Scheduling a conference in Toronto 2 days before I moved cross country from Boston to the Bay Area wasn’t the most efficient choice I’ve ever made, but it was still a really, really good choice!
The first ‘Feminist Porn Conference’ was full of intelligent, articulate, inspiring academic & industry experts and a group of attendees that were thought-provoking, engaged & well informed. It was easily in my ‘Top 5 Events’ I’ve ever attended.
Tristan Taormino put together this conference in conjunction with her recently released book “The Feminist Porn Book” and the two went hand in hand perfectly. Both featured experts from both the academic and industry worlds and the conference particularly created a sense of solidarity with everyone attending. I was really impressed that people came from places as far away as Australia and Amsterdam to participate.
The day was not overbooked with ‘to many’ sessions although every single one that was happening looked fascinating. It’s one of those times ya’ wish cloning was possible! Every presentation that I heard about (and attended) lived up to all expectations.
I wish that I had written this right after the event so I could remember more specifics about the sessions. For anyone going to a conference that wants to do a write up, this is an important lesson for you! Either site down and write it immediate or make a bullet point list of everything you want to address when you DO write your event commentary.
My session with Carol Queen & Emily Nagoski (You can see more info about the session here) provided different examinations of the differences (if any) between Porn & Sex-Ed. It was a fascinating discussion and the audience participation added extra insights. I was happy that Tristan had a chance to attend our session and had a few important points to contribute as well (of course!). I video-taped my portion of the discussion and am now kicking myself for not recording the whole thing.
I had the pleasure to spend time with some pretty damn inspiring collegues (who also happen to be really cool people!) during the weekend including: Carol Queen, Kevin, Lisa, Kelly Shibari, Shellie, Constance, Ms Naughty & Partner, Lynn Comella as well as a few close friends.
Next years ‘Feminist Porn Conference’ is already being planned, this time with 2 days of sessions, which gives us all more time to get deeper into the discussions. This first event went so well I can only imagine all the goodness that Tristan is putting together for Round 2!