Betty Dodson, artist, author, and PhD sexologist has been one of the principal voices for women's sexual pleasure and health for over three decades. Dodson had the first one-woman show of erotic art in '68 in nyc followed by three others. She produced and presented the first feminist slide show of vulvas at the 1973 NOW Sexuality Conference in New York where she introduced the electric vibrator as a pleasure device.
For 25 years, she ran Bodysex groups where women learned about their bodies and orgasms through the practice of self-stimulation. Her first book, Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Selflove ('74) became a feminist classic. Sex for One ('87) sold over a million copies. Orgasms for Two ('02) embraces partner sex. Most recently she released My Romantic Love Wars: A Sexual Memoir that details her experiences with America's Sexual Revolution, the women's movement and her feminist sexual activism with bodysex groups that she conducted for 25 years.
She has authored numerous articles on the subject of women's sexual pleasure and orgasm. In 1994, she earned a PhD in clinical sexology. Dodson has presented at conferences for sexual scientists, therapists, and psychologists. In 2011, she was given the public service award from SSSS's (Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality) and the MASTERS AND JOHNSON AWARD presented by SSTAR (Society for Sex Therapy and Research).
She is thrilled to be joining the ranks of these accomplished academics.
Everyone wants to know how I met Betty -I interviewed Betty 8 years ago and less than half way through the interview she looked me dead in the eye, reached her hand across the table, and said, "we're going into business together. Shake on it". I didn't hesitate for a moment, grabbed her hand, and "shook on it". I knew we would work because that's exactly how I would have handled it.
Then throw in my commitment to feminist ideals and we were are a perfect match. The women in my family were suffragettes. My great aunt was one of the first female physicians in New York (when she signed on to a hospital in 1898 nineteen male doctors resigned on the spot). They fought for the right to vote and my grandfather was featured in Gerber baby food ads because "suffragettes feed their babies Gerber".
I grew up in a Christian Fundamentalist home (I know from feminism to the Moral Majority). My father was a minister and I was taught at home. There was no radio, television, and no sex before marriage. My personal experience taught me that sexual repression is used to control and manipulate others. Betty and I believe that the next phase of feminism is sexual liberation because without sexual freedom there can be no self.
We are visually stimulated...we are sexual creatures...and we deserve pleasure.
