Portland Sexuality Resources
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Introduction
This guide provides brief descriptions and contact information for some
of the sex-positive cultural resources of Portland, Oregon.
Before beginning, we should pause to mention that:
- This guide is only intended for (and frankly only of use to)
consenting adults, since the overwhelming majority of the organizations
it describes are restricted to participants over the age of 18 or 21.
- This guide comes with no accuracy guarantees, may eventually go out of date,
in some points is (by necessity) based on second-hand suggestions rather
than the first-hand experience of its creators, and in using it you
release its creators from any liability concerning it. In other words,
it is at best a starting point, and never a substitute for using good
judgment.
- There is always time in life for new experiences, but some health
and safety mistakes can't be undone: if you haven't learned enough about
safer sex to know what you need to do to preserve your own health and
that of those around you, or aren't sure whether you're the sort of
person who can stick with what you've decided, then this isn't the guide
you should be reading right now.
- Common courtesy, and asking whenever you're unsure whether something is
OK, never go out of style.
- Three national non-profit organizations actively defending the
freedoms which sex-positive culture depends on are the ACLU (see
http://www.aclu.org), the National
Coalition for Sexual Freedom (see http://www.ncsfreedom.org), and the
work the Planned Parenthood Foundation does to maintain access to birth control and STD prevention measures (see http://www.plannedparenthood.org). Consider supporting their work if you can.
- If you sometimes travel to other cities on the West Coast, then you
may also wish to check out our Sexuality.org
West Coast Awards.
This guide was last modified on June 19, 2009, and is part based on
real-life visits to Portland over June 6-7, 2003 and August 14-15, 2004.
All area codes are (503) unless noted otherwise, and it's worth noting that including the area code may be mandatory even for local calls.
Good Places to Start
We were very impressed with the "Rapture" event, sponsored by LoveTribe, that we attended in Portland. Events sponsored by this admirable organization are likely to be a comfortable place to start.
Sex Education
It's My Pleasure (located at the corner of Sandy and NE 64th, call
280-8080 for more information) offers several classes a month, advertised
through flyers in their store: in June 2003 their workshop topics
included strap-ons, sex toys 101, SM 101, anal sex, the G-spot, and female
ejaculation.
Classes in exotic dancing are offered through BJuicy and the Brassy Butterfly Dance
Studio.
Polyamory
The best place to start is the polyamorypdx mailing list.
This discussion list is currently the best source of information on
Portland poly happenings, including informal social gatherings which
aren't announced anywhere else.
A poly discussion group is also hosted on third Mondays from 7pm-9pm:
write
to darklady@darklady.com for
directions.
Network for a New Culture is a Portland-based organization whose
annual
Summer Camp explores ideas
directly or indirectly related to polyamory.
A list of poly-friendly counselors and therapists near Portland is available on the Polychromatic site, and of those listed Gwenn Cody LCSW may be one of the most frequently recommended.
Large-Scale Fundraising Events
Darklady has begun
sponsoring large-scale events, including Portland's annual
Masturbate-a-thon for charity.
PDX Leather Alliance
sponsors an annual Fetish Ball, all proceeds from which are also donated to
charity.
Swing Clubs
Club Sesso is an on-premise club
in downtown Portland which opened in mid-2009. They have events scheduled
most nights of the week, and also offer an art gallery.
Angels Social Club is Portland's
oldest on-premise club, with a 16 year history (previously as Ace of
Hearts).
Salem Swingtime Dance is an
off-premise club, located in Salem, which offers once dance each month.
BDSM/Leather/Fetish
Getting Started in the Community
A good place to start is the Rose City Discussion Club; serving as a sort of
"Welcome Wagon" to the Portland scene, RCDC offers monthly classes and
socials, and publishes an informative newsletter.
Another very non-threating way to get started is to attend a community
"munch" (i.e. an informal lunch or dinner gathering at a local
restaurant): at the time of this guide's writing the mixed-gender
munches were being held once a week, women-only munches once a
month, and
the PDX-TNG munch
(for adults under the age of 40 plus their romantic/play partners) was
being held every other week. Details and directions are available on
the PDX Leather
Alliance site.
You can also subscribe to the PDX-ASB mailing list for information and announcements concerning the Portland BDSM community, or check out the event calendar on the Oregon Leather History Page
Mixed-Gender Events
One "can't miss" event is the annual KinkFest conference hosted by
PDX Leather Alliance
(which also sponsors a variety of events as
part of the annual Leather Pride Week, a full schedule for which is made
available on their web site each July).
Play parties are hosted every six weeks by Roughly Every Six Weeks.
For those who enjoy leather contests, see the Blackout Leather Productions web site for the dates of the next Mr. and Ms. Oregon Leather Competitions.
Same-Gender Events
Women who prefer women-only space should check out PDX Bad Girls and Lulu's Pervy
Playhouse, and consider the annual Pacific Friction event. Men
who prefer men's events may wish to write to furry@aracnet.com to ask for more
information about the monthly Portland Leathermen potlucks, and may also
want to check out the Leather Night Socials (see below).
Special Interest Events
Rope Bondage enthusiasts may wish to check out an organization called Body Bound. Fisting
enthusiasts may wish to check out the Red Hanky Socials (held
concurrently with the Leather Night Socials) on the first and third
Fridays of the month from 9pm-midnight; write to pdxsaltydg@aol.com for more
information.
D/s enthusiasts who gravitate towards the M/s end of the spectrum my want
to look into the MAST support group.
And finally, the Femme Dom Society NW ("a group of Femme Doms from both
Washington and Oregon and the male and female submissives/bottoms that
desire them") sometimes hosts their monthly event in Portland; write to
Labyrinth at unveiled@yahoo.com
for more information.
If you enjoy fetish clothing (broadly defined), one opportunity to dress up is the monthly Queer Fetish event.
Spiritual Sexuality Workshops and Classes
The Body Electric School offers
their Celebrating the Body Erotic for Men workshop about twice a year in
Portland, and Seattle isn't far away if you're interested in their women's
workshops or their "Power, Surrender, and Intimacy" workshops.
A variety of workshops on sexuality and intimacy are offered at the annual
Network for a New Culture Summer Camp; note that
you'll want to register early, as this event usually sells out well in
advance.
The Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat Center
typically offers a
wide range of workshops on relationships and sexuality: on their web site
select Events and Workshops followed by Events by Category for a
listing.
A woman named Anna Marti offers
classes and counseling in neo-Tantra, relationship development, and
intimacy skills for singles or couples.
If after taking a workshop or two you find that you'd like to learn more,
or would like to hang out with folks who find this sort of learning
interesting, then you may want to join the Portland Explorers Club,
check out their calendar, and consider attending their field trips and
"Tantric Pujas," the latter of which are typically mixed gender but
gender-balanced.
Sex Toys and Fetish Clothing
It's My Pleasure is a comfortable, women-focused store located at the
corner of Sandy and NE 64th (3106 NE 64th, call 280-8080 for more
information). They offer an array of quality sex toys, as well as
bi-monthly classes. Hours are noon-7pm seven days a week, except for
Sunday when they close at 6pm.
Spartacus Leathers carries an array of sex toys and fetish clothing for
both men and women, as well as the RCDC newsletter. They're located one block away from Powell's Books.
GLBT Resources
General
Currently, the best and most current listings of GLBT resources and events
in the Portland area are maintained in the bi-weekly
newspaper Just Out, and it
would be well worth your time to pick up a copy of this newspaper to
augment what is listed below.
Portland's Pride Parade and Festival is held every June.
Gay
Q-Land is a new organization, focused on queer men's wellness and STD/HIV prevention, which seeks to "[inspire] queer men to become leaders in infusing the values of fun, intimacy, wellness, and love back into our social/erotic venues and exchanges." Their "Q-Land Calendar" features an array of diverse and interesting events.
Embers is
Portland's longest-running gay nightclub.
The Eagle PDX is Portland's best-known
leather bar, see one of their printed flyers for their monthly list of
special events. A variety of other leather and uniform events are hosted at Gail's Dirty Duck Tavern.
For bears and their admirers there's Oregon Bears. For a current
listing of Radical Faeries events (including their annual Breitenbush
gathering) call the Faerie hotline at 235-0826. See also the Portland Court.
A gay men's nudist organization in the Portland area is OMEN.
Lesbian
The Egyptian Club was a popular
women's nightclub at the time this guide was written.
Now obviously there's way more than just that, but the Just Out resource listings are
where
you want to look, since they're going to be much more current than
anything which could be listed here.
Bisexual
The Portland Bisexual Women's group currently meets the 2nd and 4th
Friday evenings from 7pm-9pm, see a current issue of Just Out for meeting topics and
locations.
Transgender
The Northwest Gender Alliance offers
support, social, and educational opportunities in the Portland area for
all individuals who desire to explore and express another gender. They
also offer a newsletter and informational hotline.
Bathhouses and Clubs for Gay or Bi Men
Portland currently has three:
- ClubXES (no web site, but call 226-6969 for more information)
- Steam Portland
A cautionary, though hopefully obvious, reminder may be in order here: you cannot tell whether somebody is HIV-positive or HIV-negative based on how they look, or based on anything they say. Safer sex is always important, though perhaps here any sane person would consider it essential.
HIV/STD Testing, Reproductive Health, and Counseling
HIV/STD testing is available through the
Multnomah County Health
Department.
Portland has two Planned Parenthood clinics, one in the northeast and one in the southeast.
Clinical Sexology Associates specializes in counseling on sexual issues.
A list of alternative-sexuality-aware health-care professionals in
Portland is available one the Kink Aware Professionals
site.
Erotica and Sex Education Books
Powell's City of Books, located at
1005 W Burnside and open 8am-11pm every day, is the largest new and used
bookstore in the world. Of relevance to this guide are the "Erotica",
"Romance", "Sexuality", "Feminist Studies", and "Gender Studies" sections
of their store map (studies of sex work are shelved with Feminist Studies,
and studies of transgender are shelved with Gender Studies). At the time
this guide was written, non-fiction and how-to books on sexuality and
relationships (e.g. how-to books on BDSM and polyamory from Greenery
Press) were scattered through the Erotica section as well as the Sexuality
section, so realistically you needed to check both of those sections if
you're looking for how-to information.
Counter Media, located at 927 SW Oak, offers "smut, comics, and
weirdness." They have a more diverse selection of erotica than Powell's
Books, and are located just one block over. At the time this guide was
written, hours were Mon-Sat 11am-7pm and Sun noon-6pm.
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