CHICAGO – Exxotica Expo in Chicago this past weekend was full of vendors and stage performances as well as seminars. There was dildo riding (yes you read that right. It was like the mechanical bull only it was a huge purple dildo) as well as some lovely ladies from Graffiti Dancers in cages dancing, and one dildo seesaw, which two event goers decided they needed to ride.
There was a fairly large local presence there, with venders like ChiTown Party Bus who offer busses for 15 to 40 people at reasonable rates and even have one with a stripper pole in it. The local strip clubs were represented as well, with both Heavenly Bodies who was handing out free passes if you texted to get a code and On the Border who have a couples night on Thursdays and was also handing out free passes. There was also a male strip review there called Men the Show, who do not only do parties and private events for women but also have dancers who do male parties as well.
- PartyPerks847 swingers and social club had a booth there. They facilitate swingers’ parties as well as interesting bachelor and bachelorette parties. The not-so-local Hedonism Resorts was one aisle over and was having a drawing for a 4-day/3-night package. Sadly I did not win, but I did find out they have been around for 30 years and are family owned.
There was a local plastic surgery company present as well. Stephanie Hesser is a patient consultant with Body Cosmetica. She said they “want to help everyone” and that she would love to help more transgender people with their transitions. I took a quick look at their card with costs of a couple of their main surgical procedures on them and they appeared to be pretty reasonably priced. Maybe it is time to redo my boobs.
There were also a good number of out-of-towners come to sell their wares as well as educate people about the porn and adult sex industry. There was everything from porn stars to a ministry group called Eves Angels who say they do not judge the women in the sex industry because most of them used to be in it. Their main goal is to bring their spiritual beliefs in a non-judgmental way to women in all aspects of the sex industry, not in hopes to change them or what they do but so they might know they are just as loved as everyone else. Nice! And right along in that frame of mind was S.W.O.P. (Sex Workers Outreach Project) who offers all kinds of help, without judgment and without trying to get the women out of the industry. They have a chapter here in Chicago, which is nice to know. Their whole purpose is to support the rights of sex workers and try to help them, indicating that most sex workers are “grown women making grown women choices.” If you need them, you can get ahold of them here. But that was not the only help to be offered there.
A booth for ClitorAid was selling chocolate pussy’s for a $5 donation. The chocolate was fair but the money donated was well spent, since it goes to help rebuild the clitorises of women in countries where they excise them as a part of growing into adulthood.
There was definitely something for everyone with both low tech and high tech. There was a dungeon set up and monitored by SINS Center. There were a good number of BDSM demonstrations and seminars at the event, which was nice for me to see. The actual BDSM porn was very lacking though, it would have been nice to purchase some whips, chains & bondage videos while I was there, but there was none to really be had. Mind you there was plenty of porn stars selling their DVD’s, just none which were BDSM related. I have to say that was one let down for me, personally, though I do not think most of the event goers minded.
There was a deep fascination with the dungeon area though, and given the fact that there were several local demonstrators, like Rigger Ares and Highwire as well as Karcus, together with those out of area, such as Mistress C of California, the BDSM vein of the event was represented well enough without the DVDs.
What is more fun than hands on experience? There were a couple of venders who had whips and bondage gear of various sorts. One was called Bondaid, for the lighter fluffier version of tie downs for the newbie or inexperienced bondage curious. It was like a soft fluffy scarf specially designed to tie ones wrists or ankles together. But there was one vender who had the hard core good stuff, specially designed for the heavy hitters (pun intended) in the crowd, and that was the Violet Wand Store. The owner vends at BDSM specific events mainly, but has branched out to the more main stream venues. If you are looking for serious gear, theirs was the place to be, not to mention they were the only ones who had electro gear.
On the high tech end there were live web cams being broadcast from the event. They were both looking for customers and people to hire. Among these types of high tech were various types of web cam site where one can either purchase or set up their own channel to broadcast on … for a fee on either end of course. In that vein there was Imlive.com who is in negotiations to join LA Direct Models, who purports to have the top current girls in the industry and the best representation for those girls.
There was also Clips4sale.com, who offers what they believe is the best amateur porn on the net. Clips4sale say they are user generated and are like the iTunes of porn, having everything from hard core bdsm to softcore-everyday porn. The people I spoke to there said if you cannot find something on their channels that you want to see or want to share with the world, to contact them, they will be more than glad to discuss adding it to their repertoire.
But besides the number of web cam services, there was one that caught my eye and may even entice me into that line of work. That one is AdultSMStexts.com.They are something a bit new out of the box. As the younger generation lives via texting, they also enjoy sexting. Kelly, the creator of AdultSMStexts, was sitting in her marketing class when the idea came to her. She started the business in May of this year and is doing good business she said. The Exxxotica Expo was her ‘coming out’ party so to speak.
And speaking of high tech, how about never having to fumble with the cap of your lube again in the heat of it? MyImtima is like the touchless soap dispensers, only specifically designed for lube. It even has a nice lip on the base of it to screw it into a counter if you happen to own a bar where lube at the wave of a hand might be a good idea.
And if all that was not enough, there were lovely dancers throughout, a VIP lounge to relax and listen to a band in, stage performances, a Ms Exxxotica competition, bands, seminars on everything from how to get into porn, to a look at BDSM in the “Red room of Pain” and Mastering the female ejaculation. If you missed the event this year, please keep an eye out for it next year. Who knows what next year will bring!
Evangeline Raven
Chicago Den
