Safe sex in the animal kingdom - bodysurfing - Illustration

Interview, Feb, 1994 by Dimitri Ehrlich

The '50s had voyeurism, the '60s exhibitionism, the '70s liberationism, and the '80s witnessed a frightening schism. It was the gap between our natural impulses and some new terrifying fears about sex. But out of this came the realization that there's more than one way to have sexual contact. We were thinking about this when suddenly we began to see body-surfing in a whole new light.

With all of that touching, rubbing, bouncing, and flailing going on, a nice sweaty session of being held aloft in the mosh pit feels to us like the new expression of a very old urge. When asked if he thought sex was dirty, Groucho Marx is said to have replied, "Only if it's done right." The same could be said of body-surfing. And talk about new positions--this is one kind of dancing that really brings out the animal in people.