Eroticon Meet and Greet

Name (and Twitter if you have one)

Exposing40 and the same on Twitter, although I’m not too secretive about my real name so will likely tell you if you ask!

What are you most looking forward to about Eroticon 2018?

Like everyone I am looking forward to catching up with everyone at the two socials. The socials were difficult for me last year as a former friend who I wasn’t expecting to see turned up and was behaving badly. Very little unsettles me but unkindness does; without that black cloud I’m looking forward to being much more of a social butterfly! And I can’t wait for the midnight pyjama and prosecco parties with the gorgeous Tabitha Rayne who’s staying at mine this year.

Re the sessions, this year I’m only at the Sunday. I’ve embarked on a ridiculous endeavour to visit all EU countries before B****t next March so I’ve had to scrap my annual jaunt to Edinburgh Festival and reduce WOW and Eroticon to one day each so I can plough funds into planes, trains and AirBnBs! I’m looking forward to Oloni, Kendra and Lori’s sessions and of course I’ll go to Molly’s photography session. I also LOVED the readings last year.

We are creating a play list of songs for the Friday Night Meet and Greet. Nominate one song that you would like us to add to the play list and tell us why you picked that song

Acrylic Afternoons by Pulp. For many people Different Class is Peak Pulp but for me His n Hers is Jarvis writing about snatched sex, bad sex, lust, longing and regret at his very best.

What’s the first career you dreamed of having as a kid?

Well, I laughed out loud when I read @19syllables Meet and Greet as I also had Sound of Music-inspired aspirations to be a nun! I was also a bit obsessed with Lady Di and spent a lot of time wondering how I could become a princess. I don’t think I was cut out for being a nun or a princess!

I honestly can’t remember what proper career aspirations I had though. I think it was probably something to do with horses and showjumping, but my riding days ended when I left Oxfordshire for Wales aged 10.

Weirdest place you’ve ever gotten up to mischief (define ‘mischief’ however you like…)

Fucking, it would probably be on a ferry on the Irish Sea between Dublin and Holyhead. But I’ve also sat at my desk in an open plan office and wanked through a hole in my trouser pocket. Maintaining a conversation with a colleague while I came at my desk felt pretty mischievous.

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself

I did a live TV interview naked.

I sneaked into the Queen’s private rooms at the Royal Albert Hall and took a photo of my friend sat on her toilet.

I’ve done a skydive with two broken arms.

Complete the sentence: I want..

…to hold you tight

Whilst children play outside

And wait for their mothers to finish with lovers

And call them inside for their tea.

Faces, Freebies and Friends!

For Wicked Wednesday’s Meeting prompt and @writtenbyjenny’s Ten Things I Took Home from Eroticon meme…

Faces: I didn’t actually take faces away. That would be gruesome. But I put faces to bodies! I have been admiring the creativity, honesty, vulnerability, courage and downright hotness of my fellow Sinful Sundayers for more than two years now. How wonderful to meet so many of you.

HIV testing kit: You don’t have to find time to visit a clinic or go out of your way to keep on top of your sexual health responsibilities. I’ll be trying Freedoms Shop’s  home HIV testing kit and posting a review here very soon. Eroticon delegates will recognise the name from the generous quantities of free lube and condoms.

Prizes and freebies: The Eroticon tombola was about 100 times more brilliant than the last village fete one I took a chance on. Dodgy talcum powder, strange tinned food or a We Vibe Wish? *Happy dance* Add to that all goodies from the amazing sponsors, the Kinkcraft cane I made and the book I snaffled from Girl on the Net and you’ll appreciate that my inner magpie is very happy.

Purchases: The shopportunities were glorious! A beautiful ceramic dildo from Ceramic Pleasures was the first thing to get me to dip my hands in pocket. And a generous 30% Godemiche discount resulted in a Galaxy Ambit and GOLD GLITTERY butt plug hitting my online shopping basket on Monday. Yes I did say GOLD GLITTER. It’s from the new Effulgence range. Effulgence means brilliant radiance. So I learnt a glorious new word too.

Resolve: For more than 18 months I’ve been chewing over an idea for an essay focused on the role of nudity in political protest. I haven’t got off my arse to research this but I ran the idea past Kate Lister as a potential post for Whores of Yore and she liked it. And now I am saying I will do it here so I will have to.

Ideas: In the opening session the panel referenced the lack of diversity in imagery for sex stories in the mainstream media. I asked the panel what the photographers in the room could do about this. It’s a difficult one; photo libraries pay little and setting up your own commercial library is hard work (I am doing this in my professional life at the moment!). Nobody should have to give away their work. But I am also interested in how we might be able to use the collective talents, body types and identities of those in our community to change visual narratives. Ideas and conversations about this welcome.

More consideration: A month ago I had this conversation with Exhibit A on Twitter. Yesterday ahead of meeting Formidable Femme I had a wander through her archive and read this post. I wouldn’t say my views on wanting to see nudes on my timeline has changed that much and I would much rather people posted the direct links to their nudes so the preview images catch my eye amidst the stock shots (see above point!). BUT I would be much more mindful of consent and a lot less quick with my ‘pah, people should be more open-minded!’ than I was a month ago. As we pottered in Sh! Women’s Store I asked Sarah her view. My blog is about celebrating the beauty of all our bodies and for me hiding my photos is at odds with that. Her view was to still share the posts but tweet a warning before sharing certain images. I am not sure how well this would work when Twitter has an annoying habit of muddling up the order in which we see tweets, but it’s certainly something I will be more thoughtful about doing when appropriate. I think it’s a balance and at the moment I can’t see me offering warnings about joyful silly celebratory photos of a couple of bottoms running across a bridge, but if I am going to post a photo of my vulva then I will probably be mindful that however subtle and delicate the edit looks to me, it may offend others.

A new commitment to pyjama parties: Did Maria, Tabitha and I hotfoot it home early every night to bundle into our pyjamas and open a bottle of fizz? Damn right we did! Did we laugh and cry and massage the tension out of each other’s feet, shoulders and minds. Yep! Did we road test Tabitha’s new nipple suckers? Err… no comment! Never underestimate the value of time spent with fierce funny supportive women. And never put a Doxy in your ear, even if Tabitha tells you to…

Contentment: The deep comforting contentment that comes from time spent learning and in good company.

Admiration: I admired Girl on the Net, Molly and Michael anyway but, well, what can I say? A quite brilliant achievement. Group hugs all round. Actually, no, the fuss might scare Girl on the Net off. Smooches for Molly and Michael and a quick rendition of Climb Every Mountain for Girl on the Net.

Eroticon Meet & Greet

Name 
You can call me Exposing 40 if you like, but I’m just as happy with you calling me Catherine. On Twitter I’m @Exposing40

What are you hoping to get out of Eroticon 2017?
Laughing and learning! I am a social butterfly and there are so many people going who I already love and can’t wait to catch up with, plus many more I am super-excited to meet, that one of the best bits will just be hanging out with cool people. But I can’t wait for some of the sessions too!

This year’s schedule at Eroticon is pretty full on but which four sessions do you already have marked down as ones you want to attend?
I am a dyed-in-the-wool planner so the idea of winging it strikes fear into my heart. I also have eight ‘must do’ talks on my list and will miss some because of clashes…but here are my top four!

• Sex Blogging as Feminism and Social Justice: Sarah Brynn Holliday
• History of Erotic Writing and Obscenity in Britain: Kate Lister (and ideally the Sunday morning one too, but let’s see how many ‘one for the ditch’ wines I have on Saturday night!)
• Undressing Disability: Emily Rose Yates
• How to use your blog to educate: Emmeline Peaches, Formidable Femme, Hot Octopuss

Oh, and even though I don’t write erotic fiction and can’t draw to save my life I will be at Malin and Tabitha’s talks as a silent cheerleader going ‘aren’t they awesome?!’.

Tell us one thing about yourself that not many people know?
I once did a skydive with two broken arms. The arms were broken a couple of weeks earlier when I was thrown from a horse. I had got back on the horse to carry on the trek but after a couple of miles my arms really hurt.  I also once got on a horse and rolled straight off the other side, but that’s another story. These anecdotes reveal quite a lot about me…

If you made the papers, what would the headline be?
Naked woman found in a ditch wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.

If you could have one skill for free (I.e. without practice/time/effort) what would it be?
I would have a voice like Bonnie Tyler and would endlessly strut around MASSIVE stages singing power ballads. And there would be fireworks.

I love it when…
…the plane touches down! New country or home sweet home, both feelings are equally delightful.

Visit the virtual meet and greet to find out who else will be at Eroticon 2017!

In case of turbulence…

…please keep your seat belts fastened. 

It’s not much of a secret that I do a lot of flying, but – strangely! – it’s never actually occurred to me to create a mile high Sinful Sunday! When I discovered these rather random seats outside the lift on the second floor of the Radisson Blu in Bristol I couldn’t resist having a play. So in our Eroticon lunch break the gorgeous @fdotleonora and I got up to mischief…

We both prefer the pop of colour from the fuchsia silk, but I’ve included both shots to prove that, yes, I really did take all my clothes off in the lift lobby…

Eroticon 2016 meet and greet

Eroticon Meet and Greet 2016

It feels quite mad to be going to Eroticon! I have followed the fun on Twitter for the last couple of years. In 2014 I was already reading many of your blogs and had taken a photo or two of Exhibit A for Sinful Sunday, but I was a bona fide lurker and never imagined that within a year or so I would have my own blog or be calling many of you friends. By last year’s conference, Exposing 40 had been born but I couldn’t make it because it was my best friend’s 40^th birthday weekend. 2016 is my lucky year…

NAME (and Twitter name if you have one)

My Twitter name is also @Exposing40 but I’m pretty sure I’ll tell people my real name too. As a clue, my mum was reading Wuthering Heights when she was pregnant with me and she didn’t call me Heathcliff!

If you had the opportunity to rename yourself (or your blog) what would you pick?

I wouldn’t! I love the name of my blog and it sums up perfectly what it is all about (thanks for the brainwave Jedi Hamster!). For those who’ve never seen it before, Exposing 40 is an exploration of our relationship with our bodies and ourselves as we reach that milestone age. It’s photography-led, hence the ‘exposing’, although that word also speaks to the exhibitionist in me. Anyone can get involved and I’m always up for photographing others, being photographed or hosting others’ self portraits and posts.

What are you most looking forward to at Eroticon Live and/or is there anything you are nervous about?

I am not nervous about anything! I LOVE big gatherings and I get Golden-Retriever-puppy-excited about meeting new people. Of course it will be fabulous to see those who have already become real life friends (especially F. Dot Leonora who sadly doesn’t live close enough to see regularly) but I am really looking forward to meeting people for the first time, especially Marie Rebelle, Tabitha Rayne and fellow Sound of Music obsessive, GOTN.

Have you planned which sessions you will be attending or are you more of a spur of the moment kind of person?

I am a planner through and through so I am pretty clear on what I’ll be going to. Sadly it’s my business partner’s 40^th party on the Saturday night (luckily he only lives 20 minutes by train from Bristol) so I will only be there for the Friday night and Saturday day. Although if I am not too brutally hungover after his party I may come back after Sunday lunch and sneak into the afternoon readings… *looks at Ruby to check this would be OK…

What essential items to your life will be bringing with you to Eroticon Live? (you can have a maximum of 5)

Apart from the obvious phone, bank cards and overnight paraphernalia, I will be bringing rehydration salts to have before bed on Friday because I always call ‘one for the ditch’ and want to take preventative measures before sleep! I will also have my camera so if any 40-somethings or close-to-40-somethings want to get involved with Exposing 40 let me know and we’ll make time for some photos – I’ll be arriving Friday lunchtime and am staying at the Radisson.

A new cocktail has been made on your honour, what would be the key ingredient and what would it be called?

It would be gin-based and include cardamom flavours. It would be called Indian Summer.

And finally… Complete the sentence; I have yet to…

…do my guest post for F Dot Leonora despite her inviting me in the autumn!! My mission is to complete it before I see her… (Note: this is now done – look out for it week beginning 23rd May!)

Check out who else is going over at Molly’s place!