ATLANTA, GA — The only unconference to open with a feminist pole-dance lesson, Sex 2.0 brought close to a hundred new-media sex nerds to Atlanta this weekend. The sessions dealt with how to get what you want on social dating sites, find people to swing with, and how to blog about your sexcapades while managing your reputation and privacy online. Daytime panels segued from theory to practice: strip clubs, sex parties and hookups. Here's what you can learn about sex from people who write about it for a living — especially the bits you'll never find field-tested in "sex" advice columns:

Show, don't tell At the door, Sex 2.0 attendees were required to mark their name badges with a color-coded sticker announcing whether they wanted to be photographed or filmed: red for "no," green for "yes," and yellow for "ask first." Why don't we do this all the time? Blogging about your sex partners without their knowledge is a recipe for disaster.
If you're going to be a Twitter slut, might as well not make it metaphorical Sex 2.0 attendees couldn't resist Twittering mid-conversation — and mid-sex party and mid-fuck. Organizer Amber Rhea estimates that attendees made over a thousand Twitter updates over the weekend, including Ellie Lumpesse, a blogger and phone sex operator, who Twittered from the stage as she competed for the title of Best Boobs at a postconference swinger event.
Own your online lack of reputation Anyone who gets sexual online runs the risk of being outed. We could obsess on controlling every facet of our online identity and activities, but what about a "more is more" approach? Internet whore and activist Kimberlee Cline, in a session on "Creating the sex commons," took up the example of forcibly retired escort Ashley Alexandra Dupré, whose last notable client was forcibly retired New York governor Eliot Spitzer. If only she had more than just MySpace and Facebook profiles online, when the media came to out her, a more fleshed-out version of her life would have been available for public dissection. Flooding the zone with accounts of your own desires and adventures (along with the unsexier rest of your life) may spare you future embarrassment, and could only give potential lovers the right idea about you.

(Photo: Dickroll)

12:00 PM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Melissa Gira Grant
3,509 views
31 comments

Comments

lustylady at 12:15 PM on 04/14/08
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I had such a great time (even though I did not partake of pole dancing, sex parties, or hookups, alas). Just being with so many similarly-minded, smart, sexy and open-minded people all weekend was such a thrill. And, of course, means I have many new Twitter-friends, which is clearly the secret agenda of Sex 2.0, right?

I'll see what I can do about Twittering mid-fuck; first, I have to work on the fucking part, but I'll do my best - for you, Melissa.
Dweezil at 12:19 PM on 04/14/08
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This was an unfortunate choice in article image.
funkybrownchick at 12:28 PM on 04/14/08
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@Dweezil Oh, my dear sweet friend, you don't know how you were spared! :)

More unfortunate images could've been posted.

[twitter.com]
lustylady at 12:35 PM on 04/14/08
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@funkybrownchick: Are you still scarred by some images you saw recently?
Amber Rhea at 12:37 PM on 04/14/08
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Now, to all those haters/doubters on the "Twitter gets you laid" post... need any *more* proof? We did you one better!
sample032 at 12:40 PM on 04/14/08
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"At the door, Sex 2.0 attendees were required to mark their name badges with a color-coded sticker announcing whether they wanted to be photographed or filmed: red for 'no,' green for 'yes,' and yellow for 'ask first.'"

Do the same rules apply after the conference proper? And was there also some sort of system for indicating the number and genders you're interested in?
Ltic at 12:40 PM on 04/14/08
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Now THIS is a conference that Jimbo should have chaired! On-line dating and sex sounds like something to which Jimbo could contribute far more than the World Economic Forum.
lustylady at 12:43 PM on 04/14/08
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I can't speak for anyone else, but to try to answer @sample032: what I loved about Sex 2.0 was that it was not a pickup scene. I thought it was awesome that we talked about practical ways to improve the intersection between sex and the web.

Then again, I'm such a dork that I'd rather giggle inanely over the x-rated implications of a bakery called "Chocolate Pink" than go to a sex party, but maybe that's just me.
Jackson West at 01:06 PM on 04/14/08
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While it's now officially Valleywag editorial policy that Rick Rolling is over, long live Dick Rolling!
funkybrownchick at 01:12 PM on 04/14/08
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@lustylady Baby, you know me to well! Um, yeah, scarred is correct word to describe the state of my eyeballs after glimpsing the 62-year-old blonde stripper ( ... and Sissy Maid look-a-like ... ) with flabby/tight ass gyrating over Match.
sinical at 01:13 PM on 04/14/08
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If your idea of improving upon the act is to Twitter mid-fuck, then you are currently enjoying some seriously lousy sex.
matto at 01:18 PM on 04/14/08
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@Jackson West: I saw that on the menu at the last sushi place i was at.
sample032 at 01:20 PM on 04/14/08
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@Jackson West: Is that like... Dude, not cool. I know it's shaped like a cigar, but...

@lustylady: So I just assumed... Interesting that some people at the conference were just genuinely interested in [learning about](oh, you'd [random perv] would like it if I made it ambiguous, wouldn't you?) sex.
sample032 at 01:22 PM on 04/14/08
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@sample032: There should be <chills> after both ellipses.

I hate HTML.
Match at 01:23 PM on 04/14/08
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@funkybrownchick hey! That is my birthday lapdance you are talking about!
Amber Rhea at 01:28 PM on 04/14/08
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@lustylady: Right you are, it was not a pickup scene (I HATE those kinds of "scenes"). The kick-ass thing about it was, hello, get a bunch of sexy, smart, tech-savvy people together to talk about stuff we're passionate about, and imagine that, sex eventually will happen naturally!
Amber Rhea at 01:29 PM on 04/14/08
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@sample032: That's "interesting?" Damn, how sad...

That's my WORLD!
jbrotherlove at 01:51 PM on 04/14/08
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I agree that a regular meat-market scene would've been lame by comparison (and in Atlanta, those are a dime a dosen).

I'm thinking I should've sported that Rock-n-Roll number to give another reference point for Chocolate Pink!
Fidel on the Roof at 02:17 PM on 04/14/08
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I bet it smelled in there.
dalejo at 02:44 PM on 04/14/08
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That lady in the picture sure does have a big clitoris (and needs to shave her legs).
bugz321 at 03:11 PM on 04/14/08
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If you have the presence of mind to twitter mid-boink, you have got to be one lousy lay. Makes me shudder to contemplate.
Troll_2.0 at 03:24 PM on 04/14/08
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@matto: Matto went and could not even get laid; not even as Fake Jimbo Wales.
Troll_2.0 at 03:25 PM on 04/14/08
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@Ltic: Damnit! I was going to post that!!
Amber Rhea at 04:25 PM on 04/14/08
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@bugz321: If I had a dime for everyone who's been posting some version of that comment in various locations, and seeming so proud of themselves for thinking of such a witty observation, I'd be a rich lady!
jinxremoved at 05:11 PM on 04/14/08
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@Amber Rhea: Doesn't make the observation any less true
michaellamb at 05:23 PM on 04/14/08
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there are.... just so many things wrong with that picture....
KimberleeCline at 06:10 PM on 04/14/08
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I'm just not coordinated enough to twitter during sex. But I'm glad Melissa was there to twitter while I was fucking. It's an exhibitionist's wet dream: an audience of millions through simple descriptions limited to 140 characters.

FBC: The 62-year-old stripper was a highlight of the weekend! C'mon, she was dressed as Drothy from the Wizard of Oz! She probably saw that movie when it debuted in theaters.
Amber Rhea at 07:39 PM on 04/14/08
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@jinxremoved: Heh, how sad for you, then.
bugz321 at 08:06 PM on 04/14/08
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@Amber Rhea: It seems a little too obvious to be 'witty' - just a self-evident observation. Self-evident to most, but not all, apparently.
FiveStarEggRoll at 11:21 AM on 04/15/08
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How come most the folks at these tech meets sex events...oh fucking nevermind.

Harry "reconsiders the audience" Wang
Match at 10:01 PM on 04/15/08
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@kimberleeCline I have had the most wonderful fortune to both twitter and, now, be twittered during sex.
The exhibitionists in me just goes into overdrive.

As for the lap dance...that was one of the highlights for me as well ;0