It's been great hearing your feedback on this newsletter. Keep it coming- I'm listening.
Noa’s top of mind
Burning Man is around the corner and it’s feeling very different this year. If you live in a big metro, and/or work in Tech, and/or go to play parties, you’ve probably seen several “selling 2 tickets to Burning Man, make me an offer!” posts floating around. What’s important isn’t why it’s happening, but rather that it is happening: the #1 community gathering in the world, the event that kept selling out, year after year, through price increases, capacity expansions, and Instagram influencers, is now facing a demand issue. What a great reminder to all of us, event and community organizers, that the up-and-to-the-right graph doesn’t continue forever. Safe travel home, friends, see you on the other side!
One way that I’m shifting my thinking about sex positivity:
I am closely following the conversation on the event chat for “The Work of Sex Work: A Leftist Analysis”. Reading through the comments makes me realize my own bias towards the world of “sex work” and recognize that I need to dive deeper into the space and update my thinking. I hope you’ll join the conversation on Zoom and in the chat. We will be donating 25% of the proceeds from this workshop to Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA (SWOP), a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of people involved in the sex trade and their communities, focusing on ending violence and stigma through education and advocacy.
Data! Data! Data!:
As of August 2023, non-hetero members are the majority population on Bloom. We are delighted to see data that supports our work on DEI and love that members feel safe to self-identify on our app.
As we created this chart, we wanted to honor the variety of ways identity intersect with desire, and acknowledge the limitations of the English language in defining these. Therefore, we decided to bucket all the non-hetero groups into one.
#Trending:
Women's World Cup. I know that many women in the world, myself included, cringed in disgust and empathy when seeing the President or the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, aggressively hugging and non-consensually kissing Jennifer Hermoso on the lips. I am heartbroken and disappointed for the challenging place Hermoso is in right now- realizing her dream role whilst dealing with a sexist boss in a sexist world.
Until Luis Rubiales decides to take a few of our power awareness, privilege, and consent workshops, I recommend that he follow Rachel Lark's simple advice “if you’re not sure it’s not rape- just don’t do it”.
Community spotlight:
AfterDark is bringing kink back to San Francisco! Diablo, Amende, and T recently announced the opening of Paradox, a new ~6000 sqft club and event space in SOMA for the sex-positive and BDSM communities of the Bay. After seeing some of the biggest sex positive venues in SF shut down in the past decade, this announcement gives me joy.
From the announcement: “Paradox is a queer, women, POC, and disabled-owned small business dedicated to providing high-quality, turnkey experiences for event hosts, instructors, renters, and guests. We are devoted to cultivating an inclusive and diverse space, actively supporting marginalized groups, ensuring accessibility, and fostering opportunities for growth and leadership within our communities.”
We have stuff to say, and I am committed to sharing our ideas, values, and offerings with more people. In addition to this newsletter, you can expect to see more content on our Bloom Instagram page, and across online communities, publications, and podcasts. I am asking for your support on this- please connect me with your friends who are podcast hosts, reporters, bloggers, and community leaders, and help me tell the story of Bloom broadly.
