Conversio Virium

Film Opening: Sex Positive – The Richard Berkowitz Story

On June 12^th, the S&M and sexuality documentary film Sex Positive—The Richard Berkowitz Story opens at the Quad Cinema on 13^th Street here in Manhattan. David Oliver Cohen, the film’s producer, wrote to CV to tell us a little about the film:

The film explores the origins of safe sex through the eyes of Richard Berkowitz, a former S&M sex worker turned AIDS activist and writer.

The film is an essential educational tool for younger generations who have no real concept of how safe sex came about during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Richard Berkowitz is credited as co-writing the first safe sex manual in the world, “How to Have Sex in an Epidemic,” with activist Michael Callen. Richard is still around and is actively spreading his message about safe sex.

There is a large portion of the film that deals directly with Richard’s work as a dominant-for-hire.

(Emphasis added.)

I first heard about this documentary when Clarisse Thorn published her interview with the star and brought up the very good point, what does it mean to be sex positive? Safer sex practices such as the use of condoms were not always so endearingly looked upon as symbols of sex positive activism. In fact, decades ago, the opposite was true and sex involving physical barriers was exceptionally stigmatized.

As David says, the film Sex Positive is an exceptional educational tool because it documents the history of how we got to where we are. I’d encourage you to see and support the film, watch the trailer, and maybe even bring your friends along and start a discussion about sex positivity.

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