When people think of Seattle I think they conjure… rain, Microsoft, coffee, bad movies like Singles and Sleepless in, bad TV sitcoms — also, the fierce WTO protests, the (now sadly defunct) Infernal Noise Brigade and a restless art scene. Coming to Seattle for HUMP! has had me really thinking about how much the sex-positive scene up here has changed the sexual landscape across the country, plus how much global online sex culture is influenced and fueled by Seattle sites and blogs. Working for Fleshbot I’ve become familiar with Seattle’s (ahem) finest, and I feel like not many people know about Seattle’s influence on my work, sex blogging worldwide, sex education, sex toys, sex machines and porn.

HUMP! is a great example of what I’m feeling right now about how Seattle is pushing ever forward with sex culture in America. Something as wildly popular as HUMP! takes porn out of the hands of small-minded southern California businesses and shows that “porn by the people, for the people” is viable, valid, thriving, healthy and fun. This film fest started small last year but exploded in its second round, with fourteen sold out shows starting tonight and hundreds of entries my friends at The Stranger told me are of incredibly high quality. Believe me — read the film reviews of the homemade hardcore films I’ll be seeing tonight (and know it’s a boiled-down sampling of the over 3 hours of under 8-minute films that were submitted for the fest). People did this!

So Seattle — thank you. Thank you for all of this and more:

* The Stranger: Dan Savage and infamous Savage Love, Mistress Matisse, Lippy Imp.
* Jane’s Guide — Jane Duvall’s site with a terrific Seattle sex events section.
* Lots of people make porn in Seattle.
* But there’s more porn made here, as in sex machines and teledildonics — The Thrillhammer is here.
* So is House of Gord.
* They make hot gay porn here, too — thank you Daddyoohhh! Productions.
* Sex bloggers that blow my mind: Figleaf, Mistress Matisse, Twisted Monk, and there are many more.
* A big sexual cornerstone on the web is here: Sexuality.org (Society for Human Sexuality).
* Seatle is the home of New Horizons, legendary swinger’s club.
* At the heart of the matter: the Wet Spot.
* Babeland started here.
* The Lusty Lady is here.
* I’m only skimming the surface of Seatle’s scene — check out this amazing Seattle sex guide.
* You can find buttloads of Tantra here — Body Electric is the most famous.
* There are bathouses for the gayboys (like this one), and at least one dyke bar.
* Holy shit, the Seattle Erotic Art Festival is famous, we post about it on Fleshbot every year.
* Must mention at least two great erotic artists from Seattle: Francisco Guererro and Krysztof Nemeth.

Oh and a mouthful of sex can be found at Cupcake Royale. Gahhhh… I had one for breakfast….