Marin Couple Calls For Global Orgasm For Peace
By Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press Writer - November 19, 2006SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter.
But they don't want you marching in the streets. They'd much rather you just stay home.
The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, who live together on a houseboat along scenic Tomales Bay in Marin County, just north of San Francisco.
Their immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm on December 22 while focusing on world peace.
"The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said on Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change."
The couple are no strangers to sex and social activism. Sheehan, no relation to fellow Northern California anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, brought together nearly 50 women in 2002 who stripped naked and spelled out the word "Peace" on a grassy hillside in Marin County.
The stunt spawned a mini-movement called Baring Witness that led to similar unclothed demonstrations worldwide.
The couple have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of ``my missile is bigger than your missile,'' as Reffell put it.
By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive.
"Religion, science, art, medicine _ you name any great accomplishment that the human race has made and none of it has stopped war and aggression," Sheehan said. "We thought, 'What's the next unbelievable, untested biological gift that we've all been given?' The orgasm."
Interest in participating appears strong, according to the couple. They reported receiving 26,000 visitors a day to their Web site thanks to links from several blogs.
Sheehan said she received "a soulful letter from a man in Istanbul" who lamented that because he lacked a partner, he couldn't take part. They assured him that there were no rules for when, where or how the orgasm was achieved, as long as it was on the given day, she said.
"It's basically what ever turns you on," Reffell said.
Participants can identify one another through the "secret signal," according to the Global Orgasm Web site, of a thumb and forefinger shaped to form the letter O.
The one guideline Sheehan and Reffell do encourage everyone to follow is to practice safe sex and use birth control, citing overpopulation as a source of many of the world's woes.
Reffell said the couple hopes to coordinate with the New Jersey-based Global Consciousness Project to measure the impact of the Global O. The experiment, directed by a Princeton University scientist, claims that the psychic energy of many people worldwide focusing on the same event, like Princess Diana's funeral or the Olympics, can create patterns in otherwise random lists of numbers generated by computers.
Still, documenting the Global O's possible effects is not the main focus.
"The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part)," Reffell said. "And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better."
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