Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Sandstone Retreat

The Sandstone Retreat
By, Ryan Carpenter

The Sandstone retreat, also known as Sandstone Foundation For Community Systems Research was a community created in 1969 that promoted free sexuality.  The retreat was made legal by the court as a growth center after a two year court fight costing them $10,000 [1].  The founders of Sandstone Retreat, John and Barbara Williamson believed "in the sexual self being at the core of organized social behavior."  This seems to be mostly correct to me considering there the theme that sex sells that is in multitudes of advertisements and how sex is on the minds of most people.  Making sex as commonplace and ordinary as everything else would allow people to focus on other aspects of relationships and life in general.  The Williamson's decided to create Sandstone Retreat shortly after they were married after coming to the conclusion that two people couldn't provide everything the two needed in a traditional marriage.  Joining the retreat cost an initial investment of $240, but after that it only cost $15 a month [2].  The monthly rate seems quite a bit lower than I would have expected and it may have led to the closing of Sandstone Retreat since one of the primary reasons for its closure was debt.  Although sex was commonplace and nudity was normal, an individual's participation in it was completely up to the individual.  Williamson believed that a relationship should not be based on a "neurotic impulse."  However, couples who move into the Resort tend to have their relationship tested as one person becomes more into the community than the other.  Seeing as Sandstone is such a dramatic change from the norm, it would be hard to imagine a couple not having any troubles adapting to the change.  Sandstone Resort also had its share of complex relationships including two men and a woman or two woman and a man.  The filmmaker, Jonathan Dan believed that Sandstone was actually less sexual than any other place because of the absence of "teasing", "exploitation", and "frustration" [3].  Despite it's views on sex, Sandstone was similar to any other community in that all its residents lived, hung out, and interacting normally.  The only difference is that to them, nudity and sex wasn't a big deal.  I'm not sure if I could adapt to an environment like Sandstone, but I can see the appeal of its ideals and society.  John Williamson ended up dying not too long ago in May, 2013 [4].

[1] Ferderber, Skip. "Sandstone: Close-up of a Unique Life-style." Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1972.
[2] Yardley, William. "John Williamson, Co-Founder of the Sandstone Retreat, Dies at 80." The New York Times, May 4, 2013.
[3] Ferderber, Skip. "Sandstone: Close-up of a Unique Life-style." Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1972.
[4] Yardley, William. "John Williamson, Co-Founder of the Sandstone Retreat, Dies at 80." The New York Times, May 4, 2013.

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