Betty+Dodson

Jamie Sullivan ** Betty Dodson  ** ** Betty Anne Dodson  **, Ph.D. (born August 24, 1929) is an artist, author, educator and sexologist. She started out her career by holding the first one-women erotic art show in New York City in 1968 (Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross, 2008). After several more erotic art shows, Dodson produced and presented at NOWs Sexuality Conference in 1973 which became the first feminist slide show of vulvas. At the show, she also re-introduced an electric vibrator as a form of a pleasure device (Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross, 2008).

** Early Life  ** Betty Dodson was born on August 24, 1929 in Wichita, Kansas, but moved to Minneapolis in the mid 1930’s. She has 3 brothers; her younger brother, Richard Dodson, is the only one currently alive. According to Dodson herself, in an essay called // My Childhood Home in Minneapolis, // after several abortions in her early 20s, and a miscarriage with her first husband which ended in divorce 7 years later, her life became devoted to her art (2008). According to Seattle artist and photographer, Jeff Hengst, Dodson’s art consistently explored what sex truly means in visual terms. She consistently explores the art of masturbation for both women and men, and depicts it in an exciting, pleasing, and natural act (2001). Her art is provocative and explicit, while still maintaining its natural appeal.

** Workshops  ** Most commonly known for this, Betty Dodson has been running Bodysex workshops. During these workshops, Dodson teaches women to reclaim their “pleasure, sexuality and sexual wisdom” (“Bodysex”, 2009). As Schooler states, women who have negative attitudes towards their genitals and its functions can have issues with body image as well as their experiences with sexual pleasure. (“Bodysex”, 2009). Sexual communication is an important aspect of Dodson’s work for the past 40 year. However, most of the time this communication is not with a partner or significant other, it’s communication with ourselves. Dodson believes that people, women mainly, need to look at their genitals and acknowledge that they have them. Dodson’s Bodysex workshops give women a comfortable, secure place to communicate with themselves about their body and feel comfortable sharing secrets of insecurity and lack of knowledge. In Dodson’s book // Sex for One // she states, ” I constantly worried about going too far, thinking that women were conservative and timid about taking risks. But that turned out not to be true. Every woman who entered the room was a powerhouse of courage even though she may have resisted undressing. Every woman proved to be a divine seeker of ecstasy even though she may have professed inhibition." (1996)   **  Role in Feminist Movement  **   As stated, Betty Dodson is currently a role model for the feminist movement. Betty questions “How can women ever be truly equal if they are reliant on men for their sexual satisfaction?” (Gerry, 2010) Women agreed with Dodson and started taking their sexual pleasure into their own hands.     Sex-positive feminism started in the 1980’s with Dodson as one of the grandmothers of the movement. Many sex-positive feminists believed that pornography was one of the main contributors for degradation towards women. However, Dodson differed with them, believing that women’s sexual pleasure and masturbation was central towards women’s liberation. According to Jane Gerhard, she states that “the female orgasm came to signify the political power of women’s sexual self-determination” (2000, pg. 2). When women started taking their pleasure into their own hands, women no longer need to fully depend upon men for sexual pleasure.    Dodson believes that the start of the feminist movement can be seen when women started meeting in groups and sharing experiences. She attributes these groups as the foundation of her workshops. (// Grassroots, //2007).

** Publications  ** Dodson wrote her first book in 1974 called // Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Selflove. // This book quickly became a classic of feminist literature. She wrote two other books not counting her most recent memoir. // Sex for One // was written in 1987 and it has sold over 1 million copies. Her next book focuses not only on personal stimulation, but on partner sex, written in 2002 was named appropriately // Orgasms for Two. //   Over the past 40 years, Dodson has written an astounding number of anonymous articles related to sexual pleasure masturbation and orgasms for women. Dodson has become a role model for the feminist movement. Her latest book, // Betty Dodson: My Sexual Revolution //was written in 2010, illustrating her own sexual encounters as well as her personal accounts of “liberating sexual female sexuality”, according to Eva Gerry in an article for ** Health and Fitness Times **(2010). Her book contains her role in the sex positive feminist movement, as well as her life of sexual enjoyment. ** Current Life  ** Currently, Betty Dodson is 82 and living and loving in New York. Many fans didn’t believe that she was 82 and she maintains an extremely young appearance, which she attributes to her daily orgasms. Even with Dodson’s older age, she maintains her role in the feminist world. Dodson teamed up with Carlin Ross, an entrepreneur and self-acclaimed ‘sexpert’. Ross has taken over managing Dodson’s name and the website [|www.dodsonandross.com]. Topical essays are written weekly by both Ross and Dodson, as well as other ‘sexperts’, answering fan questions and giving their own advice. Topics range from orgasms, sexual empowerment, and even STIs. Ross has helped change Dodson from a leader in feminism to a leader for all women. While Dodson no longer has Bodysex workshops running, she is still available for individual sexual coaching as well as any questions that her fans may have. Most of Dodson’s information is research based, however she brings in a lot of opinions formed from her own personal experiences and those of people she has met over the years. She has not been remarried since her first seven year marriage, but she has maintained several relationships including a ten year relationship with a much younger man when she was 71 years of age. She even lived with her young suitor for most of the ten years. ** Famous Quotes  ** My entire career has been confronted with censorship. You can't talk about masturbation in America without confronting censorship. – Betty Dodson (dodsonandross.com, 2008) I consider myself a lesbian, but I’m a bisexual lesbian. – Betty Dodson (dodsonandross.com, 2008) If we could grow up knowing that the genitals are beautiful parts of our bodies, we'd be proud, we wouldn't have shame, we wouldn't have sexual guilt. - Betty Dodson (dodsonandross.com, 2008)

** References **  Bodysex - A Guide to Selfloving Workshop NYC - New York, NY | The Scene. (n.d.). //Los Angeles, CA Support Local | The Scene//. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from http://www.thescene.com/event?event_id=81109  Dodson, B., & Ross, C. (n.d.). Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross | Sex Information Online. //Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross | Sex Information Online//. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from http://www.dodsonandross.com  Dodson, B. (2008, February 1). My Childhood Home in Minneapolis. //Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross//. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from http://www.dodsonandross.com/essay/my-childhood-home-minneapolis  Dodson, B. (1996). //Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving//. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks.  Gerhard, J. (200). Revisiting 'The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm': The Female Orgasm in American Sexual Thought and Second Wave Feminism. //Feminist Studies//, //26//(2), 449. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from the Academic OneFile database.  Gerry, E. (2010, April 20). Pioneering Feminist/Sexologist Betty Dodson Releases New Memoir. //Health and Fitness Times//, //57//, 56-63.  Hengst, J. (n.d.). Betty Dobson's Art. //Seattle Institute for Sex Therapy, Education, and Research//. Retrieved April 6, 2011, from www.sextx.com/sexart.html  Ross, C (Interviewer) & Dobson, B (Interviewee). 2007. // Grassroots in Feminism. //Retrieved from Youtube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQvQl5VnOkg