Tantra: Gag me with patchouli

Look, I never, ever claimed to be a tolerant human being. Never. I bitch about things that irk me. I f you don't want to read judgmental things, don't read this blog.

And now, without further ado:

There is this conference happening in Berlin right now, ISTA Conference of Sexuality and Consciousness. Two of the people presenting at this conference are staying at my place. Seeing as I am interested in sexuality, I asked them about the conference. They immediately started talking about Tantra, energy, Chakras. I said something about healing whores and sacred prostitutes. I was immediately corrected. "Well," the heterosexual, gigilo-in-disguise as a messiah says, "I don't really think about it like that."
Oh, really? I want to retaliate but don't. Why not? Is it because you don't think of whores as real business people, freelancers, and independent contractors. Why are you somehow better? Many whores have knowledge of tantra, consciousness, listening to a person's body and helping them discover their buried desires. It's like the burlesque dancers who think strippers are dirty, but what they do is somehow more respectable. I don't see the difference, except that "burlesque" is somehow respectable enough for middle-class white men to enjoy with their wives, and erotic dancers are marginalized. It has nothing to do with skill, and if you don't believe me, try poledancing.  I know several strippers who can poledance, but not many burlesque dancers who do.
This ISTA conference makes my skin crawl on several levels, the broadest being that most of the presenters are white, although it seems a central theme to the workshop is Tantra and Yoga, which are spiritual forms from India.  I do think that white people have a right to teach this stuff, but the person who curated this conference did not have diversity on their mind when they were booking presenters.  And then there's the amount of workshops about orgasms led by men.  Excuse me, Mr. White Hetersexual cis-male, but you think you know more about the workings of a pussy than someone who has one? Gross. I read some of the workshop information. Not one mention of fisting. 
So, I'm conflicted about this. On the one hand, I am glad folks are paying attention to sexuality.  On the other hand, it all seems so very normative, patriarchal and just plain BORING! 
I mean, goddess worship is just another form of chauvinism. If you put a woman on a pedestal from which she cannot descend, you rob her of her humanness. You take away her ability to make mistakes, to learn and grow.
Tantra, goddess worship, orgasm coaches? No thanks. It's all a bit to clean and polished a product for me.  You can take your "Erotic Energy Practice" and shove up your man-pussy. I'll take my down-to-earth, gritty, DIY sex workers, thank you very much.