Session 7: Let’s Talk about Sex!

This session introduced a variety of opinions, preferences and explanations on the topic of sex. Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam collect data on sexual desire and brought us the surprising results. They looked at differences between the male and female sexual brain and attempted to give biological explanations for our desires. Although our sexual tastes seem complicated, Ogas and Gaddam claim that they can be reduced to a set of finite sexual cues – just as our food tastes can be reduced to the 5 taste cues. Men, they claim, respond primarily to visual cues and women to psychological cues, which explains why women like to read steamy novels and men watch porn. They also found some surprising statistics: for example, heterosexual men like to look at penises far more than women do. Yes, they have a biological explanation for that, too.

Our next speaker, David Jay, speaks and advocates on behalf of the asexual community, the approximately 1% of us who do not experience sexual attraction. David pointed out that asexual people have the same desire for connection as everyone else. The question he brought to ideacity was how can we disentangle the struggle for connection from a culture of sexuality? He hopes that we might learn to talk about, celebrate and prioritize asexual relationships as we do sexual relationships.

Representing an entirely different point of view was cartoonist Chester Brown, whose latest graphic novel recounts his decision to become a john. After his first sexual encounter with a prostitute, he decided he would never again be a boyfriend. He now has a monogamous relationship that amounts to good friends having sex for money. Whatever floats your boat!

This afternoon’s stretch break featured the amazing shimmying Shivaun Corry. After a gorgeous performance in which she danced with a sword balanced precariously on her head and belly, Shivaun had the entire ideacity audience bellydancing. A spectacular finale to the sex session.