she/her
Tina Horn is the author of Why Are People Into That?: A Cultural Investigation of Kink — a book based on her long-running indie podcast of the same name — and the sci-fi comic book series Safe Sex (SfSx). Her journalism on sexual subcultures has appeared in Rolling Stone, Playboy, the Wondery podcast Operator, and in book anthologies such as We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival, which she also coedited. Tina is known for the theatrical sensibility she brings to her BDSM workshops in feminist pleasure boutiques, university lectures on sex worker rights, as an emcee at kinky art shows, a panelist and moderator at writing conferences, and fetish commentator in the media. She has presented with Kink Out, Pleasure Chest, CruiseLA, IMSL, Perverts Put Out, AORTALive, Circa Queer Histories Festival, 7 Days of Domination, and many more. She also works with one-on-one clients, consulting on their creative projects, and coaching with their personal desires. Her work explores the narrative shapes of perverted experiences and the pornographic potential of pop culture. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence in Creative Nonfiction Writing, and is a LAMBDA Literary Fellow, AVN nominee, and the recipient of two Feminist Porn Awards.
Consensual nonconsent (CNC) — any kind of play or fantasy involving force and control — is one of the most taboo topics in sexuality discourse, and with good reason. The painful reality of abuse, assault, and oppression affects our lives every day. This topic itself is a seeming contradiction: how and why do we desire something we don’t want?
In her twenty year career as a professional dominatrix, pornographer, podcaster, sex culture journalist, and comic book writer, Tina Horn has come to believe that those paradoxes are at the center of human desire. She wants us to confront taboos head-on together in order to deepen our respect for ourselves and one another, to share the arousal, and to experience the satisfaction we crave.
This workshop will take a VERY intersectional approach. We will be discussing what it means to fantasize and/or role play about overpowering and/or being overpowered by another person/other people while living in white supremacist cis-heteronormative ableist cultures.
We’ll cover scene ideas, offer the “three act structure” of negotiation, safe word, and aftercare guidance, and explore the idea of BDSM as healing. We will explore fear, rough, and edge play as well as emphasizing how many playful and romantic scenes can incorporate CNC elements in surprising ways. Some other topics: coercion, blackmail, inappropriateness, exploitation, overwhelm, stimulation overload, extreme catharsis, absolute presence in the moment, and much more.
This workshop is for anyone who has ever had a kidnapping fantasy, who has ever gotten steamy at the sight of harlequin romance novel covers, or wants to learn more ways to use erotic force, control, and pain in the bedroom. It’s for tops, bottoms, sadists, masochists, dominants, submissives, vers switches, partnered, solo, and non-monogamists of all kinds.
Sexuality is a vital aspect of human life, from desire to pleasure, romance to tragedy, politics to power. Yet sex in literature is often treated as an inappropriate obscenity, or worse: cringe!
In defiance of this, join Tina Horn for a combination lecture & workshop on how to use sex to be joyful, horny, and heartbreaking in your writing, whether you’re working on creative fiction, journalism, memoir, entertainment, or simply journaling and letter writing in your personal life.
Learn to enjoy the juicy dramatic potential of bodies, methods for illustrating the symbolic potential of fetishes, and how to develop an erotic prose style all your own. Mystery, world building, concrete detail, abstraction, aesthetics, story structure, character arcs and archetypes, tease and denial, irony, and yup, even penetrating puns are all in play for this one-of-a-kind creativity class.
The workshop will include a craft lecture from Tina, followed by collaborative exercises where attendees will have a chance to write from a prompt and workshop one another’s work.
You’ll learn techniques to bring to future projects, get recommendations of great sex writing, and have a chance to participate in a live Q&A. We’ll discuss how to draw from your own experiences, how to use your imagination to experiment, and how to value the erotic elements of your creative life.
Tina’s background ranges from BDSM porn to a Masters in Creative Nonfiction, from zine-making to mainstream political journalism, from university lectures to podcasts and sci-fi comics. Join Tina for this unique opportunity to gush all over that blank page!