Sex, the most cherished and yet the most abused. Sex, an intense drive to reproduce as well as for the pursuit of an exquisite pleasure and perhaps even stronger, the desire for intimate connection. What amazes me is the incredible diversity there is in any culture around sex, even though it always appears that there is some group or groups that keep on wanting the diversity to be squelched for a vision of their own very limited monoculturalist view of sex, as what’s growing in the US culture currently. What is it in the human that seeks domination and control to make sure that everyone thinks like them, to kill the incredible diversity, to create more suffering rather than more tolerance and compassion. We like our world in absolute rights and wrongs. However, what was one day considered obscene and perverted, tomorrow brings acceptance and vice versa.

HopeDance is about pioneers and about going to the roots of certain challenges. Cosi Fabian, a holy whore, writes about her journey, her process from being labelled a “bad girl” to discover the lineage of the Sacred Prostitute where the goddesses of Lilith, Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Isis, and Ostera filled the landscape to help her reintegrate the stolen parts of women. Victoria Doughty, trained in Compassionate non-violent communication, is writing a book about moving beyond the automatic reflex of right and wrong when it comes to the billion dollar industry of Pornography. Because there was nothing online about that alternative perspective she woke up one morning with the call to write the book. Check out her website, her survey and the article.

The issue is packed with articles that are fresh, disturbing, funny, probing at the unusual and alive with what it means to have a body embedded with desire and spiritual yearning dancing together in its beautiful chorus called humanity.

This one issue of course does not do service to a subject as broad as Sexuality. In my most ambitious moments I’d like to take each issue we cover, especially the Sexuality one, and create an entire magazine devoted specifically to that topic. Can you imagine? Energy, Housing, Food, Sacred Activism, Permaculture, Radical Spirituality, Money and Livelihoods, Peak Oil, the Media... Can you imagine?

As you can see from this issues the FiLMS are bursting from the pages, wanting and needing to be seen. Film as a tool is a superb way to get the message across, not just in the privacy of your own computer (especially now with googlevideo and youtube) or TV but with a live and breathing audience feeling the issues at hand and speaking about them afterwards with friends, new friends, associates, new allies... to create, build and strengthen community in these most urgent of times.

Bob Banner
Publisher


<back | top^