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It’s Masturbation Month! Corset Magazine and Lovehoney want you to celebrate.

We’re giving away one Sqweel 2 Oral Sex Simulator to one lucky reader who is ready to take their self-pleasure to the next level!

To win, leave us a comment below or on our Facebook Page with your most creative fantasy for how you’d use the Sqweel 2!

Do you need any inspiration? Let its fantastic form seep into your thoughts. The case’s sleek design makes for a travel-friendly item. Maybe you could be tempted to write about where you’d be taking this with you or what you’d be doing at that very moment, when it suddenly arrives at your doorstep. And if you take a look at those tongues- well, what do you think those tongues can do to you? Those are just a couple of things that should make you think…

Corset Magazine Editors will pick the most erotic, imaginative story, and announce the lucky reader, Wednesday, May 22!

Get to writing and good luck!

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Lovehoney’s Tease Me will never hurt me. It only makes me feel good.”

Lovehoney has done it again with their Tease Me Heart Crop. Due to the fact that I have never used one, I was quite surprised by how much I actually enjoyed using this with my partner. As we all know, a good stiff hand always does the job of smacking ass, but a hand can be unpredictable. The Tease Me Heart Crop is flexible, heart-shaped and, when used properly, leaves a beautiful print on your bottom instead of the print of a hand. Just like most of Lovehoney’s products, this one is well made with a leather wrist strap, strong handle, long shaft, and double sided satin.

Pros – Great for horseplay when your partner is riding you. Easy to use. Easy to grip. Brings a bit of theatrics into the bedroom.

Cons - Not easy to store. This is one of those items that makes you think, “Where to store it?” It’s not a “throw it in the drawer” type of product.

 Overall, Lovehoney’s Tease Me Heart Crop is a Must Have for all your kinky pleasures. If you don’t have this in your toy chest, you’re missing out. I highly recommend it.

First generation-born American Bajan and Boston-raised woman Essence Revealed is both excited and honored to have been selected as one of only twenty burlesque performers to compete at the 2013 Milan Burlesque Awards. Corset Magazine is honored to feature her writings and hopes to help her get to Milan. Read, take in, and be inspired by Essence’s words about why she does burlesque!

It was my first year as an acting major.  I thought it would be like recess at Fame.  I imagined dancing with wild abandon, being dramatic for no reason and celebrations in the halls. I was looking for Leroy and everything.  We were at college studying Thee-ay-tah, after all, Darling. Instead, I found myself as one of only a few people of color at the orientation activities.  I was so happy to find the student of color groups on campus.  One of the first conversations I ever had with them keeps coming up even to this day, and by now I’ve had this conversation too many times to count it:  “Does an artist of color have a responsibility to create work that always speaks socially and/or politically to the Black experience?”

Since starting to do burlesque, the discussion has come to also include debates on whether or not doing burlesque translates into power versus objectification.  Often, I am asked to comment about this specifically from a woman of color lens.  A recent interviewer’s editor wanted “specific examples” of how burlesque becomes an agency of power because “these industries can be notoriously exploitive.”  The first thought that popped into my head after this was “How does burlesque exploit anyone?”  I’ve never heard of a pimp checking one of his performers for being slow about the hours she spent making and bedazzling her costume.  Unfortunately, few performers depend solely on burlesque to pay all their bills.  I may be wrong, but I’ve never heard of sex trafficking rings curating burlesque shows where they force women to spend several hours and money to create acts.  I’m reminded by someone that “lay people” tend to clump things together.  Perhaps this person was thinking about strip club stripping?  Alright, fair enough, I suppose.

Photo Credit: Frederick V. Nielsen – http://featherrock.smugmug.com

However, I find both of these conversations to be moot.  The former I find moot because there is no one singular, universal “Black Experience.” Therefore, the work I create or the statements I make are going to come from my particular life.  Any piece of art I create is coming from a Black woman’s view.  Even if I create a piece of art that is not about anything specific to THE Black Experience, it is from a brown gaze- by virtue of me being the creator.  However, it is one Black experience.  The latter discussion needs no “specific example.”  In our society, any woman who chooses to have agency over her own body and sexuality is automatically taking a position of power.

There will always be people who want to argue that, no matter what the scenario, naked or scantily-clad women equate to objectification, period.  Anything brazen in the realm of women and sex will be used by other people who will say it supports sex trafficking.  I can never have a conversation about consensual sex work without someone putting trafficking into the conversation.  Sex trafficking is HORRIBLE.  I know no one involved in any aspect of sexuality education or work that does not agree with that fact.  It just happens to have nothing to do with sex work as a choice.  Burlesque is also a choice that has nothing to do with either of those things.

Photo Credit: http://photobystaciejoy.com

Like all of us, my particular spirit has many labels that can be attached to its human package.  I am a big sister, eldest child, the cool aunty (Ok, so they’re only 3 and 1 now but when they get older, I will be crowned the cool aunty!!!), part of the LGBTQ community, first of the first generation-born in America, partner, woman, best friend, artist, etc.  Yet, I am never asked for proof around many of these labels.  Typically, the request for “proof” is from someone wanting to keep their assumptions safe and sound.  It is easier for some people to snuggle tight with their negative opinions of industries they have never been on the inside of.  I often wonder, too, if my non-people-of-color artist friends discuss the need to represent their race in “proper” ways.  Do they feel the need to always make a specific socio-political statement about their experience as such?  A wiser, older, sister friend once asked me why I felt the need to represent the entire race (because I can’t) or “prove” myself to others. She said to me: “No one is trying to prove themselves to us.”  Aha moment number eight million with this wise lady!

Photo Credit: http://TonySavino.com

Every time I step even a pinky toe on any stage to take my clothes off, it is a statement of power.  Every time that pinky toe hits the stage, the audience will see something from a Black experience: my Black experience.  I released the pressure to mandatorily make statements.  Yet, statements are made and power is owned.  Just as I don’t feel the need to prove specifically how I am the cool aunty (ahem, I mean, will be), I don’t feel the need to prove any label.  I created a burlesque act that is homage to women reveling proudly in their own sexual energy.  No one has ever asked me to prove what the piece is about.  Unless I told them, many won’t even know, but I think they will feel it anyway. I am so humbled and honored to have it chosen to compete in the 2013 Milan Burlesque Festival. I hope to have myself, all I represent and my particular brand of sexual bravado all up on that Italian stage in full force.

(Featured Photo Credit: www.emmafreemanphotography.com)

Essence Revealed received her BFA and MA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Steinhardt School of Education, respectively. Her writing has appeared in publications such as $pread Magazine, BurlesqueBible.com, and 21st Century Burlesque. She’s been published in two anthologies, Pros(e) and Johns, Marks, Tricks, & Chicken Hawks. She performs and teaches nationally and internationally both solo and as a member of Brown Girls Burlesque.

Help Essence get to the Milan Burlesque Awards by supporting her on Indiegogo!

 

At the Federal Bar in North Hollywood, CA this Friday evening, Luscious Maven Pole Dance Studio is going to be presenting  their showcase, ‘Wild Things’, – a Springtime theme with ‘a little extra added spin’ and ‘a tribute to all things free and uninhibited, from nature to animals to the ritual of dance.’ Founder and studio owner Heather West gave Corset Magazine a few sneak preview-worthy details that will be sure to pique your interest and excite you to come check them out!

Luscious Maven owner Heather West’s inspirations for show themes are many. In the past, as an exotic dancer within gentlemen’s clubs, she’s seen amazing women performing on stage, with little else other than staging and lighting. Of those performances, she said, “There’s no real production value.” She seeks to change that with her studio, nearly four years old and located in North Hollywood. Her admiration for Crazy Horse, Paris, and the Moulin Rouge is a big contribution to her visions. “I thought, what if you could take the best of the best of each performer and actually create a production on more on that level?”

The outcome? A showcase such as ‘Wild Things’! “It’s sexy, it’s sensual, it turns people on, but it has a real production aesthetic to it. It has a vision and an intent.” Heather tells us, “The audience is really going to be delightfully surprised at the level of creativity and how sexy the performances are. They’re not sexy in the traditional way – people really pushed the envelope with these performances.”

The pictures here only give a glimpse of what is in store! In addition to the performances, the audience is encouraged to become a part of the theme. “We encourage our audience members to dress in the ‘Wild Things’ theme. Our performers often tease, touch, flirt and play with the audience.” Heather revealed, “We also have a dance contest for our audience members during intermission.” Having the performance at the Federal Bar certainly will add another dimension. “It’s guaranteed to be a sexy dinner theatre experience perfect for singles, couples and groups of friends.”

Every theme is given as an artistic direction by Heather. Then individual performers develop his or her own interpretation of the theme. Not all performers in the show are from her studio, either, so those hopeful for an opportunity to perform do not have to be students from Luscious Maven. Heather and her team look for specific things about each performer. “The most important elements for dancers in each showcase are personal style, creativity, and stage presence.” The audition process for all hopeful performers always include these six items:

“1. Strong and clean execution of the movement for your level
2. A complete performance idea: A great song and a story or character that is inspired by your selected music.
3. A costume that ties in with your theme and music.
4. Flow, connection and musicality
5. Stage Presence and Follow Through
6. Personal Style – bring an element, a surprise, a story, a look that reflects your personal style.
7. A performance that fits with the theme of the show, Wild Things.”

“I think people are going to be jaw-dropped by what they’re about to see on stage- not just the skill level, but the storytelling, the evocativeness of the performers, the level of emotion. We are bringing a smart, sassy, sophisticated, and sensual world of fun to L.A. nightlife.”

“Wild Things Pole and Burlesque Showcase” will be on April 12^th at the Federal Bar, 5303 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood.  For more information and to buy your tickets, click here. The show is for adults ages 21 and over.

Luscious Maven Pole Dance Studio is located at 11135 Weddington St. #113, North Hollywood, CA, 91601.

As part of their growing Sexecology movement, Beth Stephens decided that it was important to create a documentary about a place that shaped her life. From this came Goodbye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story.

The film was produced and directed by Beth Stephens with Annie Sprinkle, detailing Beth’s family history in the coal mines, the couple’s visits, and eventually, getting married to the Appalachian Mountains.

Gauley Mountain is named after the Gauls who settled there.  (Gaul is another term for the French.) However, the Appalachian region was settled by people from different places, apart from France. Coal mining was the major reason for the region’s growth. Beth was born in 1960, a time when there was still a lot of racism. “I was conceived in the coal fields. I wish I were kidding. I grew up in the middle of mining.”

“There’s so many people that came in to work in the mines. They came from all over the world. I grew up in a super multicultural environment, which became whiter in my lifetime. The mining and labor has been eradicated by machines. But when I was growing up, there were all kinds of people there. My doctor was Mexican. There were Italians, and Jewish people in the neighborhood, and there were Black neighborhoods.”

“I lived in Boston, I lived in New York, and I lived out here (San Francisco). I never lived anywhere where there was as many people of color living in such close proximity to me as in West Virginia. It’s so interesting because Appalachia is always stereotyped as being this crazy White haven of crazed Rednecks.  The stereotypes continue to make that area vulnerable as a sacrifice for energy production.” 

Goodbye Gauley Mountain will be a part of their Ecosexual Film Festival, set to be shown in France and England this year. The film festival will also be part of the 1st International Ecosex Symposium, which will be in Spain, England and France. For those in the United States that are interested and cannot make it to the film festival, there will be a sneak preview of Goodbye Gauley Mountain over at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco on March 30^th. Tickets are priced at $15.00 each.

To see the trailer, go to www.goodbyegauleymountain.org

For details about the 1^st international Ecosex Symposium, go to www.ecosexlab.org

For more about Beth and Annie’s ecosex projects, see www.sexecology.org