Proceeds to benefit victims of Female Genital Mutilation

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 27 – Clitoraid, a Las Vegas-based humanitarian organization offering clitoral repair surgery to victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the United States and West Africa, will sponsor “How to Have a Gender-Free Orgasm,” a workshop to be presented by Barbara Carrellas at Las Vegas’s Erotic Heritage Museum on Wed., Jan. 30, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“Clitoraid’s first hospital for FGM repair surgery will open later this year in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and proceeds from this workshop will be used to purchase medical equipment for that facility,” said Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s director of public relations.

Gary said that although the workshop techniques Carrella will teach have served as a sexually therapeutic tool for FGM patients, any man or woman can benefit from them.

“Workshop participants will experience the playful, powerful and transformative power of breath and pleasure,” Gary said, adding that there will be no nudity in the workshop. Nor will anyone be asked to work with a partner.

“Barbara Carrellas’s ‘Gender-Free Orgasm Class,’ sometimes called ‘The Art of Thinking Off,’ is famous for her use of Tantric and Taoist techniques,” Gary said. “Since they move sexual energy throughout the body, they will enhance your sex life, regardless of gender. What’s more, these techniques help people free themselves from the guilt of sexual pleasure, whether they’re FGM victims or victims of the kind of shame-based, rigid religious upbringing that’s all too common in the United States.”

Gary said Carrellas was featured on the Learning Channel’s television show “Strange Sex,” which included a segment in which scientists at Rutgers did MRI brain scans of Carrellas’s orgasmic state induced from breathing technique alone.

Gary explained that restoring a somewhat normal sexual life to FGM victims requires a multi-pronged approach that can make good use of Carrellas’s methods.

“First, there’s clitoral repair surgery, which Clitoraid’s head surgeon Dr. Marci Bowers now performs in San Francisco, and will soon also be offered free of charge to FGM victims at our new hospital in West Africa,” Gary said. “But sexual therapy and psychological therapy are also essential because they help patients let go of the emotional trauma that began the moment their genitals were mutilated.

Gary said Larry Ashley, a professor at UNLV, is currently Clitoraid’s sexual trauma counselor, and that workshop presenter Barbara Carrelas has expressed an interest in working with Clitoraid patients in the future.

Gary said the suggested donation for the Jan. 30 workshop at the Erotic Heritage Museum is $25.

Clitoraid is in its last leg of fundraising in order to open its hospital in West Africa this coming October and volunteers of the Clitoraid team around the world are finding more and more creative ways to raise funds, like Vittorio Vegni in Northern Italy.

In his Jan 11th birthday invitation, he asked the guests not to bring him gifts but rather to buy one or more "clitoraid Lottery Ticket" once they arrived at the party. The challenge? To guess how many buttons were in a vase. The prize? A big basket of Italian delicacies! That's the Italian way!!

Guests were asked to come dressed as a character or a person they liked and Vittorio chose to dress as Tarzan!
Well, a big congratulations to our fun party host! His guests bought enough lottery tickets to raise $300 for Clitoraid!!! As for the winner of the appetizing basket... it will not be revealed until Jan 31.

Tanti auguri and complimenti a te, Vittorio!!! We hope your idea will spark other creative fundraising ideas to allow the 400 FGM patients on our Burkina Faso waiting list to have their wish come true: their clitoris back thanks to Clitoraid's surgery.

Is it really possible to have an orgasm with your clothes on and without touching yourself or being touched by anyone else? Can you really reach ecstasy simply by breathing? Can gender actually be irrelevant to achieving orgasm?

On Wed., January 30, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Clitoraid, in conjunction with the Erotic Heritage Museum of Las Vegas, will present "How to have a Gender-Free Orgasm" (also known as "The Art of Thinking Off"), a lecture/workshop with Barbara Carrellas, founder of Urban Tantra that will be hosted at the Erotic Heritage Museum (see address below)

Carrellas will first explain the unlimited, possibilities of gender-free orgasm. Then, under her guidance, participants will explore the vast range of orgasms lying beyond those achieved by genital stimulation.

Using Tantric and Taoist techniques to move sexual energy throughout the body,attendees will experience the playful, powerful and transformative power of breath and pleasure.

Note that although this is a participatory workshop, there will be no nudity and no one will be asked to work with a partner.

In the near future, Ms. Carrellas is eager to share this technique with Clitoraid's FGM patients to offer them an additional way to enjoy their sexuality whether these women live in America or in Africa.

Half the proceeds from this workshop will be used for Clitoraid's new pleasure hospital in West Africa, which will offer free clitoral repair surgery to victims of female genital mutilation.

Suggested Donation: $25.00

The location of the workshop is
Las Vegas Erotic Heritage Museum
3275 Industrial Road
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Clitoraid, a Las Vegas-based, non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), just had the opportunity to spread the word about its humanitarian cause in what would seem to be a most unusual venue: The Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) held at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas from Jan 17-19.

Clitoraid's AEE-sponsored booth was surrounded by a sea of sensual, enticing, bodacious women and men totally free of any sexual taboos, moving voluptuously among the onlookers, who came to the show for any number of reasons. Attendance was in the hundreds of thousands.

Sexual toys, accessories and apparel of all flavors, shapes and forms were everywhere. So when people walked by the Clitoraid booth, our logo must first have seemed to them like just one more sexual enhancement gimmick. That is, until the picture of the beautiful young African woman featured in the logo caught their attention.

When they stopped by the booth to see what it was all about, the Clitoraid representative explained that the organization isn't focused on "enhancing a woman's sexuality," but rather on literally restoring her sexuality surgically to undo the the horrible act of Female Genital Mutilation.

Upon hearing this and additional details, people readily reached for wallets and pocket books and gave generously to help open Clitoraid's Pleasure Hospital in West Africa later this year.

Two medical professionals, a plastic surgeon from Los Angeles and an anesthesiologist from Chicago, offered to join the volunteer team of our head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers. And people from other walks of life also expressed a desire to help our cause. A young porn actress asked if she could volunteer in some way for our organization, explaining that she had always dreamed of being involved in a humanitarian cause but felt stigmatized because of her profession.

Other porn actresses, including Serena Marcus and Tori Taylor, made an appearance at our booth and helped promote our cause. In addition, several UNLV students volunteered time at Clitoraid's booth. Their professor, Larry Ashley, is a volunteer sexual trauma counselor for our Clitoraid patients.
Overall, everyone's reaction was very positive, and very often moving as well, with the exception of certain members of the mainstream media. The latter advised us not to use the word "clitoris" during the videotaped interview to avoid censorship. According to them, the name "Clitoraid," and certain phrases ("the clitoris and its function" in particular) are not "family-friendly material."

Clitoraid is working to change this malevolent stigma about the clitoris worldwide. How can a U.S.- based charity like Clitoraid help women in Africa restore clitoral functioning if people right here in the West are ashamed to mention the clitoris and its role in sexual pleasure?

Clitoraid follows liberating Raelian values about nudity and sexuality advocated by spiritual leader Rael, who founded the charity. Rael has vowed to help humanity rid itself of outdated religious values that plague people's sexual lives, especially women's.