Special Sunday Meet - Safe Sex & Mental Health DATE: 20TH Nov 2011
BETWEEN: 6pm to 8pm PICK UP: >From 5.30-6 pm. >From in front of Gloria Jeans Coffee Shop, Off Turner Road, Bandra West DIRECTIONS: To get to Gloria Jeans just come to Turner Road in Bandra and, if you are moving away from the station, you'll come to a big junction with Lemon Grass restaurant at the corner. Turn left there and Gloria Jeans will be just a few shops down from Lemon Grass. If you come from Carter Road and move towards the station, then take the right at Lemon Grass. VENUE: The meet is in Bandra, in a friend's house close to Turner Road. THIS Sunday, DEEPAK KASHYAP will be leading a GB meet on the subject of safe sex and mental health issues. From 5.30 till around 8.00 pm in Bandra. Deepak, who many here will know, is a trained counsellor who is also very proudly out himself. He came to us sometime back with an interesting idea for a meet that looked at the links between mental health issues in the gay community and how that linked to safe sex practices (or more accurately, the lack of them). Deepak said this idea came from talking to many gay men and realising how much confusion there was about what constituted safe sex. This confusion is perhaps inevitable, since there is a tons of information out there - and the Internet both helps by making it available, but also confuses further by making so much available you don't know where to start! A lot of the information can sound contradictory or hard to follow and Deepak realised that a lot of people were just giving up on trying to understand it, and were perhaps becoming fatalistic about unsafe sex. This was probably compounded by the fairly high levels of guilt and stress that exist in the queer community, thanks to the problems we face from society. We saw examples of this at the recent talk on anal health (I have NOT forgotten about the report on that - it'll come soon). The talk was excellent, very calm and matter of fact and non-judgmental. But many of the questions that were coming seemed to indicate deep guilt feeling about anal sex that could lead to quite unsafe sexual practices. This is where Deepak came up with the idea of a meet linking the two and we were happy to give him a chance to expand on it. He's written a bit about it which I'll give below for those who want to know more. But it sounds like it will be a really interesting and interactive talk, so do try and come for it. Is there such a thing as safe sex? or sex can only be safer? Sex is something most of us talk about and want to have. Are we aware of the frills and tassels that come with it? But then again, can you ever know everything that's out there about safe sex and sex and sexuality in general? In our age where available information about sex is not only confusing and contradictary but is presented in an overwhelming amount and structure. Confusion about what's right and what's not right, can sometimes not just create mental stress but also leave us mentally incapable of enjoying the very act of sex, or create great amount of anxiety and guilt after the sexual act is over. Not every information can seem empowering at first, but to say the least ignorance in this matter would be anything but bliss. So how do we strike a balance between our mental health and safe sex practises? What are the absolutely necessary things we should know about sex? Let's talk about it. NOTE: *PLEASE DO NOT COME DIRECTLY TO THE VENUE (which is generally someone's home), even if you are completely familiar with it and even if you happen to know the owner of the home very well. You are advised to come directly at the Pick-up point, mentioned on the website or announced on the mailing list. * Ensure that you get to Gloria Jeans before 6:30 pm. * Drag is a strict no-no. For the simple reason that though Gaybombay doesn't mind drag, the places that host us do. There are also may be many attendees who will prefer being discreet or may be still be coming to terms with themselves hence a request that all be sensitive to this and act and dress accordingly. * After visiting the post meet venue, no one is allowed to go back to that place unless invited specifically by the owner of the house. * We like to maintain Gaybombay as a comfort zone. This is a platform, which allows hesitant and often apprehensive gays to come and meet other gay people. As such, this platform has a strictly non-sexual framework. This group is not about porn, or orgies, or sex-talk, or escorts, or hook-ups. * Do get your friends along to help them gain access to a group especially if they are not netizens. You do not have to be "out" to the world to attend. This is a discreet event being held as a clean, safe & social get-together of a non-sexual nature. Hardly any of those attending are "out" as such. * You need to be at least 18 years of age to attend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This event is organized by www.gaybombay.org Right of admission reserved.
