The CSPC Board of Directors Progress Report

Note: Weekly summaries are posted newest first. If you are catching up, start at the bottom.

Working On

1. Prepare and release a public statement regarding the Transformative Accountability process and inquiry.

2. Finalize and post August Newsletter

3. Create roadmap of phase 2 of the TA process and inquiry, examining CSPC policies and incident reporting.

4. Proceed with phase 2 of the TA process and inquiry.

5. Open Search and recruitment for FetLife monitor.

6. Review applicants for Operations Manager position.

Week of Aug 26, 2019

• Created a prioritized project queue, we currently have 29 critical projects lined up. Want to help? Contact president@theCSPC.org to help rebuild the CSPC.

• Much work has been done to move the La Queer inquiry forward, though it can’t be commented on quite yet. We have outlined a public statement to bring everyone up to speed, but it has yet to be drafted or approved. This release is our top priority at the moment.

• Actions based on member input: Drafted, approved, and posted weekly Progress Reports in an effort to improve transparency. (Suggested at 8/14 BoD meeting)

Week of Aug 19, 2019

• Event Coordinator Lead finished the La Queer internal incident report and provided it to BoD for review. (Note: Due to CSPC’s strict privacy policy, the report is unavailable to the public. However, a public statement will be made which will speak to its contents in general terms.)

• Decision reached to incorporate the report into a broader inquiry into current policy, including but not limited to historic incident reporting practices. 

• FetLife group rules were drafted. 

• Operations Manager job listing posted on various sites. 

• Coordinated BoD Gallery unlocking and registration prep for a month of parties during our operation manager's well deserved vacation.

• Actions based on member input: Transitioning to proposed parties being required to have commitments for key volunteer positions before securing rental booking. (EC feedback)

Week of Aug 12, 2019

• BoD prepared for what could be an influx of attendees at the 8/14 Board Meeting. Processes were created and extra time given to ensure all voices who wished to speak would be heard.

• Common narratives included the need to make safer spaces for our queer members, and how volunteers are burning out due to a dearth in numbers and insufficient processes...which are not unrelated matters. 

• Testimony from incident participants and stakeholders were, received, processed, and evaluated.

• Actions based on member input: House Rules posters for parties were created and implemented for the All In party (8/16) and to be posted at all future CSPC parties. (Suggested at 8/14 BoD meeting)

Week of Aug 5, 2019

• Following an incident at the La Queer party (8/3/19), BoD members caught up on the flurry of emails and public discourse. 

• An emergency leadership meeting took place to formulate a preliminary action plan for the incident itself as well as the inflammatory postings on the unmonitored CSPC FetLife group.

• Fet posting was disabled due to discrimination, doxxing, misinformation, and the lack of leadership bandwidth to properly monitor. 

• The Board adopted a Transformative Accountability process to explore and address the incident, which required rapid training of leadership and assessing current power dynamics and the historic context.

June Newsletter

Salutations Sunny Sweethearts! 

The CSPC Newsletter is here with your monthly update of all the fun happenings of your favorite sex-positive nonprofit. Check out our upcoming parties, learn about the benefits of volunteering, and see what you can do (in just two minutes!) to help our organization.  

Upcoming Events: 

All In Pan Party- Where anything goes and everyone is welcome. 

Friday July 12th from 8pm to midnight 

New Member Orientation at 7pm 

All In Pan Party- Another chance to attend this great event! 

Friday July 19th from 8pm to midnight 

New Member Orientation at 7pm

On the Edge- a party for your sharpest fantasies… 

Saturday, July 20th from 8pm to 1am 

New Member Orientation at 5pm

Femme SovereignTEA- a casually elegant tea party for dominant femmes and those who love to serve them. 

Sunday, July 21st

11am to 5pm for servers 

Noon to 4pm for Sovereign Femmes 

Volunteer Orientation and Registration Training- a great way to make friends and learn new skills. 

Thursday, July 25th

7-8pm Volunteer Orientation

8-9pm Registration Training

PAINS: Penny’s Academy for Incorrigible Naughty Sluts

Saturday, July 27th from 8pm to midnight

New Member Orientation at 7pm

Fresh Meet- A great party to make new friends and try new things. 

Friday August 2nd from 8pm to midnight 

Passport Meeting at 7pm

New Member Orientation at 6pm (get your tickets early, this event sells out fast!) 

La Queer- An LGBTQIA party!

Saturday, August 3rd at 8pm  

New Member Orientation at 7pm

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! Check out our Events Page and see the parties we have lined up for the next three months! 

Lost & Found Items

Looking for something you left behind at a CSPC event? Current items can be found here. If you see something that belongs to you, you can either pick it up by attending an event or by coming to the board meeting. Board meetings are the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7pm at Gallery Erato. Items that haven't been claimed for 2 months will be disposed of.

Got 2 minutes? Take a Survey and Help the CSPC! 

If you’re looking to contribute to the CSPC, but you don’t have the time to volunteer or the funds to donate, you can still do us a giant favor by taking our monthly survey. Your answers will help inform our decisions as an organization and keep an eye on the issues important to you. The best part? It will only take 2 minutes. 

This Month’s Survey

One of the best ways to normalize a lifestyle or people group is to be open about it. Having a queer or kinky friend, for example, makes a person far more likely to support the entire marginalized group. Who are you currently out to? Who do you want to come out to? Answers are anonymous.  Let us know.

Make Friends and Build a Better Community for All:  

Are you a person who has been positively impacted by your experience at the CSPC? Are you looking to connect with more people and build a community of friends in the sex positive scene?  Come volunteer with us! Not only does volunteering help integrate new folks into our community, but it also gets you into the party for free! Our next volunteer orientation is on July 25th. 

The Party of Your Dreams Can Be a Reality!    

Is there a specific event that the CSPC should host? Is there an event from the old space that you miss? The Programming committee is looking for enthusiastic people to get the ball rolling on bringing new (and old) parties to life at the CSPC. They will help you plan, staff, and host your very own CSPC party! All it takes is a great idea and a can-do attitude. Email programming@thecspc.org to get started. 

Let’s Get Personal

This month we have a special addition to the CSPC Blog. Giovanna is a relatively new member of the CSPC, but her journey of kink exploration leading to greater self-acceptance is one that might strike a chord with many of our members. Read about her introduction to our community, and about how the CSPC helped her discover more of what makes her happy, on our website. If you have a story about the positive impact of sex positivity or the CSPC that you’d like to share on our blog please reach out to grace@thecspc.org with a short summary of what you want to share. 

New Operations Manager

The Center for Sex Positive Culture has been an entirely volunteer run organization for the last 3 years. However, that has recently changed with the hiring of a very part-time interim Operations Manager. The leadership deemed it most prudent, reliable, and efficient to hand off day-to-day, critical tasks to a single dedicated individual. This marks a milestone in the Center's goal to reach long term sustainability, which we are very excited about. Our very own Sadie has stepped down from the CSPC Board to temporarily fill this role while we conduct a public search in the coming months. We will send out further communications with more details soon.

Questions or Comments?
If you have questions for the CSPC but you’re not sure who to contact, check out the CSPC Directory for contact info and the areas of focus for each of our board members. For general feedback, please use feedback@theCSPC.org.

That’s all for this month. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!
Sincerely,
The CSPC Board of Directors

CSPC President | Membership Info | General Feedback | Full Directory

What Kink Did for Me as a Transwoman

In the entire time I’ve been with the CSPC, I’ve been privileged to be a part of one of the most accepting and loving communities I’ve ever interacted with. I’ve made friends, had fun with many partners, and most importantly learned more about myself. But with all that, I have definitely noticed a lack of knowledge among a lot of members in our community towards the LGBTQIA community. I hope that through my writing, I can help better inform our community about the trans community. We are a small minority of a minority in the world, and as such, it’s important for trans people like me to get their stories out. I think the best place to start, is the most personal to me, and the one I know the most about.

I fully came out as trans less than a year ago, and started Hormone Replacement Therapy a few months after that. One of the biggest changes I was forced to undergo was a complete overhaul of how I experienced my sexuality. When I identified as a Cis-Man (Cis referring to comfortable in one’s assigned gender) my sexual interests were blunt. Everything was in service to reaching the finish line, getting my rocks off, and moving on. While foreplay was something I occasionally engaged in, it was never the part of sex I was looking forward to, and despite this being what my brain saw sex as, I was never satisfied mentally with this routine. It was as if two separate people were warring in my mind, and this resulted in constant sexual frustration. 

This completely changed as I underwent my hormone therapy. As my testosterone was blocked out and estrogen began to take more and more control, I began craving so much more from sex, and very little of it involved the previous vanilla acts I was used to. I became a cuddle bunny, completely enamored with the idea of simply snuggling up with someone. I began finding more sexual satisfaction from pleasing my partners rather than receiving. However, it wasn’t until I was able to work up the courage to attend my first CSPC party that I really began becoming in tune with my sexuality. 

As I got deeper in the kink community, I found myself enjoying kinks I never thought I would be into. I found I liked impact play. I found I liked rope. I found I liked getting talked down to, and I still often find more to like as I continue attending events. But why has all of this become such a major part of my life? Many reasons are ones that I share with those I’ve spoken to in the broader kink community, such as having the ability to safely relinquish control during a rope scene, bringing much needed relief from a life routine full of important decision making. Impact play giving me an avenue to use aggression and receive aggression in a way that is fully consensual for all parties. However, there’s several reasons unique to my experience as a transwoman that led me to this lifestyle.

When my sexuality started fluxing, I found myself in deeper conflict with myself than I had before HRT. I was finally able to begin expressing my true self, but I also found that sex had become a much more complicated endeavor. From birth, the vast majority of us are expected to follow very strict gender guidelines. “Girls do this, boys do that” and that extends to sex. The stereotypes I was raised with was that men are supposed to be the dominant one in bed, and women the passive. Now obviously this doesn’t account for the non-binary folks, but societal norms only recently have begun adapting to the reality of the gender spectrum. 

I found myself struggling with my identity constantly. I’m a switch, I love being on both ends of most scenes, but I found that I was massively uncomfortable any time I was assuming a dominant role. I felt as if I was betraying myself, “reverting” to before I had come out, and that my partner was not seeing me as a woman. I was in a monogamous relationship at the time, and my insecurities were increased tenfold by the fact that my partner had known me as a man for 8 years. Finding the kink community offered me a safe space to both confront my insecurities and embrace my sexuality in full. I got to be with people who met me and knew me first and foremost as a woman. It was an amazingly validating experience, but even when I first joined the CSPC, I mostly stuck to vanilla experiences. While these experiences were fun in their own right, I would still find myself regretting taking a dominant role, and having those negative feelings bubble back up. 

My first true kink experience was being able to act as a rope sub for an experienced dom, and even in the short time we spent together, something crucial happened that finally brought me some degree of peace with my sexuality. In being rendered immobile and vulnerable to this person, I finally felt my womanhood become one with my sexuality and I decided to even further immerse myself in kink. I found myself enjoying impact play soon after, something I had never thought I would even try, let alone like, and I was even able to dominate without my dysphoria peaking sinisterly around the corner. Being able to engage in a sexual act that did not involve my genitals completely altered my perspective on my sexuality, in a much needed way. I was finally able to embrace my womanhood through my sexuality, see both sides of my desires, those of a dom and a sub as equally an unequivocally female. My evolution of sorts, culminated in a particularly great night where I fully dominated someone, getting to scratch them, spank them, order them to fulfill my urges, and came out feeling like a valid woman.

Kink is more than just a fun past time. It most certainly is that, but for many of us, it offers so much emotional release, bonding experiences, or any number of other things. For me, it offered me a chance to finally come into my own sexuality as a woman. To embrace who I am, and to not let the various societal biases I was raised with prevent myself from achieving happiness. This extended beyond just the sexual realm, I also became more confident in my daily life, with feelings of “betraying my womanhood” by showing my assertive side largely erased. I can’t speak for anyone else but myself, but from the trans people I have met in my sexual misadventures, a common story is how kink played a great role in allowing them to feel at peace with their identity.

March Newsletter

Greetings Foxy Friends!

Welcome to Springtime, with all its sunshine, blossoms, and sexiness. Take a peek at what your sex-positive nonprofit community is up to in the coming month.

Upcoming Events
Never miss a party, subscribe to the CSPC calendar.

All In! Pan Party
Where anything can happen!
Friday, March 29th, 8pm till midnight
New Member Orientation at 7pm sharp

LaQueer
A LGBTQIA party to rock your world!
Saturday, April 5th, at 8pm till midnight
New Member Orientation at 7pm sharp

PAINS: Penny’s Academy for Incorrigible Naughty Sluts
A classroom-themed discipline party
Saturday, April 6th, 8pm till midnight
New Member Orientation at 7pm sharp

April CSPC Board Meeting
Wednesday, April 10th from 7pm till 9pm at Gallery Erato
No registration necessary

Grind
A dark and loud dance/fetish/play party
Saturday, April 13th, from 8pm till midnight
New Member Orientation at 7pm sharp

April’s Myself! Party
Give yourself a hand- you deserve it!
Sunday, April 28th
Details to come

Femme SovereignTea
High protocol tea and play party
Sunday, May 5th
Details to come

Check our Events Page regularly to see the latest additions.

Kinkfest Discount Code for CSPC Members
Kinkfest is April 19-21 in Portland, OR! CSPC members get a discount on their registration via this link.

Got 2 minutes? Take a Survey and Help the CSPC!
If you’re looking to contribute to the CSPC, but you don’t have the time to volunteer or the funds to donate, you can still do us a giant favor by taking our monthly survey. Your answers will help inform our decisions as a community and keep an eye on the issues important to you. The best part? It will only take 2 minutes.

This Month’s Survey
Currently, how likely are you to recommend the CSPC? You may have answered this question for us before, but we will return to it periodically to track the temperature of the community. Let us know.

Your Journey, Your Center
In case you missed the 2019 State of the Center address, take a few minutes to read it. There have been a number of heartwarming replies stating how formative this community has been for their personal growth, and how much they value the connections they’ve made. These experiences are largely a result of members boldly taking initiative and participating in the community. Please consider contributing however you are able:

If you would like to volunteer at a party, visit our website.

If you would like to throw an event, contact the programming team. 

If you have an initiative you would like to organize, or would like to get involved behind the scenes, contact the Executive Director.

Questions or Comments?
If you have questions for the CSPC but you’re not sure who to contact, check out the CSPC Directory for contact info and the areas of focus for each of our board members. For general feedback, please use feedback@theCSPC.org.

That’s all for this month. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!

Sincerely,
The CSPC Board of Directors

CSPC President | Membership Info | General Feedback | Full Directory