Center for Sex and Culture

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Oral Services Spoken Word
May 23, 2013, Thursday
Center for Sex & Culture 1349 Mission St. SF
Cost: $5-$20 NTALF
Tel: 415-857-5425
7PM Open Mic; 7:30 PM Featured Readers

The 8th Biennial Sex Worker Fest welcomes Amber Dawn (author of Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa) launching her new work “How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustlers Memoir” on Thursday, May 23rd at “Oral Sarvices,” an evening of spoken word. Others providing “Oral Services” include Brontez Purnell, Laure McElroy, Juba Kalamka, 2009 Lambda Award winner Rhiannon Argo, Ckiara Rose, Lola Sunshine, Jacques La Femme, editors of Dear Dawn: Aileen Wuornos in Her Own Words, Daphne Gottlieb and Lisa Kester, and participants from an MNRC workshop w/ POOR Magazine.

Sex workers, come at 7 PM to sign up and read for the open mic!

Tabling: Sex worker literature and more by Modern Times.

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Whorrific Cabaret with Mariko Passion

May 24th, Friday
7 PM Whorrific Cabaret at Center for Sex & Culture, 1349 Mission St.
9:30 PM On board the Whorrific Popcorn Theatre Bus!

Performance curator and international multi-media artist Mariko Passion brings this San Francisco phenomenon to the Sex Worker Festival with the “Whorrific Popcorn Theater Bus and Cabaret.” Storytellers and performers take riders on a magical adventure with a Happy Ending! Ms. Passion guides the guests as Ana May Tong, (after Ana May Wong, the first famous Chinese actress in the U.S.)

A long running San Francisco tradition, the Popcorn Anti-Theater Bus Tours “encourage audience participation, costumes and general bonhomie. The trips focus on the underground artists and performers who are an increasing rarity in a city where overzealous development and rising housing prices are driving them out.” (SF Gate)

This sex worker ‘show and tell’ edition visits the haunts and landmarks of SF whoredom (like City Hall) where sex workers dish the dirt about what really goes on in “the city that knows how.”

Performers include Scarlot Harlot, Femme 6, Absinthia, Ckiara Rose, Dee Dee Russell, Hernan Cortez, Sister Dana Van Iquity, The Incredible Edible Akynos, Ben Goldstein, Tom Orr, Mariko Passion and more.

“Art is the method for coping and growing beyond cultures barriers and barrio’s,” says Magician, Heran Cortez. “The Art of the Oppressed is triumphant merely in it’s creation and communication. The audiences willingness to witness and honor the oppressed artist is an act of nobility, nurturing, suturing and chain-breaking.”

“In other words, make sure to bring some cash!” explains Scarlot Harlot. “Sex Workers Unite! Outlaw Poverty, Not Prostitutes!”

More about Ana May Tong by Mariko Passion

Anna May Tong is a character inspired by the Chinese American actress Anna May Wong, but with a Chinese Tong gangstress edge. The Tongs were notorious for running gambling and prostitution houses in San Francisco and other parts of the U.S in the 1800s and were the feared power in charge of trafficking Chinese girls into sex slavery during that time in history. Many Chinese girls paid off their debts and married Chinese men who were former railroad workers opening Chinese laundries or went on to continue life in the sex trade as independent and voluntary sex workers. Anna May Wong spoke Chinese but did not have an accent and was born in Los Angeles. She was known for playing stereotypical Asian characters in Hollywood in the 1920-30s such as the villainess, the prostitute (Shanghai Express with Marlene Deitrich) or girl who does not get the guy (because he is white and anti-misegenation was iLLEGAL til the 1960s). As an actress, she earned respect by film studios like Paramount. She was a trailblazer in Hollywood, enjoying a life of privilege beyond the imaginations of most Asian-Americans at the time and is one of the few American born Asians that has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Buy Tickets Now!

About the artists:

The Incredible Edible Akynos

Mariko Passion

The Center for Sex & Culture ADA Accessible, so the Cabaret is accessible from 7-9 PM.We are sorry but the 9:30 Popcorn Theater Bus tour is not accessible. Childcare, translation and signing services are available upon request.We also ask you to assist us in making this a scent free environment (seepeggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html ). Please email sexworkerfest@gmail.com or call 510-410-4318 to request these or other options. Also see Logistics/Accessibility.

For further information or to volunteer, contact: swfest@bayswan.org

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THE 2013 LIVE MASTURBATE-A-THON

Saturday, May 25, 7pm-11pm

Arrive by 10pm

Mark your calendars and get ready to drop your pants (or skirts). All genders, all orientations welcome to explore self-pleasure in a supportive group environment. Come for a Cause! All donations and pledges support CSC’s operations and programs. By hosting this annual event, The Center for Sex & Culture strives to break the silence and shame that clouds masturbation. Come for us, loud and proud.

Bring sponsorship form with pledges (form will be available soon at www.sexandculture.org), or attend for $30.

Participation can be done either at the CSC (1349 Mission Street, San Francisco) or at home. Anyone striving for longest masturbation record (record currently set at near 10 hours) must be done at home.

More info available on the masturbate-a-thon tumblr: http://masturbateathon.tumblr.com/

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Burlesque 201

May 28th 7:00-9pm at Center for Sex and Culture 1349 Mission st, SF CA

Getting an Act together:

Students are encouraged to come with an act or character in mind. We will develop personas and discuss song choice, prop use, costume selection and techniques for coming up with acts; as well as some basic movement. This class will include discussion and group work bring 3 items that inspire you.

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“Come Find Me” Screening and Release Party

June 1st, 8pm-10

Queer Female Pornographer Courtney Trouble’s new DVD Come Find Me is a Straight Film!

Collaboration with real life couple behind Bike Smut is TROUBLEfilm’s fourth release

The next film from the growing TROUBLEfilms adult film empire is Come Find Me, slated for VOD and DVD release on June 1st, 2013.

There will be an exclusive screening and release party at Carol Queen and Robert Lawrence’s Center for Sex and Culture on June 1st, 8pm-10.

Purchase Tickets from Brown Paper Tickets:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/385527

Come watch Courtney Trouble/TROUBLEfilm’s BRAND NEW MOVIE at the incredible Center for Sex and Culture in SF on June 1st! Cost: $6, or upgrade to donate to the Center for Sex and Culture and get signed DVDs or digital downloads!

We teamed up with the incredible BIKE SMUT to make a steamy straight porn film with a little romance, a little humor, and a LOT of passionate sex.

The film’s stars and co-directors Poppy Cox and Gasper Johnson will be in the crowd and giving us a sweet performance after the film. Courtney Trouble will be hosting, with a few surprises along the way!

FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/582648758420399/?notif_t=plan_user_joined

Purchase Tickets at Brown Paper Tickets:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/385527

hashtag #ComeFindMeXXX

The film will release on VOD at TROUBLEfilms.Com,IndiePornRevolution.Com, and RealQueerPorn.Com with mainstream global VOD representation at Hot Movies,PinkLabel.TV, and MFE.TV immediatly following.

The film will also be released as alimited editionof only 300 professional-grade DVDs with handmade packaging, available for purchase on tour with Bike Smut, or online atTROUBLEfilms.Com.

Wholesale copies of the DVD are available while supplies last, please contactinfo@TROUBLEfilms.Comor visit http://troublefilms.com/ordering-informationto place an order.

With an adorable, romantic, and kinky storyline, Come Find Me is a Courtney Trouble first: This heterosexual porn incorporates a female point of view, kink and consent, authentic sex, and a personality-driven storyline that doesn’t end with ejaculation.

Gasper sends his girlfriend Poppy on a bike-powered scavenger hunt ending at an empty house with a gorgeous man ready to ravage her inside out. He binds her with bike tubes, spanks her, and taunts her until she’s too wet to stand - and then with an HD cam in hand, Poppy (and award-winning director Courtney Trouble) document an afternoon full of lustful oral sex, fingering, and finally - some deep, desperate, hard core fucking that makes both of them come hard - at last!

Come Find Me is a true collaboration, with a narrative shot by Bike Smut real-life couple Poppy Cox and Gasper Johnson – and a gorgeous, high definition, high art sex scene shot by Courtney Trouble, director of 14 full-length films and the recipient of 5 Feminist Porn Awards and countless AVN nominations.

Courtney Trouble and Bike Smut have created a straight porn flick that stands out from the rest. Challenging the formulaic male gaze of mainstream heterosexual pornography, Come Find Me is a fine example of independently-made, female-foward pornography. Come Find Me features spoken and visual consent patterns, a focus on female pleasure as well as male, and an altruistic approach to character development that allows you to fall in lust with the woman, and the man. It strays from the stereotypical “porn for women” trope by offering up hard core close ups, rough sex, and HD cinematography along-side it’s romantic authenticity.

It’s clearly a winner for all genders, couples, solo men, solo women, bisexuals, bikesexuals, kink lovers, amatuer porn afficianados, and indie porn experts!

TROUBLEfilms is a porn production company that focuses on sex-positive, diverse, and authentic representation headed by award-winning pornographer Courtney Trouble. TROUBLEfilms also serves as a distribution point for other great porn projects, like James Darling’sFTMFuckers.Comwebsite and the films of Handbasket Productions/Tobi Hill-Meyer.

Established in 2011. Wholesale and Press: info@troublefilms.com

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How to Fuck Better: Practical Applications for Good Sex

Class 2: Greasing The Wheel

June 2, 2013

12-3 pm

Announcing How to Fuck Better: Practical Applications for Good Sex - a new series of classes for men who love men, beginning June 2, 2013 at the Center for Sex and Culture. San Francisco based Sacred Intimates, TTBaum and Todd Brennanhave teamed up to bring you a new approach to sex education. How to Fuck Better is a monthly series of classes dedicated to giving men who love men the opportunity to learn about their bodies, their partners bodies and all the ins-and-outs of what it takes to have really good sex!

The How to Fuck Better eight-part, monthly series includes: Body Mechanics and Basics; Foreplay and Other Erogenous Zones; Oral Play - Your Mouth is a Sexual Organ Too!; Good Top/Bad Top; From the Bottom Up;Fantasies: BDSM, Fetish Play, and more…; Sex Etiquette and Scenarios; Wrap UP and Chill Out(Private Play Party for practicing technique). All classes offer anatomy lessons, body mechanics and demos from our LIVE MODELS.

The first class Body Mechanics and Basics will cover basic anatomy, embodiment, good-sex fundamentals and an overview of upcoming classes and takes place on Sunday, 6/2, 2013, 12-3PM at The Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103For more information go to: http://www.sexandculture.org/event or contact how2phuckbetter@gmail.com

Register here! Www.brownpapertickets.com/event/355636

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Sex Worker Outreach project

Thursday, June 6, 4-6pm

Sex Worker Outreach Project’s peer based sex worker support group is a place for sex workers to talk and share support, information, wisdom, feelings, and stories with each other. Talk about your good days at work and your bad days at work, and find others who will understand without judging you. Share your own strategies and hear how others navigate stigma, self-care, relationships, out-ness, racism/sizism/transphobia/ageism/ableism within the industry, healthcare, parenting, and more. We will meet on the first Thursday of every month from 4 to 6 pm, beginning on April 4th. Please arrive on time- doors will close at 4:15. A facilitated discussion will be followed by time to mingle. This group is FREE and open to all current and transitioning sex workers. Light refreshments will be provided. If you have any questions, please contact Luna at swopstreetoutreach@gmail.com or by calling 415-320-SWOP.

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Fairoaks Project: Photographs by Frank Melleno

Open Reception June 7, 2013 7-10 pm

Polaroids from a San Francisco bathhouse in 1978

Curated by Gary Freeman

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

A Rare Look inside a SF Gay Bathhouse in 1978

Frank Melleno’s Polaroid photography captured an extraordinary glimpse into pre-AIDS gay sexual culture. Melleno was part-owner and night manager of The Fairoaks Hotel, a unique San Francisco bathhouse operating from 1977 to 1979. His candid images are remarkable, documenting the social and sexual behavior with celebration and no apology.

The Fairoaks was owned and operated by a gay commune, lending a counter-culture approach to the establishment. There were monthly theme parties including costume and “Open Door” parties, when room doors would be removed from hinges. Many images contain nudity and erotic scenes.

The restored images, known as The Fairoaks Project, were well received at Los Angeles venues Highways and drkrm/Gallery. The Advocate and Lambda Literary have written articles on The Fairoaks Project.

The Boyfriend, a singing trio tracing its origin to performance artist Vaginal Davis, will perform at the opening.

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Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop

Saturday, 6/8, 2-4pm

(usually 2nd Saturday of Every Month), 2-4pm

Sliding scale $10-$20 (more if you can, less if you can’t, **nobody turned away** — if you’re broke you should still come write with us!)

Workshop facilitated by Gina de Vries

This is a writing workshop for current and former sex workers to share their writing and get honest, non-judgmental feedback. Workshop participants are not obligated to write exclusively about sex work, but writing about work in the sex industry (as well as writing about other topics) will be welcomed. This is a place where people can write and share about their sex work experiences without having to censor themselves or explain every detail. Beginning writers are encouraged to attend along with more seasoned wordsmiths.

Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop is all-genders. We define the term “sex worker” broadly, as people who have exchanged erotic labor for money/food/shelter, including but not limited to:

+Street and Survival Sex Workers

+Escorts and Personal Companions

+Sensual Massage and Sensual Body Work Providers

+BDSM workers; pro-dommes, subs, and switches

+Adult Film Actors; Porn Models and Performers; Nude Models; Cam Girls and Boys

+Exotic Dancers; Strippers; and Peep Show Workers

+Phone Sex Operators

+And many other Sex Workers and Adult Entertainers!

(If we’re forgetting your area of the industry in this definition, tell us!)

**Email questions, volunteer inquiries, etc, to queershoulder@gmail.com.

**While we can’t guarantee a scent-free space, we ask that all attendees please refrain from wearing scented products to ensure that workshop members with chemical sensitivities can attend.

**We ask that our non-sex worker friends, lovers, partners, allies, and clients respect that this space is FOR SEX WORKERS ONLY.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Gina de Vries is a genderqueer femme, a queer Paisan pervert, and a writer, performer, and activist with a long history doing political organizing in and with queer, trans and gender-variant, intersex, and sex worker communities. She co-edited the queer youth anthology [Becoming] with Diane Anderson-Minshall in 2004, and her publications include The San Francisco Bay Guardian, $pread, Curve, Coming & Crying, Take Me There: Trans & Genderqueer Erotica, and The Revolution Starts at Home. Gina is the founder and co-curator (with Elena Rose and Julia Serano) of “Girl Talk: a trans & cis woman dialogue,” a spoken-word show fostering and promoting dialogue about relationships of all kinds between non-trans and trans women. She has performed, taught, and lectured everywhere from chapels to leatherbar backrooms, and university appearances include Harvard University and Yale University. She is the founder and facilitator of Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop, a writing class for current & former sex workers at San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture (where she also serves on the Advisory Board). A graduate of Hampshire College, Gina is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, where she is working on a book of short stories. Find out more at ginadevries.com, and keep track of her on the daily atqueershoulder.tumblr.com

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3-hour Introduction to Full Force Self Defense

July 14, 2013 at the Center for Sex and Culture, 4-7 pm

Learning a new physical skill requires practice. You cannot learn to ride a bicycle by reading about bicycles or talking about riding. You have to ride. Impact style self defense is the only type of self defense training that allows students to learn what it feels like to hit someone full force, in an adrenalized state. Learning in this way creates “muscle memory” so that in the event of an attack, students do not need to think, but can act quickly and effectively.

Impact Bay Area has been teaching full-force self defense since 1985. We have taught thousands of students, many of whom report successfully using the skills they learned even many years after taking the class. Our students tell us that they move through the world with greater confidence and success knowing that they have the physical skills at hand, even if they never use them.

Our instructors received hundreds of hours of training to keep students physically and emotionally safe. All of our classes are limited to 16 students.

In this introduction to Impact-style self defense, participants will practice using intuition, awareness, body language, and voice to deescalate and deter attacks. Students will learn multiple physical techniques that they can practice full force in simulated fight scenarios. Scenarios include front and rear attacks as well as an introduction to fighting from the ground. People leave even this short introduction class feeling empowered and often surprised by their own power and courage. $125 (Scholarships are available. Contact Lisa@impactbayarea.org)

“I wanted to thank you for sending Annabel on Friday. Her class was amazing and she was inspirational, patient, smart, kind. 3 of the gals who were in the Intro class were together this weekend for a work engagement. One of us left and before she got to the corner she was groped and assaulted. She did a great job of defending herself and because of the training we received from Annabel we were able to take the upper hand and know that this person is now jailed.” -Dottie Lux, Red Hot Burlesque

Impact Bay Area does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical ability, financial circumstances or abuse history. We are a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to providing self-defense and empowerment training to Bay Area and Northern California communities. We welcome everyone who wants to learn personal safety and self-defense.

For more information or to sign up for the class, please contact Lisa@impactbayarea.org.

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On May 9th we invite you to be part of history and participate in the 1st national Give OUT Day.

Give OUT Day is a new national initiative that will engage hundreds of organizations and mobilize thousands of people on a single day across the country to give in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & queer community. It is a chance for LGBTQ groups large and small, to work across the wide range of issues and activities that matter to the LGBTQ community from sports to policy change, families to the arts. It is a chance for members of the LGBTQ community and our many allies to stand up and show our support for our community together on one day. It is a chance to make history, we hope you’ll join us!

When

24 hours starting at 12 am EST on Thursday, May 9, 2013

How

Donate online through GiveOUTDay.org to support the LGBTQ community. Just search below by group name, keyword, city or zip code. (Want to preschedule? Begin your donation now and from the section “Make this donation occur” select “On a giving day.”)

Donate to Help the Center for Sex & Culture, we are your community center.

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Love for Sale: Hookers with Hearts of Gold

A Benefit for the St. James Infirmary

Sunday, May 19th, 7:30 pm

Center for Sex and Culture

Back by popular demand, San Francisco’s “Musical Comedy Cabaret Porn Star” and award-winning lyricist Tom Orr presents “Love For $ale: Hookers with Hearts of Gold” featuring music, burlesque, performance art performed to your favorite Hooker Show Tunes in this a benefit for the St. James Infirmary, our sex worker occupational health and safety clinic in San Francisco.

Sunday, May 19th 7:30pm @ Center for Sex & Culture 1349 Mission St., SF 94103

Get Tickets

This event is ADA accessible. Childcare, translation and signing services are available upon request. We also ask you to assist us in making this a scent free environment.

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Perverts Put Out’s Spring Thing!

Saturday, May 11, 2013
doors 7:00, show 8:00
The Center for Sex and Culture
1349 Mission Street, San Francisco

$10-25 sliding scale, no-one turned away. A benefit for the
Center for Sex and Culture.

Celebrate the rites (and wrongs) of Spring with a sap-raising gang of
erotic performers including Greta Christina, Airial Clark, Jen Cross,
Sam Sax, horehound stillpoint, Na’amen Tilahun, Virgie Tovar
and your hosts Simon Sheppard and Dr. Carol Queen.

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Fisting, Headspace, Spirituality and the Inner Landscape with Dr. Richard Sprott, Ph.D. and Dr. Brad Crowell, M.D.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Door Opens at 7:00.

Program begins promptly at 7:30, ends at 9:30

FREE

(Donations encouraged.)

Center for Sex & Culture

1349 Mission Street (bet 9th & 10th)

Light refreshments provided

Join us for cocktails and Red Hanky Nite at the Powerhouse afterwards.

We are honored to have two highly respected mental health professionals join us for tonight’s topic, “Fisting, Headspace, Spirituality, and the Inner Landscape.” To our knowledge this is the first time this groundbreaking topic has been addressed.

About the Program:

Fisting, if anything, is a headspace scene. A person’s mindset, their awareness of their own internal landscape, and their relationship with the person they are playing with all combine to create that intense, ecstatic experience that fisters and handballers are hunting for. Come listen and participate in a discussion and exploration of this headspace from the perspective of the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Topics such as trust, intimacy, communication/negotiation, perceptions of pleasure/pain, shame, taboo, healing, spirituality, personality, drug use, and the power of one’s mindset will be touched on.

About the Presenters:

Richard Sprott, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist who specializes in research into kink and mental health, and is the executive director of CARAS, the Community-Academic Consortium for Research in Alternative Sexualities. He has been active in the men’s kink community of SF since 1990. He is also the co-author of “Sexual Outsiders: Understanding BDSM Sexualities and Communities”.

Brad Crowell, MD is a general adult psychiatrist practicing in San Francisco, with special interests in working with HIV, the gay/lesbian community, sexuality including radical sexuality, spirituality and cross-cultural issues. He has been an active (if largely independent) member of the San Francisco leather and fisting communities for 22 years, and has been affiliated with the Chicago Hellfire Club, Black Leather Wings and The Body Electric School.

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May 18th, 8 pm

The Whorecast Live

Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street

Whore, Sexworker, Harlot, Camgirl, Hooker, Pornstar, Stripper, Dominatrix, Strumpet… whatever name you prefer, Siouxsie’s podcast, The WhoreCast, strives to humanize people in the sex industry. The WhoreCast provides a glimpse into her world of sexwork by sharing the stories, art, and voices of sexworkers. While tackling issues from politics to comic books, Siouxsie will charm her way into your heart.

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/363937

More info: http://www.thewhorecast.com/