You may or may not have heard about this newfangled contraption known as Google Alerts. It’s this wizard technology that allows me to get personalized alerts anytime ‘online therapy’ ‘sex therapy’ or any other topics of my choosing make it into the news.

Well today, thanks to Google Alerts, I got a fantastic piece of news from the provocatively named “Daily Cougar”, the University of Houston’s student newspaper. The article, ‘Event Makes Sex Chat Interactive‘, immediately caught my attention–especially since I’m fresh from a South by Southwest Interactive pannel!

The article reports on a recent student event at the University of Houston  called “Live Group Sex Therapy Show”, a one-man-show that expands into the audience via interactive texts and slideshows:

For maybe the first time in their lives, students were actually encouraged to keep their cell phones on throughout the entire performance in order to anonymously share their innermost thoughts about love, sex and dating.

The Press Release for the “Live Group Sex Therapy Show” delves a bit deeper into the mechanics of the performance:

Audiences share their inner most thoughts and participate via their cell phones with live interactive texting and polling. This is accomplished with an innovative technology that creates a live in-theatre social network. It’s a secret revealing, myth busting joyride that inspires the audience to laugh, learn, and unleash the sexy beast within.

Although the show is called ‘Live Group Sex Therapy’, the event is not led by a licensed therapist, but by Daniel Packard, an amalgam between a dating coach, motivational speaker, sex expert and one-man-show. It may be a stretch to refer to Packard’s show as ‘therapy’; it seems more like an interactive performance where the audience and Packard get to engage in an honest conversation regarding sexuality, gender politics, relationships and love with humor, acceptance, and unexpected anonymity.

Wait a minute… maybe that’s exactly what therapy is…or rather, what therapy should be.

I applaud Packard for merging modern technology, interactive performance, and therapy together to create an innovative new platform to explore the nuances of sexuality. I don’t know if it’s therapy, but I definitely know I want front-row seats for that kind of show.

The Naked Truth Award is given to a person or organization that has somehow shown awesome bravery in standing up for truth, justice, health, freedom and/or coolness in our world.