What’s love got to do with it? Sexpo’s rebrand says more than you think
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I entered the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for my first experience of LoveX, formerly known as Sexpo. This was the first stop on the event’s Australian tour, before visiting Melbourne in November and Sydney at a yet-to-be-announced date.
The hall was darkened, save for the mood lighting, the music was pumping and there was a smoke machine. I was there for a pre-opening event, only an hour before doors opened to the 18+ public. Next to the performers, I felt out of place in my professional wear.
Live stage event Metropolust is “the crown jewel of the LoveX lineup”.
I needn’t have worried. As soon as the public joined us, all different dress codes entered the fray. Alongside the fishnets, platform heels and cosplay, there were jeans, sneakers and sports jackets. Partners and friends wandered the aisles in ones, twos, threes or more. Some looked like they’d stopped in after work, while others had clearly dedicated significant time to getting ready.
There was kink corner, a tantric tent and a main stage, which hosted beautiful, fun, cheeky and, at times, gravity-defying performances. And while the rows of stalls allowed punters to browse for the widest range of sex toys I’ve ever seen, and lingerie for any mood, you could also get your pet photography, accounting or tattooing needs met. After all, as one person behind the scenes told me, the change from Sexpo to LoveX was about showing there’s more to the event than sex.
I was intrigued by the name change. Recently, there seems to be a wave of resistance to the subject of sex in the public arena. As an advocate and researcher in the area of sex education and sexual violence prevention, I worry about that.
One aim of comprehensive sex education is to decrease shame, silence and secrecy around sex – because it’s these things that allow sexual violence, harassment and abuse to thrive. It’s important to normalise talking about sex and sexuality in a way that is constructive, informative and respectful, to create a healthy culture around the subject matter.
So, I was curious why an event promoting sex positivity removed the word sex from its name after almost three decades.
When I speak to Belinda Gavin, one the LoveX organisers, she tells me that the name change “softened” the event, which had previously been judged and misunderstood. “This is the only adult lifestyle expo of its type in Australia,” she says. “And it has evolved to be a lot more educational.”
Indeed, the Sex Ed stage at the event was popular. It is a feature that has been at the event for a while, but the emphasis on its quality has only been growing. This year, LoveX brought on Dr Chris Fox, sex and relationship therapist and co-director of sexual and reproductive health at the Sydney Medical School, to curate this part of the exhibition.
Sex educator Luke Skewes on stage at LoveX.
When I ask him about the name change, he says it was about the event being more comprehensive, explaining that people tend to schism off their sex life as though it is separate to the rest of their life.
When I speak to Kevin Mack, owner of the Sexpo-turned-Love X brand, he agrees that one motive of the rebrand was to show that the event can take a holistic approach. “This event provides an opportunity for people to be themselves,” he says. “The event is more about sexuality, but people think it’s just sex. Sex is the only thing you can’t do here.”
Mack also emphasises the event’s inclusivity and efforts to make it less heteronormative – less about titillation and porn stars.
The event certainly seemed to give people of all demographics permission to be curious, vulnerable and open to new information and experiences. As one woman in her fifties visiting the event from a regional area tells me: “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re always learning”.
The popularity of the Sex Ed stage was testament to this. Dr Fox had curated an informative line-up of presentations by experts (disclaimer: I was one of them) and the audience enthusiastically learned about the anatomy of different orifices, communication and desire and the sexual habits of birds and bees (literally).
It strikes me that there are limited opportunities for adults to get quality sex education. We spend a lot of time debating its appropriateness for young people, but adults deserve it too. And while adults can find informative content online – if you can navigate your way around the crap – access to smart sex resources are often still restricted.
It is the experience of sexologists, sex therapists and sexuality educators everywhere that discussing sex on certain social media platforms – even from a purely educative perspective – risks your account being censored or even removed. This gatekeeping of all things sex makes it difficult to seek out good quality sex education and thwarts efforts to normalise a healthy culture around sex.
In fact, this was another significant reason for the Sexpo name change. Mack tells me they were unable to advertise on Meta products or Google with the word sex in the brand. “We had to use billboards and television ads, which limits the demographic you reach,” he says. The website now describes the event as “the show you know and love, without the shadowban”.
The policies of these social media giants mean that a normal, natural part of life is only made more twisted and taboo, shoved into the darkness and carved out as something separate from our everyday lives.
Maybe LoveX is onto something then.
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