Because all teens deserve independent nonjudgmental information about sexuality. Click here for more reasons. And here for even more reasons.
Solidarity on the solstice
Stop Shaming Us to Death: First National Sex Workers' Rally, USA from PJ Starr on Vimeo.
Stop Shaming Us to Death: First National Sex Workers' Rally, USA from PJ Starr on Vimeo.,
It's been quiet around here, and for that I apologize. Things have been unusually busy for me. Much of that is good, and some is regular end-of-semester chaos, but it has meant less time here and I regret that.
The winter solstice is the darkest time of the year, and it is the moment when things start getting brighter. In the spirit of the solstice I want to highlight sex worker solidarity, writing and activism all of which represent efforts toward constructing that brighter future.
First, December 17 was International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Workers and allies marched in Washington, and events were held around the world. Check out PJ Starr's video of the DC march embedded at the beginning of this post, and then click here for an excellent round up of media coverage posted on the fabulous sex worker blog, Bound, Not Gagged. (Bound, Not Gagged also has more from the DC march and this video from San Francisco's rally.) Audacia Ray read a moving speech at the December 17 vigil in New York City. You can click here to read that. I was not at the vigil this year and I am sorry I didn't get to share in the collective sadness and comforting that is part of that commemoration. Diva, though, one of our calendar organizers, was there, and she posted this touching report about the vigil.
Second, I want to highlight the work that two sex workers in particular have been doing to challenge dominant culture ideas about pornography. Ren, of Renegade Evolution, has been diligently challenging the "antiporn feminist" position for several years and has taken her argument on the road recently by visiting Augsberg College in Minneapolis to discuss The Price of Pleasure with none other than Robert Jensen. Just as it is important for students to be exposed to arguments against pornography, it is equally important that they have an opportunity to hear from the people engaged in doing the work so that they can weigh the claims made by academics who oppose the sex industry. And when they hear from sex workers who challenge mainstream academic perspectives it is important that they have opportunities to do so in person, as equals, where students can enter into the discussion. Ren's trip to Minneapolis is incredibly important. I know that other faculty teaching courses in gender, women's studies, sexuality, media, law, and other related topics do invite sex workers into their classes. I would encourage much more of that, and especially I encourage us all to provide forums where courageous and articulate workers can discuss the issues directly with their opponents.
Deconstructing inaccurate representations of the sex industry in writing is also important, and lots of articulate folks are out there doing that. I want especially to draw attention to Ernest Greene's deconstruction of The Price of Pleasure. It is in four parts with an epilogue: One, Two, Three, Four and Epilogue. Just as with Ren's speaking out and writing, Ernest's perspective is an important one because he is actually involved in the work being criticized. He is a producer of pornography, partner of Nina Hartley, one of the most famous feminist porn stars ever, and an articulate adversary of sexism in general. In fact, in his deconstruction of The Price of Pleasure one thing he does especially well is demonstrate that the makers of the film did not care about the women whose images they used in putting the documentary together, and he calls them to account for the pain that they caused seemingly without caring about the women they were hurting.
It is important to stand in solidarity in the dark times so that we can celebrate together in the brighter ones.
If you're a reader here and you want to show your solidarity with the kinds of people I've been writing about, consider making a donation to Sex Work Awareness (with your donation you will receive one of the beautiful 2009 NYC Sex Blogger Calendars - click here for a preview of me as December's pin-up), or to any of the other amazing organizations that work with, rather than against, sex workers. You can see a global list on the right side bar of the SWOP-USA Dec. 17 page .
