Editrix Abby |
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Erotica San FrancsicoThe Erotica conventions began with a bang last year in New York City, thanks to the prissy objections of their mayor; his whining made the convention front page news and a howling success. Over 30,000 people ponied up their $30 to see what all the hubub was about. Just goes to show you that when you try and take something away from an American taxpayer--even if it's only a clandestine little shop where you can pick up the latest installment in the Butt Bangers series--they'll want it all the more. What those 30,000 found was a fairly palatable presentation of penis-shaped chocolates, fetish fashions and couples-friendly kink. The latest scheduled stop on this sexploitation express was San Francisco this past April, and I was there to witness a sociological phenomenon: What may be titillating and thrilling in a less sexually sophisticated metropolis was a big ho-hum in the city by the bay. They simply aren't repressed or deprived enough to support this show.The organizers managed to draw an impressive selection of vendors: artists, photographers, clothing designers, magazine publishers and erotic performers. They scheduled presentations, dance performances and speakers. And they planned parties in conjunction with the event. All, apparently, for naught. The lovely Dita and Katherine Delish stripped down to rhinestone studded G-strings and pasties before only an appreciative handful of people. The "Erotica Dancers" gyrated twice each day, mostly to the listless vendors. And the vendors, well, they weren't doing too much vending. I was "womaning" a booth for my magazine, Extreme Fetish. Whereas in New York, I had grown hoarse chatting up the hoards, in San Francisco, I simply grew bored. Granted, it was fun networking with my west coast kinsters. And thank goodness I'd agreed to share my space with the staff of The Spectator, a weekly sex broadsheet keeping the Bay Area "abreast" of all local salacious events, as every few hours a new employee would show up for his or her shift. They were all congenial, entertaining sorts who managed to prevent me from nodding off. We wound up keeping each other company--and awake--in the mostly empty convention hall. I'd ball park the total attendance over the four-day event at about 1,000, making it what I would call a collassal failure. Why would the same show, with almost identical offerings, meet with such radically different reactions? The most obvious reason is the availability of sexually explicit entertainment. In Manhattan, almost all adult emporiums have been zoned out of business. In San Francisco, there are topless bars, nightclubs that permit live sex acts between patrons and all sorts of Butt Bangers-selling establishments. In other words, San Francisco is gettin' some. And Manhattan ain't. Public awareness certainly had something to do with it. Those front page mayoral objections translated into millions of dollars' worth of free advertising in Manhattan. The cable TV ad campaign that might have informed San Franciscans was pulled by local provider AT&T as "too risque." And it may have also been an east coast vs. west coast phenomenon. Sex educator Carol Queen good naturedly grumbled, "Who does this New Yorker think he is telling San Francisco how to do sex?" Indeed. As you may have guessed, the brains behind the Erotica shows is from Manhattan, and evidently he didn't heed the warnings of San Francisco's "sexerati," who purportedly offered numerous opinions about precisely how the event should be promoted. Whatever the reason, I'm sure Erotica won't be rumbling through San Francisco again any time soon. But it will be arriving in many other American cities. If you'd like to find out if you're living in one of the scheduled stops, check their web site, www.whatissexy.com, for future dates. The nearest impending date is back in my area, only this time, rather than being showcased at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Mahnattan, Erotica will be held at the Nassau Colisseum on Long Island, not a very convenient location for us city folk without automobiles. Perhaps the suburban sex-curious will flock to find what they might have missed last year. I'll keep you posted! [Written in the late '90s...I think!] |
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