Sex In The Public Square - activism + community + information

But do they need condom ads in Europe?

Elizabeth — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:02:09 -0700

I'm staying with friends over Independence Day weekend and they showed me this European condom ad. Very effective, I imagine: cute dad, terrible child, horrifying supermarket scenario.

But it did raise this question: with birthrates in Europe falling, do they really need to advertise condoms? It's hard to imagine that people are having a lot less sex so they must be pretty good at contraception. But then of course there is a need to do STI prevention, and contraception and STI prevention are two different matters. It's interesting to think about how public health policy and population/family policy can be in conflict. Imagine the tension between giving incentives to couples to have children while trying to encourage condom use to prevent disease.

When is trafficking not trafficking - or how to lie with statistics

Michael — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:43:02 -0700

Americans will be familiar with the hunt-the-needle-in-the-haystack approach of the State and Justice Departments in looking for victims of human trafficking. Jerry Markon exposed the hiatus between the actual evidence and the claims in an article in the Washington Post. The resources utilised for the yield obtained resembled the hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

The equivalent in the United Kingdom is the Police and UK Human Trafficking Centre operations known as Pentameter. This week's release of figures from the second operation triggered off the predictable moral panic and demand for more funding to combat this terrible menace. When Benjamin Disraeli decried the mesmerising effects of numbers "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" he may have been considering this sort of agenda driven political spin.

On teens and sex work and the problems of "saving" street kids

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:44:06 -0700

The story in last Thursday's New York Times began:

Twenty-one sexually exploited children have been saved from the streets, and 389 people arrested on charges of trafficking children for prostitution, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls the largest such multistate sweep ever, officials said Wednesday.

The five-day operation, this week and last, spanned 16 cities and involved hundreds of local, state and federal agencies in the work of rescuing missing children, many of them runaways, and identifying networks behind domestic child trafficking for the sex trade. (Susan Saulny, "Hundreds Seized in Sweep Against Child Prostitution" June 26 2008)

It continued:

In, Out, or on the fence?

Michael — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:13:19 -0700

Ellie (Lumpesse) has recently written about the frustration of combining being a sex worker with having another career (doctoral student) and the difficulties of keeping these apart and the internal pressures to come out. There is nothing unique in Ellie's dilemma, it is actually one of the most difficult things that indoor sex workers have to deal with. This is well described by Teela Sanders in her paper 'It's just acting' dealing with the emotional labour involved in keeping two lives separate. This in itself, is partly the result of the external violence of stigma, and partly the internal pressures of the 'management of feeling to create a publicity observable facial and bodily display' as described by Arlie Hochschild.

Remembering women killed in the Niagra Falls area

Elizabeth — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:03:30 -0700

Much gratitude to Renee of Womanist Musings , blogging also at Feministe on June 23rd to remind us all about the killing of women in the Niagra Falls region:

When you think of the Niagara region immediately the mind turns to the majestic falls. Some who have spent more than an afternoon here will think of places like the Welland Canal, The Skylon Tower, Fallsview Casino, Clifton Hill, and maybe even the dearth of reasonably priced hotels, and restaurants. The aforementioned sites are the Niagara region you are supposed to think about. It is what you will find printed in all of those handy little pamphlets, that the tour guides like to give out. Yes the safe family destination, where everything is bright and sunny.What you will not hear about are the women that have been killed here since 1996. What if I were to whisper these names in your ear?

The names she whispers are these:

Sex Worker Activism: Grind the Vote!

Elizabeth — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:28:01 -0700

What are the political issues that matter to sex workers?

Quite often the ones that matter to most people: Affordable housing, health care, labor rights, immigrant rights, day care, reproductive rights, violence against women, and protection of privacy and civil liberties.

It's no surprise then that sex workers are taking on the "Rock the vote" model and putting on their own voter registration and mobilization efforts, and we applaud and support that grass roots work. Want more information?

From $pread Magazine:

From Sin City to the Big Apple, sex workers are organizing for political and economic justice. It's time to organize our sex worker electorate ito a political force and "Grind the Vote"!

Why the Mormons (and other churches) are wrong about their support of the CA ballot initiative to restrict

Elizabeth — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:20:00 -0700

The Mormon church has asked its members to support the California ballot initiative that would amend the state's constitution to define marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman. Specifically, according to the Associated Press:

"We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to ensure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman," church leaders say in the letter. "Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage."

They should rethink that strategy and their own writings explain why: The LDS church claims, in a letter signed by the LDS president, that:

On Mermaids and Freedom

Elizabeth — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:39:08 -0700

Artistry, activism, body paint, glitter, feathers, scales, nakedness, beautiful decoration, gleeful abandon: why only once a year?

Saturday was the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It's an art parade that's been hosted by Coney Island USA, a not for profit arts organization, for 25 years to celebrate freedom, expression, diversity, joy and the summer solstice. I've attended each of the past four years and wish there were more opportunities for people to be out, in public, as happy and free in their bodies as they are at the parade.

I'm curious about other such festivals around the country. I've recently learned via Liberty at Going Braless (registration required) about a few that are very family oriented, as this one is. For example, she told me about Eeyore's Birthday in Austin. Does anyone know of others?

Below are some photos that I think show the best of the parade: the freedom and expressiveness of people of all ages, genders, orientations, body shapes and abilities. They were all taken by my partner Will Van Dorp (see more in his Flickr set or on his blog here and here).

Please send in your submissions for the 5th Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy

Amber Rhea — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:05:42 -0700

As mentioned earlier, on June 23 (next Monday) I'll be hosting the fifth Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy. If you have written or plan to write something pertaining to sexuality, sexual freedom, feminism, gender, etc., send your submission to amberlr [at] gmail [dot] com, or mark the post for me in del.cio.us. You can (and should!) also submit posts by your favorite bloggers. The carnival's mission statement, once again:

Sex Positive Feminists (or sex-radical, pro-sex or sexually liberated feminists) believe that women's sexual freedom is an essential part of women's autonomy.
read more

Tears for an Anonymous Teenager

JanieBelle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:35:06 -0700

A forlorn peek above our garters to Miss Vicki at God is a Dyke for bringing us this bit of heartbreaking news.

(Original source seems to be the Reading Eagle, via 365gay.)

Apparently, Joyce Y. Beddell, 61, walked in on her sixteen year old granddaughter in flagrante delicto with another girl from the neighborhood. Instead of politely excusing herself, Mrs. Beddell chose a different, heartbreaking path.

The granddaughter had just finished having sex with another 16-year-old girl and was in an upstairs bedroom. Beddell walked in and found them together. The neighborhood girl ran out of the house to her nearby home while Beddell was beating her granddaughter with the cane.