Music festivals are notorious for the amount of sexualΒ shenanigansΒ that prevail. But how much sex is too much? The SherpΒ dissects.
Music Festivals, especially psychedelic one, are considered to be liberated to the extent that every weird kink is tolerated, if not celebrated outright. Amongst the usual individualistic tastes of drugs, alcohol and music, lies the expansive outreach of sexual activity. The inebriation, we believe, and the absence of normative rules makes festival attendees indulge in a bit of instant gratification.
Sex at music festivals isnβt even an underground secret anymore. In the last several years, some heightened cases of sexual activity at music festivals have emerged, often with candid details of the whatabouts, accompanied with videos. But sex at music festivals isnβt a βgeneration Yβ phenomenon, as sceptics would have you believe!
It did happen at Woodstock
For music festival fans, Woodstock is the perfect example of how a liberating music festival should be. Legendary music lineup, easy and free consumption of marijuana exemplifying the counterculture movement of the 70βs and yes, lots and lots of sex.
Hereβs Glenn Weiser remembering Woodstock 1969 –
The show eventually resumed with Country Joe and the Fish. His famous “Fish” cheer got turned into “Fuck”:
Joe-“Give me an “F!”
Crowd (in unison)-“F!”
Joe-Give me a “U!”
Crowd-“U!”
Got it?
Then, at Joe’s prompting, we all shouted out the “F” word together. Some couples in the crowd reportedly started having sex right on the spot.
(Source: StillPhoto Collection / SUNSHINE International Photo)
Hipster Love
Indeed, some of the most evergreen memories from Woodstock speak, not just of the rampant marijuana consumption, but about how the wild proved the perfect escapade for young couples to have sex wherever and whenever they wanted to.
In Woodstock Memories, erstwhile festival attendee Eric Strange recounts the infamy –
βWhere we had parked our camper and pitched a little tent was, I think, about a ten-minute walk from the big field where the stage was, and that big sort of natural amphitheater place. And so to walk from the music site back to where we were, was like walking through a village. And there were, as I recall, little paths through the woodsβ¦
Along these paths, people had set up little market stalls essentially and were selling lots of drugs. But they were also selling other stuffβbeadwork, and I donβt know what elseβwhatever people could think to sell. And there was a whole lot of commercial enterprise going on in the woods. And there were also people having sex in the woods, and wandering lost in the woods, and running naked in the woods. Everything was happening.
But it did have this feeling of being a kind of village center where the music was, and then going back to the more residential areas where people were camped out and getting fed and that sort of thing.β
Spirit of Psychedelia?
Many argue that sex is but a facet of an experience that asks of one to rise above the mind-body conundrum. With the involvement of drugs or psychedelic music, sex is, but, a natural progression in a space that is filled with togetherness, immersiveness and love for all. Of course, the effects of the drugs can leads to woobly sexual encounters. Such as this one caught on reddit –
2c-B and Psytrance are phenomenal. My friend tried it for his first time during a Joti Sidhu set and when I asked him how he was doing he told me it was rude to interrupt him having sex with the Goddess.
I didn’t press the issue.
(Source:Β psychedelic-sixties.tumblr.com)
(Source:Β strangelfreak.blogspot.com)
Music is the reason
Often music festivals deliver debauchery in the name of a single inspiring ideal – music. The love of music unites one and all, under an umbrella, where some choose to either be friends for life, or some choose to fornicate till the end of the evening. Itβs an impassioned circle brought together by the heightened effect of sound.
Karley Sciortino narrates the experiences of her friend Maria, in her article, βBreathless: Dos and Donβts for the Music Festival Hookupβ on Vogue –
βA festival hookup is a lot like a holiday romance,β says Maria. βYouβre in this bubble of fun for a few days, youβre free of your regular responsibilities, and your senses are heightened. People let their guard down, so it becomes easier to approach one another. And youβre surrounded by music, which always makes experiences more epic.β All of this, she says, facilitates the hookup process. βOnce, while watching Japandroids at Primavera,β she told me, βI looked up and saw this hot skater next to me, and we literally didnβt even exchange any words, we just started making out.β
Sex can be spiritual
As far as psychedelic puritans insist, the addition of sex to drugs and music can truly be an experience that is beyond comprehensible. In what comes across as a sound argument, the fusion of mind, body and higher consciousness is told to be a truly profound experience. As one practitioner of the same, a certain kai2001 puts it on wikifestivals –
If you think about it, there are very few experiences in life that can be genuinely described as sexual. The first one that qualified for such a superlative is sex itself. Without going into details, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some pretty sexual sex in my time.
The next most sexual thing to sex is of course drugs. Not just any old substances, but decent drugs. Coke that hasn’t been jumped on or swedgers that haven’t had all the MDMA banned out of them. When the drugs are really good, it doesn’t even matter if you’re surrounded by boring people – you’re still bound to have a good time. Just as I do on this forum.
The third most sexual experience is hearing your favourite band playing your favourite song live. That one song that sends a tingle up your spine and makes you feel so happy to be alive.
Now, imagine experiencing this triumvirate of sexual pleasures at once, all rolled up into a big ball of orgasmic fun? The drugs and the sex part are simple enough to arrange, provided you’ve got good drugs and a willing partner. And to be honest, if you’ve got good drugs, you shouldn’t struggle to find a willing partner. That leaves only the band part to sort. Realistically, you’re going to struggle to watch your favourite band performing live while you’re having sex; try it and you’ll get ejected from the arena. The closet you’ll get to experiencing such utter nirvana is by slinking back to your tent before your beloved band have finished their set.
(Source:Β Jim Urquhart/Reuters)
Can you not have sex?
But when at a festival that experiences psychedelia of the truly intense kind, can you be the sober person excusing yourself from the sexual abundance? There are two ways to it. While psychedelia lovers speak of including only those up for it, one manβs experience at Burning Man might say otherwise –
(Source:Β Brad Bynum / newsreview.com)
OverviewΒ
Sexual liberation is a concept truly entwined with the idea of psychedelic submission; a facet that can be enjoyed truly only when approached honestly. Give the constant cases of sexual buffoonery at EDM-fests a miss, for some of the ol’ age spiritual gurus did indeed define it best.
Either way, music and art, definitely makes for the best kind of orgasm there is.