The Sexual Freedom League (SFL) was an organization founded in 1963 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Jefferson Poland John Jefferson Poland (July 12, 1942 – November 17, 2017) better known as John Fuck Poland was an activist, co-founder of the Sexual Freedom League, and convicted child molester. Early life Poland was born in Indiana in 1942. He became a stude ...

and

Leo Koch Leo Francis Koch (February 8, 1916 – November 14, 1982) was an American academic. An Assistant Professor of biology at the University of Illinois, he was fired for promoting premarital sex. Early life Leo Francis Koch was born on February ...

. It existed under the name New York City League for Sexual Freedom to promote and conduct sexual activity among its members and to agitate for political reform, especially for the repeal of laws against

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

and

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, and had many female leaders.

History

West coast formation

When

moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, he started the East Bay Sexual Freedom League there, near the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1966. Although Poland founded the League, he did not try to establish it as a conventional organization with membership lists, dues and meetings. Instead, he went around establishing various Leagues and allowing others to run them. The League first made national news in August 1965 with the "Nude Wade-in" led by Poland, 23, Ina Saslow, 21, and Shirley Einseidel, 21, at Aquatic Park, a public beach in San Francisco. The SFL was featured in an article in ''

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'' magazine on March 11, 1966, which attracted thousands of curiosity seekers and a few active participants. In early 1966 Poland transferred the East Bay League to Richard Thorne, who proceeded to organize nude parties, which were thinly disguised

sex orgies In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party consisting of at least five members where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swing ...

. Thorne fled to

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in the summer of 1966, later changed his name to Ohm and started a religion by that name.

Leaving the East Bay

The Campus Sexual Freedom League disappeared when Sloan left town due to an arrest in April 1967. The last of its 28 nude parties took place on Christmas Eve of that year. By then the East Bay League had also folded and Alida Reyenga had moved to

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, where she took up Scientology.Berkeley Daily Gazette Tuesday April 25, 1967 Samuel Howard Sloan, Party host for Sexual Freedom Forum parties at 2714 Telegraph Avenue, was given 12 hours to vacate the premises by Berkeley-Albany Judge George Braun yesterday. Sloan, 22, was arrested by Berkeley police over the weekend for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and for possession of marijuana. Judge Braun ordered the bail reduced on the contributing charge to $550 from $2,200 and to $1,000 on the marijuana charge on the condition Sloan will vacate the "orgy house" across the street from Willard Junior High School and if he will avoid associating with minors at any party involving alcoholic beverages. His case was put over to Monday at 2 pm for plea. The Telegraph Avenue Party Pad was raided by Berkeley police Saturday night, armed with a warrant for Sloan's arrest and a search warrant. Both were issued on the basis of findings made by officers when they arrested two Oakland juveniles who had attended a party at the house and were caught drinking alcohol outside. Sloan told officers he may move his 'operation' to

Emeryville Emeryville may refer to: * Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San ...

. Source: http://www.anusha.com/orgyhost.jpg While the East Bay versions were dying out, other chapters sprouted up all over California, and the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League emerged at the forefront. It was at first headed by

Margo St. James Margaret Jean "Margo" St. James (September 12, 1937January 11, 2021) was an American prostitute and sex-positive feminist. In San Francisco, she founded COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), an organization advocating decriminalization of pros ...

, who claimed to be a "former prostitute" and participated in social activism while she organized sex orgies, then taken over by Frank and Margo Rila, with ongoing involvement of Jefferson Poland, and members such as Mother Boats. Frank, who edited the Sexual Freedom newspaper, eventually died by suicide. Margo St. James ran for

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

many times but all without success. She has often been criticized by feminists such as Dorchen Leidholdt.

References

Cited texts

* *

Other texts

* ''The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League'' by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by

Herbert Gold Herbert Gold (born March 9, 1924) is an American novelist. Early life Gold was born on March 9, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, in to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later a ...

, Olympia Press, 1971, {{ISBN, 0700413200

External links

Guide to the Sexual Freedom League records
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

Finding Aid to the Sexual Freedom League Records, 1962-1983 (bulk 1964-1973)Sexual Freedom Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
Clothing free organizations Freedom of expression in the United States Organizations based in New York (state) Sex positivism University of California, Berkeley