Several people have asked to be added to our mailing list.  We now
have a newsletter we will be publishing monthly with the latest
details of MOMENTUM 2012 and current Tied Up Events news.  If you wish
to be added to the mailing list just enter your email at the top of our sidebar.

Missing the Momentum experience? Didn’t get to make it this year? Visit Susie Bright’s Journal for clips of the closing Keynote “Multi-Gen Feminist Pornographers Speak Out.”

MCON 2011 Blog Roundup

Attendees, presenters and organizers alike had a lot to share about their thoughts, experiences, and how they plan on sustaining the Momentum after returning from Mcon 2011! Check out a roundup of their experiences below. (In no particular order)

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Sadly, we had some presenters who were unable to make it to MOMENTUM. Happily, we’ve been able to fill there slots with some other awesome sex-positive presenters.

So, filling in for Play With Your Food scheduled for noon today in the Spring Room will be Greg DeLong of njoy doing a Q&A about how he created his stainless steel sex toy empire, he’ll be moderated by the always fabulous Carol Queen.

Also at noon, Constance Penley, professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be taking over in the Seneca Room, talking about her involvement as an expert witness in the United States vs John Stagliano.

Constance is also founding editor of Camera Obscura, a journal of feminism, media and cultured studies that just celebrated its 30th anniversary. She has been teaching a class on pornographic film s a popular American film genre at UC Santa Barbara since 1993.  Rolling Stone called her “one of the most dangerous minds in America” and the Rev. Pat Robertson denounced her class on the 700 Club, calling it “a new low in humanist excess.”

Last year John Stagliano and his legal team of 1st Amendment heros proffered her as an expert witness in the United States vs John Stagliano, in which Stagliano was indicted on seven federal felony charges and faced 36 years in prison.

Constance relishes the chance to talk about the trial with the people here at MOMENTUM.

Now that we’re down to the wire, it’s a good time to call attention to the rights and responsibilities of all our attendees.  While this page has been up on this site since the very beginning, we’re reposting, here and now, to make sure everyone is mindful of just how important it is.

Equally important is our photography policy, which you’ll also find below.

Rights and Responsibilities

Photography Policy

We very much understand and respect the need for privacy among our attendees and presenters at MOMENTUM.   As a result, we have color-coded badges for everyone as follows:

Red:  Means what you think it means – No pictures please!

Green:  Also means what you think it means, shoot away – just say cheese!

We ask that you strictly honor our privacy policy at MOMENTUM.  When in doubt, don’t.

We reserve the right to remove anyone in violation of this privacy policy.

After all this time and preparation, MOMENTUM is nearly here and we couldn’t be more excited. We’re also thrilled to announce that MOMENTUM is a sold out event! How awesome is that? I’ll answer – it’s incredibly awesome and amazing for a first year event!

MOMENTUM will start on Friday, April 1st at 4PM with Registration. The Registration table will be set up outside the Lincoln Ballroom, which is on the 2nd Floor of the Crowne Plaza. Come see us and pick up your badge, which you’ll need to display at all conference sessions and events, your info packet and your conference bag (courtesy of our Premier Sponsor, Fascinations). To register, all you’ll need is to give us your printed Eventbrite ticket and tell us your badge name, and we’ll hand over the goodies. As privacy is one of our foremost concerns, the printed registration list will only have badge names and confirm numbers.

If you haven’t given us badge information yet, email me at immediately. Registration runs till 7PM, when the Meet & Greet begins. If you arrive after the official registration is over, don’t worry, we’ll have someone available to check you in and give you your badge.

From 7 – 8PM, as a special part of the Meet & Greet, there will be a free ice cream sundae bar. Whipped cream, fudge, sprinkles, heaven. Also, throughout the evening we’ll have a cash bar. In this instance cash means just that CASH ONLY; no credit cards and no room charges. So make sure to bring a couple of bucks with you and relax with a cocktail while you listen to, first, comic Maria Falzone, presenting Sex Rules and then, our fabulous Keynote panel moderated by Dr. Lynn Comella, with Jenny Block, Reid Mihalko, Dr. Carol Queen and Tristan Taormino.

For those not arriving until Saturday, Registration resumes again at 8:15 AM and goes until 8:45 AM, this time in the pre-conference area on the 1st floor. Again, if you haven’t made it by 8:45, don’t fret, there will always be someone around to help you get your badge.

One more thing, we have a little poll we’d very much appreciate you answering. It will help us make sure everyone gets ice cream and we don’t want to mess with that!

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So, that’s it, see you all on Friday!

We want to express our gratitude to all our sponsors and supporters, that includes all our presenters and attendees!

MOMENTUM’s premier sponsor is Fascinations.

Especially for pleasure seekers and curious adventurers, Fascinations is the sex positive, educational and innovative retailer that empowers sexual satisfaction. From our large selection of toys, lubes, DVDs, books and more to our free sexuality education articles and workshops, Fascinations is sure to help you discover and celebrate sexuality. Accessorize your love life at FunLove.com.

Without Fascinations’ generosity and commitment to community, we wouldn’t have had a MOMENTUM at all. Not only that but you’re conference bags and lanyards were all provided by Fascinations as well as condoms, discount cards and other conference bag goodies.

Our Recharge Room is sponsored by Wet. Thanks to Wet, you’ll find mini-muffins & mini-cinnamon rolls at breakfast time, and granola bars, mixed nuts and dried fruit and candy at all other times. You’ll also find power strips to keep all your electronic devices charged and happy. Wet will also be adding samples, note pads and pens to your conference bags.

Sponsoring our Taste of Cinekink screening, is FetFest.  Thanks to FetFest, when you attend our special Cinekink screening, you’ll find a theatre style candy and popcorn. Kinky films and sweets, oh my!

FetFest is a 2 Day, 3 Night Festival in Maryland over Labor Day Weekend (Sept 2nd–5th). Why not come out and party, learn and play with your friend list in person? Whether you opt for a tent, cabin or hotel, you’ll get to enjoy a world class education program, one of the best vending areas ever assembled and over 70,000 sq ft of Indoor/Outdoor Dungeon Space. Come play under the stars in rural Maryland! With tickets starting at $99, it’s too hot to miss!

MOMENTUM is supported by Cinekink, bringing us a special “Best of” screening which will be shown on Saturday night at 9:30PM in the Potomac Room.

A Taste of Cinekink

CineKink – “the kinky film festival” – treats us to a sampling of sexy, cinematic morsels!

Celebrating and exploring a wide diversity of sexuality, the works in this sex-positive and kink-friendly showcase range from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot porn, mildy spicy to quite explicit – and everything in between.

We’ve worked in enough time between sessions to allow you to process what you’ve just heard and to clear your mind for the next presentation in our Recharge Room, graciously sponsored by Wet International. The Recharge Room is located in the hotel’s Silver Room.

In the Recharge Room you’ll find water to keep you hydrated and snacks, like granola bars, fruits and nuts (maybe chocolate, there are rumors)  to re-energize yourself and power strips to boost your laptops, phones and cameras all provided by Wet International. A great place to visit between sessions to connect with friends, old and new, and continue the discussions spurred by the sessions.

To encourage socializing and networking, on Saturday between the second and third block of sessions, from 11:40 AM to noon, you’ll find Sex Geek Speed-Flirting with Reid in the Recharge Room – Join Reid Mihalko for 12-minutes of ice breaking sex geekery with your fellow sex geeks!

And on Sunday, between the first and second block of sessions, from 10:40 to 11:00 AM, to give you a chance to unwind, join tantra teachers, Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson, for a 12 minute meditation encouraging you to breathe, to refresh and to get centered.

With gratitude to Wet International for sponsoring the Recharge Room!

Being MOMENTUM’s registration fee is so reasonable, we’re sure you’ll be wanting to spend some of that extra cash that’s been burning a hole in your pockets. And we’re giving you the opportunity by having a variety of fabulous vendors with wares at all price points.

Inciting Defiance: Visibility for your Identity

Really cool t-shirts, magnets and light switch & outlet covers (I have my eye on that kinky hedgehog. Did you know hedgehogs were billed as the pet of the 90′s? Yup, I considered getting one, but a t-shirt will do nicely.)

Sugar

We thrilled to have Baltimore’s own lesbian owned, women and trans operated, for profit, mission driven sex toy shop vending their superior wares at MOMENTUM.  Bring the hula hoops, Jacq!

Crystal Delights

All Crystal Delights erotic toys are hand blown in the United States. Each Crystal Delights glass sex toy is a unique handcrafted erotic object, made for both intimate and aesthetic enjoyment. No two toys are exactly the same; but all are made of smooth, medical quality Pyrex glass and decorated with an authentic Swarovski crystal. Each erotic toy is an adult art glass sculpture with a special purpose in mind – with toys like the original plug described wryly as “boudiour booty bling”. (Completely biased personal endorsement – I absolutely love my Crystal Delights butt plug and wand.)

Sliquid

Female friendly Sliquid Naturals is the only entirely glycerin (sugar derivative) free and paraben free intimate product line available. All Sliquid intimate products are formulated with safety, especially women’s safety, as the number one priority. We offer several water based natural personal lubricant formulas, as well as a premium silicone based lubricant and a water / silicone hybrid, all of which are 100% vegan friendly. We aim to bring an entire line of safe, natural personal lubricants for women, as well as other intimate products that are a necessity for healthy, sexually active people. All of our female focused natural personal lubricants and intimate products are 100% latex safe and condom friendly, so always use Sliquid lube in good health. All Sliquid products are formulated by sensitive women, for sensible women.

PAPAYA Toys™

PAPAYA Toys™ are German designed and engineered and manufactured Asia.  PAPAYA products feature 100% medical grade silicone from US suppliers. PAPAYA Toys™ finds  inspiration in nature as well as in the diverse cultures and variety of human expression that makes our world the exciting place it is. They are fun, fresh, healthful and oh so beautiful. These unique products will thrill you as well as inspire you to joyfully explore your sexuality.   PAPAYA brings you innovation, individuality and excitement.  ENJOY!

Bluestockings

Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Through words, art, food, activism, education, and community, we strive to create a space that welcomes and empowers all people. We actively support movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression, including but not limited to patriarchy, heterosexism, the gender binary, white supremacy and classism, within society as well as our own movements. We seek to make our space and resources available to such movements for meetings, events, and research. Additionally, we offer educational programming that promotes centered, strategic, and visionary thinking, towards the realization of a society that is infinitely creative, truly democratic, equitable, ecological, and free.

For Your Nymphomation™

For Your Nymphomation™ (FYN) storage cases are designed to discreetly hide your ‘pleasurables’ – e.g. condoms, sex toys, pornographic magazines & DVDs, floggers, and other adult novelties. Parents can now be relieved to have a locking case to hide their adult items from their children. Our collection of condom cases are perfect for storing your condoms to protect them from damage so they can properly protect you. Our BDSM collection is designed to store your paddles, floggers, canes, and other”dungeon” equipment. FYN bags can also be used to store jewelry, cosmetics, cigarettes, and pads & tampons. When traveling to hotels that may not have an in-room safe, FYN bags allow you to lock up your passport, traveler’s checks, plane tickets and important documents. FYN bags also securely store medications, toiletries and many other items you may want to keep private. All of our storage cases are constructed of faux leathers with water-resistant nylon linings, both of which easily wipe clean with soap and a wet cloth if a lotion or lube gets spilled.

Athena’s Home Novelties

Athena’s Home Novelties is one of the country’s leading at-home adult novelty companies. Our distributors (or Goddesses and Adoni, as we like to call them) carry our message of self-love and relationship enhancement to thousands of customers each year.

Our product line includes something for everyone – young or old, female or male – and we carry only the highest quality products available.

In between getting your fill of sexual intelligence,  your geek quotient will surely rise after this information packed weekend, we thought you might like to kick back and relax with a little entertainment. Leaving our lovely host hotel may well be unnecessary since we’re bringing it all to you!

Starting at 8PM on Friday, April, in the Lincoln Ballroom, we have comic, Maria Falzone injecting a little levity before we hit the ground running with our keynote panel. Maria will entertain us with an abbreviated version of Sex Rules.

Next, in between the second and third block of sessions on Saturday, from 11:40 AM to noon, we have Sex Geek Speed-Flirting with Reid.  Join Reid Mihalko for 12-minutes of ice breaking sex geekery with your fellow sex geeks in the Recharge (Silver) Room!

During Saturday’s lunch break, you can grab your lunch and head to The Chesapeake Room for a viewing and discussion of Nancy Schwartzman’s, The Line.

“The Line” is a 22 minute documentary about a young woman – the filmmaker – who is raped, but her story isn’t cut and dry. Schwartzman confronts her attacker, recording the conversation with a hidden camera.

Moving onto Saturday evening from 8:00 to 9:00 PM in the Chesapeake Room, we have Cameryn Moore’s one act, one woman play, Phone Whore.

Take 30 after Phone Whore and then at 9:30 PM come to the Potomac Room for a special “Best of” Taste of Cinekink screening where movie theatre type snacks, think candy and popcorn, will be provided courtesy of FetFest.

On Sunday, between the first and second block of sessions, from 10:40 – 11:00, come down to the Recharge (Silver) Room and breathe, refresh & center. Join Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson for a 12 minute meditation.

If you’re looking for off premise, unofficial goings on in the area (or in some suites), be sure to check out our google group.

In addition to all our fabulous presenters, that’s a lot of bang for your $55 buck!

Whew, that was intense! But we’ve finally reached the end of our weekend of sex nerdiness. And we’re going out with a big bang.  Return to the scene of the opening keynote panel, the Lincoln Ballroon, and join sex-positive feminist icons, Susie Bright and Tristan Taormino as they talk about the history and current state of feminist porn, their roles in the genre and what the future of sex on the screen looks like.

Multigen Feminist Pornographers Mouth Off

Presenters
Susie Bright
Tristan Taormino

Join Susie and Tristan in conversation as they look at both the origins and the current state of feminist pornography. Susie will discuss her work with two of the earliest and most influential porn creations, On Our Backs magazine and Fatale Video as well as starting the first mail order catalog and erotic video library at Good Vibrations when it was a 2-girl operation! Tristan will talk about the rise of feminist pornography and her own work with Evil Angel, Smart Ass Productions, and Vivid Entertainment. Both women will reflect on the challenges (cough cough) and crazed victories of their history in sexed/porn. We’ll talk about how the web has revolutionized feminist porn, and the future of our sex on screen!

Susie Bright

www.susiebright.blogs.com

One of the country’s foremost sex educators, activists, and writers, Bright is an outspoken advocate of sexual equality and freedom. Bright is the author of national bestsellers,  and —as well as The Best American Erotica and Heroticaseries, which ushered in women’s erotic publishing. She the host of Audible’s In Bed With Susie Bright, the beloved and longest running sex education show in the history of broadcasting. Co-founder and editor of On Our Backs, the first sex magazine by, for, and about women, Bright was the first journalist to cover erotic cinema and the porn business in the mainstream press. A progenitor of the sex-positive movement, Bright taught the first university course on pornography, and brought lasting sexual influence to her role in films like Bound and The Celluloid Closet. She has one daughter and lives with her partner in Santa Cruz, California. Susie Bright’s memoir, , will be published in April 2011.

Tristan Taormino

www.puckerup.com

Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, sex educator, and feminist pornographer. She is the author of six books, including The Big Book of Sex Toys, Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women. She runs her own adult film production company, Smart Ass Productions, and is currently an exclusive director for Vivid Entertainment. She wrote the popular syndicated sex column “Pucker Up” for The Village Voice and other alternative weeklies for almost ten years. Her official website is puckerup.com. She gives lectures on sex and relationships all over the world.

Multigen Feminist Pornographers Mouth Off will be presented on Sunday, April 3rd, from 3:00 to 4:40 PM, followed by the briefest of closing remarks, in the Lincoln Ballroom.