SAN FRANCISCO—The Center for Sex & Culture, San Francisco’s sexuality information resource, has scheduled this year’s Masturbate-a-Thon for Sunday, May 27, from 10 a.m. to midnight. All genders and all orientations are welcome to explore self-pleasure in a supportive group environment—but participants must arrive by 9 p.m. and be age 18 or over.
The Masturbate-a-Thon began as part of Good Vibrations’ National Masturbation Month. Started in 1995 after then-Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders was fired for saying that "masturbation ... is perhaps something that should be taught" in the context of sex education classes, NMM was intended to get people to break the taboo and talk about this integral component of human sexuality.
Every year Good Vibrations added something new to the mix: the Masturbation Hall of Fame, lists of favorite masturbation euphemisms and places to masturbate. Finally, the Masturbate-a-Thon was born: a private event (one person, or a couple would get pledges from appropriate people) in which money was raised based on how long people spent masturbating (comparable to the way a Walk-a-Thon is based on distance). Good Vibrations disbursed 100 percent of the money to its NMM charities, which focused on sex education and sexual health.
A few years later, after getting peppered with offers by shock jocks to serve as judges at the Masturbate-a-Thon even though it wasn't a public event, CSC director Carol Queen (who is also the Good Vibrations Staff Sexologist) and Robert (her life partner and co-founder of the Center for Sex & Culture) decided that they could actually host a live Masturbate-a-Thon. The event, while not administered by Good Vibes, has the originating organization's blessing and has been an annual event since 2000.
Participants may sponsor themselves at a $40 minimum level, or bring a sponsorship form with pledges they have collected from others (form will be available soon on SexAndCulture.org). All funds go to support CSC, a non-profit which subsists on event fees, donations, and fundraising events. Participants are responsible for collecting and remitting all pledges.
Awards are given for longest duration spent masturbating and most orgasms (while CSC doesn't think masturbation ought to be competitive, this has proved to be a real crowd-pleaser). Interested people who cannot attend will be able to follow to Masturbate-a-Thon via live-blog and Twitter; of course, they are urged to participate from home.
The Masturbate-a-Thon is a comfortable and good-humored event which attempts to create a safe and friendly space for self-pleasure. Co-founder Queen says, "We try not to take this event too seriously; I like to tell people that it's like a walk-a-thon, except at the end your feet don't hurt ... unless you masturbate in a very unusual fashion! If so, we'd like to interview you about it. But we are utterly serious about the rights of people to masturbate and to feel comfortable about it."
Part of the room blocked off for women only, another area for men only; the larger part of the room will have all genders. A stage at one side will feature entertainment off and on through the day. Most participants say they attend the Masturbate-a-Thon because they love to masturbate and want to be in a space that validates that; others say they are so nervous about doing it, that they realize it might really help them break through fears.
If space allows, a voyeur section may also be included. Please see CSC's Twitter feed on May 27 for updates: @CentrSexCulture.
