. In partnership with GameLink.com, one of our sponsors, we have created the twittergasm. It’s a way of coming out of the closet as someone who masturbates by posting to your twitter profile whenever you come. A secret handshake of sorts, only others who follow the twittergasm profile, or who have read about the campaign will know, so your prudish friends will be left alone until they, too are enlightened.

We will be using the popular service http://www.tweetscan.com to track twittergasms in May and we will publish the results on the Masturbate-a-thon.com site and related blogs and social network sites.

Twitterers can participate in national masturbation month in several ways.
1) Become a follower of one of these profiles:

http://www.twitter.com/jackingoff (the profile off the masturbate-a-thon.com)
http://www.twitter.com/thebiggesto (a profile that tracks the orgasms of twitterers)
2) Use this code on your twitter profile to indicate whenever you have an orgasm:
ICSW or JOSW when you jack off. (hint, multiple orgasms can be indicated by using a colon and a number to indicate how many: ICSW:3 (…If you are tempted to fake a twittergasm, read our blog for info on why you shouldn’t.)

3) Ask your friends and twitter followers to pledge to donate a certain amount to the Center for Sex and Culture for every orgasm you have in May. Visit www.masturbate-a-thon.com/twitter.php to register your twitter profile for participation in National Masturbation Month (May 2008) and send emails to your friends to ask them to make a pledge on your behalf. Send a link to that same page where they can sign up to donate as much as they chose for each time you come. Donors do not have to be on twitter to participate.