GameLink Celebrates National Masturbation Month

May is National Masturbation Month and Everyone's Invited

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Masturbate-a-thon History


Birth Of National Masturbation Month
The First Pledge Drive
The Masturbate-a-thon Event
More Cities. More Countries
San Francisco, 2008!

Although most men and women today are aware that masturbation isn't a "degrading act," as past generations might have been taught, many are still constrained by the notion that it's a selfish, immature activity or a second-rate substitute for partner sex. We live in a society in which sexual expression has always been legislated and restricted and the pursuit of pure pleasure is frequently condemned as egoistic or childish.

A lot of people who consider themselves free of sexual hang-ups have simply rewritten the equation "sex is only good if it involves procreation" to "sex is only good if it involves two people." The fact that masturbation is a pleasurable end in itself gets short shrift in many mainstream sex manuals, which focus on masturbation as a useful tool in the building of a better sex life with one's partner. The Masturbate-a-Thon is dedicated to honoring masturbation as an excellent way to have sex while also raising money for non-profits.

Birth Of National Masturbation Month


In 1995, Good Vibrations invented National Masturbation Month in protest of the firing of Clinton appointed U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Elders lost favor in the administration when she responded to questions about safer sex by saying that "Masturbation is something that perhaps should be taught." Elders' statement was both practical and supported by sex-positive sex educators everywhere. The folks at Good Vibrations realized that the conservative factors that booted Elders from office were making sex less safe and fun by making masturbation seem shameful. And what better way to make masturbation more visible and accessible than to give it its own month of fun events and education?

Why did they choose May for this blessed month? Because "the merry, merry month of May" has long been seen as symbolizing sexual awakening. Also, because "May" and "masturbation" both start with "M" -- it's nice and alliterative!

Since its inception National Masturbation Month has been written about far and wide. Almost 10,000 articles show up in a Google search. Some are critical and embarrassed, but most spread the word about the joys of this fun solo sport. Good Vibrations has continued to support this worthy cause, creating a Masturbation Hall-Of-Fame where you can find the everyone from Betty Dodson, Carol Queen, and Joani Blank to Jamie Lee Curtis and Claire Danes: educators or celebrities who've helped make the world a little more masturbation-positive.

The First Pledge Drive


In 1998 Good Vibrations decided to up the ante by creating the Masturbate-a-Thon. It started as a weekend-long pledge drive, promoted by Good Vibes and a few of its sister sex toy stores, that operated on the honor system. Participants got their pals to promise money for each minute of masturbation. As Carol Queen said then, "Who'd want to cheat? It's so much fun to masturbate, it's not like you won't do it and then say you did." In the first year the Masturbate-a-Thon raised $8,500 for good causes. In the years that the Masturbate-a-Thon operated as a do-it-yourself event it raised over $25,000, distributed 66,000 pledge forms, and had 1700 pledged participants from six different countries.

Masturbate-a-thon Live


In 2000, Carol Queen, who'd been doing Masturbation Month PR at Good Vibrations since the beginning, telling legions of shock radio jocks that no, they could NOT come be judges at the Masturbate-a-Thon, realized a live Masturbate-a-Thon event would be possible to organize and maybe even more fun than a weekend filled with solo pride. Around that same time Dr. Queen and Dr. Robert Lawrence combined their skills and interests to create The Center For Sex & Culture, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization devoted to positive sex education for adults. Good Vibrations shared rights to the Masturbate-a-Thon to the good activists at The Center For Sex & Culture so that the live event could become a dazzling spectacle of group masturbation fun.

To keep the live event newsworthy, some of its participants have started competing for world records:

Time Records:

Female: 6 h, 30 min (Norine Dworkin, San Francisco, 2004)
Male: 8 h, 30 min (San Francisco, 2006)
Trans/Genderqueer: Yet to be set!

Most Orgasms:

Female: 49 (London, 2006)
Male: 6 (London, 2006)
Trans/Genderqueer: Yet to be set!

More Cities, More Countries


Since its original inception in sex-positive San Francisco, activists have been bringing the event home to their own cities and countries. Last year, Washington DC joined in with a live pledge wank. Darklady of Portland, Oregon has been organizing Masturbate-a-Thons for several years now, with another event coming up on Saturday, May 31, 2008 that features our good friends The Wet Spots. Go to the Portland site for more details. (Though not an official Masturbate-a-Thon because it allows partner play, we salute Darklady's Portland event for being a fun, masturbation-positive zone.)

In 2006, London had its first event amidst curiosity and controversy. Channel 4 made a documentary of the event, that is yet to be released on TV due to difficulties with conservatives. Check out the video clip at this link: youtube.com/watch?v=oORynpjNXkg and this year Copenhagen, Denmark is hosting an unofficial event.

San Francisco 2008!


Coming soon to the sex-positive capital of the world: the 2008 San Francisco Masturbate-a-Thon. Fun performances to keep the masturbators wet and hard will abound. There will be female and trans/queer friendly spaces where voyeurs will have to pass the respectability test to watch the wanking. Masters of Ceremonies will be none other than the fantabulous Tom Orr and Nina Hartley, with back-up from Masturbation Hall of Famer Dr. Carol Queen.

Visit masturbate-a-thon.com/ for more information