The Crystal Causes Fundraiser & Giveaway

 Community Efforts  No Responses »
Jul 232011
 

crystal-frost-butt-plug-lavendar

Crystal Delights is a company that makes absolutely gorgeous toys, such as the Epiphany Wand and (my personal favorite) the Crystal Frost anal plug, shown here in lavender.  (As a note, this photo came from the Crystal Delights page, because I don’t have the fortune to own one of their beautiful toys yet.)

The latest thing that Crystal Delights has been up to that’s been catching attention in the world of sex toy enthusiasts is the Crystal Causes fundraiser, where Crystal Delights has teamed up with Boy Butter, Just In Case, Devine Toys, RubyGlass 21, Papaya Toys, Thinking Of You (TOY), LELO, Steele Malone, Axovus Leather, Duncan Charles Designs, Kink Academy, My Hardware, Sex Blogger Calendar, Whore! Magazine, Cerebral Itch, Virtually About and Tied Up Events.  All of these companies have contributed to the giveaway prizes, which are 12 gift baskets that are worth over $1,000.

The real focus of the Crystal Causes fundraiser is actually the charities involved.  The primary method of entering the giveaway portion of the fundraiser is to contribute to the fundraising part!  (Imagine that.)

By donating to one (or multiple, or all) of these charities on the Crystal Delights page, you’ll be entered to win a gift basket!  A person will be selected from the list of donators to each charity and there will be a basket winner from each list.

That sounds a little convoluted.  Let me explain with an example: If I choose to donate to SAGE and AIC, I will be entered win two gift baskets – I could win one because my name was randomly chosen from the list of donators to SAGE, and if I didn’t win that one, I could be picked from the list of people who donated to AIC.

My explanation probably isn’t getting much clearer.  It would probably make more sense if you read the How To Enter page!

The charities you can donate to are listed below:

Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)

Center for Sex and Culture (CSC)

Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS)

Advocates for Informed Choice (AIC)

Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (CSPH)

Jiz Lee’s Karma Pervs

St. James Infirmary

All of these are extremely worthy charities, and I wish I had a considerably larger amount of money to contribute to all of them.  However, what I do have is a blog, so I can urge all of you to go forth and contribute some of what I can’t!

Seriously, guys.  I realize that I have like next to zero unique visitors on a regular basis, but someone is reading this, so check out the Crystal Causes fundraiser.  You’ll find a link to a handy-dandy list of all the neat stuff in those gift baskets if you check out the page.  If you’re as cheap as me, there are also a few non-monetary ways to enter, as well, so you really don’t have much of an excuse not to look!

Fully Functional Fundraiser

 Community Efforts  No Responses »
Jun 252011
 

I’m still alive!  Due to a lack of sexual accommodations for a hellacious period and a combination of Minecraft and classwork, I haven’t been able to play with any of my new toys very much… but things are coming.

In the meantime, I just figured I would post to advertise about the fundraising efforts of Fully Functional.

I’ll just quote directly from the fundraiser page, for the sake of saving time:

“Fully Functional: A Zine About Fucking Trans Women”

…is a collaborative DIY (Doin’ It Yourself) zine about the sex lives of trans women. It is designed to help trans women and our lovers share information about how we have good sex and what we do when we have sex that works.

The project of Fully Functional is to create an open-ended community resource for trans women and our lovers interested in sharing information about sex and our sex lives.  Published as a digital zine and, beginning with issue #1, a print zine, “Fully Functional” is designed to be an accessible medium for communicating and sharing information with each other.  It is the first and only sex zine dedicated exclusively to the sex lives of trans women and our lovers, and most basically begins with the question “How?”, as in, “how do I have amazing, fulfilling, passionate, hot, toe-curling sex?”  Contributors are invited to discuss the ins and outs of their own sex lives, with no one answer privileged over another.  There are as many answers to the question “how do I have good sex?” as there are contributors, and with that in mind “Fully Functional” has been designed as a sort of community cookbook .  Our zine is a community resource for sharing our knowledge, discoveries, and practices with one another and our lovers.

As we are preparing to publish issue #1 of “Fully Functional” we have reached a dilemma: we are desperately in need of a fully functional computer of our own with which to write, design, create, and publish this issue and issues to come.  The goal of this fundraising campaign is to gather funds to purchase a MacBook that will be the primary computer for “Fully Functional.”

I definitely consider this zine a worthy cause, because sex can be an extremely conflicting issue for individuals undergoing transition, and it is also challenging to feel confident about being an adequate sexual partner to a trans individual, especially if your partner experiences gender dysphoria.  While there’s no substitute for honest and open communication, new ideas can go a long way in the bedroom.  It’s hard to find knowledgeable sexual material geared toward members of the trans community, so I’m definitely intrigued by what Fully Functional has to offer.  I encourage anyone  with an interest to check it out and support their efforts!

Here’s a link to the fundraiser!