10 Years of Pleasure Pie!

A Sex-Positive Boston discussion (Started in 2014)

This year marks ten years of Pleasure Pie's existence! Here's a brief timeline of what the past ten years have consisted of.

2014:

​Pleasure Pie was founded! We celebrated with the Pleasure Pie Launch party, which featured a Sex Letters Open Mic, where people read letters that they wrote to their teenage selves saying what they wish they knew about sex as teenagers (some of which wound up in our What I Would Tell My Teenage Self About Sex zine). The party also had a sex-positive zine making station, as well as sex trivia.

We also made our first zine, Choose Your Own Consensual Adventure, started Boston’s Sex-Positive Newsletter, and started the Sex Positive Boston monthly discussion group, which ran for several years.

We also held our first official Sex-Positive Zine Making Workshop! Still one of our favorite workshops, this was a welcoming community space in collaboration with Teasecraft Boston, where participants were led through the process of making their own zines on sexual freedom related topics. You can see photos from that first workshop here.

Coalition on Sex & Race at the Sextacular Show (2015)

2015:

As a part of the Coalition on Sex and Race in collaboration with Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group and the Sextacular Show, which we hosted a series of public community discussions on sex-positivity, racism, and porn.

We also hosted the Consent Make Out Party, a free community event where we had an in-depth discussion on the nuances of consent, followed by an immersive experience where participants had the opportunity to practice asking for consent, saying yes, and saying no, all in the context of a makeout party.

2015 was also the year of our Sex-Positive Summer Tour, a series of workshops we led at conferences in Maryland and Virginia.

Handy Consent Booklet (Published 2016)

2016

In 2016, we published our consent education workbook, the Handy "Don't Be an Asshole" (& Do Be a Great Lover) Consent Booklet, which is a friendly guide to thinking about consent in a down-to-earth way that is applicable to people's real life experiences.
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We also led our first Consent & Pleasure Workshop!

The Art of the Solicited Dick Pic zines (Published 2017)

2017

​We hosted the Self Love Masturbation Celebration in 2017, a free community event that included an erotic body scan meditation, a masturbation fortune teller making station, masturbation zine readings, and information about the criminalization of masturbation in prisons.

We also published the It’s My Pleasure masturbation zine and The Art of the Solicited Dick Pic mini zine.

Ouch zine (Published 2018)

2018

We had our first (sort of annual) Sex-Positive Valentine’s Mail Swap in 2018, through which we matched several dozen people with swappers to send handmade sex-positive Valentine's Day cards to. This was joyful, community building swap which was free to participate in.

We also published Ouch: Reflections on Bad Sex, Rape, & Shame​, a perzine that includes guidance on healing from sexual trauma and supporting folks in your life who have experienced sexual trauma.

Penis candles at the Feminist Valentines Market (2019)

2019

In 2019, we held our first Feminist Valentine's Market, a free community event which featured dozens of local feminist vendors, 15 minute mini burlesque photo shoots, and a "sex education on the beach" mocktail.

We also started the Sex-Positive Action Group, a group of activists that worked toward sexual justice related goals in the community. This group planned our first Sex Salon (also in 2019), a night of very short, very fun presentations about all sorts of sex-related topics with the goal of educating people about sexual justice topics and building up the sex-positive community in Boston.

The Period Sex zine in progress (2020)

2020

2020 was a rough year emotionally and we didn’t as get much done as usual. But we did work on the Period Sex zine (which was completed in 2021), and co-host a virtual Sex & Repro Health Trivia Night in collaboration with the Somerville Action Team.

Healing From a Bad Breakup zine (Published 2021)

2021

In 2021, we published our Period Sex zine, which was​ our most artistic zine to date, as well as the Healing From a Bad Breakup zine.

We also became a zine distro, putting out an official public call for zine submissions.

And, while this might not be an occasion that all organizations would make a big fuss over, we sent the 69th issue of Boston's Sex-Positive Newsletter. After having accidentally let the 50th issue go by without any hoopla, we made sure to make a big deal about issue number 69. This included making our first ever print issue of the newsletter, which was distributed in the Boston Compass newspaper, creating custom art for the issue, and doing a big giveaway with 69 winners.

A student-made zine from a sex-positive zine making workshop (2022)

2022

In 2022 we led lots of sex-positive & queer workshops for the Boston area community at libraries, colleges, and other spaces.

We also published the How to Build a Culture of Consent tiny zine​, a cute little zine that breaks down the steps toward creating a society that is based on consent.

Protection Your Privacy When Considering an Abortion talk at the Reproductive Justice Salon (2023)

2023

This was the year that we published Abortion Saves Lives, a collaborative zine about reproductive justice, featuring personal stories of seeking an abortion, as well as writings on topics like pleasure injustice, reproductive justice activism, and more. We also hosted the Reproductive Justice Salon abortion fundraiser​, where we released the Abortion Saves Lives zine and raised funds for five abortion funds across the United States.

2023 was a big year for Pleasure Pie zines. We also published How to Say No, Sex Education in Gaza, We [Palestinians] Are Not Going Away, and A Gazan Young Man Dreams of a Peaceful Death. We launched the Gazan Family Rescue Fund to raise money for Mohammed Alkrunz, a sex educator in Gaza whose writing is featured in several Pleasure Pie zines.

We also coordinated the installation of the Take-a-Zine, Leave-a-Zine stand in front of the Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville, Massachusetts, which we have continued to stock with zines ever since.

Pet Play 101 at Sexennial (2024)

2024

​In 2024 so far, we've hosted Sexennial: a Sex-Positive Variety Show celebrating our 10th birthday and the Zine Stand Coming Out Party to commemorate the installation of the zine stand and lift up the voices of local Palestinian activists.

We've also published What Is Pleasure Injustice?, a mini zine explaining how different life circumstances, backgrounds, and privileges impact each of our access to pleasure.

We've continued raising funds through the Gazan Family Rescue Fund and passed 30K in donations.


So much more has happened than what is covered here, including lots of zines published, events hosted, and community resources created. Thank you to everyone who has been a supportive part of our efforts over the past decade. We look forward to creating more zines and more sexual justice community with you all, even when (especially when!) the circumstances of our country are making it increasingly difficult.

While sexual freedom can feel like a fun and pleasure-centered movement, the reality is that what we do all comes back to some very serious issues. We do this work in order to prevent sexual assault and support people who have been assaulted. We do this for everyone who experiences the trauma of sexual repression through purity culture, homophobia, and transphobia—all of which cause shame and self-hatred, which can lead to suicide. We do this to protect reproductive rights and fight for all kinds of sexual rights in this country and worldwide.