$pread Magazine’s “Dance Party on the Downturn”
A Launch Party for Issue 4.4The slutty staffers of $pread Magazine (www.spreadmagazine.org), a publication by and for people in the sex industry, are throwing a dance party for the launch of their hard-hitting “The Economy” Issue. DJ Tanner and DJ Sir Loins’ll be spinning while a grab-bag of go-go dancers shimmies for bills from 10PM-4AM. Join $pread’s sexy working ladies, boys, and everybody in between on the dance floor for punk, hip-hop, and all-around workaday beats.
Saturday, February 28th
10 p.m. – 4 a.m.
The Leopard Lounge; 248 East 5th Street; 212.253.2222; $5 (Donate more if you can!)
Since $pread was launched in the spring of 2005 I have put in many hours of blood, sweat, and tears into the project. Though I’m no longer at the magazine, I am still very much an interested party.
And so, with a little bit of hesitation, I’m going to be critical of this announcement of $pread’s upcoming dance party. Tough love.
It’s possible that I’m getting conservative and cranky as I get closer to thirty, but when I read this announcement, I cringed (really truly, a visceral negative reaction) at the phrase “slutty staffers.”
If I was still at $pread, I would be throwing a serious shit fit about this phrase – but as it is, I’m going to tactfully put the smack down on it. I don’t think $pread is doing sex workers any favors by referring to its staffers as “slutty.” Even if it’s true, or if it’s meant as an offhand, fun remark, the word slutty does sex workers no service. Instead, it conflates sex work with sexual availability and eagerness – and $preadsters know better than that.
And if I’m put off by that turn of phrase – and I’m arguably slutty (or at least have been at various points in the past) – there are certainly lots of other sex workers who feel alienated by it. I appreciate $pread’s efforts at making fun events to raise money to publish the magazine, but I’d like to see something other than dance parties that use the word “slutty” in their advertising. I don’t think these kind of events serve the purpose of reaching out to broader sex work communities. Instead, they keep things narrow and exclusive – and like I said, if being who I am and all I feel like the parties are not aimed at me, I can’t even imagine how other sex workers feel.
Just some food for thought. With maximum love, but also concern.
Here’s another upcoming event for the sex work community that I think has great potential for conversation and support:
March 3rd: Community Potluck for International Sex Workers Rights Day
“Community Potluck for International Sex Workers Rights Day
Tues. Mar. 3rd, 7-9 pm
Judson Memorial Church, Manhattan
239 Thompson St (south of Washington Square Park)
Free to enter, Meal by donation – no one turned away!
Join us (people in the sex trade and our allies) for a delicious meal! Learn about campaigns and programs in our communities! Win sexy prizes in our raffle! Network, share stories, and celebrate the struggle for
our rights!
Contact:
(347) 748-9163 or swank@riseup.net to volunteer, to bring a dish or for more info!”
5:54 am
there are certainly lots of other sex workers who feel alienated by it. I appreciate $pread’s efforts at making fun events to raise money to publish the magazine,
12:08 pm
I cringed as well. But I’m pretty sure I would have cringed when I was closer to twenty rather than thirty. I think that was a poor choice on their part.
12:17 pm
Yes, maybe you’re rubbing off on me, but I felt that same initial WTF moment reading “slutty” staffers. I don’t mind if they are slutty, hell, I am pretty slutty and proud of it, but if we’re talking about trying to get the general public more involved and interested in sex worker rights and issues, that won’t work to their advantage.
I’d still like to pop on in though. Saturday is going to be a really busy day it seems.
12:37 pm
My two cents…
If this promo was intended for internal use only, and no staffer was offended, then it is no problem.
However, if it was, as I expected, meant for the public, I can see Dacia’s point about misconstruing the term “slutty staffers” as being “sexually available”. Nothing wrong with being slutty or sexually available on your own terms, mind you; but probably not the best turn of phrase when you are trying to promote the issue of sex worker rights.
$pread certainly does deserve much support and funding…but they could be just a bit more….ummm, discreet here.
And no, Dacia, it’s OK to be somewhat conservative and cranky as you get a bit older….it’s an old tradition as we grow up to smack on young folk for their “slutty” ways….just as we were smacked down by our old heads when we were young. :-)
Anthony
2:06 am
Perhaps I’m just so far into the polyamorous and sex-positive community circles that the use of “slutty” didn’t bother me in the slightest. I thought it was playful and rather smiled at it. *shrugs* Back in my early-twenties I reclaimed the word, “slut” thanks to Dossie Easton and Catherine Lizst after reading their book, “The Ethical Slut.”
8:39 am
[...] Waking Vixen » Blog Archive » Activism, Dance Parties, and Language About Sex Workers "It’s possible that I’m getting conservative and cranky as I get closer to thirty, but when I read this announcement, I cringed (really truly, a visceral negative reaction) at the phrase 'slutty staffers.' [...]
9:32 am
I got that last night, had the same thoughts. Thanks for blogging about it. “Slutty” is a great word to embrace as a personal choice, sure — but it’s a terrible word to use to entice outsiders/others to come to a fundraiser for $pread, I think.
1:52 pm
When I begin reading something I automatically note the tone of the writing. Humorous, serious, technical, whatever so I can go to that place within me to assess what is being written.
When I read the promo here, I thought that it was light hearted & a little cutesy but done so people would feel “the fun” & want to attend. Something to grab your attention and make you add this event to your party list.
After reading the blog post, I reread the promo & you’re right. It’s not very respectful to say “slutty staffers.”
One caveat. If the people who work at the magazine all are comfortable with the term, then it has to be okay.
I believe in the right to self description. By this I mean you can call yourself whatever you want. If you self-identify as a girl, working woman, single mom, irish catholic, whatever, then it’s your right to call yourself that. And others should respect it.
3:01 pm
Please. Of all the words in the world that sex workers have used, “slutty” is the one that offends you? So the $pread staff identifies as slutty; that’s certainly their prerogative. It’s obviously both light-hearted and a reclamation of the term. We’re not living in the 19th century here. We’re no longer living in an era of unmitigated knee-jerk political correctness, either. Don’t bother blaming it on the fact that you’re “nearing 30″: all this silly backlash to a sassy but mild word makes you sound more like a first-year undergraduate student in 1994.
Perhaps you don’t work with the $pread staff any longer because you have no sense of humor?
3:41 pm
@Anthony Kennerson – oh, I don’t think “discreet” is the right word exactly. being out and loud about sex workers rights is anything but discreet. I do think that sexual freedom (the right to be a slut) is a little bit different than labor issues in the sex industry – though of course they’re related.
@Mina – I have no problem with the word slut, and have certainly identified as one in the ethical slut way – my criticism is just about context.
@Anon Now – I don’t think it’s about “respect” at all – referring to oneself and one’s own staff as slutty is a-okay and can be plenty respectful if one respects sluts (as one should). You’re totally right that people should be able to self-describe any way they want. But its also important to pay attention to self-representation words when you’re representing that self as part of a campaign that you want other people to feel part of.
@Pony – I’m not objecting to the word slutty in general, seriously. I just think it’s important for $pread to be inclusive, and I don’t think the word slutty helps toward that goal. And $pread is a magazine so its full of language – I don’t think its too 1994 undergrad feminism to be concerned with what words get used.
4:34 pm
Oh give me a break. Someone invoked the “you have no sense of humor” go-to line!
This isn’t about a sense of humor (talk about a red herring) or how one feels about the word “slut.” Personally? I love the word slut and I love having reclaimed it! However I agree w/ Dacia that in this context, it is not appropriate. We don’t live in a vacuum and if we’re trying to get people interested in our causes and educate people who don’t know the cause/issue even exists, we do a disservice to that cause by using language that we know will alienate people or be a hot-button. It’s not about whether the language rightly or wrongly alienates. That’s a topic that can be addressed after people are interested and feel included! It’s about pragmatism and building alliances.