Before the internet made every niche instantly accessible, ErotiCon was a pilgrimage. It was where the goths, the gamers, the burlesque dancers, and the curious couples went to find their tribe. It was a place where you could be weird, horny, and socially awkward out loud without an algorithm judging you.
But that is exactly why it matters.
Stay tuned for next week: "The Rise and Fall of the Velvet Rope: Where are the ErotiCon organizers now?" eroticon 2002
In 2024, we watch influencers unbox sex toys in perfectly lit studios. In 2002, we watched a guy in a chainmail vest try to explain the difference between a flogger and a cat-o-nine-tails while a speaker blew a fuse. Before the internet made every niche instantly accessible,
For the uninitiated, ErotiCon was a traveling adult convention that peaked in the late 90s and early 2000s. While the Las Vegas event later became the flagship, the iteration—held in a sprawling, slightly rundown hotel convention center in the Midwest—remains a fascinating time capsule. But that is exactly why it matters
In the early 2000s, the internet was still a wild west of dial-up tones and GeoCities pages. Before the polished algorithms of Instagram and the curated anonymity of OnlyFans, there was a different kind of gathering for the alternative romance and erotica community: ErotiCon .