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The Masturbate-a-thon is an event whereby participants masturbate in order to raise money for charity and awareness of, and dispel the shame and taboos that persist around this form of sexual activity. During the past six years, the Masturbate-a-thon has raised over $25,000 for women’s health initiatives and HIV prevention, education and treatment organizations, and has contributed to debates about safer sex and alternative safe methods of sexual expression in the USA, in the face of harsh conservative opposition.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Current London Records as of September 4, 2006 1.2 Current World Records as of September 4, 2006 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

In May 1997 a San Francisco-based sex toy and education shop Good Vibrations declared May to be "Masturbation Month." Since then, it has been the month during which people are encouraged to use "sponsor" forms to write down pledges from friends willing to sponsor their masturbation activities. The funds raised are donated to a sex-positive cause selected by whatever shop sponsors the event in the participating cities.

In 2000 the public Masturbate-a-thon was originated by Dr. Carol Queen and Dr. Robert Lawrence, inspired by the work of Good Vibrations. These annual events are a public education device to increase the use of self-pleasure as a strategy for safer sex and to de-stigmatise self-love. The original live Masturbate-A-Thon is managed by the Center for Sex and Culture, a 501(c)3 education based non-profit organisation that provides professional-level sex education.

In 2006, Europe’s First Sponsored Masturbate-a-Thon Event took place in London. The Masturbate-a-thon, also known as Wank-a-Thon, was filmed by ZigZagProductions of London as part of an international documentary of the event. Drs. Queen and Lawrence were asked by a friend in Scotland to "...come across the pond and produce one here." (source - Robert Lawrence e-mails 2006) London hosted Europe's first "masturbate-a-thon" on August 5, 2006 in which hundreds of men and women were expected to pleasure themselves for charity, raising money for the Terrence Higgins Trust and sexual and reproductive health agency Marie Stopes International.^{[1] [2]} The final count at the location was over one hundred and fifty people, roughly two-thirds of whom were men. Although this seems like an over-balance, many of them were gay and uninterested in the women present, so the adjusted gender interest balance was even more than appearances belied. The remaining registrants remained at private locations and mailed or sent funds by computer at later dates.

The 2006 London event set a few international records.

• Attendees: 154 (UK and World Record)
• Time:
  • Female: 3 h, 30 min (UK Record, 2006)
  • Male: 7 h, 31 min (UK Record, 2006)
• Most Orgasms:
  • Female: 49 (UK and World Record)
  • Male: 6 (UK Record)
• Most money raised by an individual: $1116.00 (Richard Watts, London, 2006)

• Time:
  • Female: 6 h, 30 min (Norine Dworkin, San Francisco, 2004)
  • Male: 8 h, 30 min (San Francisco, 2006)
• Most Orgasms:
  • Female: 49 (London, 2006)

Information from Center for Sex and Culture records, contact press@masturbate-a-thon.com

The Official 2007 Masturbate-a-Thon will be held in San Francisco, California on May 26, 2007 (Masturbate-a-Thon [Trade Mark] Open Enterprises Incorporated)

• Wank Week
• Good Vibrations

1. ^ Hundreds expected to come to Masturbate-a-thon. Reuters (2006-08-04).
2. ^ Masturbate-a-thon press release (retrieved August 6, 2006)

• Guardian.co.uk article
• The register.co.uk article
• 24dash.com article
• Londonist.com article
• Carol Queen on NMM/Masturbate-a-Thon Originally printed in The Spectator April 23, 2003.

• Masturbate-a-thon UK site
• Masturbate-a-thon Official US site
• Official Good Vibrations site
• Maybe self-loving does make you blind - Frank Furedi in Spiked, August 4, 2006