Bad Stories

In 2007, I created a podcast series and set out to interview second wave feminists. I googled "feminist" and "NYC" and Betty Dodson's name popped up on the screen. She was living 20 minutes from my apartment. I showed up 3 days early and the rest is history.

I had no idea what a "Bodysex" workshop was when Betty invited me to assist her lead a group in Copenhagen. All she told me was to bring a raspberry robe....

We did a video every Friday for over 10 years - they're all still up on Youtube. I simply got Betty on camera answering questions users had submitted. I still get thank you emails from women who grew up watching our videos - honest information about their sexuality changed their lives. https://www.youtube.com/@CarlinRossBettyDodson

Betty asked me to travel with her to Norway to shoot an episode for their top-rated series. I had no idea would end up on camera. For the record, I never shared a nude pic or made a sex tape until Betty Dodson.

I talked Betty into filming a workshop in HD for the ages. We put out a casting call....women we never met showed up...we shot with an all female crew...it was extraordinary. Whenever we screen this film, I take something new from it and no one wants it to end.

My life kept leading me back to sexuality....right to Betty Dodson's door. I thought I'd share a bit more about my back story, my struggles and why Betty Dodson meant everything to me.

When she wasn't looking, I would snoop through Betty's closets and find treasure. I pieced together her feminist history and documented her contributions by finding original prints of Liberating Masturbation and her unpublished memoir.

In 1973 - the year I was born - Betty debuted her infamous vulva slideshow and reintroduced the vibrator as a pleasure device at NOW's one and only sexuality conference. I couldn't believe it when I opened a file and found original photos from the conference that showed Betty selling vibes to the women.

I was Betty's date for her 66th high school reunion in Wichita, Kansas. We reminisced about hand-job Bob and I learned why Betty would never let herself fall in love.

When I found myself pregnant at the end of a relationship, I had an abortion by the pill at Betty's apartment. It blew her mind and reassured her that feminism had succeeded. There is no shame in reproductive choice.

When Betty was contacted by Makers - a feminist PBS doc series - about being interviewed she was elated. True to form, her interview was scrapped, they used a 10 second clip to get a laugh in the trailer, and snubbed us at the opening. Weeks later Ilana emailed and Betty became a character on Broad City's Witches episode.

Betty started her career as a fine artist. After her successful "Love Picture" Exhibition, she was inspired to draw masturbating nudes. It was a flop but she realized the bottom line of sexual repression was the repression of masturbation.