I never got to take guitar lessons from Jerry Garcia, but I do get to talk to Betty Dodson about sex. For those new to the name, Betty Dodson has gone from the mother of masturbation to the grandmother of masturbation to the high priestess of masturbation; which is to say, claiming the right and privilege of female sexual pleasure, and passing the information along. Planet Waves is one of her dependable repeating stations.
Betty was one of the very first pro-sex feminists of the 1970s and I believe spawned a generation of sexpositive ‘third wave’ feminists the likes of Tristan Taormino and Susie Bright. Here is a Planet Waves edition about her from late 2008.
I heard the latest stories out of her life and what it’s like to be sexual at age 80 (well, she’s about to turn 80 this summer, near the Leo-Virgo cusp).В We talked about how you need a thick skin and a healthy ego in order to be able to withstand the usual blowback from being positive about sex. But we’ve both noticed that people are starting to get the message that masturbation is healthy and sex is important.