It aimed to raise awareness of continuous presence of AIDS; a subject hardly reported in the media with the equal frenzy that terrified us about AIDS in the eighties. And it was also organised to remind us that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are again on the rise.
The Masturbate-a-thon event was initially launched in the USA six years ago in broad minded San Francisco and only this year the organisers decided to branch out with the 1st UK appearance in London at the Drop Studios in Clerkenwell Road.
And bravo to us Europeans! There were over 160 of us to take part, whereas on it's first US showing, over in California, only 40 braved it!
What a bunch of lightweights!
With my lover on my side we headed hand in hand into the unknown, without any idea whatsoever what to expect apart from the charitable and thus absolved wanking!
The place was richly togged out in red shimmering fabrics from the entrance stairwell up to the first floor, where an administrative reception for filling disclaimers and sorting out sponsorship was in action. Friendly staff then ferried us into a chill-out area where soft drinks and a pile of Razzles and gay publications had been left for us to titillate. But our dormant orgasmic state needed no prompting from such images. Frankly, they always make me laugh in cringed teeth!

Three options had originally been designed for the event. 3 rooms: one for the men, one for the women and one for the couples. A rule was in place to restrict masturbation to solo acts only, as the act of touching a partner or loved one undermined the whole point of the event. Not sure they had a license to cover such an eventuality in any case.
These room options somehow failed to work due to the amount of people present on the day. We discovered to our dismay, on entering the room for the couples, that there was before us a sea of men and only three other couples in a cramped room, where some of the men performed standing up as islands in a spaghetti sea of laid back human flesh. The whole vibe however was well mellow. The feel of an aura of orgasms and quiet joy permeated the room.
We settled down in a corner and got on with delivering the promises of our sponsorship ofSh! which afforded us 3 choices of preferences:
1 - for the amount of orgasms reached
2 - the amount of times successful
or 3 - just for having the courage to attend!
Which is what we went for, as we didn't feel that this was in any way a competition to produce results. To attend, in our opinion amply sufficed to make the point.

A "Channel 4" crew was filming the event in another room. We were interviewed at the end to give our impressions, which will be broadcast later in the year, as part of a "wank-week" series on the subject. My mind never ceases to ponder, but for a split second at the thought of program makers running out of ideas for originality these days! It will be aired in the autumn and well into the dark hours of the night, when most of the mainstream audience will be already tucked away in bed or having sex!
Apart from making some changes to provide more comfort (especially air com!) and more intimacy, my lover and me would be prepared to participate again.
Now is the time we ought to address once and for all the taboo that masturbation is a dirty or evil act.
It is mystifying for the Christian church to condemn the practice of "Onanism" when it has the hypocrisy of denying people in third world countries rich in venereal diseases and Aids right to use condoms or to use any form of contraception! To explore safer sex by masturbation and the promotion of it is a positive step in 21st Century sexual liberation. This is the age of Aquarius so let us be sexually liberated from out dated and hypocritical conditioning.

Masturbate-a-thon

Sh!