1. Judge orders stop to private sex club
2. I.D. in 'S&M' Death
3. Word on the street at S.F.'s fetish festival
4. Objects of Desire
5. Coopersburg dries up sex club
6. Neurotic Impact
7. Sex Clubs gain popularity in SWFL
Judge orders stop to private sex club:
Coopersburg property owners say they will still hold the parties
by Randy Kraft and Matt Birkbeck
The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
September 30, 2006
Lehigh County Judge Edward Reibman on Friday ordered owners of Coopersburg's Silhouette Showbar to stop operating a members-only sex club.
The property owners said they intend to continue offering the Saturday night parties, which began Sept. 2, by not limiting them to members of Club Kama Sutra.
Reibman issued an injunction against Coopersburg Holdings Inc., the property owners, because they failed to appeal a borough cease-and-desist order to Coopersburg's Zoning Hearing Board.
He ordered them ''to immediately cease and desist from having membership-only private parties for Club Kama Sutra Inc., a 'private sex club/swingers club' at Silhouette.''
Owners of Silhouette, at 111 E. Station Ave., could be held in contempt if the new Saturday night sex club continues, according to the judge.
But after Friday's court hearing, Bruce Young, co-owner of Silhouette, said the bar will be open for another party tonight to anyone paying a $60 cover charge. Tonight's party is promoted on Club Kama Sutra's Web site as ''Bi-Ladies Lingerie.''
''We will honor the order that the judge has given, but we have not in the past nor will we in the future operate a membership-only private party,'' Young said.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_5coopersburgsep30,0,6617105.story?page=2
To respond, write to: the author at rndy.kraft@mcall.com or the editors at letters@mcall.com or sooment at bottom of article
I.D. in 'S&M' Death
by Todd Venezia and Murray Weiss
The New York Post
September 30, 2006
Here's the final photo of the homeless drifter found dead and dangling from a fence in the West Village Wednesday – taken just hours before his leather-clad corpse was mistaken by passers-by for a Halloween decoration.
Police yesterday identified the man as Richard Lewis, 36, originally from Pennsylvania. The photographer who took the final photo just three hours before Lewis' body was found said Lewis spent his last night staggering drunk.
"He didn't say too much," said witness William Johnson, 21. "He was staggering back and forth. You could tell he was wasted."
Johnson and a group of co-workers from a restaurant met the man at a bar on Spring Street, after he came up to them dressed in an outlandish S&M-type leather outfit and asked for drinking money.
He was a startling sight, wearing large, studded leather gloves, a leather mask and a cowboy hat.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.nypost.com/seven/09302006/news/regionalnews/i_d__in_sm_death_regionalnews_todd_venezia_____and_murray_weiss.htm
To respond, write to: the author at todd.venezia@nypost.com or the editors at letters@nypost.com
Word on the street at S.F.'s fetish festival
by Sarah Blazucki
Philadelphia Gay News
September 29, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO – On the debauchery scale, this year's 23rd annual Folsom Street Fair ranks about a seven.
The annual San Francisco leather event – at 400,000, arguably the largest in the world – had plenty of naked men (does a cock ring count as clothing?), a handful of naked women, lots of power play, some whipping, masturbation on the streets and at least one instance of public fellatio – all in broad daylight.
Held Sept. 24 on Folsom Street in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) area, the event boasted entertainment of all sorts – on the stage, at booths and the erotic street theater taking of the asphalt.
The fair, a nonprofit charity event run by Folsom Street Events and made possible by sponsors, benefits 13 local groups. Last year, organizers donated $280,000 to benefitees.
What one could witness on the street: rope bondage demonstrations (do you know the best way to tie someone up is upside down?); charity spanking booths; a 7-foot cyber drag queen in a gas mask having her knee-high platform vinyl boots shined; the White Rats Morris dance troupe, traditional English dancers with bells hanging from the piercings in their arms; man in a pig mask, hooves and a corkscrew tail being whipped on the street by his master.
Interestingly, the police tolerate nudity and some sex acts inside the fair's designated area – about five blocks – but will give frisky wanderers a citation.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.epgn.com/092906/3folsom.htm
To respond, write to: the author at sarah@epgn.com or the editor at marco@epgn.com
Objects of Desire:
People explore their sexual objectification fantasies at a controversial event
by Tristan Taormino (from the opinion column "Pucker Up")
September 28, 2006
I just got back from sex camp (my nickname for the annual retreat I co-produce at a rural camp facility), and I've got sexual objectification on my mind. It was six days of classes, special events, parties, and rituals. One of the events is called the Garden of Carnal Delights, and it takes place in a series of connected rooms. Each one has a different erotic theme, and the Objectification Room is the most controversial of them all.
Five single beds are lined up in the middle of the small space and a large purple opaque curtain hangs from the ceiling dividing the beds in half, so that when people (called objects) lie on them, only the bottom halves of their bodies are visible to spectators.
The majority of the objects are women, though there have been a few men, and some of the participants don't offer their genitals up for play (one guy offered his mouth for oral service and wore a hood to mask his identity). Objects sign up in advance and fill out a form indicating their sexual limits. The limitations are then posted on a sign hanging from the curtain above each bed under the headings Yes and No. "Yes: vaginal penetration only," "No: fisting," "Yes: spanking, anal penetration with toys," and "No: playing with my pussy" are just a few. Once the objects (identified on the sign by number) are placed behind the curtain the Garden opens to attendees.
Participants are free to sexually use any of the objects as long as they follow the rules. Safe sex is mandatory, and there is no verbal communication between object and user – the exchanges are completely anonymous. There are monitors on either side of the curtain just to make sure everyone behaves. If an object needs to get the attention of the monitor, he or she rings a bell.
The concept of giving people permission and space to treat others as objects for their sexual gratification sounds like a feminist's worst nightmare. But to hear the creators describe it, it sounds like a space for people to have sexual experiences regardless of physical appearance: it strips away the judgments we all make about one another, letting us exist in a space where there's no flirting, small talk, seduction, or even eye contact.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0640,taormino,74599,24.html
To respond, write to: the author at tristan@puckerup.com or the editors at http://www.villagevoice.com/aboutus/index.php?page=contact
Coopersburg dries up sex club:
Borough shuts off water for swingers because of overdue bill
by Randy Kraft
The Morning Call (Philadelphia, PA)
September 27, 2006
No more partner-swapping sex parties will be going on inside Coopersburg's strip bar/swingers club until the building's operators pay the water bill.
The borough turned off the water serving Silhouette Showbar at 111 E. Station Ave. on Monday because the controversial bar owes a quarterly water bill totaling more than $700, said Borough Manager Daniel Stonehouse.
Stonehouse said the building can't be occupied without water. But he stressed his action is unrelated to Coopersburg's legal efforts to stop Club Kama Sutra, which began offering Saturday night sex parties at the bar Sept. 2.
At 9 a.m. Friday, Lehigh County Judge Edward Reibman is scheduled to hear the borough's request to have an injunction issued against the club, on the grounds that it violates Coopersburg's zoning law.
Borough solicitor Mary Ann Higgins encouraged Coopersburg residents to attend the court hearing to show support for council's action. ''It's important to show the judge that,'' she said.
On Friday, Reibman refused the borough's request for an immediate injunction to stop the club, because the club's operators and the building's owners had not been informed of that request.
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To read ths entire article, go to: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/all-b1-5coopersburgsep27,0,7158762.story?coll=all-newslocalallentown-hed
To respond, write to: the author at randy.kraft@mcall.com or the editors at letters@mcall.com
Neurotic Impact
by Stephanie Sellars (from the opinion column "Lust Life")
The New York Press
September 27, 2006
Sex is a prism reflecting the spectrum of our inner lives. When life is in chaos, carnal pleasure can be an escape, whether you are simply releasing all your stress in an orgasm or putting on a costume and becoming someone else for a while. Role-playing is replete with unconscious motivation. My one-week stint as a dominatrix was a result of a traumatizing breakup. The seemingly senseless loss of euphoric love led me down a path of promiscuity with the thought, If my body can't be sacred to him, it won't be sacred to anybody".
I felt empowered seducing men while remaining emotionally inaccessible. My mantra was "No man will ever reject me again". Now I can really get back at him, I thought, by making men my slaves. But while the sex was often good, my life was a mess. You see how sex can become a dysfunctional coping mechanism? I wouldn't be surprised if every dominatrix feels vulnerable without her whips and chains. And is it any wonder that the majority of clients who pay for humiliation and torture are investment bankers, CEO's, politicians and rock stars?
My medicinally promiscuous dominatrix period was ultimately un-gratifying because my intention was negative. But there are times when my inner turmoil nor enhanced sex. Not too long ago, I was torn between two lovers, neither of whom wanted to share me with the other. I was having a lot of passionate sex between the two of them, sometimes feeling as if I were with both at the same time. The days of this love triangle were numbered and I knew that no matter how it ended, I would lose. This awareness heightened each sensation and infused each orgasm with apocalyptic intensity.
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To read this entire artcle, go to: http://www.nypress.com/19/39/news&columns/lustlife.cfm
To respond, write to: the editors at editorial@nypress.com
Sex Clubs gain popularity in SWFL
by Angela Sachitano
NBC-2 (Ft. Myers, FL)
September 25, 2006
COLLIER COUNTY – An alternative lifestyle known as "swinging" is gaining popularity in Southwest Florida. Swinging is when couples have sex with other couples.
A recent internet search revealed there are more than 4,000 swingers and close to a dozen swing clubs in Collier County. A Naples couple even recently attempted to start a swinging cruise, where for a price couples could spend the evening aboard a ship swapping partners. There are also three clubs with events this weekend.
The whole concept is a surprise to many in what is considered an ultra conservative community.
"A little shocking, I wouldn't have expected it", said Katherine Ortiz.
Swing clubs are completely legal as long as they are not charging people to get in.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=8999&z=3&p=
To respond, write to: the editors at comments@nbc-2.com
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