Tuesday, November 03, 2009

yOni goes to Sexpo

I approached attending the Sydney Sexpo with a bit of trepidation. I was not at all sure what to expect and I had heard some accounts which didn’t sound too promising. However the stall fee was paid for (and not by me) and the flights booked so, equipped with some yOni.com products, my researchers hat and a healthy curiosity about exactly what a sexuality lifestyle expo would consist off, I headed off to Sydney, open to being pleasantly surprised.

The expo was vast, filling both the Hordern Pavilion and the Royal Hall of Industries. There were three stages on which, the program told me, there would be shows by a range of gorgeous guys and gals designed to tease, titillate and tantalise. The brief glimpse that I managed to get of one of these confirmed my suspicion that I wasn’t missing a great deal. Both the act and the girls themselves were incredibly fake. In fact the enormous number of manufactured bodies was one of the most disturbing things for me about the whole event. Silicone boobs, botoxed lips and fake tans were the order of the day. I conducted a small survey of the guys in the stalls around to find out if they enjoyed these ‘perfect’ bodies. To a man, they replied to ‘No!’. Which makes me wonder exactly who does!

The Sexpo clientele was varied. There were lots of groups of young guys, many of them Asian, eager to check it all out. And there were almost as many groups of young women on a similar mission. They ranged in their openness. Some seemed to slink down the centre of the aisles hardly daring to look to the left or right. They made me wonder what had prompted them to come in the first place. Some were fascinated by every stall and more than ready to party. There was a lot of alcohol consumed which, combined with the mounting sexual tension, did create a slightly ugly atmosphere at times.

And then there were my favourite group - couples of all ages, mostly enjoying themselves and open to exploring and whatever tips or tools they might find. They struck me as having the most fun and mainly using the energy to enhance their sex lives and their relationship.

As you might expect there were sex toys at every corner, from the super crass to the very classy. On the classy end, the new We-Vibe was available and the phthalate free manufacturers, Lelo, Fun Factory and Vibratex all had a presence. At the other end of the scale there were show bags stuffed with dildos, condoms and porn for $20 a pop. There were lingerie and costumes in abundance and a number of stalls promoting, spa’s, saunas and massage tools. There was soap and lollies both genitally and conventionally shaped! Something for everyone!?

Two stalls caught my attention and approval! The Tantric Breather is a small device designed to give you an auditory and kinesthetic experience of the depth of your breath, and to allow you to deepen your breathing and synchronise more effectively with a partner. And at the Clitoraid stall you could adopt a clitoris and support the creation of a hospital in Africa were surgeons will reconstruct the pleasure centre for women who have been subjected to genital mutilation.

Other than these two, what seemed to be sadly missing was any actual information about sexuality and sexual health. As the mango juicer was one of our products I found myself giving hundreds of impromptu talks on locating the g-spot. Invariably a crowd would gather. Also noticeably lacking was anyone, other than myself and the Tanric Breather guy, representing or promoting conscious, spiritual sexuality. If I go again next year I’d like to fill that gap. If you have courses or products related to sacred sexuality that you’d like me to promote then please get in touch.