Wow, it’s been a while since I last did a sex news update (aka ‘two things‘) – sorry I’ve been a bit off the ball. This week, I wanted to highlight ‘sexperiments’ – those people who write articles about how they’ve made themselves shag every day for a month to save their marriage – and also let you know that tickets for Eroticon 2018 are on sale now. If you are – or want to be – a sex blogger or erotic writer, there’s time to pick up a cheap ticket in advance for next year.
Eroticon 2018 tickets (and Woodhull help)
Let’s start with this because it’s the easiest: tickets for Eroticon 2018 (the conference for erotica writers, sex bloggers, and other erotic creatives) went on sale on Friday. Thanks to the amazing delegates this year, who tweeted and wrote lots about our sponsors, we’re confident we can cover more of our costs this year so we’ve reduced the ticket price. Standard weekend tickets are £160 (but £140 if you grab one of the Earlybird tickets) and day tickets are £95.
If you want to start a sex blog, or you have one already, come and meet your people!
There’s another fantastic conference that I managed to attend last year, where bloggers (mostly US and Canada based) get together along with human rights advocates, educators, and so many other incredible people. It’s called Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit and it’s amazing. If you are a UK blogger who wants to go, please do get in touch. I might be able to offer you some extra bits (free ads etc) that you can add to your sponsorship proposal. I enjoyed my time there so much (massive thanks to Doxy for sending me) and I would love to help others attend if possible.
Sexperiments – what’s wrong with them?
On Saturday the Guardian published an article written by a woman who had embarked on a ‘sexperiment’ with her husband. It was the same old story: couple has baby, couple’s sex life starts to dip, couple worries that they need to put the spice back, so gives themselves a challenge to have a certain amount of sex over a certain period of time. In this case: sex every day for a week.
Now. I’ve always felt a bit ‘meh’ about these sexperiments: they seem forced, to a certain extent, and while I can totally see that both people in them might think it a great idea, I feel like if you’re worried about your sex life, adding another layer of pressure to what can already be something that’s stressing you can potentially make things even worse. I find that sex and anxiety make absolutely awful bedfellows, though there are a few tricks I can use if I’m feeling particularly fragile.
But I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made me so uncomfortable until Dr Petra Boynton (who you should follow on Twitter for excellent sex advice and great debunking of lots of myths about sex and relationships) gave an overview of just what was missing.
I’m going to embed a few tweets here – please click through to read the whole thread. And thanks Dr Petra for being brilliant, as ever.
There's a spate of these articles lately and so much bad advice contained within 😟 https://t.co/zdmupRrXXF
— Petra Boynton (@DrPetra) April 1, 2017
Articles written by/for people who're not disabled, affluent, don't have deeper relationship issues, have extended family support /9
— Petra Boynton (@DrPetra) April 1, 2017
Nobody writing these pieces ever questions who models bring in/leave out, how quantity placed above quality, how narrowly sex defined /17
— Petra Boynton (@DrPetra) April 1, 2017