Personal memoir on BDSM, safe‑sex activism, and Richard Berkowitz

realize this, and we understood that a lot of sexual fantasies are socially constructed by the times that shaped us. Many of us came to realize that sexual fantasies don't diminish us as people -- they can actually help free and enrich us when we understand what we're doing. I'm reluctant to put myself forward as a role model for BDSM and sex work, because of what happened to me after AIDS when I went back to hustling. I was furious that there was no place in the community for me to do safe sex education. I felt so hurt that some people only saw me as a sex worker/sadomasochist and that political differences got in the way of saving sexually active gay men's lives. You can't imagine the rage I felt that it took two entire years after we wrote and published "How to Have Sex in an Epidemic" for NYC to do its first safe sex campaign. I went back to hustling in such despair that I was an addiction waiting to happen, and that's what did. In the end, though, BDSM and my love for it is part of what saved my life. If I weren't so busy hustling with BDSM before AIDS and safe sex, I would have spent much more time at the baths having high risk sex, and died long ago. I think each of us has a limit to how much sex and how many different partners our spirits can bear. Sex can become an addiction, and when you reach that point, people use recreational drugs to keep that level of hypersexual activity going. If I had found a place in safe sex education, my life would have been a much happier, healthier journey. But I never lose sight of how grateful I am to still be here, or how much joy and pleasure sexual freedom gave me until the world I loved started collapsing all around me and taking the men I loved along with it. TK OK ok This can be found on the Internet at: http://clarissethorn.com/blog/2009/03/23/interview-with-richard-berkowitz-star-of-sex- positive-and-icon-of-safer-sex-activism/ Check out Richard Berkowitz's web site to read more about him and investigate his book (which I admit I have not read), Stayin' Alive: The Invention of Safe Sex: http://richardberkowitz.com/ And seriously, if you get the chance, watch Daryl Wein's awesome documentary Sex Positive: http://www.sexpositive-themovie.com/ ABUSE: [theory] Social Responsibility Within Activism I wrote this post in 2010 for Thanksgiving (the original post had a bunch of "thank yous" at the end, which I removed from this version). The questions here seem to be some of the HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018568