Only Yes Means Yes: Consent & Cuddle Pile

About the event

TICKET PRICING

Suggested Ticket Price $25 / person

By using tiered, voluntary ticket pricing, we hope to grant access to more participants that would otherwise be unable to access these resources. If you have the means to sponsor others with an added few dollars, please consider doing so via a Sponsor Ticket. We believe information, intimacy, safe practices, and sexual wellness should be accessible to all. By paying what you can (not want), you support BOINK and the community in this endeavor.

EVENT INFO

Kink and queer spaces talk about consent more than most but that doesn't mean we always get an opportunity to practice it. "Only Yes Means Yes: consent and cuddle pile" is a two-part workshop for people who want to close the gap between words and actions. The first hour is spent building a framework together: what a clear yes looks and feels like, how to say no without softening it or explaining it away, and how to receive both with grace. The core objectives are simple and run through everything. Your job is to communicate clearly. Your job is to only move on a clear yes. Your job is to say “no” and observe how that feels in your body. Those things belong to you and you are allowed to hold firm to your boundaries.

The second half is a voluntary, clothing-on, non-sexual cuddle pile that is warm and inviting. Communication is the entire point of this workshop. Everything from the first hour gets to live in your body and is practiced with people who are also there to connect with others. You can join a mat, settle nearby, or just be present in the room. There is no wrong way to show up.

The total run time is 2.5 hours with a maximum of 15 participants. Bring a blanket and/or stuffed animal if you’d like. Come showered and in comfortable clothes. The room will hold you; that's what it's for.

Important Notes:

Consent: Attendance of this event does not constitute assumed blanket consent. You must receive consent for every touch!

About the Facilitator:

Hope is a consent educator and facilitator who runs in-person workshops that teach consent as well as provides a safe place to receive affirmation and consent based touch. Before this work, she spent years as a project manager and research scientist. That background still shows up in how she operates her workshops and classes: clear structure, plain language, and you'll know exactly what to expect.

She created "Only Yes Means Yes: consent and cuddle pile" which pairs consent education with facilitated group touch. She also facilitates "Full Circle–a guided practice", which facilitates a small-group class in which each participant takes a turn as the sole focus of the group's care. Both workshops draw from the same foundations: enthusiastic and genuine consent, clear boundaries, and a traffic light system for pacing.

Hope shows up curious and direct. She feels more grounded outside than anywhere else. She asks a lot of questions to find clarity and searches for different perspectives. She believes in using plain language and enough directness to be useful.

Hope teaches without judgment and you are always welcome to her classes exactly as you are.