Center for Sex Positive Culture

The Center for Sex Positive Culture (commonly known as the Wet Spot or CSPC) is a non-profit, membership-based organization located in Seattle, Washington. The Wet Spot organizes events and provides space for several different sex-positive subcultures, notably BDSM, swinging, and polyamory groups. It caters to both heterosexual and LGBT people.

The organization held its first event, a fundraiser, in March 1999. [Allena Gabosch, [http://www.sexpositiveculture.org/blog/zblogentry.2007-07-18.1419959973 We've come a long way] , Director's blog on official site, July 19, 2007. Accessed online 15 October 2007.]

The Wet Spot

The CSPC's primary location is known as the Wet Spot. It is a nondescript convert|4400|sqft|m2|sing=on building Seattle's Interbay district. Membership is open to anyone over the age of 18 who has attended an orientation class and agrees to the organization's rules of conduct. There is also an annual membership fee. Volunteers organize and run most events. One of the few employees is executive director Allena Gabosch, who is frequently referred to by the members as "Mom".

The space includes a library including a wide variety of books on sexuality and kink, as well as several flavors of pornography.

Activities

Specific regular events include:
* BDSM socials and pansexual BDSM play parties every Saturday.
* The Grind, a dance night featuring gothic and darkwave music as well as BDSM and sexual activities every Thursday.
* Erotic City, focused on (usually heterosexual) sexual activity, on some Fridays.
* Monthly homosexual focused men only nights and women only nights on Fridays.
* Monthly massage nights on Sundays.
* Monthly bondage parties on Sundays.
* Monthly Polyamory potluck on Saturdays.
* Various discussion groups, classes, and workshops.

The same physical space is used in various configurations for different events. Some have only tables and chairs, other prominently feature dungeon equipment with an adjoining social area, plus private spaces for those who wish to avoid voyeurs.

Annual events organized by the CSPC include:
* The Seattle Erotic Art Festival.
* Paradise Unbound, aka Wet Spot In Paradise, an annual kinky campout.
* Cirque du Noc, masquerade ball and carnival.

History

The Wet Spot was founded in 1999 as the Seattle Sex Positive Community Center. Socially speaking, it is an outgrowth of Allena Gabosch's "Beyond the Edge Cafe", which hosted BDSM related events. Several regulars of the cafe started discussing getting a dedicated space for their activities. One famously quoted "It would be great if we could get 200 members". In fact the idea became more popular than they envisioned - in its first year The Wet Spot registered about 2,000 members. In Sept 2007, they reached 10,000 registered members, although not all of them are current members. In 2007 the organization also changed its name to the Center for Sex Positive Culture and opened a second, "annex" building.

References

*cite web | title=The Stranger, Hot Town | url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=21046 | accessdate=November 7 | accessyear=2005

*cite web | title=sexuality.org | url=http://www.sexuality.org/seattle.html | accessdate=November 7 | accessyear=2005

*cite web | title=The CSPC | url=http://www.sexpositiveculture.org/index_html | accessdate=August 31 | accessyear=2007

External links

* [http://www.sexpositiveculture.org/ CSPC Homepage]
* [http://www.seattleerotic.org/index2.php Seattle Erotic Arts Festival]
* [http://paradiseunbound.com/ Paradise Unbound]
* [http://www.cirquedunoc.com/ Cirque du Noc]