| Club: |
The Wet Spot / Center for Sex Positive Culture
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| Type of Club: |
dance, play, community center
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| Active or defunct: |
Active
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| Venue: |
Located in Seattle, Washington, USA. Has own rather sizable building in the Interbay area.
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| Contact: |
info AT wetspot DOT org
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| website: |
Center for Sex Positive Culture
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| Summary: |
Calls itself a "Sex-positive community center" ("SPCC"). Enormous range of activities ranges from workshops on both the physical and emotional aspects of sexuality and BDSM to play parties, dance nights, non-sexual social gatherings, offsite party at a heated pool, to more unusual activities like somewhat kinky life drawing sessions for artists or a weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or a bunch of people watching (and heckling) porn films. Also various support groups (e.g. Women's Welcoming Committee, Slaves' support group). Runs an anual art show, the Seattle Erotic Art Festival (SEAF).
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| What's good: |
- Probably the best free circulating library of sexually related materials (books and videos) in the English-speaking world.
- It's run as a non-profit. The affiliated Foundation for Sex Positive Culture is actually organized as a 501(c)3 educational organization. You can barter volunteer time for almost admission to almost any events. Prices reflect the non-profit nature of the venue
- Both relatively public and relatively private play spaces
- Lots of cool equipment
- A club-worthy sound system
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| What's either good or bad, depending on your tastes: |
- Pretty equally mixed among gay and straight, male and female (with no small number in between in either category: with reference to the latter, Seattle is home to the Ingersoll Gender Center, so it has a lot more transsexuals than your typical scene)
- No alcohol, no smoking
- Located in an off-the-beaten-path part of town
- Very different rules on different nights
- Some evenings are VERY LOUD, especially the weekly Thursday night dance/play party known as The Grind
- Some evenings are very quiet, such as the monthly Sunday night bondage party
- One night a month of men-only, one night a month of women-only
- Range of permitted play at most of the play parties is extremely broad
- No guys wandering around wanking
- Members range from age 18 to definite OAPs
- Organization is also involved in BDSM activism and outreach
- Membership club, and you have to go through an orientation to become a member (but there is some accommodation for members to invite guests, especially out-of-town guests; also, out-of-town visitors active in the kink world can contact ahead for arrangements).
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| What's bad: |
- The one thing unequivocally bad is that you can pretty readily tell that it is converted warehouse space.
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