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Chicago, IL — Gay Men's Health Forum Takes Pleasure Back
Organizers today announced that the gay men's health forum "We're Taking Pleasure Back – and we want you to help us!" will take place Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at the Center on Halsted. Sponsored by Project CRYSP, LifeLube.org

Hosted by Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion of the popular podcast FeastofFun.com, this forum will dare to take "risk and disease" off the table and engage participants in a discussion about pleasure free of confines.

"We want to use a wider lens and explore gay and bi men's sexuality in creative ways. Our expert panelists will link the physical aspects of pleasure to the larger context of our wants and needs around connection and intimacy," said Joe Benjamin, one of the event's organizers. "There's also this idea that the only gay sex that ‘counts' is anal sex," he continued, "and we want to challenge that notion."

Panelists Gary Harper of DePaul University, activist and spoken-word artist Keith Green, and Samuel Galloway, a sex educator from the Tulip Toy Gallery, will challenge audience participants – and themselves – to explore ways in which we can creatively give and receive pleasure without concentrating on risk, HIV and STDs. 

"I'm excited to participate in this forum because it affords members of our community an opportunity to think imaginatively about our bodies, our desires, and our shared world," said Galloway. "We need to move away from a pathological mindset." Panelist Keith Green added, "So much of my career has been spent emphasizing the possible negative outcomes of great sex. I believe that I am beginning to develop safer sex fatigue like a lot of folk within our community, and that's not the direction I'd like to be headed in. I'm hoping that this dialogue will refocus our attention on the things that matter, like love and pleasure and affection."

This forum is part of a series that began in 2008. Previous forums have included discussions on anal health, sex and the internet, alcohol use in the LGBT community, the generation gap, and bareback porn. Each forum is recorded for a Feast of Fun podcast and posted online.

"We're Taking Pleasure Back – and we want you to help us!" will take place Wednesday, November 11, in the Hoover Leppen Theatre on the third floor of the Center on Halsted, 3656 North Halsted in Chicago. 

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for appetizers and socializing, and the program will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.

Admittance is free, but an RSVP is required to attend. Click www.LifeLube.org for more information and to RSVP.

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