In each interview I’ve done about Open Source Sex, the journaist always asks me why I started podcasting in the first place. Invariably, my answer never ends up in the final piece; likely because it’s not a neat soundbite. Part of the tech-geek-fetish blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Annalee Newitz, who at a party commiserated with me about how Podcast Alley (at the time) was a ’sausage party’, and Adam Curry, who still owes me a RealDoll orgy, hopefully himself included.
But podcasting, and especially Open Source Sex, was already in my plans for world domination. My site, as you may notice, has a simple design, with no Flash or any other crap that makes it slow to download or might clog up a browser — or might make it difficult for blind site readers to ‘read’ my site. It’s not that fact that I’m a self-taught web designer that leads to this bare-bones result; it’s because I want my site to be accessible to *everyone*. As a result, I’ve gotten a regular stream of fan mail from happy, horny blind and sight-impaired visitors. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that blind people must have more difficulty than anyone to getting access to sex ed, sex entertainment and life’s essential healthy pasttime, porn. Especially content that doesn’t insult, judge, preach absitnence or spread homphobia.
The next step was obvious: audio files. Podcasting, serialized subscriptions even better — and it would force me to nail down audio file compression, making it even easier for more people to have access to. (I wonder how the iTunes interface is for blind reading software?) But yesterday I got an email from a blind Open Source Sex listener that told me everything I needed and wanted to know, and was the closest thing to a hug from the universe I’ve ever had:
“This was meant to be a short letter and its gone on way longer than I intended. I really just wanted to thank you, provide you with another perspective which you may not have considered and point out that for some people, like myself, podcasts like yours really do provide a important, appreciated and welcomed service. If you think its unfortunate that sex education is too often oriented towards reproduction and not presented as something to be enjoyed, its often far worse for people with a disability - its seems that disabled people are not thought of as being sexual beings or if they are, its assumed you will only explore your sexuality with others who have the same disability etc. Many organisations which provide critical services like talking books tend to be dominated by well-meaing Christians who find the idea of erotic talking books offensive and/or obscene. Many who are blind are too embarrassed to seek out erotic material or even ask questions regarding sexuality etc. Podcasts such as yours offer a very valuable resource and possibly something which should be pointed out to the neo-conservative and overly judgemental who feel they need to protect us from ourselves.”
* I found the sexy photos here Update: original page, with video!!!