The next Godless Perverts Social Club is this Thursday, April 16! On our third Thursday meetups, we pick a discussion topic ahead of time — and this week, we take a look at the question: What do we mean by the term “sex-positive”? The phrase has been part of sexual politics for thirty years, more or less, and it’s still as contentious as ever. What does “positive” mean to you? Can sexuality be talked about as “positive vs. negative,” or do we need something more? How have our religious backgrounds shaped our views of sexual shame and pleasure? Bring your questions and answers to Wicked Grounds on Thursday evening and share them with us.
The Godless Perverts Social Club meets on the first Tuesday and the third Thursday of every month, 7-9 pm, at Wicked Grounds, 289 8th Street at Folsom in San Francisco (near Civic Center BART). We do slightly different formats for the two clubs. Our Third Thursday Social Clubs are Topical Thursdays — we pick a topic ahead of time, have a moderator/ host who leads the discussion, maybe even get special guests to guide discussions on particular topics. The first Tuesday Social Clubs are more loosely-structured casual affairs, where we mostly just nosh and sit around schmoozing about whatever topics happen to come up. (Our next First Tuesday Social Club will be Tuesday, May 5.) Admission is free, but we ask that you buy food and/or drink at the cafe if you can: they have beverages, light snacks, full meals, and killer milkshakes.
Godless Perverts presents and promotes a positive view of sexuality without religion, by and for sex-positive atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other non-believers, through performance events, panel discussions, social gatherings, media productions, and other appropriate outlets. Our events and media productions present depictions, explorations, and celebrations of godless sexualities — including positive, traumatic, and complex experiences — focusing on the intersections of sexuality with atheism, materialism, skepticism, and science, as well as critical, questioning, mocking, or blasphemous views of sex and religion.
Godless Perverts is committed to feminism, diversity, inclusivity, and social justice. We seek to create safe and welcoming environments for all non-believers and believing allies who are respectful of the mission, and are committed to taking positive action to achieve this. Please let the moderators or other people in charge of any event know if you encounter harassment, racism, misogyny, transphobia, or other problems at our events.
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Living in Seattle, I am unable to make the April 16 GPSC. I would love to hear what you people come up with. If you wish, you could convey language I wrote describing sex positive for the mission and vision statements for the Foundation and Center for Sex Positive Culture in Seattle, about 8 years ago. They are still using this language. The one change they made was to substitute “fulfill” for “delight”.
My wording:
“Sex positive culture asserts that the appropriate uses of sex extend beyond reproduction. They include creating personal pleasure, bonding intimate relationships, promoting spiritual growth, and enhancing emotional and physical health. In a sex positive world, everyone would have the freedom and resources to create a sex life that delights and empowers them.”
F/CSPC wording:
“Sex positive culture asserts that the appropriate uses of sex extend beyond reproduction. They include creating personal pleasure, bonding intimate relationships, promoting spiritual growth, and enhancing emotional and physical health. In a sex positive world, everyone would have the freedom and resources to create a sex life that fulfills and empowers them.”
One could quibble about including the concept of relationship in there, two. But I think that for a short explanation of the concept, the above language works well enough. As far as defining sex negative, our reality does a good job: Sex is considered appropriate only for reproduction, the healthful, pleasurable, spiritual, and bonding aspects of sex are denied or ridiculed. Much of sex is criminalized and adults as well as children are denied access to accurate, scientific information about sex.