Conversio Virium

TES meeting: S&M Through the Ages with Brother Leo

The upcoming general interest TES meeting next week is called S&M Through the Ages. This presentation, presented by Brother Leo, may be of particular interest to history buffs but sounds interesting for a number of reasons, least of which is the potential for additional fantasy material. (I know I’ve always wondered what it might have felt like to be a Roman slave….)

The description reads:

TES’s highly acclaimed series returns with a presentation about the Ancient World…the Greeks and Romans, early Christian martyrdom, practices among early monks, worship of the mother Goddess.

(Do you know of an event that you don’t see on our calendar and want to share? Please send it in!)

Dark Odyssey Summer Camp 2007

If you’ve not yet heard of Dark Odyssey, it’s description is mesmerizing.

Imagine a vacation where you can explore the many facets of sexuality in a private, intimate community of like-minded people. A wholly unique experience which brings together sexuality, spirituality, education, and play in a fun, supportive, non-judgmental, diverse environment where fantasy becomes reality.

[…]

Dark Odyssey is a 4-6 day, all-inclusive, clothing optional Alternative Sexuality retreat for open-minded adults from all walks of life. We gather to explore, learn and play on two hundred very private and secluded acres in Northern Maryland.

However, registration for Dark Odyssey’s Summer Camp is nearing a close so register now if you can make it this season. If not, there’s always next year. :)

TES meeting: The uniform fetish with Sir Guy

TES‘s dominant men and submissive women’s special interest group invites Sir Guy to present on uniform fetishes:

You know she’s a grown woman, but that little catholic school girl uniform does something to you that you can’t explain… He’s coming to write you a ticket, but all you can think about are those polished leather boots, tight motorcycle breeches and leather gunbelt… she’s handing you a pillow but as long as she’s wearing that sexy flight attendant’s uniform, you’re anything but comfortable. the imagery of uniforms in the BDSM scene is almost as old as the scene itself. Why does it move us? Sir Guy will explore this, as well as the origins of uniforms in the leather community, the psychological aspects of uniform play, uniform scenarios, uniform resources and laws to be aware of in public play.

Summer CV: Floating Dinner

Sore and happy, Summer CV’s weekly dinner is happening, as usual, over in Big Daddy’s diner at 239 Park Avenue South between 19^th and 20^th Streets starting at 8 PM tonight.

Like you might be doing, many of your fellow CV compatriots are taking off their leathers, putting their work clothes back on, and returning to their alter egos after a teriffic Floating World weekend.

If you didn’t make it to The Floating World event this past weekend, come to Summer CV to hear some stories, ask questions, and of course to hang out with friends over dinner. If you were at the event, whether or not you’re a Conversio Virium member, come to Summer CV tonight to share some of your stories and maybe even learn a thing or two from someone who attended a class that you missed.

So come tell us: what was your favorite part of the weekend?

Pleasure Salon: August Soirée

Patricia Johnson and her friends are once again hosting their monthly soirée called the Pleasure Salon celebrating the diversity of the New York City pleasure-positive communities. The event is free and held in Marion’s Marquee Lounge located at 354 Bowery between Great Jones and 4^th Streets. From the invitation:

The Pleasure Salon has been created to build community, allowing sex-positive activists to cross-polinate. Our gatherings bring together members of the BDSM, swinger, LGBT, sex-activist, nudist, sex-magic, polyamory, radical faerie, tantra, dark odyssey, sex-blogger, porn and sex-worker communities, and others whose passion is sex. Through building networks in the sex-positive community, The Pleasure Salon hopes to help create a sex-positive world. It is a place for the open exchange of ideas and sensual expression.

Note: This month’s Pleasure Salon will be taking place in the basement portion of Marion’s bar, down the stairs to the immediate right of the lounge’s entrance.

NYC Poly: August munch

NYC Poly (also called Tri-State Poly and not to be confused with Poly NYC [don't ask]) hosts a munch on the fourth Thursday of each month. Well, that’s tonight. From the their announcement:

NYC-Poly regular monthly fourth Thursday munch at Empire Szechuan Village at 173 7^th Avenue South (between Perry and 11^th Streets).

[…]

NYC-Poly is a social and discussion group; we gather for conversation, company, and, generally, food. All poly, poly-curious, and poly-friendly folk are welcome—which especially includes newcomers!

TES meeting: The Switchables Group: Punch for Punch

The Switchables special interest group at TES is presenting a punching demo. Switches are often misunderstood, especially when they are playing with something very physical. From the TES calendar:

Please join us as we do a really hot demo on punching…from the Switchable’s point of view.

CU Activities Fair, Calling all Members!

CV needs you to volunteer for manning the tables at the CU activities fair the first week of school. Volunteers will need to speak a little bit about the club to students on campus (particularly new students) at our table. We will have a large BDSM flag (courtesy of The Noose’s closing sale) denoting our table, as well as some little kinky slips of paper with our URL on them. We will also have some toys, whatever toys you bring, and some kinky literature (de Sade and the like). Let us know if you are available at all, even if only for an hour. We will send out a schedule once we have some more volunteers.

A play party for women and transfolks: The Beaver Stampede!

A New York City-based women’s Burning Man group called Camp Beaverton is hosting a Western-themed party tonight! From their event announcement:

Put on your cowboy boots and assless chaps on Tuesday, Aug 21^st for a Western ho-down New York style! Put on some cute Western wear, bring your naughty toys, and prepare to meet some of the foxiest ladies and trans folks in the city.

This is a fundraiser for Camp Beaverton: Camp for Wayward Girls, a new queer women’s camp at Burning Man 2007. We’re looking for support from NYC women to make the camp awesome, and are hoping for a dose of wayward fun to kickstart our trek to the desert! Please help by passing this invite on to women who have sex with women and transfolks.

• 18 years and up
• BYOB (they’ll keep it chilled for you)
• Fun safe sex supplies
• Snacks and munchies
• $15 at the door

Located in a beautiful loft space in the financial district not far from Bowling Green. Please RSVP to campb2007@hotmail.com for the exact address.

Doors open at 8 PM, Welcome Circle 8:30, Doors close 11.

The Welcome Circle is an opportunity for us to break the ice and get to know each other better, and we strongly recommend that you arrive before 8:30.

This is a supportive, safe, no-pressure environment. Come to play, watch, touch or be touched…

Summer CV does Japanese figurines

First, apologies for the tardiness of the publication of this post. Looks like Summer ailments are catching up with some of us. With that out of the way, we have not one but two exciting events planned tonight.

Firstly, one of CV’s very own is participating in the Art Institute of New York’s Great Munny Show. Molly writes:

About 40 students and instructors have decorated Kid Robot “Munny” figurines and the unveiling/awards/show is [tonight] from 6 PM to 9 PM. I’d really love it if some people could come and cheer on this lovable scamp, entered under the title Conversio Virium!

To get to the Art Institute of New York where the show is taking place, take the A, C or E trains to the Canal Street subway station, then exit at Walker Street. Walk across the wee triangular park to 11-17 Beach Street, which should be adorned with red and black flags.

Second, of course, Summer CV is hosting its weekly Summer dinner tonight. As usual, this will be at Big Daddy’s diner at 239 Park Avenue South between 19^th and 20^th Streets. Dinner starts at 8 PM. Don’t forget your Kidrobot dolls if you have any. :)

The Noose Closing Sale

The Noose, a long-standing fetish, leather, and bondage shop in Chelsea, has announced its closing sale since it will be going out of business at the end of this month. From the announcement on the Floating World email list:

The Noose will be closing it’s doors permanently August 31, 2007. Everything is on sale. Whether you want a new set of cuffs, a leather jacket, or Corset. You’ll find your desired items at 50% or more off! Please phone the Noose to check that they are open for their schedule of hours. The answering machine at the store does not answer.

Most of their leather apparel is designed for men, but other items are more universal. You never know what goodies you might find. I was rather lucky myself. I got a large BDSM flag, a terrifyingly huge butt-toy, and a heavy new nightstick all for under $60.

TES party: A night in Wonderland

Our friends over at TES are throwing a party at Paddles

When the sun goes down in Wonderland, it gets curiouser and curiouser… where the impossible can (and will) happen. Come across the caterpillar in the mushroom patch, or converse with the flowers in the garden. But don’t get lost, for the Cheshire Cat may guide you to the right path, or leave you in the middle of the Red Queen’s rose garden. If you think SHE’S mad, well… we’re all mad here… Join us early (8pm) for a special tea party, then we’ll all fall down the rabbit hole together…

I don’t know about you, but my favorite thing about Wonderland has to be the “eat me” cookies.

TES Meeting: Lapdancing 101 with Rita Seagrave

Rita Seagrave is presenting at TES on Lapdancing 101:

First and foremost, this class will teach you how to give a great lapdance! The relationship between lapdancer and customer is overloaded with power exchange, so we’ll also explore how to incorporate this unique form of “tease and denial” into your erotic D/s play. There will be opportunities for volunteers to participate and interact, no partner necessary. Rita Seagrave has worked as a professional dominatrix, adult toy salesgirl, Lusty Lady stripper, sex advice columnist, and college instructor.

CV expands its calendar to include unaffiliated events

If you’re subscribed to our calendar feed (Google Calendar instructions), you may have noticed quite a few new events popping up. Recently, yours truly and Tyler have been making an effort to share more of the sexuality community events with Conversio Virium members, so we’ve been posting information to the calendar about all kinds of fun stuff we think CV members might be interested in.

For example, Tyler discovered what promises to be an interesting exhibit at the Museum of Sex. I’ve added some preliminary information about the Seventh Annual Polyamory Pride Day, and about an exciting presentation at LSM about breaking out of rigid kink stereotypes. And, of course, there’s plenty more!

Even though none of these events are officially related to Conversio Virium, we think it’s immensely beneficial to publicize these events to the rest of you, our fellow kinky and pleasure-positive New Yorkers.

What’s more, we want to invite you to help us fill up our calendar so we’ll all always have something fun to do around town! Simply let us know about an event and after briefly reviewing it, we’ll put it on our calendar. If you’d like to submit events on an ongoing basis, we encourage you to request contributor status to our site, which will allow you to submit any kind of content for publication, such as news stories. (You must first be a registered user to be a contributor.)

Just imagine it: a calendar full of alternative sexual lifestyle events right at your fingertips. Brought to you by, well, you!

LSM meeting: Beyond Twisted: Permutations of Kinkiness with Midori

One of the reasons I suffer from clit-envy has to be that I can’t get in to see Midori present at women-only events, like this one called Beyond Twisted: Permutations of Kinkiness being hosted by the Lesbian Sex Mafia. From LSM‘s events page:

A sadist must of course be a dominant. A submissive must of course be a masochist. Right? Wrong! Come along as Midori explodes the standard definitions of kink roles and expands the idea of what kink is all about. In Beyond Twisted, she maps out a fine-tuned and flexible framework that anyone can use to help describe their deviant desires. And as we all know, that’s the first step to fulfilling them! This is a class for those who don’t quite fit into the standard boxes…and for anyone who’s curious about their own possibly untapped potential!

This sounds like an absolutely fantastic meeting, one for which I’m already envious of the audience, because rigid stereotypes plague the BDSM community with much more oppression than many people realize. Midori, an excellent speaker, is sure to have some wonderful insights on this topic.

Oh and hey, don’t forget to tell the lesbian mafia that a boy from Conversio Virium sent ‘ya!

(As an aside, since I don’t check the lesbian sexuality events with any regularity for obvious reasons, I’d very much appreciate someone’s help posting such events to our calendar who does keep up-to-date with the lesbian scene. If you’re interested, please check out the CV announcement about our unaffiliated events calendar.)

TES party: Punky reggae beach party

Our friends at TES are throwing a party at Paddles:

Calling out all yardies, rude boys and dancehall queens! Swing those floggers and paddles to the riddims of the islands at TES‘ Punky Reggae party! Let your dreads down and shake it mon to rockin grooves! Great music, righteous food and cool vibes will be runnin! Irie!

Remember to show your membership card, since CV members get a discounted admission price at the door!

DSF Meeting: How to develop rules & protocols in a D/s or M/s relationship

Tonight’s DSF presentation is titled How to develop rules & protocols in a D/s or M/s relationship with Master Paul and Slave Monique. For those interested in exploring more about D/s or M/s relationships, hearing about what other people think of their relationship dynamics can help inform one’s own opinions and ideas. Of course, if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t buy it.

From the Dom Sub Friends web site:

As couples come together in this lifestyle to first explore and or even ultimately choose to guide their relationship under a power transfer dynamic they have to figure out a way to “negotiate” what rules and protocols they will use. Such negotiations can only work for a long term successful relationship if both people have not only input but are given an opportunity to at some point discuss the successes and failures of the rules and protocols put into place.

This presentation will cover how to get started in developing and modifying your own set of rules and protocols for your own unique relationship. How and when relationships should take a step back and review what they have put into place, and just who’s responsibility it is to do so in either a D/s or Ms relationship. How to make sure each person is getting what they want out of the relationship without breaking or violating the power exchange.

Sensationalized Village Voice article makes front page thanks to BDSM

There are always BDSM topics being covered in the news. In most instances, these stories make it to the “freaks-and-geeks” section of your local newscast and usually don’t get more than 30 seconds of air time or a little corner on the bottom of a page buried in the middle of the newspaper.

Not so in the Village Voice, however, when this week’s cover story is all about how the now-defunct Vault club closed.

Anthony Marini was the manager at the Vault, the old S&M club in the meat-packing district on the western edge of Greenwich Village, during its heyday in the 1990s.

As such, he never lacked for entertainment.

[…]

Marini was there right up until the day when the State of New York stepped in and spoiled all the fun by condemning the property.

The article, titled The State Pays for Sex: How a mob-run S&M club put your tax dollars to work, comes to the the anti-climactic realization that instead of dragging out a court battle with the Vault owners, city officials paid them the appraised value of their club totaling about $1.8 million as judged by the Vault’s own appraisers. Even the article itself says there was nothing wrong with anything that happened there. Not with the alleged unsafe sex accusations, or the re-appraisal:

Mayor Giuliani had already tried to shut the place down for unsafe sex practices; club lawyers beat him in court.

[…]

Asked to review the case, state transportation department officials say that regardless of the kinky nature of the business, the payments reflected prudent decision making.

“The operators exercised their rights under the law and sought a ruling from the courts on initial payments they had received,” says transportation department spokeswoman Jennifer Post. “After subsequent talks with the parties, a settlement was reached which involved additional moneys.”

State officials noted that the Vault payments were just a small part of the $104 million that was spent to acquire properties for the West Street project—a task that required condemnation of some two dozen properties in a three-and-a-half-block stretch.

So after all that, why did this rather mundane article make the front page of the Village Voice? Well, for the kinky sex, of course! Everyone likes to ogle the “kinky freaks”, but I think this is pathetically adolescent behavior coming from adults—not to mention the Village Voice, which is a newspaper that should know better.

Seventh annual Polyamory Pride Day

Polyamorous-NYC is once again hosting Polyamory Pride Day in New York City. Poly Pride Day is a day-long celebration on the top of the Great Hill in Central Park. From the Polyamorous-NYC web site:

All Poly and Poly friendly people are invited to participate in this truly special, unique event. It will be an unparalleled opportunity for people from all over the country to gather and publicly celebrate polyamory. The main rally in Central Park will feature a full day of speakers and performers that will entertain, engage, and inform.

This event has already been in the works for months and promises to be a party of unparalelled proportions. The main attraction in Central Park features famous polyamory speakers such as Nan Wise and entertainers such as The Wet Spots (among others), but there are also two sideline events that are sure to be just as much fun. A giant cuddle party scheduled for the night before is being hosted by none other than the folks over at Cuddle Party, and an all-night long after party is being held at The LGBT Center!

Museum of Sex presents “Pink Japan”

For those of us who left our Kinky Japan meeting last year wanting a little more, or weren’t sure how much to believe, the Museum of Sex will be having a Slideshow/Lecture presentation on “Pink Japan: Contemporary Sex Culture”, presented by Midori. The blurb sounds quite promising, and you can be sure I’ll be there. I suggest, buying tickets in advance and make sure to get a student discount if you can.

Here is a selection of the blurb from the site:

From cuisine, music, fashion, technology to anime, Japan’s cultural influence on the West is immense. In many ways the Japanese erotic cultures are also influencing today’s Western tastes. Yet the daily realities of Japan’s gender relations, sexual habits, sexual consumer culture and gay/lesbian/transgendered world remain hidden to us, creating an aura of mystique. In this funny and insightful talk, join Midori for a double-expatriate’’s photo tour of Japan’s hidden sexual culture today.”

Tickets can be purchased at the museum’s front desk or by calling (212) 689-6337 ext. 115.