Carol Queen

This Sunday, May 25, is the annual masturbate-a-thon. Learn about masturbation as safe sex and help raise money for Center for Sex and Culture.

Watch this video of Carol Queen and Robert Lawrence discussing the masturbate-a-thon and you will learn that National Masturbation Month (of which the 'thon is a central event) was founded by the sex educators at Good Vibrations in protest of the firing of Dr. Jocelyn Elders, who was Surgeon General for a short time during Bill Clinton's first administration. You may recall she was fired after suggesting that teaching young people about masturbation would help prevent STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and improve sexual health, and delay the start of sexual intercourse.

Sex in the Public Square is proud to present this interview with one of the great sex writers and activists of our time, Dr. Carol Queen. This interview was conducted by Sabrina Chapadjiev in 2005 and originally published in her 'zine, Cliterature.

This is a crucial cultural function of erotic literature: It always serves as a kind of protest literature exploring (and exploding) taboos, gender roles, and socially imposed notions of appropriate sexuality. So says the erotologist, the academic analyst of erotica, in me, but more than that, it is crucial to me personally as I try to carve a space for myself in the world that acknowledges the true possibility of an alternative female sexuality that is exploratory, voracious, curious, pansexual, open to multiple sources of pleasure.
from the essay, "What Do Women Want? We Want to Be Big Slutty Fags, Among Other Things," by Carol Queen

Location(s)

The most fabulous Carol Queen is throwing herself a party as she turns a glorious fifty years old, and she wants you to be there! Here's what she's tempting you with:

Disco! (Hey, if you had half as much fun as I did when disco was young, you'd like it too.)
Dress accordingly, or just dress to impress!
Entertainment! A few of my favorite performers will entertain me, and you, with a reading, maybe a lil' dance, or a serenade... Refreshments! A very fabulous raffle! Spin the Good Vibes Wheel of Swag for prizes! And... A ROAST! Yes, listen to my friends and colleagues tell all my secrets. If they leave anything out, maybe I'll tell one of my own!

All the dough generated by the raffle, the wheel-o-prizes, and any friendly non-profit extortion we may engage in will go right to the Center for Sex & Culture! But there's no charge to come to the party. Please drop by if you can! And feel free to spread the word.