For the uninitiated, an event like Burning Man assumes an almost larger-than-life mythology. The costumes, the drugs, the desert, the drugs— every story you hear is crazier and more surreal than the one before, but no legend is more fabled than the goings-on inside the enigma that is Burning Man’s Orgy Dome.
Well, enigma might be pushing it. The Orgy Dome is definitely real and has been a mainstay of the festival since 2003. It’s run by a collective who call themselves And Then There’s Only Love, or ATTOL, and their mission statement is a testament to openness and tolerance: “We pride ourselves in creating a sex-positive, consensual space for couples and moresomes to play.… The Dome is a safe, inclusionary and exploratory environment. All couples and moresomes who are adults are welcome in the Dome—straight, lesbian, gay, bi, polyamorous and monogamous. We welcome the combination of love in all forms.” But let’s not kid ourselves here—these people aren’t looking to hone their knitting skills; this is fucking—right? In the desert. At a festival. But when we peek inside the Dome, it’s not lurid at all; in fact, it’s quite… touching.
