Compelling Scientific Study on Lubricant Safety shows Good Clean Love at Top of Market

EUGENE, Oregon. February 26, 2013 (electronic release) – In an independent study published last year, Good Clean Love was found to be one of the safest personal lubricants on the market. [1]

“We have always strived to produce the most healing lubricant formulations for the most sensitive tissues in the body as part of our core mission at Good Clean Love because we believe that healthy intimacy is foundational to our well being and the glue for lasting relationships.” says company founder Wendy Strgar. “We have been educating people about the dangers of the petrochemical based products for a long time, this new scientific research demonstrates just how dangerous these widely used products can be.”

To understand why some personal lubricants can be safer than others, you have to understand the science of osmolality, which is how scientists describe the concentration of ingredients in a fluid.

The cells in your body are basically liquid-filled bags, and your body is good at keeping the osmolality of them stable, so when you put something reactive on your skin, your body tries to stabilize your cells against it. Instead of raising the concentration inside of the cells, your body releases fluids from them to dilute and wash off the foreign agent. When this happens, cells shrink and shrivel, which makes them more susceptible to damage. [2]

For fluids with a small difference in osmolality, there is a small change in fluids from the cells, but with those that are ten or even thirty times more concentrated, as can be found in many personal lubricants, cells can shrivel like raisins or even fall off completely. [3]

Even with a condom, STDs can still be spread. Condoms are only effective as a barrier to keep infections from spreading through direct contact, but there are multiple STDs that can be spread through sexual contact that is not covered by a condom. [4] Genital herpes, HPV and syphilis can all be transmitted without ejaculation, and their infections can live in cells at the base of the penis or thighs, areas that a condom can’t cover. Raw, damaged vaginal or rectal tissues, like those caused by the use of personal lubricants with artificial chemicals and additives, can provide a perfect transmission route for STDs.

In one study published in 2010 involving rodents, scientists at Johns Hopkins found a tenfold increase in herpes transmission when K-Y Warming Jelly was used when compared to rats where it was not used. [5] In another study published in 2012, recipients of anal intercourse who consistently used lubricant were found to have a higher occurrence of STDs than those who did not consistently use lubricant. [6]

Good Clean Love was shown to have “minimal impact” on the human body and “did not show loss of viability or epithelium,” which is the tissue that lines the vagina and rectum. [7] Good Clean Love has an osmolality almost identical to that of fluids in the human body. With only natural and organic ingredients, Good Clean love does not contain propolyene glycol, parabens or glycerin. [8]

About Good Clean Love

Always 100% cruelty free and recommended by healthcare professionals and sex therapists nationwide, Good Clean Love provides products that build lasting relationships, explore intimate connections and bring the fun back into love.

A woman-owned company headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, Good Clean Love is an approved Coop America Green Company and strives to reduce it’s impact while providing the highest quality ingredients and recyclable packaging materials available. All Good Clean Love products are manufactured in the USA and can be found in fine retailers like Fred Meyer, many natural food stores and pharmacies, including Whole Foods and Pharmaca, as well as many spas, gift shops and physicians offices.

Get the details here!

Recent scientific research that is being conducted nationally on the safety of personal lubricants is now providing the science behind our success. Researchers are now able to measure the osmolality of personal lubricants, which is the overall concentration of molecular ingredients in a product. The higher the osmolality of the lubricant the more likely that it will cause epithelial cell damage because of simple physics; the weight of the molecules causes the cells there to shrivel up and come off, which weaken the body’s defenses. For instance, K-Y Warming Jelly, which has an osmolality more than 30 times the body’s own fluid, was found to increase herpes transmission more than nine fold in rodents, when compared with rodents not administered lubricant. Whereas Good Clean Love’s osmolality is so close to the tissue of the human body, that it was found to not damage the tissue samples or boost HIV infection rates.

We have long been a donating supporter to HIV prevention groups and other healing efforts. Patients of our local HIV Alliance fared so much better with our products than with conventional lubricants that they acted to include us in these studies. It was within this context that our product was introduced to the research team.

But you don’t have to have HIV or post-cancer symptoms to benefit from the natural and organic ingredient-base of Good Clean Love lubricants. Millions of people who suffer from dryness from medications, illness or aging are more likely to be adversely affected by the petrochemical ingredients found in 95% of conventional lubricants. The cell damage that the scientists are documenting creates its own visceral response, which is commonly pain, itching and burning with the use of these products.

These symptoms cause the premature ending of many workable sexual relationships. Most people listen to their doctors who tell them to use a lubricant and assume that the symptoms they are having in response to the ingredients verify their intractable sexual problems. No one has ever told them that it is the ingredients in these products that are making people sick. Dr. Richard Cone, of John’s Hopkins University was quoted as saying on the basis of his own research, “Virtually all sex lubricants need to be reformulated.” I guess he hasn’t tried Good Clean Love yet, but not to worry Dr. Cone, it’s on the way.

I have been standing on this ingredient soap box for close to a decade and have educated tens of thousands of medical providers and customers on the critical need to use safe, healthy ingredients for the most sensitive tissue in the body. How gratifying for science to catch up to me and put me on their chart. Lubricants are designed to heal the most intimate connection we have to another human being. That’s why we call ours Good Clean Love.

-Wendy Strgar, Loveologist & Found, Good Clean Love

This is an excellent series that anyone who is partnered or who aspires to be in a long term relationship.  It offers a thorough explanation of the hard but rewarding work of what it means to love.  In addition to teaching through stories and anecdotes, Wendy also provides meaningful meditative practices to tap into your own capacity to give and receive love, to listen more deeply to yourself and others and to open up to experiencing all the pleasure that your body can hold.  Wherever you are in the cycle of your relationships, Wendy’s insight and wisdom will help you sustain and nurture your capacity to love and the loving relationships in your life.

Access the tools necessary to develop the skills of communicating, showing up and thinking more positively. Open up your life to the real possibility of receiving the love you want.

Relationship Boot Camp Module 1

Relationship Boot Camp Module 2

Relationship Boot Camp Module 3

Relationship Boot Camp Module 4

For More Information Click Here

Lubricants now feature bilingual (French/English) packaging, plus a color square to help differentiate the flavors.  The Love Oils have moved to a sleek modern aluminum bottle design with a pump. Finally, the Body Candies also get new transparent labels with color coding for each flavor.

Good Clean Love is an approved Coop America Green Company, located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Good Clean Love strives to reduce its impact while providing the highest quality ingredients and recyclable packaging materials available. The company is also a supporter of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and is continuously working to educate women, physicians and retail stores about the importance of clean and healthy ingredients in love products. They provide samples to college campuses, doctor’s offices and cancer treatment centers.

Wendy Strgar is the founder of Good Clean Love, Inc. and the manufacturer of all natural love and intimacy products. She has been married for 28 years and has four children. Wendy teaches about Making Love Sustainable, a philosophy of relationships, which recognizes the importance of valuing the renewable resources of love.

Good Clean Love will continue to offer love advice on the sister site still entitled Good Clean Love Daily at www.daily.goodcleanlove.com Visible icons will direct visitors between the two sites.

Good Clean Love founder Wendy Strgar will host Love that Works: A Series for Patients and Partners, a free, six-week series on how to reconnect, repair and strengthen your bond during and after cancer. The series begins Tuesday, June 5^{TH from}1-2 30 PM and will be through July 10th at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute. Pre-registration is required.

This series will examine the power of positive-thinking, meditation tools, communication that works, body changes related to cancer treatment, and explore sexuality to rediscover intimacy and your erotic self.

A pre-course questionnaire is available from your oncologist, receptionist or social worker and care manager. Please complete it and return by May 25. For additional information, contact Rosie Starks at 541-681-4949.

While there has been some press on the bad effects of vibrators and the dependence that some women develop on them for being able to find orgasm, they have also been profoundly instrumental in allowing women to have an orgasm in the first place. In fact, a little bit of recently uncovered history has linked the invention of vibrators to Victorian physicians who were treating women for “hysteria” by bringing them to orgasm. These physicians were looking for a way to speedup to process so that they could see more patients per day and the vibrator answered the call. For years, these items were sold as medical devices, no stigma attached. The documentary “Passion and Power: the Technology of Orgasm” tells the story of both the development of vibrators and their influence on the female experience of orgasm.

The range of options for novelty items available is dizzying…One can find products in every color, shape, and size imaginable. The materials also vary from plastic to titanium to wood to glass. The varieties of vibrators and dildos alone can be overwhelming; clitoral, missile, waterproof, and vibrating erection rings are just the tip of the iceberg. It can be hard to know where to start. Before choosing an item, it is a good idea to take some time to research how to choose a toy. The sex-positive store, Good Vibrations, offers comprehensive advice on how to choose the right toy. They sell many eco sex products (made from the right materials) on their site, as do our friends at Jimmy Jane and Seattle Green Toys.

The majority of adult products are made with plastics. Sadly, the lack of regulation and oversight in this industry has created a glut of products which have been found to be extremely dangerous, with both low quality ingredients and bad plastics which off-gas and leak nasty chemicals. This video by Treehugger.com has the low-down! http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/tree-hugger-tv-shopping-for-an-eco-sex-toy.html

European studies of adult toys have shown extremely high levels of off- gassing of dangerous chemicals like phthalates in very high concentrations and that even in small levels have been linked to cancer and damage of the reproductive system. Being an intelligent and conscious consumer of adult products is an absolute necessity in this unregulated market- so please consider this a health warning and ask about the ingredients and the coating on the soft jelly and “cyber skin” items which are popular and often made with cheap PVC. As bad as these ingredients may be for the environment, they are even worse for sensitive tissue.

There are some really great eco friendly and safe adult toys to use that can add excitement and novelty to the bedroom. As in any industry, you get what you pay for, and when I first brought home some cheap vibrators, my husband was uninspired to say the least. So be prepared to invest in toys that are responsibly made, luxuriously beautiful, functional and long lasting. Moving up in price point, moves you from shopping for a vibrator to selecting a pleasure object… a distinction definitely worth the investment!

A couple of my favorite companies in the mid and upper price ranges include two European manufacturers, The German manufacturer Fun Factory and the Swedish manufacturer Lelo. Both of these companies offer a wide range of styles and shapes to engage most any couple. These more upscale vibrators use plug in chargers instead of batteries and offer much quieter motors with up to 16 different speed variations. You can find many of their products in the Toy section of our site, along with high-quality, body-safe products from other manufacturers.

Accessories can get your imagination rolling and as Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Certainly when it comes to physical intimacy, allowing our imaginations a bit of free reign can only help to unleash some undiscovered passion. I have become a vibrator aficionado, always ready to expand my repertoire to include more and different sensations and my beautiful Lelos provide inspiration and some new ideas to explore what had been uncharted territory. Which is the point of all the millions of dollars of adult novelties: finding more and better ways to share deep personal pleasure that is the glue for holding all of the messy parts of loving relationships together.

–Wendy Strgar, Lovelogist, Good Clean Love

Jan H Stafl MD, FACOG,  Eugene OR

“These love products really will transform your erotic experience. The sensuousness and quality of the products is far superior to any other product on the market. As a certified sex therapist these are the only products that I recommend. Being all natural, the organic properties and range of delicious scents inspire deep intimacy. Never overpowering, they work with your body’s own chemistry. The right products can make all the difference in the world in achieving deep intimacy and heights of ecstasy. My clients rave about your products.”

Michelle Sugg, Certified Sex Therapist, Connecticut

“The Good Clean Love products are fantastic. I will be featuring them in an upcoming e-letter. Thank you. “

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

“I wanted to let you know how much my patients of all ages appreciate your product (good clean love).  It has helped many of my patients from their early 20′s into their 70′s with their dysparunia and pelvic pain issues.  Your work has been a gift to many women.”

Tamara Stenshoel M.D.  FACOG

“When clients ask me what personal lubricant I suggest, one brand comes to mind. Good Clean Love. Because Good Clean Love uses organic ingredients from sustainable sources, and because their products feel and taste great – without having the dangerous amounts of glycerin that other companies use, I recommend GCL’s products above all others. And if an adult boutique wants me to send my clients there, one of the ‘weeding out’ questions I ask is, ‘What lubes do you carry?’ If they don’t carry GCL, I’ll think twice before sending anybody to their store. My advice as a sexologist is: don’t just ask for any lubricant. Ask for Good Clean Love by name. It’s good for you, your partner, and the Earth – that’s a menage-a-trois worth celebrating!”

Eric Marlowe Garrison, MAEd, MSc (London), AASECT-Certified Sex Counselor

“I am a Director Women’s Health at the Marino Center for Integrative Health in Cambridge Massachusetts and would love to have information and samples of your Good clean love lubricant available for my patients.

This is the best lubricant I have used and want to get the word out. I find the best way is to have a small sample available for patients to use. After the first experience I think my patients will be hooked.”

Deb Morrill, Director Women’s Health at the Marino Center for Integrative Health in Cambridge Massachusetts
“We have been getting very positive feedback from our patients about your lubricant samples we have been giving to them: i.e. very well tolerated, no burning, no irritation. We are happy to be able to provide your products to our patients.  Thanks so much for you help and dedication to the comfort and pleasure for women, especially those struggling with dyspareunia!”

Susan Kellog, MD, OBYN * Jennifer Fariello, MSN, RNC, CRNP, The Pelvic and Sexual Health Institutes

“As a sexual medicine gynecologist and sexual counselor, that specializes in female pelvic health, I am often faced with a range of female sexual dysfunction issues.  One of the most effective lubricants that I recommend for persistent vaginal dryness and pain is the Good Clean Love brand personal lubricants.  Even among my most sensitive patients, including cancer survivors, these lubricants are well tolerated and permit my patients to have a positive sexually satisfying sexual and sensual experience.

I recommend Good Clean Love products because they are natural, organic and healthy alternatives to the petrochemical products that dominate the market.”

Dr. Michael Krychman, Executive Medical Director, Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship Medicine

“Love the blog! I regularly forward the articles to patients. I appreciate the positive uplifting discussions that revolve around healthy intimacy! Keep them coming.”

Brevan B Baugh ND, Peterson Wellness Center

“This has been a great alternative to my patients with sensitive skin.”

Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, The Pilate PT

“We love the Good Clean Love!  Patients have given us good feedback as well.  We have seen less issues with vaginal irritation that we will see from other lubricants as well.”

Tamara Cullen, ND, Naturopathic Family Medicine

“I appreciate the samples and my clients are very happy with the Good Clean Love lubricant. The feedback I receive is that it has a texture and quality that is quite unique and pleasant to use. It has been especially favored by menopausal women although I also work with post-op transsexuals who have been very pleased with it.

Thank you so much. I also greatly enjoy the newsletter and share it with my students as well.”

Carol L. Clark, Ph.D., LMHC, CAP

“Thank you for the gift of your book….I read it all the way home…haven’t finished it yet, however, what a wonderful and thoughtful book it is!!!! We are a lot alike!!!! Your book is filled with wisdom, not only about relationships, but, about how to live life in an authentic way. The intimacy you speak of is the intimacy of life.

Sally Valentine, PhD, FAACS, LCSW, AASECT Certified Supervisor and Sex Therapist

If oral sex is more a chore than a pleasure for you to perform, consider how adding some new flavor to the act might be the missing ingredient. I have met my share of sexual purists over the years who say that the “au naturel” scent of their lover is all they need. Not me. Adding body candy doesn’t only spice up the skin’s aromas, it also adds a creamy glide.

Try this: start with a kiss. Apply your favorite body candy to the lips and have your lover lick your fingers. See how long you can linger on the scent of that kiss. Try it on nipples, behind the ears, the nape of the neck. Take your time and inhale your partner at each of these locations. When you can’t wait any longer, try it down low. Combine our body candies freely with fantasy play. Whether you go all out with costumes and props or just allow yourself to tap into the fantasy going in your head while you make love, explore the new doorways that scent and skin will open. Don’t worry about what it means or what is normal, just ride your fantasy like a dream and be amazed at how much pleasure lives inside of you. With time you might want to share fantasies or play them out, but truly just even looking at them is really playful.

Oral sex is one of the most mysterious pleasures we practice together. Thinking about it only serves to keep it at arm’s reach. Circumventing our rationale and dominant brain with erotic flavors lets you smell your way into the mystery. Consider it the direct path to your arousal mechanism.

Reinvent oral pleasure with Good Clean Love Body Candy- you will be glad you did.

–Wendy Strgar, Loveologist

My husband, Franc, coined the term “smoking me/you” to describe the practice of inhaling your lover’s scent. Try this: apply a generous amount of love oil to lips and face, coming all the way up to the nose. Coming in close enough to kiss your partner, so you can feel their breath on your face, and inhale. Close your eyes and focus all your attention on scent. Notice how scent penetrates beyond your conscious thoughts. Take 5 breaths. Move in slowly and brush your lips on the smooth soft glide of chin, cheek. Eyes closed, search for lips. See if you can feel the moment when your limbic brain begins to fire a burst of neuron activity. See if you can physically notice the moment when your sexual drive is triggered.

Good Clean Love oil scents are exotic and erotic combinations from across the globe. We employ many of the oldest recorded aphrodisiac oils that have been revered for centuries in our formulations. Not surprisingly many of these exquisite scents have been more valuable than gold for their arousing properties. Each of our scents combines the sensuous history of faraway lands and exotic aromas, literally transporting your intimate experience.

It is hard to smoke your lover for very long, before you are compelled to kiss. Love oil turns an ordinary kiss into a conversation. Scent enlarges all sensory experience at least ten fold. Lips, tongue, and breathe are all magnified within the shadow of aroma. Paying attention to this most precious and private language of intimacy nourishes your relationship in ways that no speaking conversation can. Let the kiss envelop your body. Be generous with love oil all over your lover’s body. Feel the weight of your hand as it glides over curves. Add pressure to the length of a leg. Try only finger tips down the torso. All the time, keep your mind focused on scent. How does your lover’s body smell on the chest, belly, and genitals? Love oil will continue to change all over the body and like notes of music; you will be inhaling different combinations of scent.

Love oil smells different on everyone who wears it and creates a unique scent bridge between you and your partner. Knowing your relationship through scent is a unique way to reconsider all that you thought you knew and recognize all that remains mysterious about the one you love.

–Wendy Strgar, Lovelogist, Good Clean Love

Here is what lubricant doesn’t do: It doesn’t turn on your arousal mechanism. Lubricant doesn’t help you find your sexy internal space that fires up to welcome someone into the deepest part of you. Lubricant, even the best in the world, will not prevent you from having pain if you are not ready to be penetrated. Readiness, opening and arousal are the pre-qualifying events for good lubricant performance.

It is understandable that many people believe that personal lubricant is the answer to every sexual issue. Some of my biggest competitors spend tens of millions of dollars every year falsely advertising that fallacy and using a ton of nasty petrochemicals to drive it home. The advertising success is due in part to to the overwhelming desire that most of us have for great sex, as well as an acceptance for the “need” of lubricant.

Over 80% of the US population has used lubricant at some point. Pay attention to the ingredients in your lubricant. Much of the intimacy product market is still dominated by petrochemical- based products with carcinogenic preservative systems. Respect the most sensitive tissue in your body with natural and organic ingredients.

And here is the best advice still: don’t rush it. Take this dare- double the time of your foreplay activity and then reach for a bottle of lube. You will be amazed how the longer you wait, the better it is.

–Wendy Strgar, Loveologist

Don’t miss this conversation that may well help you put your relationship first, leading to the most satisfying emotional healing in your life.

Stan Tatkin, author of Wired for Love is a Psy.D clinician, researcher, and teacher. He developed and trains therapists in a Psychobiological Approach To Couples Therapy® (PACT) which integrates neuroscience, emotional attachment, and healthy adult intimate relationships. He works with couples in private practice and runs a bi-weekly clinical study group and training programs for medical and mental health professionals through out the world. Over the last decade, Dr. Tatkin began linking his research in
psycho-neurobiological theories of human relationship, with his early work in the field of mother-infant attachment to adult romantic relationships.

He speaks to professional audiences on subjects of couples therapy and preventative psychotherapy through early intervention with infants, children and their parents. He has published several articles on the psychobiology of couples’ therapy and is currently training therapists on his unique approach to couples work using attachment theory, neuroscience, and principles of arousal
and affect regulation.

In addition to his private practice, he teaches and supervises first through third year family medicine residents at Kaiser Permanente, Woodland Hills, through which he is an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine.

Website: www.ahealthymind.org/

Dr. Todd B. Kashdan’s broad mission is to increase the amount of well-being in this world. He uses cutting edge science to help people function optimally in life and business. He is Associate Professor of Psychology and Senior Scientist at the Center for Consciousness and Transformation at George Mason University. He received the 2010 Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year. Dr. Kashdan regularly leads keynotes and workshops to business executives, coaches, health professionals, schools, parents, retirees, government and other organizations. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and authored Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life (William Morrow) to promote the science of well-being for a general audience, Designing Positive Psychology (Oxford University Press) to provide a comprehensive volume on innovative theories and research on well-being, and is finishing his third book, Cultivating Well-Being: Treatment Innovations in Positive Psychology, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Beyond (New Harbinger Publications) to give concrete advice to leaders and health professionals.

December 2011

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Men’s Health – December 2011

Whole Living – September 2011

Fitness – April 2011

Debby Herbenick, PhD is a research scientist and associate director of Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion and sexual health educator at The Kinsey Institute. Dr. Herbenick is also the author of Because It Feels Good, Read My Lips: A Complete Guide to the Vagina and Vulva, and The I Love You More Book. Her newest book, Great in Bed, is out this month.  Herbenick is one of the lead scientists associated with the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior. She writes the responses to the Kinsey Confidential questions for the Kinsey Institute as well as her own well respected and widely read blog MySexProfessor.com.

Additionally she is the author of the sex advice column for Time Out Chicago and  Men’s Health and has appeared several times as an expert in human sexuality on The Tyra Banks Show and The Doctors and on one occasion taught about the vulva by using a vulva puppet on Tyra. This clip resulted in millions of views on YouTube and also aired on The Soup and Best Week Ever.

Mark Gungor is Sr. Pastor of Celebration Church, a multi-site church with five campuses across Wisconsin, and the CEO of Laugh Your Way America.  He is the author of Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage® (Simon & Schuster, 2008), the book is based on his phenomenally successful seminar and years of working with thousands of couples. Mark balances his pastoral duties with a rigorous travel schedule. He speaks for churches, civic events, and business meetings and is a much requested speaker for the US Army.

Mark has also been featured on national broadcasts such as Focus on the Family, Life Today and ABC News. His Better Marriage Minute radio program is heard on 250 radio stations nationwide and his daily internet radio talk show, The Mark Gungor Radio Show, debuted in the fall of 2008. He is also the creator of the television series, Love, Marriage, and Stinking Thinking broadcast around the world on various networks including TBN. He is married to Debbie, his high school sweetheart and constant travel companion. The Gungors have been married for over 39 years and have two married children and five grandsons.

When Mark Gungor conducted his first marriage seminar, he did so for one reason—because somebody had to do it, and no one else was reaching the couples in his area. The enthusiastic response he received from his first audience was just the tip of the iceberg. Today, he is one of the most sought-after speakers on marriage and family in the country. Each year thousands of couples attend his Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage® seminars.

Samuel Barondes has an A.B. and an M.D. from Columbia University, and was trained in clinical medicine and psychiatry at several Harvard teaching hospitals (Peter Bent Brigham, McLean, and Massachusetts General). He learned to do research in molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health.

Thereafter, Barondes devoted himself to applying the new sciences of molecular biology and molecular genetics to psychiatry. He has been a professor at the  University of California since 1970, first at its San Diego campus where he was a founding member of the Department of Psychiatry, and, since 1986, at its San Francisco campus, where he was, for seven years, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Director of its Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute. Currently Barondes remains at UCSF where he is Jeanne and Sanford Robertson Professor and Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry.

Barondes is author of more than 200 original research articles. He is a member or fellow of many societies, including the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is or has been member of many editorial boards and scientific advisory boards.  He was President of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience for ten years and also served as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health.

In addition to his research publications, Barondes has written four books for a general audience: Molecules and Mental Illness (1993); Mood Genes (1998); Better Than Prozac (2003), and his latest, Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality, which was published by Pearson in August 2011.

Maryanne is a relationship activist, coach, radio personality, award-winning author, and frequent guest on TV and radio talk shows around the country. Millions of people worldwide listen to her three live weekly radio talk shows: Maryanne Live!, The Power of We with her husband David Raynal, and Heart Talk with Eve Hogan.

Maryanne is a go-to expert for Fox News, WetPaint, Hollywood Life and more. Her blogs can be found on dozens of internet sites. Along with a private practice, she leads transformational workshops for men and women, awarding the Certificate of Responsible Relationship, CORR®, certified by the State of California for Continuing Education credits. She’s the author of the award-winning book, Skinny, Tan and Rich: Unveiling the Myth, as well as Hindsight: What You Need To Know Before You Drop Your Drawers!, and the CD series “Thrive: Seven Essential Truths.” She and David have just released their Great Relationships Begin Within Divination deck. Maryanne’s gift is translating life’s complexities into practical tools for creating healthy, fulfilling, sustainable relationships. She’s recognized by her peers and students as a wise, witty, soulful teacher who walks her talk.

An Organic Conversation Team
Helge Hellberg is an educator, consultant, radio talk-show host, and organic food advocate widely respected for his innovative work in the field of sustainability, ecology, and human health. Hellberg is a distinguished speaker and guest lecturer at events and conferences throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and has advised businesses, organizations, local and state governments, as well as U.S. Senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives on agricultural challenges and opportunities. His contributions and projects have been featured in dozens of articles and TV segments including CNN, ABC, and CBS, the Huffington Post, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Mother Earth Magazine.

Mark Mulcahy is a produce retail consultant, educator, and organic advocate. Mulcahy is a member of CDS Consulting Co-op, which provides produce consulting and educational services for co-ops and independent retailers worldwide.[4] He has spoken at numerous events and conferences including the Ecological Farming Conference, Natural Products Expo East and West, Organic Trade Association’s All Things Organic Conference, Natural Products Expo Europe and the Consumer Cooperative Management Association Conference. Mulcahy is a regular columnist for Natural Food Merchandiser, Natural Food Network, Cooperative Grocer and the Melissa’s World Variety Produce web magazine, Organic Solutions. His “Language of Flavor” seminars, and his monthly organic produce newsletter Fresh Perspectives is used in stores around the United States.

Sitarani Brian is the Culinary Program Director for Bauman College, training chefs in a holistic approach that focuses on nutrition and sustainability. She has worked professionally in restaurants and as a personal chef, caterer, and cooking instructor in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Her specialties include vegan, vegetarian, and raw cuisines, as well as macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, and gluten-free diets. Chef Sita¹s commitment to organic, local, seasonal whole foods and fairly traded ingredients led her to her motto: Enjoy food that is good for the body, good to the Earth, and good for the welfare of the people. She is currently working on her cooking show “Twice-a-Week Vegetarian” which encourages people of all diets to choose a plant-based meal twice a week to save money and to promote better health and a lighter carbon footprint.

As a former contributing editor and columnist at Penthouse she has worked with legends like Dr. Ruth and Helen Gurley Brown.  She has interviewed thousands of men and women about their sex lives and has developed several sexual techniques that have helped thousands of women achieve orgasm.  She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America and numerous other television and radio programs.

All GCL brand products are 50% off through April 25. Happy Earth Day!

Read More…

Italian born, Tiberio Simone is a James Beard Award-winning chef and pleasure activist. He has been cooking for as long as he can remember, beginning in his mother’s kitchen. Tiberio started his career by working at an Italian restaurant in Seattle, where he moved at the age of 21. He eventually became the pastry chef at Seattle’s Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. Years later – tired of corporate cooking – Tiberio launched his own company: La Figa Catering.

Matt Freedman is both a professional photographer and a professional technologist. In 2007, he was able to combine his passion for photography and technology by becoming the staff photographer and Director of Technology for JUST CAUSE Magazine – a bi-monthly magazine focusing on solutions, with stories of individuals, organizations and businesses doing good in the world. In 2009, Matt once again merged photography and technology to produce Burning Man: A Photo Essay – the first iPhone app about the Burning Man festival. A “coffee table book for the iPhone,” the app combines Matt’s photography, writing and software engineering.

Elayne Angel is a world-renowned professional body piercer and author of The Piercing Bible–The Definitive Guide to Safe Body Piercing (Random House, 2009), the only comprehensive book in English that is exclusively on the subject of body piercing.

She’s performed over 40,000 piercings in her career since the 1980s when she managed Gauntlet, the first piercing specialty studio in the United States. She was founder and President of Rings of Desire, the only licensed body art studio in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where she pierced for over twelve years. She helped legislators to promulgate the regulations on body art for the state of Louisiana. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, she closed her business and relocated to the Yucatán in Mexico.

Mrs. Angel guest pierces in fine studios all around the US and she is a monthly columnist for the body art industry trade publication, Pain Magazine. Now serving her fourth elected term of service on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Piercers, she is the current President of the organization.

Reid has been a featured speaker at dozens of conferences on relationships and sexuality and is a sought-after presenter and teacher at colleges and sex positive stores across the country.  Reid has appeared on the Emmy award-winning talk show Montel, Fox News, in Newsweek, Seventeen, GQ, The Washington Post, and in thirteen countries and at least seven languages.

What makes David’s writing so deeply insightful is how he weaves his training in biology with his inquiry of human psychology, offering a unique perspective of how biology affects behavior including gender differences, reproductive strategies and the troubling problems of violence.  Combining this with his interest in Buddhism and existentialism, David’s science is a philosophy which enlightens the core questions at the heart of life’s meaning.

Trained as an agricultural mechanic, Heart has run an organic market garden, raised free-range pigs and built her own house out of recycled lumber in the backwoods. She’s done a great deal of personal growth and healing work with illustrious teachers including Brooke Medicine Eagle and Angeles Arrien. Heart is a spiritual teacher, offering workshops based on the art of being human, and a qualified kitesurfing instructor, her greatest passion..

Stanley Siegel is a psychotherapist in New York City and writes a weekly blog on sex for Psychology Today. He is an international lecturer and former director of education and senior faculty member of New York’s renowned Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy. He is the author of The Patient Who Cured His Therapist and Other Unconventional Stories (Penguin 1992) and Unchartered Lives: Understanding The Life Passages Of Gay Men (Penguin 1994), and most recently Your Brain on Sex. He has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, as well as many other television and radio programs across the nation, and is regularly quoted in the media, often described as the “therapist to the celebrities.”

Read More Here…

This experiential workshop explores the art of love through practices that nourish the aspects of intimacy that make love, passion and intimacy thrive. Preregistrations for the workshop have exceeded expectations so much that it was moved from a meeting room to the main auditorium. Attendance is expected to top 500 participants. The workshop will be held October 16th from 4 30-6PM on the main stage.

The Love That Works workshop is based on Wendy’s recently published book Love That Works: A Guide to Enduring Intimacy. A combination of short stories, memoir, and advice from her popular column Making Love Sustainable, critics have called it the “essential relationship guidebook.” The book will be available for sale throughout the conference.

Strgar founded Good Clean Love in order to put organic intimacy products on the market. Her popular column, Making Love Sustainable, is widely read and she is also the resident Love and Relationshiop expert on such sites as Huffington Post and Care2.com. Her writing stems from her “laboratory of love-” her home. Married for 27 years with four children ages 13-23, she believes that each day is an opportunity to learn to love those around you.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Strgar says, “speaking to all these people who are interested in improving their love lives at this wonderful venue. I’m looking forward to it.”

About Bioneers
Founded in 1990, the Bioneers conference has created a space for the leading social and scientific innovators who have solutions for the world’s environmental and social challenges. Annually, Bioneers draws thousands of people interested in sustainable world solutions. For more information, please visit www.bioneers.org.

About Good Clean Love
Founded in 2003, Good Clean Love produces the finest all-natural, organic intimacy products with no petrochemicals or parabens. Good Clean Love also provides educational resources about sustainable relationships, sex and intimacy. For more information, please visit www.goodcleanlove.com and daily.goodcleanlove.com.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York-based author, editor, blogger and event organizer. She is the editor of over 35 anthologies, including  Orgasmic, Surrender, Passion,  and Obsession as well as Best Sex Writing series editor. Bookslut has said about her work, “Bussel always portrays sex as delicious, wonderful, and fun.” She writes the biweekly Secrets of a Sex Writer column for SexIs Magazine. Her writing has been published in  Jezebel, Mediabistro, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, among many other publications. Her books have garnered five IPPY (Independent Publisher) awards. She is the former host of In The Flesh Reading Series, and conducts readings and erotic writing workshops nationwide and is the co-founding editor of the popular blog Cupcakes Take the Cake.

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For the win, Good Clean Love will receive exclusive coverage on the OEN website and the Portland Business Journal. Runners up in the Development stage category included Expressive Labels, Inc. and Gamma Therapeutics, Inc. The ceremony also recognized the top company in three other growth stages, including, Working Capital Stage, Growth Stage and Individual Achievement.

Strgar’s acceptance speech honored the business community for its support. “Winning the Tom Holce award is both an honor and responsibility to his legacy, which was one of profound generosity and wisdom. At Good Clean Love, we are proud to walk in Tom’s footsteps and be an entrepreneurial force for loving.”

Good Clean Love was one of more than 700 businesses throughout Oregon and southwestern Washington to participate based upon the companies’ various achievements and backgrounds. In the preliminary round, Strgar gave a 15-minute presentation, during which committee members asked questions clarifying points about the company’s mission and direction.

The Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards originated in 1993. Named after entrepreneur and angel investor Tom Holce, the awards ceremony recognizes companies that provide jobs, help the economy and have faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to growth and success.

Founded in 1991, the OEN is the largest entrepreneur assistance program in the state of Oregon. OEN’s mission is to provide support activities and mentoring to the entrepreneurial community to foster business growth and employment opportunities in Oregon. The OEN celebrated its 20th anniversary at this year’s awards ceremony.

Good Clean Love is a sexual health company whose mission is enhancing the awareness and experience of love in the world. Since 2003, Good Clean Love has been producing the finest all-natural and organic intimacy products, as well as excellent educational resources on sexual health and sustaining relationships.

Press Contact: Anastasia Strgar
ana@goodcleanlove.com
541.344.4483

Robert Enright is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He has been a leader in the scientific study of forgiveness and its effects since 1985. Time magazine referred to him as “the forgiveness trailblazer.”  He is the author of over 100 publications, including five books: Exploring Forgiveness, Helping Clients Forgive, Forgiveness Is a Choice, The Forgiving Life (currently in production), and a children’s book, Rising above the Storm Clouds. .  His colleagues and he have been working in Belfast, Northern Ireland since 2002, assisting schools in setting up forgiveness education programs.

Dr. Fred Luskin serves as Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, an ongoing series of workshops and research projects that investigate the effectiveness of his forgiveness methods on a variety of populations. The forgiveness project has successfully explored forgiveness therapy with people who suffered from the violence in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone as well as the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. In addition his work has been successfully applied and researched in corporate, medical, legal and religious settings. He currently serves as a Senior Consultant in Health Promotion at Stanford University and is a Professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He presents lectures, workshops, seminars and trainings on the importance, health benefits and training of forgiveness, stress management and emotional competence throughout the United States. He offers presentations and classes that range from one hour to ongoing weekly trainings. He is the author of Forgive for Good and Forgive for Love.

Kerry Patterson is the four-time New York Times best-selling co-author of Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, Influencer, and Change Anything. For more than twenty-five years, he has served as an expert in organizational behavior, interpersonal communication and corporate training. Patterson is also the co-founder of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance. VitalSmarts has consulted with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies and trained more than 650,000 people worldwide.

Good Clean Love and three other blogs including Jayme Waxman, The Hendricks Institute and Single Edition competed for the Best Sex and Relationships category. Good Clean Love won with 60% of the vote, receiving almost 3000 votes to win.

From July 19th to August 20th Intent readers were invited to submit and vote for their favorite blogs in several categories, including, but not limited to Sex and Relationships, Happiness, Spirituality and Career. Winners of the previous year could not be chosen, but the number of blogs nominated was unlimited otherwise. The blogs chosen were the best and most widely read in each category.

Other winners of the 2011 Intent web awards include The Daily Love in the Happiness category, Tiny Buddha in the Spirituality category and Revolutionary Act in the Healthy Living Category.

Intent.com’s purpose is to support people’s intentions to make change happen, whether on a personal, social or global level.

The Making Love Sustainable blog is Good Clean Love’s primary blog, which provides educational resources for readers about how to maintain loving relationships and a healthy sex life. The Making Love Sustainable blog, as well as Good Clean Love’s other blogs can be found on The Good Clean Love Daily, the new daily online magazine.

Founded in 2003 by Wendy Strgar, Good Clean Love is a sexual health company dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of loving relationships in the world. It produces the finest all-natural, organic intimacy products with no petrochemicals or parabens.

For more information visit: www.goodcleanlove.com and daily.goodcleanlove.com.

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A recent study discovered that six of the most widely used lubricants actually increase the risk of tears in the rectal and vaginal tissue, which in turn enhances the risk of contracting common sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV. The study performed by the University of Pittsburgh states the reasoning behind this claim, as presented at the 2010 Microbicides Conference by Charlene Duzzetti, PhD:

“What we saw was the gels that were hyperosmolar [the aqueous-based Astroglide, Elbow Grease, ID Glide, and K-Y Jelly] were actually damaging the epithelium of the rectal and cervical tissue.”

Duzzetti recommends any lubricants that are isosmolar or isotonic.

When tested by the lab, Good Clean Love’s lubricant was found to have a molarity rating of 262, which draws quite near the human molarity rating of 280. The lubricant was thus proclaimed isosmolar, which means it would reduce the risk of tissue tearing, thus limiting contraction of STIs. Isosmolar lubricants are condom-compatible.

The HIV Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting those living with HIV and AIDS, as well as preventing future outbreaks amongst high-risk populations. The organization provides health and life support resources for HIV survivors and their families.

Good Clean Love is a sexual health company dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of loving relationships in the world. Since 2003, Good Clean Love has been producing the finest all-natural, organic intimacy products with no petrochemicals or parabens.

For more information please visit www.goodcleanlove.com and www.hivalliance.org.

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Anastasia Strgar

Director of Public Relations

541.344.4483

Christopher Ryan received a BA in English and American literature in 1984 and an MA and Ph.D. in psychology from Saybrook University, in San Francisco, CA twenty years later. He spent the intervening decades traveling around the world, living in unexpected places working at very odd jobs (e.g., gutting salmon in Alaska, teaching English to prostitutes in Bangkok and self-defense to land-reform activists in Mexico, managing commercial real-estate in New York’s Diamond District, helping Spanish physicians publish their research). Somewhere along the way, he decided to pursue doctoral studies in psychology. Drawing upon his multi-cultural experience, Christopher’s research focused on trying to distinguish the human from the cultural. His doctoral dissertation analyzes the prehistoric roots of human sexuality, and was guided by the world-renowned psychologist, Stanley Krippner.

Based in Barcelona since the mid-1990s, Christopher has lectured at the University of Barcelona Medical School and consulted at various local hospitals. He speaks about human sexuality to audiences around the world (in both English and Spanish). His work has appeared in major newspapers and magazines in many languages, scholarly journals, and a text book used in medical schools and teaching hospitals throughout Spain and Latin America.

Cacilda Jethá, M.D.

Cacilda Jethá has an Indian face, a European education, and an African soul. She was born in Mozambique to a family that had immigrated two generations earlier from Goa, India. As a child, she fled civil war to Portugal, where she received most of her education and medical training before returning to Mozambique in the late 1980s. A young physician determined to help heal her country, Cacilda spent seven years as the only physician serving some 50,000 people in a vast rural district in the north of the country. While there, Cacilda also conducted research (funded by the World Health Organization) on the sexual behavior of rural Mozambicans in order to help design more effective AIDS prevention efforts.

After almost a decade in Mozambique, Cacilda returned to Portugal, where she completed her medical residency training in both psychiatry and occupational medicine.

She and Christopher currently reside together in Barcelona, Spain, where she is a practicing psychiatrist at Hospital San Joan de Déu and in private practice. She speaks Portuguese, French, Spanish, Catalán, English, and some rusty Tsonga.

OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Award Ceremony

Portland, Ore. –   Good Clean Love has been chosen as one of three finalists in the Development Category for the 2011 Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards. The awards ceremony will be hosted at the Portland Hilton on September 21^st, 2011.

From 40 nominees located throughout Oregon and southwestern Washington, Good Clean Love was one of nine finalists to be chosen. Due to the highly competitive judging process, it is an honor to be chosen to participate in the three business development categories. The OEN Judging Committee conducts a series of rigorous meetings with each finalist to obtain key information on which their final decision will be based. Good Clean Love Founder and CEO Wendy Strgar met with the committee to provide them with this valuable information; clarifying points about the company’s mission and direction.

Founded in 1991, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is the largest entrepreneur assistance program in the state of Oregon. OEN’s Mission is to provide support activities and mentoring to the entrepreneurial community to foster business growth and employment opportunities in Oregon.

The OEN began hosting the Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards in 1993. Named after entrepreneur and angel investor Tom Holce, the awards ceremony honors companies that provide jobs, aid the economy and have faced many obstacles along the way. The winner of the award will receive exclusive coverage on the OEN website and the Portland Business Journal.

Good Clean Love is a sexual health company whose mission is enhancing the experience of love in the world. Since 2003, Good Clean Love has been producing the finest all-natural and organic intimacy products, as well as excellent educational resources on sexual health and sustaining relationships.

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Press Contact: Anastasia Strgar

ana@goodcleanlove.com

541.344.4483

Tammy Nelson, PhD, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist and author with over 20 years experience working with individuals and couples. In her private practice she helps couples increase the passion in their relationship using empathic dialogue and other forms of intimate communication. She holds a PhD in Sexology from the American Academy of Clinical Sexologists, and a Masters of Science Degree in Art Therapy and Psychology, she is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Sexologist, a Diplomate of the American Board of Sexologists, a Registered Art Therapist, and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor as well as a Certified Imago therapist, an Advanced Clinician and Certified Imago workshop presenter.

Tammy is the founder and Director of the Center for Healing in Connecticut, a holistic psychotherapy center providing psychotherapy, massage, hypnosis, as well as groups, workshops and classes that support a balanced, holistic lifestyle. She has been a featured expert in Glamour Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Mens Health and a source in Time Magazine. She has written for Psychotherapy Networker as well as several other major websites.

Tammy is the author of several books including “Getting the Sex You Want” and “Whats Eating You?” She travels world wide to train therapists, doctors and health practitioners.  Her passion is to help couples increase their connection regardless of boredom or conflict. Tammy works with clients of all genders, sexual identities and ages to re-charge their relationships and create long term connection.

Author and speaker Joan Price calls herself an “advocate for ageless sexuality.” At 61, Joan wrote Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty (Seal Press, 2006) to celebrate the delights of older-life sexuality—especially her spicy love affair with artist Robert Rice, who became her husband.  After Better Than I Ever Expected came out, hundreds of senior readers sent her questions and comments about the problems in their own sex lives. Joan’s follow up guide, Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex (Seal Press, June 2011)  is a self-help guide for both men and women dealing with the challenges of older-age sexuality.

Formerly a high school English teacher, Joan is also a fitness professional and author of The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book: 300+ Quick and Easy Exercises You Can Do Whenever You Want. Joan teaches contemporary line dancing in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, California.