Three weekends in a row of events, Chicago GRUE, Bound in Boston and now Momentum Con. The thing is that the first two events were kinky educational events with play. Momentum was a conference intended for sharing information. It's stated purpose was "Making Waves in Sexuality, Feminism and Relationships".
What gives? Why did I go? It is hard to explain. It has to do with the cultural bias in the United States with regards to sex. We seem to treat sex workers as lesser individuals. We seem to discourage women from looking attractive to avoid being victimized. In summary, it seems as though if there is sexual aspects, we become less then human. This is just wrong.
My hope was to get a feeling about how the US culture is being moved forward to lessen this problem. I am still processing what I learned but it was a fun time.
The conference was organized by Tess and Diva of TiedUpEvents. They did an amazing job but were extremely busy. I wish I could have spent some down time with them but it didn't exist. I will have to visit them when things are quiet.
I met old friends like @SilverDreams, @_Ten_, @The1Miss_Luna, @Princess_Kali, @CunningMinx and many others. I also met people I had been twittering with online for a while like @Spunquee and fantastic speakers like @ReadAboutSex. It was a blast.
The conference started with a Ice Cream social which was a blast. I couldn't eat the ice cream but there were wonderful chocolates and good people around. They did the opening remarks. There was good discussion about how a university at the last moment canceling a speaker who was requested by the intended audience for a conference about sex! It seems some people in the administration found her involvement in the sex industry a problem. For an open discourse on a subject such as sex, why would a real university do this?
If interested, Charlie Glickman did a post about it.
One of my first sessions was done by SilverDreams on "Traveling the Yellow Brick Road of Kink: How to Avoid The Flying Monkeys Along the Road to Oz". It was a fun class, she did well.
Some presenters didn't arrive so there was some confusion at least on my part about the schedule. I don't quite remember the rest of the sessions I went to and in what order.
I do remember walking into a session I was thinking was about kinky stuff that is what the schedule said. I was pondering the video projection and the seriousness of the presenter. I was expecting a friend to join me shortly and was getting worried with what I was seeing on the screen. Just as she walked in the door, the light bulb went off. The video that just finished was about a date rape. I was signaling my friend to go back out. She is a rape survivor and still triggers on it. I got up and grabbed her leaving the room. I didn't mean to be rude or anything, my personal priorities come first.
I went to another set of sessions and skipped some. I learned a bunch. At some point, some friends and me went off to diner and then came back to watch CineKink. It was a set of short movies. I enjoyed most of them. The second to last one however made me squirm. The first one was that I personally don't ever leave someone in rope bondage and leave. I will fake leaving but I don't leave. Violating that rule made me squirm. Breaking that rule and showing it being broken also made me thing about how it was "okay" if unknowing people did the same. Beyond that, it was good since it showed in a neat parallel way the fantasy one person was thinking about another person's day's activity with the reality. It was very well done.
The vendor's at the conference were also neat. I bought some things. I also spent some significnat time getting trying to understand butt plugs. The light bulb went on about the sensations. They were metal, glass, frosted glass, wood and other textures and shapes presented. It made me smile when I finally understand that aspect. I am still struggling with what does what part but I will learn.
A bunch of people apparently went off to a fun local event, I think it was called the Black and Red ball or something. I didn't attend. I needed to recover and sleep.
I had paid for the hotel till Monday morning so in the morning I didn't bother doing the rush crazy packing and check out while classes were happening. I enjoyed more classes and lunch with friends. I went to one more session in the afternoon.
I had done some play time the day before so I was checking in with one of my play partners worriedly. She wasn't there but seemed alright by text. I was shutting down somewhat so I skipped some sessions but went to a wonderful panel one. The panel was fantastic covering web media and things like the downside of the phrase "sex positive" which doesn't mean "go out and have sex" but "whatever your sexual preference including none is okay".
The closing ceremony was great. It made me smile, laugh and feel good. You can read about it and see it in other blogs such as Diva's.
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