DIY sextoys, self portrait

DIY sextoys
It is Saturday morning in the squatted social center where I live (but not everywhere, as timezones will remind us). My housemate and project partner, the lovely Carla Peirano is fast asleep, and so is everyone else, so i will interview myself.

O: Explain the project in a few words..

o: DIY sextoys are workshops where people learn to construct their own sextoy. At the moment we offer Chinese love balls, dildos and vibrators. We've worked very hard on developing the techniques so that people really come out with a pleasing, pretty, easy to make and useful toy. Another thing that was important to us was the use of recycled or accessible material, although now we might be going into stuff that's a little more complicated.

O: How did you get started on this project?

o: I was approached several times to give electronic workshops for women, and although i understand the importance of woman-only spaces, since electronics is something a lot of people don't know, i felt uneasy with the idea of closing the door to people who happen to be male. Once, i replied jokingly that I was not sure what electronics for woman was, would they solder with their vagina? I asked. Then, repeating the joke to my friends, all of a sudden it came to me...

O: what kind of people come to the workshops?
diy sextoys

o: all kinds of people come, the workshop excludes no one on any basis. Actually, i did one workshop in Israel, where I am from, and since Carla couldn't come, my mother, who's really good with crafts, suggested she give the workshop with me. I gave her a tutorial, and warned her not to mother me in front of all these people, and she did great. She now gives DIYsextoy workshops in Israel.

oh, look, here's Carla!

C: Its seems heterosexual women feel less comfortable with sextoys, as if it signified their failure to get a man; the only ones who seem even less comfortable are heterosexual men, who seem to think women need them because they can find nothing good to masturbate with.

O: morning, so, how did you get involved with this project?

C: For some time now I've been working with handcrafts, mixing traditional techniques with recycled materials, finding and inventing the ways in which crafts are still a relevant and potent form of expression. I think the meeting between crafts and sextoys is a fresh and exciting idea for both; it takes crafts out of its traditionalist and non-liberated woman context, and saves toys from a sex industry that is bored, cynical, and offers a standard fantasy in sex shops that are sordid places that don't make you feel playful or creative.

O: what are your plans for the future, (in the unlikely case it exists)?

C: We are developing new toys, but we'd also like to tour the project a little. The way people perceive sextoys (and sexuality) varies a lot with geography. Unfortunately, we can most easily get invited to preach to the converted. We have been trying to go to (catholic, conservative) Chile, where I am from, and they find the project hard to swallow.

O: ok, thanks.

C: sure. coffee?