[Jenny Kellogg]

I loved seeing Betty’s journals chart the process of Bodysex coming together. What struck me was the process of something being worked on and reflected on internally that then was expressed externally. The red ink drawing of the vulva, the fluid, and the tongue is just breathtaking. It shows the process of development from the pleasure of the body, from something sacred, into outward forms and concepts and people.

I loved all of the early flyers, too. There’s so much pressure these days to be an expert or to have all the insights. The flyers reveal that Betty went into communities and taught without having it all figured out. I just felt the community spirit and openness, especially in the letter about the arrangements for the men’s workshop.

I’m so grateful that we have access to this material; it beautifully complements the videos and talks.

[Jenny Kellogg]

In the Chico State lecture, I watched the part where she describes the wedding night fantasy multiple times. Her delivery is so honest and the audience is absolutely captivated. There is such an incredible contrast between her appearance and demeanor and the women in the audience watching her. And that story is one of the most devastating personal shares of the lecture, one that I imagine many women can relate to: I am turned on by the fantasy that my looks will be acceptable or arousing to a man. And the childlike belief that the wedding night is the culmination of a woman’s power and potential, rather than her own orgasm reflecting that power and potential. It is such a good punchline that she reaches orgasm without ever seeing the man’s face.

 

In the Yale lecture, I felt like Betty was feisty relic from a lost world. She was speaking from her lived experience which was in the body and yet the students wanted to make sex intellectualized or political. It’s not that sex isn’t political or mental, but Betty was standing up to say it can be something else: your own. Don’t forget to make it your own, was the message I felt she was exhorting the students to follow.

[Jenny Kellogg]

I believe that Betty received a standing ovation at the NOW Sexuality conference because she gave the audience the opportunity to return to themselves, to see themselves without shame and to believe in their sexual potential. The clip of Betty, Carlin, and Sheila reading the transcript of Betty’s speech shows that Betty was modeling both vulnerability and strength in talking about sex and physiology. She drew the audience in from the first moments, especially the way she handled the heckling. The audience was with her, they became her. They were having a group experience (which was what Betty would go on to perfect in the Bodysex model) and they couldn’t help but celebrate all together at the conclusion.

My answer to the question of why there was not another NOW Sexuality conference is based on my experiences of the feminist movement and groups of women. There was not a shared set of goals or values that included sexual freedom/pleasure within the women’s movement. There was so much internal dissent that prioritizing pleasure wasn’t possible. And by internal dissent I mean within the psyches of the women themselves and within the groups that made up first wave feminism (and subsequent waves).

[Jenny Kellogg]

While there are so many stunning and arresting images in this gallery, I have to admit that the image that moved me personally the most is this vulva flower. In my return to my own sexual power and masturbation practice in my 40s, I have been inpsired by the sensuality of the water lily plants (the nymphaea). They are my personal sexual guides. When I saw this illustration of Betty’s, which looks like a waterlily flower, I felt it to be another indication of Betty’s consciousness and the deep communion she had with the timeless symbols of female sexual pleasure.

[Jenny Kellogg]

<p class=”p1″>Definitely in reading the letters at the end of the book. That brought up a lot of shame, as I read the stories of how real readers discovered their sexuality. There was so much confession about repression and body shame. I felt like I was back in my bedroom masturbating at age 13, searching for evidence to reassure myself that I wasn’t doing anything that would hurt myself or make my mother feel shame.</p>
<p class=”p1″>I’m working on having more compassion for my pre-teen selves and witnessing them in their embarrassment.</p>

[Jenny Kellogg]

<p class=”p1″>“We were moving past two thousand years of sexual repression in one afternoon. We were bringing masturbation out of the nuclear family’s darkest closet and placing it back into the Priestesses of Avalon’s Temple, where ancient sexual rituals were dedicated to the healing arts.” (Page 84, Kindle version)</p>
<p class=”p1″>I love this because to me, this shows how the Bodysex groups liberate women, by tapping into our deep collective memories of womankind and by guiding participants to surpass their conditioning in a few short hours. Though I have not yet participated in a Bodysex group, I believe that the group helps women to recognize instantly what they have denied themselves and what their true nature is.</p>
<p class=”p1″>I also love this quote because it speaks to sexuality not only being healing for the receiver but for the collective. There is so much more we can do with our energy when it is flowing unobstructed and when we are feeling compassion and love.</p>

[Jenny Kellogg]

It was really healing for me to listen to everyone talking about how sex relates to what they do in the world, how they bring their sexual energy into their creative and professional lives. I would have liked more dialogue about that, actually. I loved when Marisa said her intention was to “work in loving skin,” as if skin was something that you could spend your whole life doing. And why not?

I thought I was going to have resistance to the genital show and tell, but it was so celebratory and glorious. I didn’t feel any shame moving through my body while watching it.

I did have a lot of resistance to the vibrators; I have a story in my head that I don’t like them or rolling them over my pubic mound. I felt strongly that if I ever do a bodysex circle, I would need to overcome resistance to the vibrating wands! I felt there was too much emphasis on the wands, even though I loved the way Betty guided everyone.

[Jenny Kellogg]

<p class=”p1″>Bodysex is the brave act of welcoming and celebrating the female body and its intrinsic power, a power that is expressed through orgasm and the womb. Bodysex is a pathway to freedom from self-shaming and self-suppression. It is the legacy of a woman (Betty Dodson) who was courageous enough to believe in her capacity to teach from the place of her own body.</p>

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