Sex at a festival: hot, hasty and a little dirty

The festival season is in full swing. And while you sway your hips and dance amidst glitters, sunscreen and lost Air Pods, the smell of excitement is just as strong as the smell of beer and fries. Because festivals are breeding grounds for brief glances, long nights and steaming tents where someone might suddenly ask: “Do you want to sleep with me tonight?”.

Sex at a festival is far from romantic. It’s sweat, dust, tent canvas and timing. But it’s also exciting, raw and sometimes more intimate than you ever imagined. That is, if you do things right. So, how do you survive festival sex without asking yourself on Monday: did I really have to do it against that portable toilet?

1. Do it early (and fresh)
On the first day, your body is still clean, your tent is still tidy and your senses are still awake. If you wait until day three, everything smells of beer, sleep deprivation and wet socks. Do yourself and the other person a favor: if you feel the spark, seize the moment. Better to make a hot memory early on in the weekend than ending up with an infection halfway on an empty airbed.

2. Make sure you have your own private tent (and entrance)
Nothing more embarrassing than tent mates stumbling in while you are in the grand finale of a sultry session. Your own tent = your own playground. Bonus points if you set it up strategically: so not along the path to the toilets. And keep those flashlights off — silhouettes on the tent canvas are suggestive enough.

3. Lube, wipes, condoms (x3)
Forget your first-aid kit, think of your sex kit instead. More wipes than you think you need, silicon-based lube (water’s your enemy), condoms (that haven’t been melting in the sun for three days) and a bottle of water for afterwards. Small things, but the difference between rancid and raw-erotic lies in proper preparation.

4. Think about consent, also if everything feels fuzzy
You may be dancing in glitters like a goddess, but if someone is too drunk or too far gone to give consent, the answer is simply no. No doubt, no discussion. And yes, you can also refuse if your body or mind isn’t feeling it. 

5. Set your expectations to ‘realistically hot’
No, it’s not going to be a slow-motion dream scene. It’s hot, hasty, with rumpled clothes and an uncooperative zipper. Your hair caught on a tent pole, bumped knees and beer breath. And still, it can be intense. Because you both let go of everything for a bit. Because you sweat, laugh and have sex without filter.

The atmosphere at a festival is more free anyway. So it’s actually a great place to be open to a sexy fling.