Las Vegas Weekly

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In a Downtown Las Vegas living room, respected sexologist and writer Carol Queen discusses the benefits of this dildo or that dildo, the cautions of using random objects for anal sex and optimal toys for G-spots and prostates.

To have someone of her status presenting a Sex Toy 101 house party strikes me as comical, not only because of how revered she is in the industry, but because of the audience: a group of sociology professors, sex-positive feminist artists and writers, most of whom speak the same postmodern feminist lingo as Queen. But as with house soirees of the arts, this meeting of like minds counters the complaint that nothing interesting happens organically here. Moreover, it’s a high note that just blocks from the corporate sexuality of the Strip (the Lawrence Welk of sex), this discussion is led by the staff sexologist at San Francisco’s Good Vibrations, whose work differs greatly from the Strip’s overt and aggressive pandering to mainstream, wholesome, heterosexual and, often, Caucasian sexual perfection. It’s at this party that host, UNLV Women’s Studies professor and Weekly columnist Lynn Comella reminds guests of the upcoming Framing the Vulva: Genital Cosmetic Surgery and Genital Diversity, a counter symposium to the International Society of Cosmetogynecology’s conference, geared toward perfecting women through vaginal reconstruction (dolling up your lady goods to make you “normal”).

A joint effort of the New View Campaign and UNLV Women’s Studies department, Framing looks at the “personal and political complexities of the new surgeries,” which some say threaten women’s sexual well-being.

Fortunately, in a city mere steps from demanding cloned perfection of women, we have reality checks and local leaders speaking up, much like Queen has for decades.