(Maureen Blennerhassett)

I didn’t know what the term “sex-positive” meant before Bawdy Storytelling. I heard it mentioned by a few of the storytellers (Shar Rednour proclaimed her identity as a “sex-positive feminist pornographer”), but really what did that mean?

Many people I know in San Francisco identify themselves outside the hetero-normative realm, but the term sex-positive just sounded like an affirmative to the question: do you have sex?

It’s not that I’m vanilla, I’m just from New England and nobody told me these things. The concept isn’t new: the hippies called it free love, it was art at Warhol’s factory, and now it’s laced with sex education.

Wikipedia: Sex positivity is an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, and encourages sexual pleasure and experimentation.

This attitude permeated the air at the Blue Macaw on April 13. The crowd was all smiles and giggles, relaxed with drinks in hand as we listened to seven (usually it’s six) TRUE stories of sexual exploits told in ten minutes or less by some of San Francisco’s dirtiest lit-whores. Each of the stories had to be about talking dirty & technology. Tacos on Prom Night played songs on the dirty ukulele that had the audience singing along, “Let’s talk dirty in Hawaiian, come on I wanna lay ya now…” After the break I saw a few people making out with their neighbors so they could earn a button that said, “Bawdy got me laid.”

Five years ago, self-described nosy pervert Dixie De La Tour started Bawdy as a forum for people to share their freakiest real life sex stories before a like-minded nosy, perverted audience. Embarrassing? Maybe. Hot? Sure. Literary voyeurism? Definitely.

Sex blogger Fleur De Lis SF started the night off with a story not too shocking in content but in her nonchalant reactions to her partner’s requests.

In her British tongue Billee Sharp described being a teenager working for the Sex School for Slaves in London.

For someone who says she can’t talk dirty, Tatyana Brown most definitely won over the audience with her story. I won’t give it away because its too good… but a few words most commonly used were, “ass slut,” “strap on dildo,” and “sex party.” Coincidentally, Brown’s story took place in the same New York City apartment as Reid Mihalko’s. His tale was also extremely funny and engaging so it’s best that you just watch it for yourself.

Shar Rednour shared three anecdotes that marked different phases in her sexual awakening and concluded with the top three reasons to talk dirty.

Monica (no last name given) described her sexually satisfying long distance relationship that went horribly wrong once they met up in Alaska.

Finally, Allison Moon punctuated the show with an exotic and sexy story that ended in going to Dublin—confused? Watch.

Bawdy is getting big. The storytelling event has sprawled out into the East Bay with an upcoming show on May 24 at The Uptown in Oakland. It’s also hitting the road and going to LA on June 4. But if you’re here in San Francisco and want to experience this (and I highly recommend you do…) then be at the Blue Macaw on May 11. The topic will be CraigsLust. If you want to be a participating storyteller, please e-mail Dixie, she really wants to hear your dirty stories.