The internet is for geeks with bad acne and missing limbs. Internet dating is a last ditch effort and can attract stalkers. People who do cybersex don’t have healthy sex lives. The sex industry is using the internet to exploit women.These are all mildly to majorly ridiculous stereotypes of people who use the internet, stereotypes that will shatter this coming weekend in Atlanta. The first Sex 2.0 conference, primarily organized by blogger and podcaster Amber Rhea, is being held at BDSM community space 1763 in Atlanta on April 12th, and people from all over the United States will be there. The thing they all have in common is their interest in the conference’s subtitle: the intersection of social media, feminism, and sexuality. Hopefully most of them are also interested in hearing me talk, since I’m the keynote speaker and will be delivering a short (but fierce!) talk promptly at 9:15 am.

I talked (by email, of course!) with a few different people who are planning to attend the conference to find out what kind of company I’ll be in. It turns out that the participants are a pretty eclectic group who will be coming from near and far to meet up, share ideas, educate each other and have a little fun. Here are a few profiles of some people who will be in attendance.

Tom Query is a 50-year-old sex therapist and semi-professional photographer who has lived in Atlanta since 1990. He self-identifies as a feminist, so he isn’t frightened off from attending the conference by this part of the con’s subtitle. In fact, he sees this as a potential point of growth. He told me that he feels that oppressed groups “need supporters/empathetic beings/men who are trying to get ‘it’,” so he hopes to listen up and gain more insight on a variety of topics. He also hopes to meet potential photographic muses.

Twanna A. Hines is a 33-year old writer, editor, blogger and sexpot who is based in New York. She’s got two different versions of her blog Funky Brown Chick: one on her own domain FunkyBrownChick.com, and one that’s part of the Blog-a-Log on Nerve. Though she blogs about sexuality, Twanna doesn’t deliver a blow-by-blow (heh) account of her own sex life - but she spares no details about her constant string of dates. She distinguishes between sex and dating blogs, saying that “Sex blogs often have information about activities, items and events related to sexual intercourse. Dating blogs often chronicle journeys toward finding relationships — whether casual, committed, polyamorous, intimate, sexual or some combination thereof.” Her session at Sex 2.0 is called A History of Sex, and it comes with this guarantee: “Dry, stuffy talk not allowed. Remember? It’s sex. It’s supposed to be fun.”

Mistress Maeve hails from Vermont, where by day she is a professional in the sales and marketing field and by night writes a sex advice column and blogs a guide to love and lust for the alt weekly Seven Days. Maeve is one of the many folks experimenting with sex online who has to maintain something of a double life, so she’s looking forward to Sex 2.0, where she can be her naughty self in (semi) public. She says, “Being ‘out’ in Atlanta is going to feel like a huge release - like a shoulder-biting, back-scratching orgasm, if you will. I can’t wait to shed my layers of anonymity and let the Mistress Maeve side of myself be the first one people see.”

Renegade Evolution, a thirty-something DC-area blogger, stripper, and porn performer who recently bought partial ownership in a stripping agency, often feels that as a sex worker, she’s regarded with suspicion by feminists and people who do sex purely recreationally. Over the two plus years she’s been blogging, her blog has become a mouthpiece for her criticisms of people who make wrongful assumptions about sex workers. She says that, “…having a blog out there and reading the blogs of others has been a priceless source for potential alliances, the sharing of information, and the gathering of contacts, resources, events, and issues.” The two sessions she’s leading at Sex 2.0, “Sexwork, heels, porn & online feminism” and “Yes, but do you swing?” encapsulate some of her passions.

The full roster of sessions, bios of the presenters, as well as registration info for Sex 2.0 can be found on http://sex20con.com

Audacia Ray
LiveGirlReview.com
WakingVixen.com

Check out her directorial debut, The Bi Apple!