Watch the second part of my interview with SerpentineLibertine for Red Light District Chicago, an internet and public access TV show about sex work. If the player doesn’t work above, go to http://redlightchicago.blip.tv/file/870939/

After Chicago, I headed to Milwaukee where I spoke at the University of Wisconsin. When I first walked into the Student Union, I saw the biggest poster of myself I’ve ever seen (check it out above)!! The first night, I gave my talk “The Path to Sexual Empowerment” as part of the Union’s SexPo series. It was in a large ballroom with a stage, lighting, very fancy. The talk went really well, and I got great questions from the audience. Afterwards, we went out to sushi with some students and University staff members. Rebecca from the Union and Laura from the Norris Health Center were both wonderful. The next day, I gave a workshop on open relationships for a much smaller group. Neeve, an old friend (who I didn’t even know was in Milwaukee) showed up and we reconnected, which was great. I really love to see friends when I am on the road! I wanted desperately to buy tons of local cheese, but we had nowhere to put it, so I refrained. That night, I taught my Anal Sex 101 workshop at The Tool Shed, a hip, sex-positive sex toy shop; they have a space downstairs which looks like a 70s rec room: it was so groovy! I’m coming back in June, can’t wait…

 I am trying to catch up on blog posts, and I need to back track a bit. Last month, I went to Chicago where I spoke to a Human Sexuality class at Oakton Community College and taught Anal Sex 201 at Early To Bed (see photo above of me and store owner Searah Deysach). The college class was wonderful, taught by a professor I met at last year’s Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality conference in Indianapolis. I just loved the group I got at the Early To Bed class, they were so much fun. SerpentineLibertine and her friend came up to the front of the class to help me demonstrate anal sex positions, and they were so brilliant that I want to take them on the road with me so they can be models for all my classes. The Q&A period was lots of fun, with very advanced questions from “What’s the best position to have anal sex in when my legs are tied together?” to “Why do I always have to go to the chiropractor for an adjustment after I get fisted?” Serious stuff. I am still researching that second question. Luckily, I have an awesome chiropractor who I have no qualms asking. Stayed tuned for some insight.

While I was in Chicago, I met up with SerpentineLibertine, who interviewed me for Red Light District Chicago, an internet and public access TV show about sex work. This is part one of the interview! If the player doesn’t work above, go to http://blip.tv/file/868381

This was posted to a list I belong to. The relationships of sex workers and their partners are underrepresented and underresearched. Please help spread the word about this important survey:

This Survey on Sex Professionals’ Relationships is intended to explore the effects of being mated to someone who is a sex worker, a sexual energy professional, or a sacred sexuality practitioner. Please indicate whether you are a sexual professional in some capacity, or if you are the mate to someone who is. “Mate” simply means that you are in a personal intimate relationship with that person, regardless of how you define your relationship.

Note that “sexual professional” will be used to refer to anyone who engages in sex work, sexual energy, or sacred sexuality (where that work involves people besides a significant other), no matter what label is preferentially used.

The questions are designed to be neutral concerning who is taking the test, so both professionals and their mates are encouraged to answer all the questions.

Thank you in advance for your time. For more information, contact Inara at Temple Red Lotus.

My latest Village Voice column, “The New Wave of Trans Cinema,” features Morty Diamond’s latest film, Trans-Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi and Wil about a kinky, genderqueer, polyamorous couple. They openly discuss their poly relationship and share a scene with one of their lovers. It’s a wonderful film and an intimate look at the lives of two fascinating people.

Just in case you’re not totally sick of all the coverage (a lot of which is redundant) of the Spitzer “scandal,” here’s a fabulous piece called “Against Sexual Scandal” by Lauren Berlant. She calls the mainstream media to task for its neverending sex-negativity. A little snip: “I felt sorry for sex during the Larry Craig brouhaha last summer. What if he liked being married and procreating and giving anonymous head? What if that was his sexual preference? What if he really was not gay, as he claims, but had sexual desires that seemed incoherent? Some of the response to Craig was like the response to moralists like Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard and now Spitzer–moralists deserve to suffer the same force of negative judgment they wielded on others. Shame on us? Shame on you, ha ha! But lots of the response was sheer homophobia. And all of it was sheer erotophobia.” I love her line about having sexual desires that seemed incoherent. Because in reality, a lot of us are way beyond gay/straight, kinky/vanilla, etc. and Berlant calls for us to embrace that rather than continue the cycle of shame.