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Sex sells politics

By Hetal Bhatt

Posted: 9/28/04 Section: News
New advocacy groups are using what they see as a very convincing approach to push for their political cause - sex.

Groups like Votergasm and F' The Vote are encouraging members to become more actively involved in the upcoming election by promising them more action in the bedroom.

"Our main mission is to increase voter turnout," said Michelle Collins, spokeswoman and director of Votergasm. "We know young people have the urge to vote and also the urge to have sex with each other. But sometimes they don't have any idea how to register to vote or find someone to have sex with. That's where we come in."

Votergasm was created in the spring of 2004 and calls on its members to pledge not only to vote in the upcoming election but to also have sex with someone else on Nov. 2 who is also voting in the election. Collins said the post-election payoff promised by Votergasm to its members is what entices the most people to the organization.

"The 'climax' of the Votergasm experience is the Votergasm Election Night Parties with young people in every state turned on from voting, liquored up and duty-bound to fulfill their pledges," she said. "We're non-partisan but we're pro-partying."

In contrast, a group called F' The Vote is very much partisan in the political cause they are marketing with sex. F' The Vote aims to vote George W. Bush out of the Oval Office by "seducing" conservatives into not voting for the President in the November elections. Members will try to get conservatives to sign a contract saying they will not vote for Bush in exchange for sex.

Nathan Martin, spokesman for F' The Vote, said the best way of getting conservatives to shift their steadfast support for Bush was with a very direct and personal one-on-one exchange.

"Bush supporters and Bush opponents very seldom mingle with each other, and we wanted to create some dialogue between these voters because there was virtually none before," he said. "We also wanted a way of relaying our personal beliefs in a one-on-one situation toward the Bush supporters about why we feel that way against Bush, and the one practical method we could come up with was with sex."
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