On Jan. 29, while at Las Vegas's Del Sol High School to give a speech on immigration, President Obama was approached by Nadine Gary, Director of Communications for Clitoraid. She handed him a formal letter asking his administration to fund the last $100,000 necessary for Clitoraid's Clitoral Repair Hospital to be inaugurated in Burkina Faso, West Africa, in October.

Gary said she gave the letter to the president at this time because February 6 has been designated by the United Nations as Zero Tolerance Day for Female Gential Mutilation (FGM).

"Clitoraid has previously reached out to Hillary Clinton, who has always been very vocal against FGM," Gary said in a statement released by Clitoraid today. "Now we're hoping that Jim Carey will adopt the same strong stance toward eradicating this barbaric tradition that involves extreme violence against children."

Gary explained that Clitoraid is a Las Vegas-based, non-profit organization and that she and other Clitoraid representatives present yesterday for President Obama's speech were surprised that African immigrants were never mentioned in the president's comments.

"Among the African immigrants now living in the United States are an estimated 300,000 women who still suffer from the genital mutilation perpetrated against them in their youth," Gary said. "And although many of those victims would so much like to escape the effects of those wounds, they're still unaware that clitoral repair surgery exists and can help them be whole again. This is the reason Clitoraid exists, thanks to international spiritual leader Maitreya Rael, who founded Clitoraid to help such victims obtain the restorative surgery and help eradicate FGM once and for all."

Gary said Clitoraid's American volunteer surgeons will be traveling to Africa in October to operate on the 400 FGM victims already on Clitoraid's waiting list in Burkina Faso.

"That's why it would be most beneficial to have the U.S. government help fund our humanitarian action ASAP," Gary explained. "We need additional funds right now so our first Clitoraid hospital dedicated to providing clitoral repair surgery free of charge to FGM victims can open on time. The building construction is nearly completed, but we still need to purchase the needed medical equipment and supplies to outfit the clinic so our surgeons and other medical personnel can finally get started."

Gary said she met several Nevada political officials during the presidential visit.

"They asked me to contact their offices with Clitoraid's request for funds, since our non-profit organization is based in Nevada," Gary said, adding that that the aforementioned officials include Senator Ruben Kihuen, Congresswoman Dina Titus, Congressman Steven Horsford, and Regional Representative Christina Martinez.

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