Pioneering Activist Betty Dodson Passes Away

LOS ANGELES—Women’s sexual empowerment pioneer, Betty Dodson, passed away at 91 on October 31. She meant so much to so many women not only in her home base of New York City but also around the world. Dodson was born in 1929 and raised in Wichita, Kansas, proudly sharing her midwest roots at every opportunity. Trained as an artist, she began drawing illustrations for a local department store and continued using her immaculate skills her entire life. Her dream was to move to New York City to continue her artistic career, where she said “the action was” and in 1950, she made the move to the East Coast. While there, Dodson married and soon realized the life of being a traditional wife was not what she wanted. In 1965, she divorced and decided to change her life and proudly have all the sex she wanted. It also coincided with the advent of the sexual revolution of the 1960’s and Dodson wanted to have all the sex she could. The roots of her sexual activism began during this time. Realizing that sex for herself and other women focused on providing men’s pleasure while neglecting their own, she decided it was time for her “sexual self-discovery” and soon intertwined her remarkable art skills with her newfound sexual freedom. Her drawings, which were shameless and always depicted women and men in all of their nude diversity, were beginning to be shared with the public at art shows and feminist conventions. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the women’s feminist movement felt that any depiction of female pleasure was a disservice, but Dodson stood her ground, ultimately releasing the first book about women’s masturbation titled Liberating Masturbation for which she created the illustrations. The book ended up being released as Sex For One, a bestseller which broke all preconceptions of women’s sexual freedom and knowledge: Betty stated it was okay to have an orgasm on your own and not rely on others to do it for you.  For Annie Sprinkle, former porn star and now sex educator, author and performance artist, the loss of Betty is deep. “Betty was not only the godmother of masturbation but the godmother of sex-positive feminism,” Annie shared. “I first saw her work at the Erotic Art Museum in 1973 and met her in person at Screw magazine, when the Whole Earth Catalog came out. We became friends and neighbors and longtime colleagues. And she became a mentor and inspiration to me. She’s encouraged me to teach sex workshops as not too many people were doing them at the time. She taught me you don’t have to be anti-porn to be a feminist. Not only that, she taught me that lesbians could be kinky!” Annie chuckled. “She was into BDSM and looked incredible in leather!” Betty inspired millions of orgasms and millions to let go of body shame and showed us how to age with sexiness and bawdiness and courage. Betty knew when she made her first video, that she had an older woman’s body and it was courageous for her to be completely naked. The groundbreaking video was actually an educational video of her infamous BodySex workshops with women masturbating in a circle with a Magic Wand. Annie added, “it was educational, inspiring and radical.” Annie closed with a sigh, adding, “I loved Betty as much as I’ve loved anybody my entire adult life. I owe her a great debt of gratitude for almost half a century of inspiration.” Betty’s lessons that women could freely orgasm were taught when she cracked out her Magic Wand in order to teach her BodySex workshop participants how to use this regular muscle massager for the ultimate, clitoral pleasure. In an instant, the Magic Wand became the go-to massager for endless orgasms and the demand begun by Betty decades ago has not relented. Shay Martin, of Vibratex, the major distributor of the Magic Wand, shared, “I am certain Betty’s impact on the world was and will be far greater than she ever imagined. Everything she offered was rooted in one simple message—honesty. She made us look at ourselves without pretense, without shame, without questions. She instead made us look at ourselves with the honest love we all deserve. To be associated in any way with such a life as Betty’s is an honor. So the fact that our brand was so deeply loved and represented in her teachings is beyond expression. We’ll all miss Betty, but we’ll never forget her." Betty continued her work throughout for decades from her sex-positive launch in the 60’s to support of women’s sexual pleasure, never stopping even when she reached 90 years old. She shared her knowledge on a much-watched Netflix feature from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Lab, where Betty was her unabashed, shameless self, teaching Paltrow a few things about sex, too. I also have been blessed with calling Betty my friend. I participated in her first “Training the Trainer” sessions held at her long-time Manhattan apartment, in 1997, where a small, mixed group of us, learned the skills and knowledge that Betty so selflessly shared. Her important work will continue through her business partner, Carlin Ross, and the Betty Dodson Foundation and on their website, DodsonandRoss.com So it’s time to honor Betty and crack out our Magic Wands and have some orgasms just for her. That’s the way she would want it. Godspeed, my friend. Photo by Newcherrybomb/Wikimedia Commons