Speakers
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Airial Clark, M.A is the founder of The Sex-Positive Parent. She has a Master’s degree in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State and is also the Queer, kinky and rambunctious single-parent of two teenage sons. Airial graduated from UC Berkeley in 2007 with a BA in English Literature and Anthropology. At Cal, she was the President of the Student Parent Association. Airial sees the mission of her work to create community and provide support for sex-positive parenting. She is an anti-racist activist and advocate for parents with alternative sexualities. She leads parent-education workshops, provides one-on-one parent coaching and consults other educators on how to be inclusive of LGBTQ parents and kids in their work. She is a contributing writer for multiple award-winning media outlets including: The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Oakland Local, Good Vibrations Magazine, the Sex Positive Photo Project of the SF Bay Area and Shades Magazine. Airial presented her graduate level research on the intersections of race, non-monogamy and parenting at the Open SF conference. She is a poet, spoken word performer, and regular guest on blod talk radio and podcasts across the country.
Airial is presenting Parenting, Sex and Media and Talking the Sex-Positive Walk. Find Airial on Twitter and Facebook.
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Alyssa P. Walters - I am twenty-two years old and a senior at California State University, Long Beach. I am majoring in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. I come from a family of five and I am the oldest of three girls. I live in Montebello, CA and I work full time as a manager at a movie theatre. I am the first in my family to go to college and want to be an encouragement for my sisters to go as well.
Alyssa is presenting Teaching Sex on Campus. Find Alyssa on Facebook.
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Amanda Hess is freelance writer reporting on sex, pornography, teen culture, and technology. She is a regular contributor at Slate’s Double X, a co-founder of Tomorrow Magazine, and a co-writer of Grand Central Publishing’s forthcoming Book of Jezebel. She has been published in or on New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, DETAILS, the Village Voice, and All Things Considered. She lives in Los Angeles.
Amanda is presenting Moral Panic. Find Amanda on Twitter and Facebook.
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Andreea Tanase – I am a 21-year-old activist and recent graduate with an English degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. I was born in Romania and moved to the U.S. with my parents when I was 8 years old. I’m especially passionate about issues surrounding women’s rights and immigrant rights. I hope to take what I have learned in college and work for a non-profit organization, while becoming a bigger advocate for social justice issues.
Andreea is presenting Teaching Sex on Campus. Find Andreea on Facebook.
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April Flores is a muse, performance artist, model, but that’s not even scratching the surface. A fearless BBW star with scarlet hair, proponent of the queer community, feminist, sex-positive activist, outspoken advocate of body diversity, glamorous art model, and all around powerful woman. April has graced the covers of Bizarre and AVN Magazines, among others; modeled for dozens of fine art photographers; appeared in countless adult films in every genre of the porn industry (from mainstream to queer to kinky to artsy); and spoken out about body image through her mere presence and powerful sexuality, along with her activism.
April is presenting The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe. Find April on Twitter and Facebook.
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Dr. Ava Cadell has earned a Doctorate in Human Behavior from Newport University, CA and a Doctorate of Education in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. She is also a Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified AASECT Sex Counselor, Continuing Education Provider for the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences and CA Board of Nursing. Dr. Ava’s personal brand is “Sexual Empowerment” as she is dedicated to helping people overcome sexual guilt and shame so they can focus on healthy relationships. She is a Media Therapist, Author of 7 books, Producer of Sex Instructional Videos, Global Speaker and Founder of LoveologyUniversity.com. Her mission is to exemplify the value of love and make a significant impact on the human race through her work and groundbreaking programs to certify a new type of coach: the Love Coach; through leading interactive online training of certified courses in all aspects of love, romance, relationships, intimacy and human sexuality.
Ava is presenting NeuroLoveology. Find Ava on Twitter and Facebook.
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Brianna Plummer – I am a recent graduate from California State University, Long Beach majoring in Women’s Gender Sexuality Studies. My latest research was focused on Hookup Culture and the way communication is used to navigate a hookup. It closely examines sexual consent lines and when and why they are crossed. The research focused on critiquing the current feminist debate, while advocating for future research on communication of consent, in hopes to decrease sexual assault and rape. I also have studied industrial design and graphic design throughout my college career. I am attempting to merge my love for art and design with my passion for promoting human rights and equality. In the future I hope to use my love for graphic design to help end violence against women.
Brianna is presenting Teaching Sex on Campus. Find Brianna on Twitter and Facebook.
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Carol Queen has a PhD in sexology; she calls herself a “cultural sexologist” because her earlier academic degree is in sociology: while she addresses individual issues and couple’s sexual concerns, her overarching interest is in cultural issues (gender, shame, access to education, etc.). She is on the board of directors of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.
Queen has worked at Good Vibrations, the woman-founded sexuality company based in San Francisco. Her current position is Staff Sexologist and Chief Cultural Officer; her roles include representing the company to the press and the public; overseeing educational programming for staff and others; and scripting/hosting a line of sex education videos, the Pleasure-Ed series, for GV’s sister company Good Releasing.
She is also the founding director of The Center for Sex & Culture, a small non-profit sex ed and arts center, and is a frequent lecturer at colleges and community-based organizations. Her dozen books include a Lambda Literary Award winner, PoMoSexuals, and Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, which are used as texts in some college classes. Her most recent book is an updated second edition of Exhibitionism for the Shy.
Carol is presenting The Feminist Sex Wars and Beyond: “Sisterhood” and Sex, Introduction to The Anatomy of Erotic Sensation, and What is Sex-Positivity?. Find Carol on Twitter.
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Cathy Vartuli is a sex-positive Emotional Freedom and Relationship Coach who helps people transform their traumas into their greatest strengths using love, laughter and inner guidance. She uses a practical yet intuitive approach to help you connect with your own power and guidance. She believes: “You already have most of what you need… you just need the skill and knowledge to access it and set it free.”
Cathy is a PhD scientist and engineer with 18 patents and author of over 50 scientific publications and 70 conference presentations. As a research scientist and engineer, she uses her skills in coaching to uncover practical, cutting edge approaches to help people find their sweet spots and get in their flow.
She is a certified AAMET Advanced EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Practitioner, and offers a wide range of programs and services – from audio products and programs, to group and individual coaching. She’s been coaching for 6 years and has worked with over a thousand clients. She has co-lead programs and products with Reid Mihalko, and created a PSA on body image with Buck Angel. Cathy has been featured on EFT Hub World Video Summit, the EFT-Universe, Living Energy Secrets, and Create Your Dream Life Summit.
Cathy is presenting Does This Panel Make Me Look Fat?: Body Image and Sexuality. Find Cathy on Twitter and Facebook.
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Charlie Glickman, PhD is a sexuality educator, writer, blogger, seminar presenter, speaker, and coach. His areas of expertise include sex-positivity, sex & shame, queer issues, gender & masculinity, communities of erotic affiliations, sexual practices, and adult sexuality education. Charlie is also the co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure: Erotic Exploration for Men and Their Partners, and he regularly speaks at universities, conferences, and non-profit organizations. Find out more about him on his website, www.charlieglickman.com.
Charlie is presenting The “Ass Panel”: The Ins and Outs of Anal Pleasure and What is Sex-Positivity?. Find Charlie on Twitter and Facebook.
Featured as one of the Top 100 Sex Bloggers of 2012, Charlie Nox has spoken with university and high school students around the country about dating and sexuality. She has told dirty stories at erotic showcases and spoken at international conferences like BIL and SXSW. Her current work focuses on the unique dating challenges faced by people with cancer. She leads workshops, coaches clients one on one, and blogs regularly at www.CharlieNox.com. She teaches all kinds of people, and believes that the things that make us truly attractive are universal.
Charlie is presenting Cancer is My Wingman. Find Charlie on Twitter and Facebook.
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Chauntelle Anne Tibbals, PhD is a sociologist specializing in gender, sexualities, work & organizations, and media & popular culture. She has spent over ten years researching the adult industry, working to complicate popular understandings of pornography, its enterprise, and its socio-cultural significance.
Chauntelle’s research has been published in numerous scholarly journals including Sexualities, Gender Work & Organization, St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice, and Stanford Law and Policy Review. She has been quoted and cited by numerous cultural and news media outlets including CNN, BloombergTV, NBC News, and the HuffingtonPost. She was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California (USC) during 2012 and 2013.
Dedicated to both social justice and public sociology, Chauntelle also maintains the blog PVVOnline.com. PVV provides critical commentary on all facets of adult entertainment, shedding nuanced light on an influential yet extremely controversial component of wider society and culture. For more information and detail about Chauntelle and her ongoing scholarship, please visit ChauntelleTibbals.com.
Chauntelle is presenting What is ‘Normal’? An Exploration of Sexual Behavior, Diversity, and Judgment. Find Chauntelle on Twitter and Facebook.
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Constance Penley is Professor of Film and Media Studies and Co-Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her major areas of research interest are film and media history and theory, feminist theory, cultural studies, contemporary art, and science and technology studies. She is a founding editor of Camera Obscura: Feminism, Media, Cultural Studies and editor or co-editor of the influential collections Feminism and Film Theory, Male Trouble, Technoculture, and The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Science and Gender. She is the author of The Future of an Illusion: Film, Feminism, and Psychoanalysis, NASA/TREK: Popular Science and Sex in America, and the forthcoming Teaching Pornography. Her collaborative art projects include “MELROSE SPACE: Primetime Art by the GALA Committee” and “Biospheria: An Environmental Opera,” on which she was co-librettist. Penley is a 2009 winner of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Award.
Constance is presenting The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe. Find Constance on Twitter.
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Cooper Beckett‘s life isn’t like other people’s. When he’s not writing or podcasting at Life on the Swingset, he’s living it up as an evangelical swinger, exploring Poly, and spreading the good word that “sharing is caring.” He truly believes that a good many people would be open to exploring the fringe of human sexuality, knocking down the borders between orientations, and experiencing great sex, that most basic of human rights, if only they were told it’s okay to do so. He has resolved to make the world safer for sexuality, even if it’s only one couple at a time.
Cooper is presenting Sex with Benefits: Progressive Swinging. Find Cooper on Twitter.
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CT Schenk, CEO of ANEROS, began working for the company in 2009 as director of business development. Under Schenk’s guidance and vision, ANEROS continues to evolve as a leader in sexual wellness and pleasure products. Schenk works closely with ANEROS’ skilled development, marketing, and sales teams to create a balance between health and sex branding.
CT is presenting The “Ass Panel”: The Ins and Outs of Anal Pleasure.
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Cunning Minx is a part-time alternative relationship activist who loves her extremely demanding day job in marketing. The sultry-voiced producer and host of the Polyamory Weekly podcast shares stories and insights every week on responsible non-monogamy from a pansexual, kink-friendly point of view. A kinky boobiesexual, Minx founded the show as a resource for the poly and poly-curious to share experiences and help guide each other on their journeys of poly and kinky exploration. For over 350 episodes, Minx and the Poly Weekly community have explored what it takes to create and sustain successful relationships of all types.
Outside her fulfilling day job, Minx has spoken on poly, kinky and Web 2.0 community-building topics at ShibariCon, Geek Girl Con, MomentumCon, Atlanta Poly Weekend, Sex 2.0, Leather Leadership Conference, Dragon*Con, GD2, Heartland Polyamory Conference, New York Poly Pride and Poly Living. The Poly Weekly podcast is the winner of the 2007 Erotic Award for Best Podcast and has received accolades from ErosZine, Fleshbot and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Minx is presenting How to be a Sex Positive Educator (When You Still Love Your Day Job). Find Minx on Twitter and Facebook.
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A sex-positive educator, activist and performer, Dane Ballard is dedicated to improving the sex, sexuality and relationships of all people through hands-on coaching, workshops, lectures, and through his work as an educator at Kink.com. A former male escort and adult film performer, Dane has a delightful sense of humor and irresistible charm that make him both a sexy and entertaining speaker. A leader in the sex-positive community, Dane Ballard is a former counselor, has served on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture and was the producer and host of “SexLife LIVE”, the sex-positive late night TV show, for over 4 years.
Dane is presenting Own Worst Enemy: Why Progressives and Sex-Positive Activists Struggle to Change People’s Minds
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Danny Wylde is a pornographer, writer, musician, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA.
He updates his personal blog at trvewestcoastfiction.blogspot.com.
Danny is presenting The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe. Find Danny on Twitter.
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Darcy Allder is a gender variant queer who currently working towards his Masters in Social Work . He studied human sexuality while completing his BA in child development at San Francisco State University and is SFSI certified. He spent the past 3 school years teaching comprehensive sex education to six graders in Oakland Unified School District. In addition he has also taught numerous workshops to LGBT youth focusing on queer and trans safer sex. Darcy lives in San Francisco and shares his life with his wife and a wonderful furry companion a border collie named Rex.
Darcy is presenting Moving from Comprehensive to Inclusive Sex Education.
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Davis, Sexquire‘s founder and team lead, has advised small businesses, individuals and non-profits in all areas of the adult industry for over seven years, but her connection to the industry pre-dates her time as a lawyer. During law school, Davis worked for Nadine Strossen, then President of the ACLU. One of her primary projects during this time was spearheading the second publication of Nadine’s groundbreaking book, “Defending Pornography.” Davis sees her work with Sexquire as a “coming home” of sorts to the work she began with Nadine. Davis also project manages all of Sexquire’s work, and is the primary liaison for all clients.
Davis is presenting Top 10 Myths About Business (and the Truth). Find Davis on Twitter and Facebook.
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Debby Herbenick PhD, MPH is co-Director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington and sexual health educator for The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Dr. Herbenick has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific articles about sexual health topics, including studies related to how sexual health educators, therapists, and clinicians can better work together with the adult industry for sexual health promotion. Dr. Herbenick is also the author of five books about love and sex.
Debby is presenting Talkin’ About a Revolution: Partnership Between Sex Educators and Adult Retailers.
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Dylan Thomas is a different kind of evangelist. Dylan sees the need for an evolution in how people communicate and how people perceive each other. By learning that love and emotion are unlimited resources, people can take responsibility for themselves, their emotions, their actions and learn to enjoy and appreciate the wealth of diversity in lifestyles and sexuality everywhere. As a co-host on Life on the Swingset, Dylan has relayed his own journey: wading through the barren lands of homophobia and male chauvinism and progressing into yearning for bi-sexuality, creating communities around swinging, learning about growing new relationships through polyamory, and being willing to expose his own failings, fears, and triumphs along the way.
Dylan is presenting Sex with Benefits: Progressive Swinging. Find Dylan on Twitter.
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Ebony A. Utley, PhD is an expert in popular culture and romantic relationships. Her book, Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta’s God addresses all of the above by examining references to God within rap music. In her other research, Utley asks probing questions about women’s experiences with infidelity, investigates beliefs about marriage, and explores the tenuous relationship between hip hop and love. In addition to many high-profile television, radio, print, and online appearances, Dr. Utley lectures at universities across the country and is an associate professor of communication studies at California State University Long Beach.
Ebony is presenting The Mindset of a Mistress and Moral Panic. Find Ebony on Twitter and Facebook.
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Writer, speaker, integrative sensuality coach and sexuality educator Elle Chase curates popular sex-positive, feminist and erotic images blog www.LadyCheeky.com which focuses on depicting real desire and passion with a strong emphasis toward positive body image and sensuality. LadyCheeky.com is proud to have “the most viewed sensual images blog on Tumblr with over 50k followers” and has been included in many top sex blogs lists from Get Lusty’s ‘Top 10 Sex Blogs’ to Salon.com’s ‘Best of Tumblr Porn.’ On her sister site, www.SmutForSmarties.com, readers can enjoy a wide breadth of articles and original erotica with a feminist, sex and body positive perspective.
As a writer, Elle is a regular contributor to the online magazine www.EvolvedWorld.com and has been featured on The Frisky, Fleshbot, TheRumpus, Corset Magazine, and Rachel Kramer Bussel’s erotica anthology The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories. Most recently, Elle was a guest on X3Sixty’s Outside the Box hosted by noted sex educator Sunny Megatron and was interviewed for a CBC documentary on women, pornography and technology slated for a 2014 release.
As a an educator, Elle coaches women on positive body image and sex as well as integrative sensuality and better sex after 35.
Elle is presenting Does This Panel Make Me Look Fat?: Body Image and Sexuality. Find Elle on Twitter and Facebook.
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Epiphora has a very discerning vagina. For six years, she has been testing sex toys and writing about them on the internet. Her popular blog, Hey Epiphora, is filled to the brim with relentlessly honest sex toy reviews, matter-of-fact masturbation journals, industry critiques, and sex blogging tips. Highly trusted and well-known for her snarky style, she is the antidote to the coy, euphemistic sugar-coating that plagues bad sex writing. Many loyal readers entrust their future orgasms to her.
Epiphora has been featured on Slate, interviewed in XBIZ Premiere magazine, and quoted in Tristan Taormino’s book, The Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation. When not smashing out paragraphs for her blog, she can be found inhaling coffee and working on the floor at a local sex toy boutique.
Epiphora is presenting Will Write for Dildos: How and Why Companies and Reviewers Should Work Together. Find Epiphora on Twitter and Facebook.
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As an oversexed, omnisexual castaway from the sexually-repressed culture, Ginger Bentham believes the next sexual revolution of total sex-positivity is just around the corner and it’s time for the revolutionaries to unite! As one of the members of Life on the Swingset, she strives to help people expand their way of thinking and discover their true sexy potential.
Ginger is presenting Sex with Benefits: Progressive Swinging. Find Ginger on Twitter.
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Gram Ponante began his career in the adult industry in 2002 as Managing Editor of AVN, later moving to XBiz as News Editor. In 2005 he launched GramPonante.com and has made this site the Internet’s highest-trafficked first-person snapshot of the porn business.
Also in 2005, Ponante became a daily contributor to Fleshbot.com, the world’s most popular sex culture site, where he is now Senior Erotic Consultant. He also writes feature stories for swanky gentlemen’s magazines small and large, including Hustler.
Ponante is regularly interviewed by media outlets worldwide about the Porno-Industrial Complex, and has appeared on G4TV, TMZ, Russia Today, Wired, Cosmopolitan, FM4 (Austria), and Germany’s Die Welt, as well as most L.A. publications, for whom porn isn’t as exciting.
He also talks about his work at events like the Adult Entertainment Expo, the XBiz Forum, Mindshare LA, Stripped Stories, Bawdy Storytelling, and CatalystCon, as well as college campuses.
Ponante wrote the foreword to the scholarly tome “Porn – Philosophy for Everyone: How to Think With Kink” and became a bestselling eBook author in 2011 with A Porn Valley Odyssey: Making “The Facts of Life XXX.”
Gram is presenting Managing Your Message: Can You Really Control What Gets Published?. Find Gram on Twitter and Facebook.
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Hercules Liotard otherwise known as “Hercules The Pleasure Coach” is a sex, intimacy & relationship educator, writer, blogger, speaker, activist, coach and permission giver. He focuses his work & expertise on various topics of sex positive awareness, sexual and intimate practices, sex workers rights, Open Relationship & BDSM Lifestyles but never limits himself to talking about other areas of sex & life.
Hercules social media presence is very well known and followed by many people. The Pleasure Coach Facebook and Twitter pages have been listed in Get Lusty’s Top Social Media Sex Educators to follow.
Hercules is presenting Does This Panel Make Me Look Fat?: Body Image and Sexuality. Find Hercules on Twitter and Facebook.
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Dr. Hernando Chaves is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, working at The Center for Healthy Sex and in private practice in Beverly Hills, CA. He has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a Master of Arts degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Diego, and a Doctor of Human Sexuality degree from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Chaves’ clinical work focuses on individuals, couples, and families of unique erotic communities, sexual identities, orientations, and clients with sex therapy concerns. He is on the executive committee and the board of directors for The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) and the 2013 SSSS Western Region President. Dr. Chaves is a Psychology professor at Orange Coast College, teaching introduction to human sexuality and advanced human sexuality courses. He is the resident sexologist at Askmen.com, writing weekly sex Q&A and sexuality articles. He has been featured on XM, online, and FM radio, magazine interviews, television shows, and has lectured nationally and internationally.
Hernando is presenting Male Circumcision: A Humanist Perspective on the Removal of Foreskin. Find Hernando on Twitter and Facebook.
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J. Daniel Ford is a progressive political activist and consultant and a strong believer in the sex positive community. He has over eight years of experience developing and managing successful political campaigns for progressive candidates and labor unions. A strong believer in the power of community, he feels that political advocacy is one of the best tools not only to cause societal change but also to bring people together. Whether it is fighting for equality for the LGBT community or for comprehensive sex education Daniel Ford can always be found advocating for progressive and sex positive beliefs in Pennsylvania and the surrounding states.
J. Daniel is presenting Political Organizing in the Sex Positive Community. Find J. Daniel on Twitter.
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Jackie Strano is the Executive Vice President of Good Vibrations www.goodvibes.com the feminist sex positive adult retailer founded in 1977 and the Executive Producer of Good Vibrations’ digital content channel at www.goodvibrationsvod.com. Strano is an award winning adult filmmaker who has been calling herself a feminist pornographer since 1998 and created best-selling, critically acclaimed and culturally influential titles with her partner Shar Rednour including Hard Love & How to Fuck In High Heels and the pop culture phenom, Bend Over Boyfriend. Strano has been featured on HBO, Channel 4 UK, several documentaries including Hot & Bothered: Feminist Pornography (USA), San Francisco: Sex and the City (USA), The Truth About Lesbian Sex (UK), Pornocopia: Down in the Valley (USA), and featured in several publications including Playboy, Cosmopolitan, Salon.com, and the Village Voice. Strano has lectured at and toured college campuses, international film festivals, industry panels, and radio shows discussing sex positive education, business, feminist pornography and gender studies. She is also a musician and writer and has had original music featured in mainstream and alternative movies as well as played on stages from CBGB’s to the Fillmore.
Jackie is presenting Feminist Porn 101: What it is, What it isn’t, and Why it matters, Lesbo Retro: A Dyke Porn Retrospective and the Opening Keynote Plenary Address: Sparking Communication in Sexuality, Activism and Acceptance. Find Jackie on Twitter.
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Jacky St. James is an award winning writer and director in the adult entertainment industry.
Jacky is known for creating a wide range of films, from romantic comedies to edgier all-sex releases, with her most acclaimed titles being: Torn, The Friend Zone, Power and Control, and Dear Abby. Torn received Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Couples’ Release, and Best Screenplay award wins during the 2012 award season.
During her career in adult, Jacky has been an advocate of couple’s-oriented pornography and has been a guest speaker at UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, AEE, Exxxotica, and XBIZ 360. She has been featured in several popular mainstream publications including Jezebel, Slate, and the Examiner. Jacky shares pictures, clips, and stories about her successes and debacles as a woman working within the adult industry on her website, missjackystjames.com.
Jacky is presenting What is ‘Normal’? An Exploration of Sexual Behavior, Diversity, and Judgment. Find Jacky on Twitter and Facebook.
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Jane Ward is Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of Respectably Queer, as well as several articles on queer politics, transgender relationships, heteroflexibility, the failure of diversity programs, and, most recently, queer motherhood. She teaches courses in feminist and queer studies, and is also an amateur parent, an angry low-femme, and a baker of pies.
Jane is presenting The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe.
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Jenna Clark is the Marketing Coordinator for Tantus Inc., makers of the world’s finest silicone sex toys. She has worked for Tantus since 2011, and currently is responsible for customer service, sex educational programming, social media, and Tantus’ nascent affiliate program. In her spare time, she’s a single mom of two, a sci-fi lovin’ nerd, a writer, and an activist on a variety of cancer-related issues. She plans to someday be remembered as “The Johnny Appleseed of quality sex toys”.
Jenna is presenting Will Write for Dildos: How and Why Companies and Reviewers Should Work Together. Find Jenna on Twitter and Facebook.
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Joan Price calls herself an advocate for ageless sexuality, though she has also been dubbed “senior sexpert,” “the beautiful face of senior sex,” and “wrinkly sex kitten” by the media. Joan, age 69, has been writing, speaking, and blogging about senior sex since 2005. Formerly a health & fitness writer, she switched topics to senior sex when she wrote her spicy memoir, Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex After Sixty, to celebrate the joys of older-age sexuality. Her blog, www.NakedAtOurAge.com, attracted a growing community of sex-positive (and sex-inquisitive) seniors who sent Joan their stories and questions. This led to her next book in 2011: Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex, a compilation of 130 reader stories, advice from 45 experts, and Joan’s candid commentary. Naked at Our Age won Outstanding Self-Help Book 2012 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and 2012 Book Award from the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). In 2013, Ageless Erotica was published: a steamy senior sex anthology which Joan conceived and edited.
Joan is presenting The 5 Biggest Myths About Sex and Aging. Find Joan on Twitter and Facebook.
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Jolene Parton is a professional naked lady. She hails from the hippie wonderland of Berkeley, California, and spent her formative years in the high deserts of SoCal, running around in the woods, learning critical theory and musical snobbery. After a brief, unsuccessful fling with college, she learned the art of profitable nudity at San Francisco’s Lusty Lady Theater, where she danced, mopped, cashiered, managed, and served on the Board of Directors. After many adventures on the legally acceptable, but marginally profitable, side of sex work, it was time to take the plunge. She became an independent escort in 2011, and has never looked back. She is also a porn actress, model, dancer, singer, hair and makeup stylist, and sex worker’s rights activist with SWOP Bay Area. She is currently working towards her BA, and sincerely hopes that the third time is actually the charm. She likes crisp new bills in large denominations, and dislikes direct sunlight.
Jolene is presenting Pros and Cons: Liberty vs. Legality. Find Jolene on Twitter and Facebook.
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A native of Schaal, AR., Dr. Joycelyn Elders is the oldest of eight children. Now a Professor Emeritus of pediatric endocrinology, at the University of Arkansas School of Medical Science, Dr. Elders never saw a physician prior to her first year in college. At the age of 15 she received a scholarship from the United Methodist Church to attend Philander Smith College in Little Rock, AR. Upon graduation at age 18, she entered the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant and received training as a physical therapist.
Dr. Elders attended the University of Arkansas Medical School (UAMS) on the G.I. Bill. After graduation in 1960, she was an intern at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis and did a pediatric residency and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock and she ascended the academic ladder to full professorship after her fellowship and board certification in 1976. She also holds a Master of Science degree in biochemistry.
Dr. Elders joined the faculty at UAMS as a professor of pediatrics and received board certification as a pediatric endocrinologist in 1978. Based on her studies of growth in children and the treatment of hormone-related illnesses, she has written many articles for medical research publications. She was appointed Director of the Arkansas Department of Health in October of 1987. While serving as director, she was elected President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers.
Dr. Elders was nominated as Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service by President Clinton on July 1st, 1993, confirmed by the Senate September 7th, and sworn in on September 8th. Dr. Elders served in this post until January 1995 following which, she returned to the University of Arkansas Children’s Hospital until her retirement on June 30th, 1998. Dr. Elders has also received multiple honorary Doctorate of medical sciences degrees and honorary doctorate of letters degrees.
Dr. Elders is presenting the Closing Keynote Plenary Address: Afternoon Tea with Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
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Juba Kalamka is most recognized for his work with as cofounder of the queer hip hop group Deep Dickollective (D/DC) and his development of the micro-label Sugartruck Recordings. Kalamka’s personal work centers on intersectional dialogues on race, identity, gender, disability, sexuality and class in popular media. He received a 2005 Creating Change Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) for his activist work in queer music community. Kalamka served as a co-co chair for Bay Area Bisexual Network (BABN) and as Festival Director for Oakland, California East Bay Pride (EBP) in 2003 and produced the annual EBP-sponsored PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival from 2002-2007. He has regularly appeared in numerous queer independent porn features since 2003, and toured the United States with the Sex Workers Art Show, in 2006. Kalamka holds a BA in Art/Secondary Education from Chicago State University (1993) and an MFA in Poetics at New College of California (2007). He is a member of the boards of the National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF) in San Francisco and The Desiree Alliance. An international sex worker advocacy organization. He lives in Oakland, California with his primary partner of 10 years, their daughter and son, a neurotic standard poodle. He practices polyamory both locally and globally.
Juba is presenting Parenting, Sex and Media. Find Juba on Twitter.
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Kate McCombs, MPH is a sex educator, blogger, and speaker, specializing in sex-positive approaches to sexual health promotion. Kate facilitates sexual health and pleasure workshops and is a guest lecturer at several universities. She’s also the managing editor for mysexprofessor.com, a sex education blog, and is the founder of Sex Geekdom, a community for sex educators, researchers, and other sex geeky folks. Kate has spent the last three years living, working and studying in Melbourne, Australia and has recently relocated to New York City.
Kate is presenting Sex Down Under: Lessons From Studying and Teaching in Australia. Find Kate on Twitter and Facebook.
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Katrina McKay is a sought-after speaker on three topics very close to her heart; entrepreneurship, lifestyle design and her most favorite of all…sex. In her sold-out workshops and keynotes everywhere from Toronto to India, Katrina’s passionate and quirky style helps audiences feel at ease and engaged. She’s doing what so many told her she couldn’t do…talk sex and talk business and be taken seriously. The media can’t seem to get enough of her, and major publications such as The Huffington Post and major print and online media outlets across Canada have interviewed and quoted her as their favorite “sexpert.” The Founder & CEO of Canada’s favourite online sex boutique, Ohhh Canada, Katrina’s sex-related topics of specialty span from practical how-to’s on talking dirty and sex techniques to academic topics such as how our chosen forms of sexual expression are connected to they way we perceive our authentic selves.
Katrina is presenting Your Sex isn’t Better than Mine (and Other Judgements to Do Away With). Find Katrina on Twitter and Facebook.
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Kelsey Brown is a recent graduate of California State University Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. She works for reproductive justice on campus with CSULB’s chapter of Choice USA and Choices Campus Leadership Program. Her interest in larger conversations about sexuality was piqued while volunteering at last year’s CatalystCon. Her other interests include exploring social media as a tool for feminist activism and taking ridiculous pictures of her dogs.
Kelsey is presenting Teaching Sex on Campus. Find Kelsey on Twitter.
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Krista Arendsen is a single mom to a thoughtful 13 year old, a workaholic, a lover, a dreamer and a connector of random things with a passion for social media, innovation, online privacy, cupcakes, rollerskating and making people smile. Her background includes a BA in linguistics and a JD with a focus on international human rights and indigenous peoples law and policy from the University of Arizona. She’s worked in sex toy customer sevice, as a blogger and reviewer and with both retailers and manufacturers such as Babeland, RodeoH, Toyfriend, Sliquid and currently Lovehoney.com to support adult product reviews from a diverse network of bloggers and media sites. She’s been called a social media butterfly and a sex toy fairy godmother. She’s currently finding her niche, connecting people with quality adult products, sexuality education and information. Residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, she specializes in bridging the gap between sex education and sex consumerism through tech and social media. Krista enjoys making herself available to other parents working in sexuality related fields, to crowd source innovative ways to balance work/life dilemmas such as privacy, parenting and getting everything done.
Krista is presenting Parenting, Sex and Media and Will Write for Dildos: How and Why Companies and Reviewers Should Work Together. Find Krista on Twitter.
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A sexpert with a law degree, Lauren Marie Fleming (Queerie Bradshaw) is a writer and speaker specializing in the legal and social issues surrounding sex, sexuality, gender and gender identity. She also provides left-brained solutions to right-brained people as a consultant and teaches digital publishing classes. Lauren is currently finishing up the final chapters of her memoir, based on her popular sex blog for Curve Magazine. She also writes “Lascivious” for VICE Magazine, a column on sex and porn from a legal perspective. Through all of her work, Lauren encourages others to tell their intimate stories as a way to remove social stigmas and believes sharing stories can change the world.
Lauren is presenting Building a Career Talking About Sex. Find Lauren on Twitter and Facebook.
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Blogger, educator, and reviewer, Lorax of Sex has opinions and they’re not afraid to share them. The name comes from a moniker they’ve come to be called—with a background in social justice and grass-roots organising, plus a tendency to be a walking, constantly-talking encyclopaedia of obscure knowledge. They’re combining passions and bringing a soapbox to the world of dildos and buttplugs. Despite all this, they’re far far more mundane an individual that you’d probably imagine.
They began writing and reviewing back in the days of home-printed ‘zines after failing to find points of view which matched their own, and after one too many unfortunate sex-toy mishaps. Always a fan of the balls-to-the-wall way of life, a ‘zine and later blog was born to fill the missing niche.
Living in the greater Seattle area, they are active with the Bootblack community, Stage Manager with Seattle Erotic Art Festival and assorted local vaudeville shows, educator-in-residence and condom courier for Stay Safe Seattle and local DanceSafe chapters, and manager at a local sex-shop.
Lorax is presenting Will Write for Dildos: How and Why Companies and Reviewers Should Work Together. Find Lorax on Twitter and Facebook.
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Lynn Comella, PhD is a women’s studies professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research and teaching interests include media and culture, gender and sexuality, and popular entertainment and consumer culture. Her research explores the intersection of feminist sexual politics and marketplace culture, with a focus on the women’s market for sex toys and pornography. Her work has appeared in Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry, Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times, New Sociologies of Sex Work, and the Feminist Porn Book, among other places. She’s a frequent media contributor, and writes a regular column on sexuality and culture for Vegas Seven.
Lynn is presenting Feminist Porn 101: What it is, What it isn’t, and Why it matters, The Feminist Sex Wars and Beyond: “Sisterhood” and Sex and the Closing Keynote Plenary Address: Afternoon Tea with Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Find Lynn on Twitter.
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Marcia Baczynski is a relationship coach, sex educator, writer and consultant based in San Francisco, where she works with clients to help them uncovering their desires and make them real in their relationships. Although she does most of her work at AskingForWhatYouWant.com and SuccessfulNonMonogamy.com these days, she is also the co-creator of the global phenomenon called Cuddle Party, for which she had made dozens of media appearances. In addition to her work as a relationship coach, Marcia works part-time as a consultant for sex-positive businesses in messaging, public relations and relationship marketing.
Marcia is presenting Language Matters: How to Speak Sex-Positivity So That People Listen. Find Marcia on Twitter and Facebook.
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Maria Falzone is the Founder and Director at International Foundation for Comprehensive Sexual Health and Education based in Washington D.C. She is one of the most sought after speakers on safer sex at the college level. Each year colleges and universities invite her back to teach the essential rules to greater and safer sex. Unlike other lectures, Maria shares her personal story of shame and suffering about sex and how after contracting herpes from a friend she was forced to honestly look at her attitude about sex. Her ability to connect with students in a very real and personal way allows her to lay the foundation to explaining the RULES to greater and safer sex. It is Maria’s life goal to end the shame, fear and ignorance about sex. Maria reached headliner status in the top comedy clubs through out the US and Europe over 15 years ago and was invited to perform at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival where she met Suzi Landolphi, the creator of Hot, Sexy and Safer. Suzi hired and trained Maria to perform her show. A year later Maria created her funny, frank and personal lecture: Sex Rules! Maria has performed standup on ABC, A&E, Showtime, TBS.
Maria is presenting Talking the Sex-Positive Walk. Find Maria on Twitter.
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Marije Janssen is an expert in the field of media, sexuality and (sex positive) feminism in the Netherlands. Her fields of interest: feminist pornography, sex worker rights, sexual education, digital media and gender-diversity. She is a public speaker, organizer, writer and consultant, all in the field of sexuality. Marije has been actively involved in creating a sex-positive, open-minded community in the Netherlands. Since 2006 she organized festivals, events and political debates with guests like Annie Sprinkle, Madison Young, Audacia Ray, Diane Torr, Xaviera Hollander and Buck Angel, but also politicians, opinion-leaders, educators and media makers in the Netherlands.
Currently she organizes a monthly sex-positive film and discussion event called Get a Room. Next to that she is the initiator of DIEP festival: an up-and-coming festival celebrating sexual and gender diversity.
Marije also creates a monthly podcast about sexuality and female-focused pornography as part of a collaboration with Dusk TV, the only digital tv-channel which screens porn that’s made for women, which broadcasts in the Netherlands and Europe. This is the first podcast in the Netherlands discussing sexuality, feminism and pornography. In addition to that she takes part in discussions on national television and radio, give lectures and teach university students. Her goal: to create more openness about sexuality, through communication, education and experience.
Marije is presenting From Slow Sex to Porna – A 21st Century Sexual Revolution in the Lowlands. Find Marije on Twitter and Facebook.
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Dr. Marty Klein is a psychotherapist, sex therapist, and international lecturer. He has been an expert witness or invited plaintiff in many state & federal obscenity and anti-censorship cases. His 7th book, Sexual Intelligence, has gotten rave reviews, including from Psychology Today (“Read this book if you want to improve your sex life”). His website and blog are at SexEd.org.
Marty is presenting Infidelity: After An Affair, Who Owns the Relationship.
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Melissa Jones is a clinical sexologist and board certified sexuality educator who specializes in helping her clients improve their relationships by enhancing their sexuality and overcoming intimacy challenges. Melissa is a dynamic educator who inspires students to reconsider the important role that sex plays in their relationships. Warm, engaging, and entertaining, Melissa shares her wealth of knowledge both one-on-one and with groups of all sizes, backgrounds, and ages. Dr. Jones is an active professional member of the American Counseling Association; the International Coach Federation; the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT); and is board certified by the American College of Sexologists. She has an active sexology practice in San Antonio, Texas, where she conducts workshops and assists couples at her medical-center office. Dr. Jones also tours throughout the US and Canada presenting at conferences and expos. She and her husband have been married for twenty years, and are the parents of three children. Her passion for great sex is only rivaled by her love of exotic chocolate.
Melissa is presenting Sexual Taboos In Christian and Conservative Relationships.
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Metis Black founded and built Tantus Inc., a sex toy manufacturing company that has helped change the profile of sexuality products. She has used Tantus to mainstream silicone products and educate the industry on material safety and sexuality.
Metis’ success has brought her accolades inside and outside of her industry. Her articles on material safety standards in sexual products and the chemistry of personal products such as lubricants have been widely published. Some of her publishing credits include Good Vibrations Online Magazine, On Our Backs, Adult Novelty Business, XBiz, and The Free Speech Coalition. Over the last decade, Metis has proven to be a champion for sex educators and a mentor to other small business owners.
Metis is presenting Talkin’ About a Revolution: Partnership Between Sex Educators and Adult Retailers and Toxic Toys: Beyond Phthalates. Find Metis on Twitter.
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Michael Aaron, PhD is a psychotherapist, sexologist and sex therapist based in New York City. Dr. Aaron holds a PhD in Clinical Sexology from the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Sexology. He specializes in working with sexual minorities, sexual anxieties and dysfunctions, gender and orientation confusion, and sexual compulsivity, as well as working with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. He has presented internationally on a wide variety of sexual topics, including the relationship between male sexuality and aggression and the relationship between childhood sexual abuse, trauma and adult sexual behavior.
Prior to his career as a sex therapist, he worked as a harm reduction specialist, providing outreach services to transgendered individuals, sex workers, and intravenous drug users. Dr. Aaron has additionally worked in a sex offender treatment clinic, as well as in both outpatient and inpatient mental health centers. He is currently studying tantra in an intensive two year training program.
Michael is presenting Sex Positive Therapy with Sexual Minorities.
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Mitchell Vandewitte – I am 19 years old and I grew up in Southern California. I took the California High School Proficiency Exam at age 15 and passed. The following month, I enrolled full time at Riverside Community College. After fulfilling my transfer requirements I transferred to California State University, Long Beach. I currently reside in Cerritos, CA with my two cats and dog. I enjoy video games, spending time with my girlfriend, friends and pets. I also enjoy studying music, political science, and the law. I plan on graduating in 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science.
Mitchell is presenting Teaching Sex on Campus. Find Mitchell on Facebook.
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N’jaila Rhee is currently a marketing professional and freelance journalist. She received her BA in Journalism/Communication Media from Rutgers University and went on to work in print, broadcast and public/media relations. Rhee was a speaker at Banana 2, the Asian-American media conference, speaking on niche blogging and online community building. She has also written about dating, body image and safe sex in the digital age on sites like Racialious.com, 8Asians.com and Youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com.
N’jaila can be heard on the podcasts We Nerd Hard and The Alter Negro Sho with John Minus, which was nominated for Best Podcast at the BlackWeblog Awards. Her own site, BlasianBytch.com was also nominated for the 2010 and 2012 Black WebBlog Award for best Sexuality/Relationship site and was one of Sexforums.com Best of the Web in 2012.
N’jaila is presenting Does This Panel Make Me Look Fat?: Body Image and Sexuality. Find N’jaila on Twitter and Facebook.
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Natalie T. J. Tindall, PhD, APR is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on diversity in organizations, specifically the public relations function, and the situational theory of publics and intersectionality. She has authored book chapters and online publications along with peer-reviewed journal articles published in Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Howard Journal of Communications, PRism, and the International Journal of Strategic Communication.
Natalie is presenting The Mindset of a Mistress. Find Natalie on Twitter and Facebook.
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Nina Hartley, R.N., created the now-familiar term, “feminist porn star” in 1984, as the first adult performer to speak publicly about pornography and sex work from a position of experience rather than theory. Since then she has appeared in over 800 movies, as well as writing, directing and producing a thirty-eight-volume best-selling explicit sex-ed series, the “Nina Hartley Guides,” available from AdamEve.com. She speaks on the topics of sex, sexuality and sexual politics all over the country.
Ms. Hartley derives her greatest satisfaction from helping people embrace their unique sexual identities as they seek to create safe and supportive communities for themselves and like-minded friends. She is tireless in her efforts to help those seeking more satisfying intimate relationships.
She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance that advocates that sexual freedom is a fundamental human right. Ms. Hartley lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Ernest Greene, who is also her directing and writing partner. You can find out more about her at her site, nina.com.
Nina is presenting Feminist Porn 101: What it is, What it isn’t, and Why it matters. Find Nina on Twitter and Facebook.
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Pepper Mint is an activist, event organizer, educator, and social theorist in the polyamory and BDSM communities. Based in San Francisco, he has been furiously producing sexuality events over the last decade with the help of his poly pod and social network. Some of these are how-to kink and non-monogamy workshops covering topics like impact play, jealousy, and secondary relationships. Others are larger events with attendance in the hundreds, such as Poly Speed Dating, the Threshold play party, and the OpenSF Conference. Pepper comes from a queer theory and activist background, and writes social analysis articles centering on non-monogamy and power on his blog (www.freaksexual.com), bringing the unique perspective of someone who is second-generation non-monogamous.
Pepper is presenting Learning From Polyamory’s Experiences With The Media. Find Pepper on Twitter and Facebook.
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Quetzal Francois is a sex educator and youth advocate who works at Girls Incorporated of Alameda County. She is a certified sex educator through San Francisco Sex Information and also holds a certificate in HIV prevention/outreach. She teaches sex education in the bay area to people of all walks of life from 6th graders and out of home care older teens to non monogamous, queer adults.
Her work and passion includes creating safe spaces for people to explore and dismantle internalized sexual shame, sharing tools for negotiating safer sex, and bringing inclusive language and sex positivity to classrooms.
Quetzal is presenting Moving from Comprehensive to Inclusive Sex Education. Find Quetzal on Twitter.
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Remi Newman has spent over ten years empowering people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures to feel more comfortable as sexual beings. She received her Master of Arts degree in sexuality education from NYU.
Remi has helped new parents/caregivers feel more confident as the primary sexuality educators for their kids and has educated social workers, therapists, teachers and medical professionals on how to talk to youth and adults about sexuality.As an HIV/AIDS educator she worked with at risk communities providing safer sex education and also worked with people living with HIV/AIDS to help them maintain safe and healthy sex lives. Remi specializes in educating on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
She is the proud mother of a gender creative child.
Remi is presenting Sex Talk with Gender Creative Youth.
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Dr. Robert Morgan Lawrence has a Doctorate of Education in Human Sexuality and holds another doctorate in health care, which informs his sexological perspective. He’s served as a sex industry consultant, educator, media voice, and academic author, and has lectured both nationally and internationally about human sexuality and health. He has been an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Sexology, the Chapter Secretary for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and a member of the San Francisco Coalition for Healthy Sex. From 1979 Lawrence served on the switchboard and training staff, then as coordinator, of SF Sex Information. He and his partner Dr. Carol Queen left the organization to pursue their own projects, including the Center for Sex & Culture.
Lawrence has covered many sexuality-related topics during 35+ years of teaching. He has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities, and has appeared in places as far-flung as Amsterdam, London and Beijing. Lawrence and Queen have produced events of many kinds, including the live Masturbate-a-Thon. He has been active as a safer-sex educator since 1980.
Since 1999 Lawrence has been disabled with a chronic pain condition that limits mobility.
Dr. Lawrence is presenting Introduction to The Anatomy of Erotic Sensation.
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When Ruby Ryder decided to embrace her kink of strap-on sex, or pegging, the thing she wanted most alongside gaining actual experience was to share her pegging erotica with the world. Three years ago she started a blog and posted her stories. Her passion for the subject motivated her to scour the internet, gathering information. That experience was like diving down the rabbit hole that kept presenting amazing discoveries and still does to this day. Soon the student became the teacher and Ruby found her mission; to share her passion with others. The potential pleasure and intimacy in pegging are far beyond what most people imagine. She wanted to turn a spotlight on that potential, offer accurate information and give people who practice pegging a forum to discuss the various physical, emotional and mental aspects of it. These days Ruby’s blog, erotic stories and weekly podcast (on iTunes) are at PeggingParadise.com. She’s working on two books, teaches at adult toy stores, BDSM clubs and private gatherings. She is happy to report that she has gotten a satisfying amount of hands-on experience as well. More than anything Ruby is thrilled to be sharing her passion with the world.
Ruby is presenting The “Ass Panel”: The Ins and Outs of Anal Pleasure. Find Ruby on Twitter and Facebook.
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Sabrina Morgan is a sex worker, an advocate, and a sexuality educator and facilitator who has been speaking on sex workers’ rights issues since 2009. Fascinated with the places where society and sexuality intersect, she started out as a phone sex operator with an activist streak and a blog and has been practicing kink-focused sex work since 2005.
Her work in the sex trade has both fueled and funded her passion for sex workers’ rights issues. It has also allowed her to work directly with others’ sexuality, giving her a deft sensitivity to the needs of those exploring new facets of their sexual selves.
A firm believer in continuing education for sex workers and all adults exploring sex and relationships, Sabrina presents internationally on kink, sex work, media, advocacy, and policy at venues ranging from private workshops to SXSW. She offers college lectures, group workshops, private coaching, and distance classes, and has shot sex ed videos for both Kink Academy and Passionate U. Follow her work at sabrinamorgan.com.
Sabrina is presenting Torture Porn: Why the Trafficking Narrative is Seducing American Media. Find Sabrina on Twitter and Facebook.
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Shar Rednour has been a feminist pornographer since 1990. She worked with the original On Our Backs/Fatale Media crew, was editor of On Our Backs and AD/Production Manager on several of Fatale’s features. In 1998 Shar Rednour co-founded S.I.R. Video Productions with her wife Jackie Strano. They created the revolutionary movie Bend Over Boyfriend series starring Dr. Carol Queen. ”How to Fuck in High Heels” which became one of their best-sellling and award winning movies was the most popular chapter of Shar’s Femminesto The Femme’s Guide to the Universe. The Femme’s Guide newest edition is now out on ebook and as an audio book on Audible.com. Her show Love, Life & Sex airs on KOFYTV and on various talk radio stations but can always be found on SwirlRadio.com. Shar is known for her uplifting empowerment of femmes from all sashays-of-life as well as practical advice for all femmes in the Milky Way. Jackie and Shar have been together for 20 years and have 3 children.
Shar is presenting Lesbo Retro: A Dyke Porn Retrospective.
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Sherri L. Saulis is the senior editor of pleasure products for AVN, a trade magazine that covers the adult entertainment industry. As such, she covers trends in the adult pleasure products marketplace, as well as issues that affect the industry and new products and technology. With AVN since 2007, she previously worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist for almost 20 years in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas and California. Raised in Northeast Ohio, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Mike and their two dogs, who love when she brings products home for review because they always think they are getting new chew toys.
Sherri is presenting Managing Your Message: Can You Really Control What Gets Published?. Find Sherri on Twitter.
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Shira B. Katz is the host of Pedestrian Polyamory, a podcast, and Pedestrian Polyamory – Live!, a SiriusXM Playboy radio show, that delves into polyamory from a practical, logical point of view. Shira also cohosts the Life on the Swingset podcast, a podcast about ethical nonmonogamy, where she brings a pansexual and polyamorous point of view to a show full of progressive swingers. When not writing articles, podcasting, or otherwise extolling the virtues of polyamory, Shira can be found in the streets of San Francisco getting crushes on nerds and advocating for a sexier tomorrow.
Shira is presenting Sex with Benefits: Progressive Swinging. Find Shira on Twitter.
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Shira Tarrant, PhD is an unconventional feminist redefining gender justice. Her books include Men and Feminism (Seal Press); Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style (SUNY Press); When Sex Became Gender (Routledge); Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power (Routledge), and the forthcoming New Views on Pornography (Praeger, co-edited with Lynn Comella). Shira Tarrant’s commentary on gender issues, masculinity, pop culture, and sexual politics have been featured on global media including the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, NBC, Forbes, KCAL 9 News, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Sydney Morning Herald, and on radio stations in Los Angeles, New York, Berkeley, and Houston. Shira Tarrant has published with AlterNet, Jezebel, the Ms. Magazine Blog, Bitch, BUST Magazine, Huffington Post, and other publications. When not writing, researching, or hiking the Los Angeles trails, you can find Shira Tarrant in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach. Read more at shiratarrant.com.
Shira is presenting Moral Panic and Teaching Sex on Campus and the Opening Keynote Plenary Address: Sparking Communication in Sexuality, Activism and Acceptance. Find Shira on Twitter.
Sinnamon Love is a retired adult film star & fetish model. She works as a staff writer & relationship columnist for TheWellVersed.com, as well as a freelance, contributing writer for hip hop, parenting and feminist websites and academic books. In 2011, Sinnamon Love launched an internet radio show called Sex, Love & Hip Hop on DTFRadio.com; a relationship and lifestyle round table featuring well known Hip Hop artists, community leaders and activists discussing a range of topics pertinent to the advancement of an extremely underserved community. Love, too, has recently launched a live interview series held monthly, entitled: Sex, Love & Hip Hop Presents an Intimate Evening with….” where Love hosts an evening of reflective conversation and talkback with some of hip hops most respected artists. Currently, Love lives in Brooklyn, New York raising a teenage daughter and Autistic teenage son. She has an adult daughter attending a university in Los Angeles, California. She is an outspoken Autism/Asperger’s parent advocate and has recently taken on improving sex education in Inner City schools.
Sinnamon is presenting Parenting, Sex and Media, The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe and the Opening Keynote Plenary Address: Sparking Communication in Sexuality, Activism and Acceptance. Find Sinnamon on Twitter.
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Tera Patrick is one of the most recognized faces in the world of The Adult Industry today. She has successfully merged into mainstream and pop culture becoming a worldwide businesswoman and brand. Since her retirement from adult in 2008 she still continues to own and operate her official website www.terapatrick.com and coauthored her first memoir,” Sinner Takes All” published by the Penguin publishing group. Featured on news outlets such as CNBC, Fox , Fox Sports, Big Idea With Donnie Deutch, Chelsea Lately, and Carson Daly, Tera is a spokesmodel for Pin Up Girl Clothing and designs her own line of Apparel and Accessories. Believing you can leave the adult industry gracefully and transition seamlessly into any career of choice Tera has dedicated time to helping other women achieve positive self image, through her own experiences and story.
Tera is presenting Moral Panic. Find Tera on Twitter and Facebook.
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Tom Stewart is Founder and CEO of Sportsheets International, Inc., a manufacturing company that produces bondage-lite/restraint play products for the masses, Strap-on harness, and many sexy accessories for foreplay. In addition to the Sportsheets product line, the family of brands also includes Sex & Mischief, Sex In The Shower and Manbound.
Tom founded Sportsheets in 1993 after creating the Sportsheet, the “Velcro®” Bondage Bedsheet™, while serving as a helicopter pilot in the Marines in the late 1980’s. Inspiration for the first Sportsheets product came from watching an episode of the David Letterman Show. Tom began Sportsheets with one product and the concept that “you’re only as tied us as you want to be”. Today the brands are sold world-wide. Over the last two decades he and his sister and business partner Julie, have built their company to employ almost 50 people and developed more than 500 different products for couples.
Tom is head of R&D at Sportsheets, where product innovation and quality are the foundation of the company. He is a strong advocate of customer and consumer education. Sportsheets was named BDSM Pleasure Company of the year 2012, and has won numerous industry awards for marketing and product excellence. In the last decade, Tom broke Sportsheets out of the “dungeon” and began to develop products for couples to use that enhance certain sexual positions.
Tom is presenting The “Ass Panel”: The Ins and Outs of Anal Pleasure.
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Tomas Moniz is the founder, editor, and a writer for the award winning zine Rad Dad. Looking for radical parenting community, he created Rad Dad to provide the space for parents (particularly fathers) to share, commiserate and plan with each other, and to support each other in challenging patriarchy one diaper at a time. As China Martens has said, “Tomas has been the most vocal voice within zines, trying to start and keep a discussion within this aspect of radical politics and parenthood.” His writing has been included in many zines about parenting as well as in the books My Mother Wears Combat Boots and Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind. He’s been making zines since the late ’90s, and his most current project is the serialized zine novella, Without Words & Without Kneeling, which began in September 2010 and will continue a chapter a month for twelve months. As Jami Sailor, longtime zinemaker, explained, “I enjoyed Without Words & Without Kneeling and am impressed with Moniz’s concept. I really love seeing zinemakers expand on the current concepts and definitions of what constitutes a zine.”
He is helping to raise three children and lives with a menagerie of animals in Berkeley, California.
Tomas is presenting Talking the Sex-Positive Walk. Find Tomas on Facebook.
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Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, sex educator, radio host, and feminist pornographer. She is the author of seven books including The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and True Lust: Adventures in Sex, Porn and Perversion. She runs the adult film production company Smart Ass Productions. She has directed and produced twenty-four adult films, including the groundbreaking series based on real female kink fantasies, Rough Sex and the Expert Guide sex education series, which she created for Vivid Entertainment. The winner of multiple Adult Video News (AVN) and Feminist Porn Awards, she was the first female director to win an AVN award for Best Gonzo Movie for the first film in her reality series Chemistry. She received the Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Feminist Porn Awards in 2010. She is the host of Sex Out Loud, a weekly radio show on The VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network. She was a columnist for The Village Voice for nearly ten years and writes a column for Hustler’s Taboo. She was the founding editor of the Lambda Literary Award-winning series Best Lesbian Erotica and is editor of twenty-five anthologies. She’s written for a multitude of publications from Yale Journal of Law and Feminism to Penthouse, and served as editor of On Our Backs. She has appeared on CNN, HBO’s Real Sex, The Howard Stern Show, Loveline, Ricki Lake, MTV, Oxygen, MSNBC, Fox News, The Discovery Channel, and on over fifty radio shows. She lectures at top colleges and universities and teaches sex and relationship workshops around the world.
Tristan is presenting Feminist Porn 101: What it is, What it isn’t, and Why it matters, The Politics of Producing Pleasure: Feminist Porn in Industry and Academe and Sex Educator Boot Camp with Tristan Taormino. Find Tristan on Twitter and Facebook.
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William Winters is an activist and organizer who resides in Oakland, California. He’s currently a senior campaigner at Change.org and organizes events for folks in open relationships in the Bay Area.
William is presenting Organizing is Sexy. Find William on Twitter and Facebook.
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Winston Wilde, DHS is an original leather daddy sex radical psychotherapist, sex therapist, and California native. He conducted pioneering research into the sexualities of blind persons, wrote a book on queer love, and taught Human Sexuality and Gender Studies at several mental institutions. Wilde has a long history of being an ardent advocate for the reproductive rights of women, migrant workers, environmentalism, keeping children’s foreskins and genital parts intact unless medically emergent, ACT-UP, combating the sex-negativity of the sex addiction industry, and eradicating homophobia. Wilde travels a lot, focusing on transgender festivals and international sexology such as Fiesta de la Chunta in Chiapas, Mexico, and Kahjuraho’s erotic temples in central India.
He’s dabbled in tantra and has been putting woo-woo into his kink play for almost 40 years. He has even been known to do Hindu and Buddhist things, as well as entertaining a curiosity about the intersection of mantra and neuroscience.
Winston is presenting Sex Positive Therapy with Sexual Minorities.
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Xochiquetzal Duti Odinsdottir is a Latina of Mexican descent genderqueer who has been involved in social justice work since she could hold up a placard. She is an ordained Priestess within the Fellowship of Isis, an initiated Tantrika in the Sha’can lineage, a newly dedicated member of an Umbanda house in the Bay Area, and a confirmed Catholic. None of these is an issue for her. She speaks, presents, and performs for mostly pagan groups on using kink to enhance spiritual workings but also presents to kinky groups about using spirituality and spiritual practices to enhance their kink. Her most recent presentations were at OPEN-SF, an ethical non-monogamy conference; KiSS in Sacramento and PantheaCon in San Jose, California.
Xochiquetzal believes that even the most profane things can be made sacred.
Xochiquetzal is presenting But Wait, There’s More! Exploring the Intersection of Race, Class, Ability and Sexuality and Desire.
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Yoseñio V. Lewis is a Latino of African Descent female to male transsexual who has been a social justice activist since he was 13 years old. A health educator, speaker, writer, performer, trainer, facilitator and spiritual hugger, Yoseñio is a member of the National Advisory Board for the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health. Yoseñio is on the faculty for the Sex Justice Track of the Creating Change Conference. He is also a frequent speaker at the medical schools of the University of California at San Francisco and the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, as well as Stanford University. He served on the Community Advisory Board for the All Gender Health Online Study. Yoseñio was an organizer of and Keynote Speaker for the recent OPEN-SF Conference (Open, Polyamorous, Ethically Non-Monogamous), as well as a panelist at the Good Vibrations Sex Summit. Yoseñio was most recently featured as one of the inaugural honorees of The Trans 100 list.
Yoseñio is a co-founder of Big Boys’ Ink™ Productions, a theatrical writing and performing company. Yoseñio has been featured in several documentaries, most recently “Diagnosing Difference,” a full-length documentary about the impact and implications of the Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on the lives and communities of those on the gender spectrum. Other documentaries include Christopher Lee’s “Trappings of Transhood,” the television channel A&E’s “Transgender Revolution,” “The Believers,” a documentary about the Transcendence Gospel Choir and “Transforming Healthcare,” a short highlighting the issues that Trans people face when accessing healthcare.
Yoseñio believes that there can be no art without activism and no activism without art.
Yoseñio is presenting But Wait, There’s More! Exploring the Intersection of Race, Class, Ability and Sexuality and Desire and the Opening Keynote Plenary Address: Sparking Communication in Sexuality, Activism and Acceptance.