There are several great sex-positive crowdfunding campaigns on my radar at the same time, so I thought I’d give them all a shout-out at once: the Mod open-source vibrating dildo, the UnSlut Project film Slut: A Documentary, and a personal campaign for queer activist Ignacio Rivera aka Papí Coxxx. 

The Mod (campaign ends in two days!)

The Mod is the first commercial product by my friends at Comingle. It’s an awesome toy for several reasons: it’s got three vibrating motors, and there are tons of different ways you can control it (the integrated button, a nunchuk-style controller, and video chat, just to name a few).  It’s based on the open-source Arduino platform, so if you want to code something up yourself, it’s not that hard!

The Mod is also really important because everything about it is open: the software is open source, and Comingle will also publish the hardware design. No patents here! You can hack and modify your Mod to your heart’s content. 

I first met Andrew Quitmeyer, one of the founders at Comingle, at Arse Elektronika 2013; he was giving a talk with a scientist on how they hacked together a vibrator out of random parts around her jungle laboratory. I’m impressed with the Comingle team’s commitment to good documentation and to listening to user feedback — the Mod has gone through about eight iterations to reach the current design.

If you’d like your own Mod, go grab it before Saturday, 2/14, 11:59pm PT!

Slut: A Documentary (campaign ends in one week!)
Warning: This film discusses sexual assault.

Here’s the premise of Slut: A Documentary, in a nutshell:

In 2013, Halifax teenager Rehtaeh Parsons took her own life after being raped and ostracized by her classmates. Through the stories of four women who overcame various sexual shaming, this film explores how we can work toward a world where the word ‘slut’ doesn’t even make sense as an insult.

Emily Lindin is the creator of The UnSlut Project, whose goal is to eliminate sexual bullying and slut shaming. I don’t know Emily personally, but her courage in starting The UnSlut Project and making this film is absolutely astounding. She has already raised about $19,000 to make this film, and now she needs $30,000 more to cover post-production.

If you’ve ever called anyone a “slut” — to their face, behind their back, or even just in your own mind — and have since become more sex-positive, please consider donating to this campaign. You can’t go back in time and change what you’ve already done, but you can support Slut: A Documentary and promote change now.

Go make your contribution before February 19!

Top Surgery for Ignacio Rivera aka Papí Coxxx
(campaign ends 4/23/15)

There’s no one word to describe the amazing person that is Ignacio Rivera/Papí Coxxx:

Ignacio Rivera aka Papí Coxxx is the founder of Poly Patao Productions (P3). Ignacio, who prefers the gender-neutral pronoun “they,” is a Trans, Gender-Queer, Two-Spirit,  polyamorous, kinky, Black-Boricua Taíno. They’re a lecturer, activist, sex worker, sex educator, filmmaker and performance artist, sharing spoken-word, one-person shows, and storytelling internationally. Ignacio’s body of work has focused on gender and sexuality; specifically on queer, trans, kink and sexual liberation issues within a race/class dynamic.

I’ve had the privilege of hearing Ignacio Rivera speak on a couple of occasions: I first met them at  a fantastic workshop on strap-on play that they gave for Mob New England in the summer of 2012. That October, they were the keynote presenter at the Transcending Boundaries Conference. They were the first person I had ever heard talk about the dynamics of race and class with respect to sex-positive activism, and their work has inspired me to make my new nonprofit as inclusive and welcoming an organization as I can.

If you’ve ever seen them speak, read their blog or otherwise enjoyed their work, consider making a small contribution to their surgery fund.

Thanks for checking out these projects!