<snip>
Carol Queen wants your old porn.
Not right now, not if you're using it. But later, when you want to purge it, replace it or, you know, when you're gone you could leave it to her in your will.
Queen will add it to the growing collection of erotica in the library of the Center for Sex and Culture. The center already has 7,000 erotic books, 2, 000 adult videotapes, 2,000 to 3,000 magazines and 1,000 pieces of erotic art. There is also a collection of old and antique sexual devices.
This is not about titillation; it's about research. In the growing field of human sexuality, erotica is an indicator of people's desires, community standards, aesthetic and artistic expression and the intersection where all those things come together.
"The thing you see more than anything is just how individual everyone's sexuality is," Queen said. "It never ceases to amaze me."
The erotic library is the centerpiece for the Center for Sex and Culture, which Queen and her partner, Robert Lawrence, have run for 10 years. Right now, much of the collection is in storage, and some of it is in their home.
Until three months ago, there was no place to put it all. The center had no home. It was an organization with a charter and provisional nonprofit status, but there was no physical center.
Three months ago, Queen and Lawrence moved the center into the third floor of a building at 11th and Harrison streets.
There is a library room, offices, conference center and huge open space that will be used for lectures, seminars, conferences and play space. The walls are lined with adult movie posters, memorabilia from SoMa gay clubs and erotic art.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/29/DDG92AHN9T1.DTL
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