Los Angeles, CA – Grooby’s Marketing and Editorial Director Kristel Penn will be presenting at Catalyst Con in Los Angeles this Sunday at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. The workshop, Porn Tasting 101: Consumption for the Curious, will be co-presented with Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Traci Medeiros-Bagan.

“Traci and I are both passionate about destigmatizing porn and its consumption,” said Kristel Penn. “It’s a place that overlaps both of our fields: the adult industry and mental health. We’ve been doing various incarnations of this specific topic for the last two years, and we’re excited about its inclusion in Catalyst Con’s lineup.”

Penn and Medeiros-Bagan will be co-presenting through their company, Meld x Mend. To learn more about the group wellness practice, visit MeldxMend.com.

Porn Tasting 101: Consumption for the Curious is a 70-minute workshop on destigmatizing porn consumption and creating a framework for shame-free viewing. Attendees will also watch an excerpt from Lilith Luxe’s award-winning documentary series, Real Fucking Doc, featuring the cast of Real Fucking Girls 2 and its director Mona Wales. There will also be a free giveaway to win a copy of Grooby’s Real Fucking Girls and Real Fucking Girls 2, plus prizes from Bad Dragon.

A full description of the workshop can be found below:

Porn Tasting 101: Consumption for the Curious

Watching porn is often a solo activity reserved for a dark room with the door closed. We immediately clear our browser histories afterward, but why?

Together Marriage and Family Therapist Traci Medeiros-Bagan and adult industry veteran Kristel Penn offer a unique framework for viewing and enjoying porn.  Like developing a nose for fine wine, they believe that a little practice and knowledge can help create a decadent menu of shame-free desire designed specifically for you!

To begin, we’ll cleanse our palates of shame, stigma, and misinformed beliefs around the adult industry.  We’ll whet our appetites for knowledge with an excerpt from Lilith Luxe’s award-winning documentary series, Real Fucking Doc, featuring the cast of “Real Fucking Girls” and its director Mona Wales. Luxe’s piece highlights the voices of the performers and producers and discusses their dedication to the creation of high-quality ethical porn, porn’s place in culture, and its ability to inform it. At the end of this beginner’s tasting course, you’ll learn a bit about the adult industry, what varieties of porn might be a good fit for you and why, and how to feel good as a conscious consumer.

So, cum one, cum all! This is for educators, providers, and anyone who wants to learn ways to create an open and shame-free dialogue (with others or yourself) around porn.

Penn and Medeiros-Bagan will be speaking on Sunday from 11:30am-12:40 pm in the Scottsdale room at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. For more information on Catalyst Con, visit CatalystCon.com.

Kristel Penn is the longtime Marketing and Editorial Director at Grooby. She also owns and operates boutique PR and marketing company, Ikigai Marketing. For more information, visit Grooby.com and IkigaiMarketing.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Kristel_Penn.

Traci Medeiros-Bagan is an LGBTQ, kink, and sex worker affirming Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LFMT) based in Southern California. She has been recently featured in publications such as Ynot Cam, Go Magazine, and Autostraddle. Visit her official website at CompassionateRevolt.com. She can also be found on Twitter at @CompassionateR1.