Summer Guide 2009

Photos: American Idol Season 9 Auditions in Boston

Lifestyle Features

The Queen of Masturbation

Why do you think that is? Some is left over from socio-biology and getting people to reproduce, but of course most of us today pair up not to reproduce but to have a companion and a sex partner. We've pretty successfully separated from reproduction, at least in the sex act. We've one-upped nature in that respect. But there are some biases about what this business of sex is about. That's why promiscuity is controversial. It's not about prevention of disease. You can prevent a disease if you know what you're doing. Sex for pleasures' sake or some other reason versus getting together with someone you might buy a house with. Promiscuity and masturbation have that in common — they're more overtly sexual with no other reason. Of course, promiscuity might involve getting someone to like you or buy you a drink. Masturbation, about making your menstrual cramps back off, getting rid of headache. People do it as a relief, and maybe there's also a bit of an old-fashioned American "tough it up, you don't need a release."

So was there any culture clash at the Masturbate-A-Thon in London? London was more successful than ours in every way. The first thing I want to clarify is that the Good Vibrations staff came up with the Masturbate-A-Thon. My partner Robert and I brought it into a group event. It was a "do it by yourself" [at first]. Get sponsors, send in pledge money. That's the kind of Masturbate-A-Thon that we ran in London. The difference was that the kind of people that came really did take it seriously — it was being sponsored by their equivalent to Planned Parenthood, Marie Stopes International. She was like their Margaret Sanger. People in London loved their Marie Stopes and were willing to do this. We don't think this is non-outrageous. We know it's a little edgy — that's okay. We want to get attention about this. We got press from all over the continent, all over the world, some of them flying in, sending their bureau people in, from New Zealand, South Africa — that came into the Masturbate-A-Thon. I did seven hours of press. In the US, we're all using the term wank cause it's cute — when you say wank in the UK, it's like saying fuck on the airwaves in the US. But yet, the press, from frisky radio to TV to mainstream newspapers, came and covered this event, and it was interesting to see the seriousness with which it was taken. The United States doesn't do that — the US is more puritanical than the UK in this way.

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