Swingers descend on Reno for erotic art show, sexuality workshops

Scott Sonner

Friday, July 9, 1999 | 3:52 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Hey, baby. Thousands of swingers are gathering at the Reno Hilton this weekend to view an erotic art show, attend human sexuality workshops and do, uh, what swingers do.

Just don't call it a "swingers conference" around the chief organizer, Lifestyles Organization founder Robert McGinley, a psychologist from Anaheim, Calif.

"It is NOT a swingers conference. It is NOT a sex conference," McGinley told a batch of reporters who had visions of Austin Powers dancing in their heads.

For the record, it's the "Lifestyles '99 Reno Rendezvous" providing "a wide variety of educational and social programs designed to enhance relationships, promote personal freedom and stress sexuality equality."

Workshops range from "Romance on the Internet," "HIV Update," and "Sexual Secrets Demystified" to "Sensual Psychic Connections," "Playing Out Your Fantasies," "500 Unusual Sex Practices," "Growing Up With Kinky Parents" and "Sex Without Guilt: The Morality of Sexual Pluralism."

Porn star Ron Jeremy speaks Saturday on "Sex and the Law."

There's even one session entitled "Introduction to Swinging ... for experienced and novice swingers alike" - consenting couples who swap spouses or practice other-than-monogamous relationships. It offers tips on how "to handle jealousy, personal hygiene and safe sex."

"A lot of people here are involved in swinging," McGinley conceded. "But the Lifestyles Convention sponsors no sex acts whatsoever. What it does is let people learn about it."

McGinley said that after 30 years of study, he still can't define a "swinger."

"We have nudists here. We have people involved in threesomes. We have people who are plain ordinary couples exploring the possibility of enhancing their relationship" he said.

Janine Hansen, founder of the Nevada Eagle Forum affiliated with conservative Phyllis Schlafly, criticized the convention as reinforcing a negative stereotype of Nevada as the "Sin State."

"It promotes the image that this isn't a stable community," she told the Reno News & Review.

But Hilton officials said they'd had no complaints and it was "business as usual" during the convention.

Steve Mason, a San Diego psychologist and speaker at the convention, said he thought about half of the 4,000 people at the conference were "swingers."

"A lot of them drop their kids off at the grandparents and they're ready to kick their heels up for the night," said Mason, who first addressed the convention in 1989.

"I was amazed by the smiles on people's faces. They've gotten rid of one of the biggest sources of stress in our lives. They handle sex as a normal part of life," he said.

A topless Mardi Gras ball is scheduled Saturday night. The artwork at the "sensual and erotic" show ranges from traditional nude paintings and sculptures to more graphic representations some would label pornographic.

McGinley founded the Lifestyles Organization in 1973 with a retreat attended by about 125 in Riverside, Calif. The group moved its convention to Las Nevada because of continuing legal battle with liquor officers in California who won't allow the erotic art exhibition in the same building with liquor sales.