According to YnetNews.com, the event is being organized by former model Nitzan Kirshenboim after a recent trip to an adult expo in Berlin.
"I'm actually a real nerd," Kirshenboim said. "I'm just the neighbor's daughter who decided to take the initiative and say, 'Guys — we all have sex, we all enjoy it. Why not get it out in the open?'"
Kirshenboim has said that the show will be sponsored by several adult industry entities including Playboy Israel, the Ego cable channel and the Sex Style store chain. Reportedly, she also has contacted Hugh Hefner, and plans are in the works to host a raffle at The Sextival, with the grand prize being an invitation to the famous Playboy Mansion, in Los Angeles.
"The Sextival will showcase the wildest things your imagination can come up with," Kirshenboim said. "You know, some people have a fetish for women with really, really big noses — and this will also be represented in the event. Even those into bondage will find very interesting stuff there."
Israeli attitudes toward sexuality are noticeably more relaxed than in other Mideast countries; in September, the Israeli Tourism Board mounted an advertising campaign to lure tourists to the beach with video of bikini-clad Israeli beauties.
In the summer of 2006, gay adult producer/director Michael Lucas, founder of Lucas Entertainment, traveled to Israel where her performed live in a Tel Aviv nightclub in support of gay Israeli soldiers, and also managed to shoot some documentary and adult video footage. The trip was deemed very controversial.
Live webchat portal ImLive.com is headquartered in Cypress, but has offices in Israel. ImLive spokesperson Yuval, who is Israeli, told XBIZ, “As an Israeli I can say that we've come a long way but we're very far from European and American mostly far from European. Living with religious [restrictions] and Moslems makes it very hard for the society to be more open to these issues, so I found the [Sextival] to be a refreshing news and I hope it'll open some eyes and minds. You could say we're in the way to being more open to these issues but yet it's a first step only.”
Yuval said that he does not anticipate ImLive.com's participation in The Sextival. Most of the site’s audiences are concentrated in American, the U.K., Germany, France and Australia, with limited interests in Israel.
