Help Us Make Our Goal!

THANKS TO NEHEMIAH STARK AND KRYSTALINE FOR THE VIDEO!!!

Hi, I am Amanda Torrey, the Executive Director of The Deviant Minds,NFP.  Our focus is to create collaborative events between Chicago’s universities, community activists and media to diminish the fear and misinformation prevalent in our society around sensitive sexual topics.

Every problem we have around Gender & Sexuality illustrates how human judgment is not a simple mental process, but also engages our emotions and bodies. We need to create a forum to listen and respond to the great and many influences that contribute to our cultural standards.  Since there is a large gap between what our youth learn in school and out, to achieve the most success, we need to reach out to entertainment celebrities & athletes as well as education experts.  Adding dimension to the spectrum will allow for a comprehensive approach to the already existing conservative push toward what is presented in a Sex/Gender Education and Awareness.

  

With all the information available to us, hopefully we are better equiped to engender a comprehensive Education and Awareness campaign.  Our main focus will be the marketing and promotion of inspiring information from these multi-faceted events scheduled to begin in September.  ie SLUT WALK, is a feminist rights movement that started in Toronto Canada on January 24, 2011, when a Toronto Policeman remarked: “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” This one statement ignited a protest here in Chicago so big it’s on its 3rd consecutive year of protest in September.  We are aiming to take advantage of the momentum and the public’s receptivity of this topic to begin our campaign.

Predictably media in print, radio or TV involves a big portion of the budget.  As we begin, we’d like to first access our Chicago talent with the idea of booking 5 pubs/cafes with a capacity for hosting a medium sized group (50‐100 people), and set‐up multiple dates and times, with topics and speakers. We would publish our calendar of events publicly on the internet, newspaper,  radio and television. All local media in the city will be notified as well as a Press Release of our Program Schedule. Press Releases will also be sent to the national media and thru the wire. Building a responsible model to disseminate information is our primary concern. But it is extremely important to impart this richly meaningful information, in a way that we can easily respond through the heart, mind and spirit of our human understanding to better internalize what we’re being given.

You can donate here of course, but you can also come to my website athttp://www.thedeviantminds.org. Or, if you have a suggestion for a venue, contact me at  amanda.torrey@gmail.com.  Perhaps you're a student at one of Chicago's colleges/universities that's involved with a student group who'd want to get involved?  Maybe you're part of a concerned parent's group who'd like to be a part of their child's sex education?  This should be a community effort linking our kids with their school and community.  Be part of the energetic connection.  And

Thank You So Much for your generosity.

Amanda

Donate Here

Keep Your Eyes Peeled!!!

As of right now, we're working on launching our KickStarter and IndieGoGo projects to fund SexFest 2013 and the information to support and encourage it! Our DVD set will include the speakers that cover the following topics:

Why this symposium?

This webseries is being developed to highlight the evolving research, in Chicago, regarding the infinite degrees of gender and sexuality. It has become clear that the issues around this particular topic make it difficult to relate and work with those closest to us. Although issues surrounding this are universal, we are focusing on sexual marginalization specifically in Chicago. Because Chicago has a plethora of academics and universities that have classes and programs that cover varying topics in regards to Gender Studies. The Deviant Minds, NFP redefines the Chicago Seven from political dissidents to the academic institutional giants functioning today being: University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, DePaul University, Loyola University, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Columbia College. Within these walls we cover the academic issues that people face daily in regards to sexual marginalization and gender studies.

Nature vs. Nurture

Everything comes together through sexual activity. Trees seed, fish lay eggs, flowers pollinate, and through the flowers bees feed to fill their hives with honey to allow the young to grow… So why is it that society sees sex as dangerous? It’s natural and essential to procreate, and keep this earth full of life.

Behavior

There are natural urges to just about everything we do. We eat, sleep, and explore our personal and sexual preferences. We all have needs, we all deviate from a path. Why not take a walk on the wild side, explore who we are, and learn what our gender, sexuality, and desires mean to us. We partner according to what’s in our DNA, why not allow ourselves to explore that?

Healing

What’s in each and every one of us allows us to heal our own issues, whether it’s a crippling disease, or even a mental disorder. Our bodies are designed with chemicals that allow us to remain happy and healthy. Estrogen decreases the chance for heart attacks, Epinephrin and Neoepinephrin allows us to move quickly in a panic-filled situation… Could there be a way our bodies can heal themselves through sex? It’s intimate and releases hormones throughout our body.

Sex, Science, and the Sacred

As beings of nature, there is only one ideal that differentiates us from other life around us. As people, we seek the sacred in our lives, looking for answers with regards to what is right and wrong. Our moral stand points, especially with regards to sex and all that it encompasses, we seek explanations for our desires and drives, which is why finding the scientific base for our basic needs is of such importance.

ABOUT US

THE PROBLEM: My name is Amanda Torrey, the Director of The Deviant Minds, NFP.  David, my husband, and I began our first show on the podcast “Deviant Minds Salon” at the end of April of 2011 by introducing Llyris, who earned her PhD in Neuroscience from Northwestern and  has been a witch for over half her life.  Presently, while developing her challenging career, she is married to another scientist and together they are raising their little boy.  Llyris is still afraid of openly expressing her spirituality for fear of reprisals from her academic community. When we started, we were well aware of spiritual prejudices and hoped to expand communities to embrace cross pollination of spiritual beliefs.  Through the year of our recorded shows though, we fell into a world of spirituality that lived within the confines of sexual marginalization.  These people were sex workers, intersexed and transgendered as well as a few from the Kink community. This new experience motivated me to look at Chicago from a broader perspective where I found a treasure.

THE VISION:  Chicago hosts a number of world class universities.  Chicago drives world class commerce.  Chicago is the home to a large diversity of people no matter how they define their gender and sexuality.  So then it would seem Chicagoans are the most qualified for collaborative workshops, events and celebrations which foster educated insights and creative partnerships that celebrate human nature in all of its quirkiness.