The next Godless Perverts Social Club is this Thursday November 20 — and the discussion topic is “Public Sexuality — Where Do We Draw the Line?”

The Godless Perverts presents and promotes a positive view of sexuality without religion, by and for sex-positive atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other non-believers — and the Godless Perverts Social Club is our socializing/ hanging out branch. Community is one of the reasons we started Godless Perverts. There are few enough places to land when you decide that you’re an atheist; far fewer if you’re also LGBT, queer, kinky, poly, trans, or are just interested in sexuality. And the sex-positive/ alt-sex/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it community isn’t always the most welcoming place for non-believers. So please join us — we meet at Wicked Grounds, San Francisco’s renowned BDSM-themed coffee house, 289 8th Street in San Francisco (near Civic Center BART), the first Tuesday and third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is this Thursday November 20!

We’re doing slightly different formats for the two clubs. Our Third Thursday Social Clubs are a little more structured — we’ll pick a topic, let people know what it is ahead of time, have a moderator/ host who leads the discussion, maybe even get in special guests to guide discussions on particular topics. In November, that’ll be Thursday November 20. The topic for this Thursday: Public Sexuality — Where Do We Draw the Line? How open about your sexuality should you be in public? Where’s the line between being proudly out of the closet and creating a hostile environment for people who haven’t given their consent to be involved in your sexuality?

This month, the great accomplishment of the Philea probe touching down on a comet was marred by one thing: When Matt Taylor, the head scientist went on-air to talk to the press, he was wearing a shirt covered with fetish imagery and semi-nude women. The shirt not only sparked controversy not only about whether it was appropriate, but conversation about how many problems women have being taken seriously in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

This Thursday, let’s talk about the ethics and etiquette of being open about your sexuality. When is necessary to live honestly, and when is it a violation of consent?

The first Tuesday Social Clubs are more loosely-structured casual affairs: we typically start with a check-in question and do a little moderating to make sure everyone gets to talk who wants to, but mostly we just nosh and sit around schmoozing about whatever topics happen to come up. On First Tuesdays, we’ll keep doing that. Our next one will be be Tuesday December 2..

All Social Clubs are at Wicked Grounds, San Francisco’s renowned BDSM-themed coffee house — 289 8th St in San Francisco, near Civic Center BART — for an evening of conversation and socializing. All orientations, genders, and kinks (or lack thereof) welcome. 7:00 – 9:00 pm. There’s no admission, but we ask that you buy food and drink at the counter, and/or make a donation to the venue. (Their food is quite yummy, with both full dinners and lighter snacks/ beverages, and they have the best milkshakes in town.)

If you want to be notified about all our Godless Perverts events, sign up for our email mailing list, or follow us on Twitter at @GodlessPerverts. You can also sign up for the Bay Area Atheists/ Agnostics/ Humanists/ Freethinkers/ Skeptics Meetup page, and be notified of all sorts of godless Bay Area events — including the Godless Perverts. And of course, you can always visit our Website to find out what we’re up to, godlessperverts.com. Hope to see you soon!