journalism

From info@sexies.org:

The board and judges of the Sex-Positive Journalism Awards are proud to announce the winners of the 2009 Sexies. Selected from about 100 entries (not counting multiple nominations of the same piece!) submitted by both writers and readers, the winning entries cover subjects from teen pregnancy to conjugal visits, vaginal plastic surgery to prudish responses to public art. The winning articles come from all across the United States and Canada, and represent a range of genres, from news to advice columns.

What they all have in common, however, is that they succeed in embodying the Sexies criteria for sex-positive journalism far better than the vast majority of their counterparts, helping to improve the quality of dialogue around sex and create a more well-informed reading public. "Without clear-eyed, informed journalism about sexuality, the public runs the risk of seeing sex-related issues through a murky scrim of ignorance and biased attitudes. The Sexies help show the media—and the citizenry—how it can and should be done," says Carol Queen of the Center for Sex and Culture.

The first-place winners are:

On the eve of one of the most important elections in American history, historian and journalist Studs Terkel died last week. His work wasn't specifically geared toward sexuality, but his death is a loss for anyone who's ever felt like their story wasn't being told in the media. Terkel was best known for his oral histories like Working, The Good War, and Hard Times, which recorded the voices of ordinary Americans talking about the effects that major historical events had on their everyday lives. What I liked about him even more than his approach to history, though, was that he was irascible and unapologetic in his commitment to progressive politics.

Thanks to Debbie Nathan for reminding me to post this! I hope to be there on Saturday, myself. There is an awful lot of reporting on sex-related issues that presumes sex - at least any sex other than the procreative-marital kind - to be automatically bad or dangerous. There are lots of subtle and not-so-subtle negative attitudes about sex that pervade much mainstream press coverage. I can't say it better than they do here. For those reasons and more we need to actively support sex-positive journalism. So join the party on Saturday night:

Join Us for the Sexies Award Ceremony and Party, Oct. 4, New York City

Contact: Susan Wright, 917-848-6544 or Miriam Axel-Lute

Join us in New York City to celebrate the awarding of the first Sex-Positive Journalism Awards.

A few days ago I suggested (in response to Roy Kay's suggestion about contacting supportive journalists to write stories from a human rights perspective) that we should have a forum where we can collect names and references for such journalists. At the end of the forum I'll put together some resource pages but for now we can collect the information here.

In the comments please leave the names of journalists you know who have demonstrated a willingness to challenge the dominant, moralistic approach to stories about trafficking and sex work. If possible, links or references for stories would be great!