In which I examine PonyGasm, an erotic comic which began as a crowdfunding project mocked on Tumblr and then taken down by IndieGoGo. My rating: Five fingers up.

Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of my own sexual experiences. If reading about my sex life might be TMI for you, then you’ll want to skip this post. (Especially if you’re not interested in 1980’s toys.)

TLDR:

Downloading a project that supposedly sucked: $5.

Fisting yourself for the first time: Priceless.

Since I’m launching my own sex/kink-positive crowdfunding site Passionate Produce , I’ve been doing research on other crowdfunding sites and trying to understand what works and what doesn’t. I thought a Google search on “kickstarter sucks” would be one way to gauge what people don’t like about Kickstarter, which led me to yourkickstartersucks.tumblr.com .

I’ll agree that a lot of the projects they feature do pretty much suck — they’re poorly planned, or they’re poorly described, or they appear to be scams. That said, a listing for a project called PonyGasm caught my attention.

From the artist: “PonyGasm is a trippy, tongue-in-cheek, sex-positive, lady-friendly erotic comic that’s based on a weird dream i had involving giant, anthropomorphic toy pony lovin’ in a public restroom. strange i know, but trust me, it’s good porn!”

Reactions from tumblr readers were mixed (some finding it hilarious, some hoping she would be reported for violating IndieGoGo’s Terms of Service.)

I couldn’t look at the original IndieGoGo page because the link was broken (unsurprisingly, it had been taken down for a Terms of Service violation). I was able to find artist Kaylie McDougal’s deviantArt page and was excited to see the high quality of the art on the sample comic pages she posted. That convinced me to go ahead and buy the story.

The resulting experience? Suffice it to say that while reading PonyGasm, I inserted all five fingers of one hand inside my vagina for the first time. If that’s not a glowing review, I don’t know what is.

Why PonyGasm Is Hot

The comic is unabashedly sex-positive. The protagonist has a fun, consensual encounter with a giant vinyl toy pony.

The protagonist’s body is realistic. She’s not just a stick with boobs. She has broad hips and fat on her body in the same ways that actual people do.

It’s funny! (In case you missed the “giant vinyl toy pony” part.) This comic has a sense of humor, and the artist doesn’t take sex too seriously.

There is well-drawn, hot sex.

PonyGasm reminds me of Phil Foglio’s XXXenophile, which is my all-time favorite erotic comic/graphic novel. Like in XXXenophile, we have a story of happy individuals having fun together, which is just awesome.

How did PonyGasm end up on yourkickstartersucks?

While I think it’s a kind of sad that someone decided to pick on PonyGasm, I’m not surprised. I can’t comment on how well the original PonyGasm fundraising campaign was designed because the page was taken down–but my guess is that it wasn’t up on yourkickstartersucks because of poor project design. PonyGasm pushes against a number of cultural norms:

PonyGasm is funny, and it doesn’t take sex (or itself) too seriously.

PonyGasm is explicitly “lady-friendly,” which is not how I would describe a lot of mainstream porn.

PonyGasm involves a horse. (For those of us who believe good experiences start with enthusiastic consent from everyone involved, a cartoon toy pony who can clearly articulate his preferences is not particularly problematic.)

If you tell me, “I’m not really into absurdist erotic comics” or even “Vinyl toy pony sex squicks me out,” I respect that. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to pleasure.

I’d say the folks who dismissed this project out-of-hand missed out on a really fun piece of erotica. IndieGoGo certainly missed out. PonyGasm reminds me of why it’s so important for my own crowdfunding startup, Passionate Produce, to succeed. If Ms. McDougal would ever like to crowdfund a new erotic comic, I’d be honored to feature her work on Passionate Produce.

In the meantime, go buy your own copy of PonyGasm! I can’t make any guarantees about how many fingers you will be able to insert into your own orifice(s) as a result of reading this comic–but if you enjoy PonyGasm even half as much as I did, you’re in for a treat.

Update, 6/26/13 10:34pm: Broken links to the etsy store fixed. My bad!

End Notes