The Center for Sex Positive Culture or CSPC (formerly known as The Wet Spot)[1] is a non-profit, membership-based organization located in Seattle, Washington. It organizes events and provides space for several different sex-positive subcultures, notably BDSM, swinging, and polyamory groups. It caters to both heterosexual and LGBT people. The Center is a 501(c)(7) recreational club; its sister organization, the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture is a 501(c)(3) charitable/educational organization.[2][3]
The organization held its first event, a fundraiser, in March 1999.[4]
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The CSPC's primary location was known as and is still sometimes referred to as The Wet Spot. It is a nondescript 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) group of buildings in Seattle's Interbay district. Membership is open to anyone over the age of 18 who has attended an orientation class and agrees to the organization's rules of conduct. There is also an annual membership fee. Volunteers organize and run most events. One of the few employees is executive director Allena Gabosch, who is frequently referred to by the members as "Mom."
The space includes a library including a wide variety of books on sexuality and kink, as well as several flavors of pornography.
Specific regular events include:
The same physical space is used in various configurations for different events. Some have only tables and chairs, other prominently feature dungeon equipment with an adjoining social area, plus private spaces for those who wish to avoid voyeurs.
Annual events organized by the CSPC include:
Founded in 1999 as the Seattle Sex Positive Community Center, it later became known as The Wet Spot. Socially speaking, it is an outgrowth of Allena Gabosch's Beyond the Edge Cafe, which hosted BDSM related events. Several regulars of the cafe started discussing getting a dedicated space for their activities. One famously quoted "It would be great if we could get 200 members." In fact the idea became more popular than they envisioned; in its first year The Wet Spot registered about 2,000 members. In September 2007, they reached 10,000 registered members, although not all of them are current members. In 2007 the organization also changed its name to the Center for Sex Positive Culture[1] and opened a second, "annex" building.
In November 2008 the Center for Sex Positive Culture was scrutinized in a KOMO-TV report regarding the Center's non-profit status,[5] and the sexual activities which occur there. The story was criticized by Dan Savage[6] and others for inaccuracies, and was later pulled from the station's website[7].