Good Vibrations Facilitating Conversation at CatalystCon

ARLINGTON, Va.—Adult retailer Good Vibrations is sponsoring and contributing to CatalystCon East, which takes place March 14-16 in Arlington, Va. Featuring presentations by sex educators, sexologists, sex workers, writers, activists, social commentators, bloggers, and adult industry leaders including Good Vibrations staff, CatalystCon explores the intersection of sexuality with culture, politics, education and activism in a three-day gathering. Good Vibrations also will sponsor The Deeper Truth: Biographies From the Catalysts hosted by Shar Rednour and featuring interviews with prominent sex educators, including Tristan Taormino. Good Vibrations' Staff Sexologist Dr. Carol Queen, Ph.D., will present “Consent: It Takes A Village,” “Promiscuity: Virtue or Vice?”, and “Real to Reel Sex”. Author, sociologist, and curator of the Antique Vibrator Museum, she will also be hosting the closing keynote plenary address with women's sex education pioneer legend Betty Dodson. To round out her CatalystCon visit, she will also host a pre-conference evening benefiting San Francisco's unique nonprofit The Center for Sex & Culture, plus will curate and host a reading night, Off the Page: Sex Talk with Carol Queen and Friends, which will feature diverse readings by Annie Sprinkle, Gram Ponante, Twanna Hines, Tina Horn, and other writers of erotica, sex punditry, memoir, and more. "I'm so happy to be returning to Catalyst," said Queen. "The conference promises to spark exceptional conversations about sexuality, and it absolutely does. I get as much as I give at this extraordinary gathering!" Good Vibrations' Executive Vice President Jackie Strano will present “The Hijacking of Healthy Sexuality” and “Lesbo Retro: A Dyke Porn Retrospective”. An award-winning adult filmmaker and feminist pornographer, she is also the executive producer of Good Vibrations' digital content/feminist porn channel. “Lesbo Retro: A Dyke Porn Retrospective” will contextualize the creation of radical independent lesbian porn with stories, Q & A and a clip show that includes rare archival footage of lesbian and non-gender conforming sex scenes made by queer women in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. Strano and her partner Shar Rednour will share behind-the-scenes details of history, economics, technical innovation, popular-culture, community expectations, and how they and other filmmakers influenced the making of these radical images leading to the queer porn genre of today. The “Hijacking of Healthy Sexuality” explores the challenge for parents and educators who combat and navigate the bombardment of misogynistic, sex-negative and sex-shaming that our youth encounters during hours of instagram, facebook, twitter, TV and Internet exposure. Coyote Days, Good Vibrations' Purchasing Manager, will be presenting “Sex Toys: Past, Present & Future”. For more than 10 years, Days has been at the helm of product development and purchasing at Good Vibrations. She continues to refine and curate the entire catalog of Good Vibrations products with increasing attention towards body-safe materials and emotional designs that reward interaction and foster play, and has a unique perspective on the direction of pleasure products. For the full schedule and more details about the conference visit: http://catalystcon.com.