For me, this work started to take shape at $pread magazine when I first started showing up to meetings in the fall of 2004, and then became an editor in 2005 after the release of the first issue of the magazine. $pread rapidly became – or really, always was – bigger than the 80 or so pages between each issue’s covers. It was a community-building project. It was a storytelling project. It was an exercise in learning how to interact with mainstream media and the world as a sex worker with opinions. At the first Desiree Alliance conference in 2006 Eliyanna Kaiser, with whom I shared the title of executive editor at $pread, and I taught a “Journalism for Sex Workers” session – and it was something of a lightbulb moment. We began to understand that making a magazine and teaching media and advocacy skills were different pieces of a similar project. When I and several other $pread staffers left the magazine in 2008, Sex Work Awareness and what is now our Speak Up! media training began to take shape.

We are now entering our third year of offering the Speak Up! training for sex workers who want to engage with the media on April 8-10 (link goes to full info and the application – deadline is February 17). These trainings are possible financially because of the fundraising efforts of Tess Danesi and Dee Dennis (Debauched Domestic Diva) and their Tied Up Events. Without them, we couldn’t offer a free training, food, and stipends for the ten current and former sex workers who come to New York to learn. This Friday, February 4 they are throwing a fundraising party for Speak Up! at Madame X in NYC. Tickets are $15, and if you’re not able to join us in New York, you should consider buying a ticket anyway, since the funds will make the training program possible this year. We are also lucky to have a donor who will match funds up to $1500.

This week is also a Red Umbrella Diaries week: Thursday, February 3rd is our Price of Love event, featuring the Screw Smart team (Rebecca Alvarez, Kira Manser, and J.D. Ackerman), Aimee Herman, Matthew Lawrence, and Billy Pelt. Though Red Umbrella Diaries is free to get into, I do get 15% of the bar tab, plus pass a boot – and this will help make Speak Up! possible, too.

These projects are growing, and its pretty exciting to see that happening – or rather, to have it sneak up on me a bit so that I realize I need to figure out how to make things better and grow in a logical way. The big thing that will be happening this year is that a decision has been reached to merge Sex Work Awareness (SWA) with the Red Umbrella Project. The Red Umbrella Project is currently taking steps to becoming a nonprofit, and I am excited about the process of enmeshing all my program ideas (there are so many! all the time!) within an organizational structure. After a few years of working with SWA and entering the nonprofit world via the International Women’s Health Coalition, I’ve begun to understand the value of being strategic and having boundaries that give a shape to projects. This is the year that I really make that happen, and give that professional polish to the work I’m obsessed with. All that work will also benefit the community more broadly, as I figure out how to offer better programming and support for people in the sex industry who want to tell their stories to each other, to live audiences, in the media, and in public forums.

But in the short term: check out the info about Speak Up! and encourage sex workers who want to engage with media to apply, and if you want to support this effort, check out Tied Up Events plan for Friday night.

The training is funded by sponsorships and sales from the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar. In addition to the training and skills, workshop participants will get: a $50 stipend; dinner on April 9th, breakfast and lunch on April 10 & 11th; and the opportunity to apply for a $500 grant to continue their media advocacy work. Our current budget does not include funds for travel stipends and housing for those coming from out of town, however, we will do our best to accommodate the travel/housing needs of all successful applicants.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be actively creating space to share my brain and energies with sex workers. This, along with another (non-sex work, but sexuality) big project I’m heading up for IWHC that I’ll be going public with later this week, is a symbol of what my career is becoming. I’m all about training, capacity-building, and movement making. I’m really keen on transitioning into this new kind of leadership where I don’t need to be yakking away as the center of attention (though I’ll probably still do that more than I should), but instead giving other people a leg up into leadership and shaking things up. I know a lot of stuff – and I want other people to know a lot of stuff too. Even if that means I’ll be overshadowed, pushed aside, maybe even forgotten. Kill the ego, nourish the community… that’s where it’s at.

So, again, that link: full info and application to Speak Up.

We will be accepting applications until February 17, 2010. Accepted applicants will be informed no later than March 1.

Pay As You Go: Sex Worker Shorts
Saturday, Oct. 25 – 6pm & 8:30pm
Suggested donation $7 per show, $10 double feature price. Special free panel discussion at 7:30pm between the programs.

PROGRAM 1: 6:00 – 7.30 pm

You Must Know About Me by HOPS and WITNESS. Macedonia, 2009 (18 mins) DVD

“You Must Know About Me” features interviews with sex workers from Skopje, focusing on 3 main themes: Their family lives, the conditions they work under, especially the violence and discrimination they face from police officials as well as some clients, and lastly, the ramifications of a big raid that happened in November 2008. Several sex workers were arbitrarily arrested, held in detention overnight, forcibly tested for STDs and, to add insult to injury, unwillingly featured in national media that had been tipped off, and was waiting as they exited the clinic.

The Line by Nancy Schwartzman. USA, 2009 (30 mins) DVD

A one night stand far from home goes terribly wrong. As the filmmaker unravels her experience, she decides to confront her attacker. Told through a “sex-positive” lens, THE LINE is a 24 minute documentary about a young woman – the filmmaker- who is raped, but her story isn’t cut and dry. Not a “perfect victim,” the filmmaker confronts her attacker, recording the conversation with a hidden camera. Sex workers, survivors and activists discuss justice, accountability and today’s “rape culture.” The film asks the question: where is the line defining consent? THE LINE was completed in July 2009.

Workin Girl Blues by Damien Luxe. USA, 2009 (4 mins) DVD

An experimental video considering the pluses and minuses of some jobs + a blues song.

VAMP: Sex Work Organizing in India by Audacia Ray & VAMP (with support of the International Women’s Health Coalition). USA & India, 2009. (10 mins) Mini DV

The Sangli district in the rural south of India has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the country. This health issue has become the crux of a powerful sex workers movement that has risen up over the past twelve years, in which sex workers have become agitators for change in health systems and policy that affects them on the local, national, and international levels. VAMP, the sex work organizing project of the non-profit SANGRAM

In Our Own Image by Mandona Productions. USA, 2009 (19 mins) DVD

What happens when sex workers become not just the subjects of media gaze, but reporters and publishers of sex trade news? This documentary short looks at $pread Magazine, an example of sex worker-made media, and discusses its aim to change the way media itself approaches sex work.

PANEL: 7:30 – 8:15pm

Moving Image to Movement: Video as an Advocacy Tool

The widespread availability of the camcorder has morphed into the explosion of digital documentation via cell phones, flip cameras, and other devices. The much trumpeted “democratization of media” has about video as an advocacy tool for sex workers and others working for sexual rights and justice. They will discuss The panelists, who are media makers, activists, and advocates, will discuss their successes and challenges in building advocacy campaigns based around video and other multimedia.

Audacia Ray is a media maker and activist who is passionate about sexual rights. Audacia is the Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women’s Health Coalition, an adjunct professor of Human Sexuality at Rutgers University, and the co-host of the monthly reading series Sex Worker Literati in New York. She is the author of Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing In on Internet Sexploration. Audacia is a former sex worker who was an executive editor at $pread magazine for three years and is a co-founder of advocacy organization Sex Work Awareness.

Violeta Krasnic is a human rights advocate, trainer for NGO management, and video producer. She is the Program Coordinator at WITNESS, an international human rights organization which uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations and empowers people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, public engagement, and policy change. Videos she has produced have been screened at the US Congress, State Department, Council of Europe, United Nations, and at advocacy events worldwide. Most recently, she collaborated with Healthy Options Project Skopje (HOPS) in Macedonia to help produce video “You Must Know About Me,” calling for adequate investigation and prosecution of violence against sex workers committed by the police officers and third parties.

Nancy Schwartzman is a filmmaker and activist working for over thirteen years to create community solutions to combat sexual violence and promote public debate. Her documentary film THE LINE is a personal journey that explores consent with a daring stylistic approach. Prior to her directorial debut, she produced the award-winning short film OCEAN AVENUE. Nancy is the founder of NYC-Safestreets.org an online initiative noted by The New York Times, Gawker and The Daily News to engage community organizations and businesses to create safer routes for pedestrians, especially women. From 2002- 2005 she was a founding editor and Creative Director of HEEB Magazine. For six years Nancy was the Program Officer at the Fund for Jewish Documentary Film. Learn more at http://whereisyourline.org

Damien Luxe is a multimedia artist, activist and performer from Brooklyn. She was involved in $pread Magazine from 2006 until 2009, taught media production workshops at the Desiree Alliance Conference 2007 and 2008, and performed in the SF Sex Worker Film and Art Festival in 2007. more at: axondluxe.com

Program 2: 8:30 – 10:00 pm

Tenofovir Trial in Cambodia by Women’s Network for Unity. Cambodia, 2008 (13 mins) Web

The inside story of Cambodian Sex Workers struggle around a trial for testing Tenofovir’s potential for HIV prevention.

Sex Workers (And Proud Of It) by Jean-Michel Carré. France, 2009 (85 mins) DVD

In France since 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy has been in charge of national security. Meanwhile, women and men are fighting for the rights to rent freely their body in a political context where the market economy allows through the lens of sexual liberation and with hopes for legalization of commercial intimacy. Stigmatized by moral judgements questioning the relationships of men/women, sexuality and its power, subjects discuss their work and its meaning. * We will be showing a short selection from this work.

Prostitution Free Zone directed by PJ Starr; Alliance for Safe and Diverse DC. USA, 2009 (13 mins) DVD

Constitutional right to freedom of assembly? Not in DC, honey! This film takes a sobering look at how, during attempts to gentrify inner-city areas of our nation’s capital, “Prostitution Free Zones” are being used to move targeted people out of the neighborhoods where they have traditionally congregated. Also featuring a “dramatic reenactment” of a prostitution free zone by Takia Cash, Sugaa Delite and other well-known indie film icons from the District.

Happy Endings? by Tara Hurley. USA, 2009 (90 mins) DVD

An intriguing exploration of the Asian massage parlor industry in Providence, RI, where a 25 year-old loophole has made the exchange of sex for money legal — as long as it happens behind closed doors. As the documentary follows a recent Korean immigrant, “Heather”, working to operate her spa, the city’s mayor fights to change the law that allows her business a legal existence.The film includes interviews with Korean women who work in spas, clients who frequent the spas, politicians from 1980 and today, police, local news footage, radio call-in shows and “voiced” reviews from internet escort review boards. * We will be showing a short selection from this work.

Sex Worker Open University by Ellie Gurney. UK, 2009 (7 mins) DVD

Sex workers are routinely portrayed in the media as victims. At London’s first ever Sex Worker Open University over two hundred sex workers, sex workers’ rights activists, and allies from the UK and abroad took part in workshops, discussions, actions and art exhibits. Documenting these events, this film presents an alternative and empowered image of the sex worker.

69 things i love about sex work by Isabel Hosti. Canada, 2007 (6 mins) DVD

A list of 69 things i love about sex work–a list that helps to keep me happy and healthy. This is my list based on my specific experiences in the sex industry. There are many other sex workers worldwide with many things to share–with lists of their own. Search them out.

Here’s a snippet from the article. I’ve removed the legal name of the escort because I don’t want to make ever more search results turn up for her in this case.

Check out this serious bullshit:

Assistant Attorney General Stacey Pires Veroni contacted The Journal on Friday and said that [the victim] wanted to recant her allegation because of “press involvement” and urged the newspaper not to identify [redacted] as the victim. “I’m going to have difficulty with my case, or no case at all,” Veroni said.

In an interview with The Journal, [redacted] vehemently objected to having her name published and said that to avoid publicity she was going to tell the police she made up the attack. The publicity “will ruin my entire life,” she said.

The alleged robbery bears resemblance to the craigslist.com cases, where a Boston University medical student is accused of robbing women who advertised services. On Monday, the Warwick police said they had an arrest warrant for Philip Markoff, 23, on four charges for allegedly attempting to rob at gunpoint an exotic dancer staying in a hotel by T.F. Green airport.

Despite [redacted]’s insistence that she was recanting, “We believe it happened,” Providence Police Capt. James Desmarais said late last week. “Upon reviewing everything in this case, the case is still proceeding forward.”

To speak up and tell the Pro-Jo what you think of their journalism, send a letter to editor to letters@projo.com and email Amanda Milkovits, the staff writer at the paper who wrote the article, at amilkovi@projo.com.

I also found an email address for the victim and sent her a note of support. I can supply it if you’re interested and I can identify you as someone with good intentions.

Here’s the email I sent to the Pro-Jo and the journalist:

I found your article “Man charged with assaulting escort,” published on May 5,2009 to be highly problematic. By naming and giving details about a woman who is an escort and reported a crime against her, you actively discourage people who work in the sex industry from reporting violent crimes committed against them. The recent assaults and murder of sex workers in Rhode Island and Boston only underscore the vulnerability of women in the sex industry to violence and exploitation by their clients. There is no justification for giving extensive identifying details of a victim of a violent crime. You have demonstrated a lack of concern for the well-being of [redacted] that will certainly make other escorts think twice before coming forward about exploitation. Creating a wall between victims of crime and their right to legal protection is despicable.

Audacia Ray
Vice President, Sex Work Awareness
New York, NY

And here is the response of the journalist (who wrote back as I was writing this blog post):

Thank you for writing. This story was discussed pretty extensively here before it was published.

We do not publish the names of rape victims, but The Journal does publish the names of crime victims, and interviews them, and writes about the nature of the crime. Prostitutes and exotic dancers have reported being victims of assaults and robberies, and had their names published in the newspaper, including as recently as a shooting at a strip club last month.

This article was important on several levels –– showing the nature of violence and alleged customers that women may meet. [Redacted]’s profession as a lawyer is also an important ethical consideration, one that is being considered by the bar associations in two states.

I’m still grappling with the intensity of this. True, the paper treated the escort the same as other crime victims. But it seems like that was done partially as a cautionary tale. I feel like this is such an impasse. Where do we go from here? How can sex workers protect themselves when their work is so stigmatized? And remember, prostitution is legal in Rhode Island (at least for now). My head is swimming.

**EDIT** Important: indoor prostitution is NOT illegal in Rhode Island due to a legal loophole (which may soon be closing). More here about the bill to re-criminalize. See also the blog Happy Endings, by the director of a documentary of the same name about legal prostitution in RI.

There were a lot of things I loved about doing the Speak Up! training, but I am really excited about this public service announcement. I had the idea for this video last year but hadn’t had the opportunity to see it through until the media training. It’s just a minute long – check it out, spread it around, and please do get in touch if you have ideas about distributing it. I would love to get it some play on public television stations and the like.

The PSA is also available as an audio file (with two additional “I am”s, click to download (and feel free to include in your podcast!): AUDIO: I Am a Sex Worker

**EDIT** Wow, the PSA has gotten quite a lot of attention. It’s being linked to like crazy on Twitter, and a bunch of people are posting it to their Facebook pages as well. Lux Alptraum wrote it up at Fleshbot and Gram Ponante blogged about the value of humor in activism on his site Porn Valley Observed.

Judy McGuire wrote a really great piece at Betty Confidential called Speaking Out for Julissa Brisman: Why sex workers are too often the victim, in which I’m quoted and the PSA is featured.

Also, I finally launched a website for Sex Work Awareness. I don’t have all the kinks ironed out yet because the WP theme I chose is giving me some grief, but here it is:

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Naked City TV got a peek at the pieces on display in Chelsea, where Eric revealed what compels him to collect certain images. The photographer also spins a few tales about both his work and the stuff he collects, and talks about how he feels about explicit porn.

Last but not least: the lovely lady you see cavorting in the background is Molly D’Amour, a performer and model from Los Angeles.

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In this episode of Naked City TV, learn about how Cass King and John Woods met, their inspiration for the Wet Spots, and how they brainstorm some of their songs. And hey, it wouldn’t be a video of the Wet Spots without some songs. Snippets of these songs are in the video:
Do You Take It? (from their debut album, “Ribbed for Pleasure”)
Sweaty and Stinky (from “Hello Kinky”)
The Masturbation Sing Along Song

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Naked City TV got the inside scoop from Marije Janssen, the festival’s organizer. This episode also features a taste of what some of the more boobtastic performances were like, including Annie Sprinkle‘s famous Bosom Ballet and the messy antics of The Drag King Fem Show.

Aaaaannd, I can’t help myself, I need to add two more videos to this list as a bonus. The first is the fifteenth episode of the show, in which I appear on camera for the first time to do a clips show. I show some clips that didn’t make it into final edits, plus talk about the process of making the show and stupid stuff like the time I forgot to hit record for most of a Julie Atlas Muz performance.

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And last but not least, a complete break from the regular format. When I was shooting stuff for the episode about Pinched in Amsterdam, I shot a really amazing gender fucking zombie burlesque performance (amazing right? how could that be more awesome?). I just had to edit it into something beyond the shorter episode about Pinched.

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It has been a year since the now-former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer went up in a firey ball o’ scandal due to his habit of dropping large amounts of cash (and credit) on high dollar escorts. Beginning on March 10, 2008, my phone rang off the hook for more than a week. I fielded calls from MSNC, CNN, NBC, Fox News, WNYC, the New York Times, the New York Post, and many many more. I granted interviews to some of these media outlets, and I denied interviews to others. I wrote a flurry of blog posts as a means of fighting back against the mainstream media – and it kind of worked, though I didn’t expect it to. I’ve been involved in media flurries before Spitzer, and sometimes I’d bitch on my blog about it, but I had never named the exact news outlets that were being abusive and otherwise not awesome. In the Spitzer news cycle, talking back worked. After the first two days, I started to get calls from producers and reporters who would lead with, “I’ve read your blog and I know your concerns.”

On the first day of the scandal, I got a call from an MSNBC producer, and then I blogged about it, because he asked me Have you been a whore? Here’s me on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC discussing whether or not prostitution should be illegal. This is the press release jointly written by a bunch of NYC sex worker activists -What About Kristen?- after more back and forth than may actually have been productive. That said, it was really amazing how folks banded together and produced documents, lists of friendly and enemy press, sex workers who were available to talk – all this happened on google docs, by email, and a bit of phone calling and Skyping. On March 11th, day two of the scandal, I sat down and wrote a fierce blog post that I’m still really proud of, Why sex workers aren’t represented by the media. I have read this piece at a few events since I wrote it, and it always feels amazing when I say those words. Here is the last bit of it, worth repeating here:

We exist. In growing numbers, there are sex workers and allies of sex workers who have a critical and political take on how our bodies and our labor are legislated. Not to mention, we are well aware of and constantly struggling with the ways our stories and our work are grossly exploited by the mainstream media in an attempt to get a juicy story. You want to talk about exploitation of women, media? Look at your own goddamn questions, the exposure you ask us to engage in, the personal questions you want us to answer. Look at the sexy container you put us in, all sultry bad girl secret story, no room for brains with the boobs. We don’t want to tell you our naughty secrets. What’s in it for us? You won’t give us the space and air time to talk about issues that matter to us, we won’t give you the dirt.

Sex workers aren’t represented in the media because the media does not create space for us to talk intelligently about the issues that face us. Like I said in my post last night, we are being cast into roles, roles that are nearly impossible to break. We’re afraid of being abused and manhandled by a media that has no interest in our well being, only in our cunts and the details of how we got to be so bad.

Mainstream media, if you’re so concerned about the exploitation of sex workers – stop perpetuating the exploitation with your own tools.

On the third day of the scandal, I got three calls asking about a rumored list of 100 politicians who patronize sex workers that somehow sex worker rights folks had and were planning on using. What a bizarre rumor that was. At one point, I was tempted to yell: “Yes we have a list and we’re blackmailing all of you!” Seriously, how would that list even happen?

On day four, March 13th, I was feeling seriously worn down, but I got a really great call from CNN Headline News. And I did the fucking teevee interview up bad ass, with my hair in a bun. I even managed to take arm-length myspace-style self portraits of myself in the interview booth. Here’s the interview:

After I finished my five minute interview at CNN, I grabbed a cab and rushed downtown – because that day was also the day of the very first fundraiser for Sex Work Awareness. The timing couldn’t have been better to underscore our point that the world needs an organization that supports sex workers, does public education, and trains sex workers to stand up for themselves against the media. I shot this video at the event:

I totally crashed after that and basically started hiding from the phone – the whole experience was pretty emotional and intense for me. The following week I wrote a bit about my thoughts on the whole thing: Private bodies, public stories.

My most distinct, visceral memory of that week is a kind of swirl of feelings, involving me pacing in my apartment, talking on the phone, feeling totally panicked and sweaty and anxious and incompetent and alone, but also oddly lucid and charged and ready to fight.

For the first time dealing with the media, I felt empowered. Maybe this is because I finally learned the trick, especially with radio: just keep talking, repeat myself, interrupt the shit out of people, push my agenda, be inflammatory enough to keep them listening, but stand my ground and be firm. In the midst of the Spitzer scandal, I tapped into my voice in a new, ferocious way. I started to revel in giving media a hard time, and almost wanted them to say fucked up shit to me, so I could talk circles around them. I also loved the chance to educate reporters and consumers of mainstream media about sex work issues, and I learned to stand my ground and get what I wanted (a space to talk about politics and labor issues of sex work) in exchange for what they wanted (juicy stories of whoring).

Though I was thoroughly convinced of the need for public education around sex work and the need for sex workers to have media skills before the Spitzer experience, that week and change really made those aspirations concrete. And I’m really glad that Sex Work Awareness is able to offer this bad ass media seminar. So, sex workers: head over to the Speak Up website and check it out, then drop us an email to request an application. And if you aren’t in the NYC area but think you can organize your community to make this happen locally, get in touch.

They didn’t edit anything down, they just ran the full interview, which is awesome. I stammer a little bit here and there, but I think I did a good job of staying on message and not getting wrapped up in the leading questions I’m being asked. And also, I’m pretty proud of my serious face. Bring it!

And here is my favorite piece of writing I did during that week of Spitzer insanity: Why sex workers aren’t represented in the media. It’s important to note that I wrote that piece before I appeared on CNN, and the booker had read it before she called me. She prepped me with the same questions the interviewer asked on air – though the interviewer said the same words with a very different tone. Behold:

Though for years I’ve played around in the weird space of being an Interesting Person Worthy of Media Attention and a media maker, this little dance has gotten increasingly interesting since I’ve become editor of the Village Voice sexuality blog.

I’ve been writing the blog in the first person – none of that editorial we stuff – and I haven’t been afraid to express my opinions. After all, the Voice hired me for me and my whole thing (I’m gesticulating wildly, FYI). However, I’ve also been leaving myself out of the picture more often than not. Though you’ll hear my voice overs in the weekly Naked City TV episodes, I haven’t yet done an on camera appearance. I like being in the spotlight sometimes, and I’m good at doing the media thing. But I don’t want it to be overkill, I want other people’s voices to come to the forefront, in a way that isn’t totally mediated by the Word of Audacia. I know that all media I produced is tainted with my perspective (tainted I say!), which is fine, cool even – but it doesn’t all need to be about me.

While I don’t want Naked City to be all fangirly posts about people I think are awesome, I’m also acutely aware of the stresses of being interviewed and trusting someone else to represent you. I’ve been asking thinky and sometimes tough questions in my Four on the Floor interviews, but I also strive to represent people at their best. Shooting and editing weekly video episodes has been challenging in this regard – sometimes people are bad on camera. Sometimes they say dumb things or things that make them look crazy. I edit that stuff away as an attempt at paying it forward.

I hope this doesn’t make me a less critical member of the media – I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. But there are still some stories I cringe away from. For example, in my first week of blogging at Naked City, I was offered a set of nude photos of a reality show star. These images had been made a few years ago, and would be upsetting to the star if they were leaked. Part of me was excited about the potential for breaking a story, getting lots of traffic, etc. Overwhelmingly, though, I had a sense of dread with pangs of creepiness. That’s not at all the kind of editor I want to be. I didn’t have to make this tough choice since there weren’t any releases for the images and I wasn’t going to tangle with that. I’m sure other stuff like this will come up. I do love me some gossip – but I like to hear it, not publish it. Is it even possible to maintain that party line and have a successful blog? Time will tell, I suppose.

But the answer I give is that I’m interested in sexuality and the internet in both the personal sense – I use it to find people to fuck and to entertain my horny little eyeballs – and the professional sense – when I was a sex worker, it brought me clients, and as a lapsed academic and a new media professional it’s brought me research “subjects,” community and a variety of jobs.

And not to speak for everyone here, but I think this covers a lot of our interests. Furthermore, what’s so cool about Web 2.0 – and the way Sex 2.0 “the movement” is taking shape – is the transparency, the wearing down of the lines between the personal and the professional. Sexuality online is a really intriguing site for all this. When I watch other new media people struggle with how much “social” content they should put on their Facebook accounts and stress about seeming unprofessional, we sex media makers are a hot mess of tangled emotions and media, and have been for years. They’re thinking about this stuff – we’re doing the messy, sticky exploration. This is not to say what we’re doing is seamless or that we’re so brave. Sometimes we – ok, I’ll totally own this and say I – do stupid things online, reveal too much, give away things we should keep for ourselves. These are growing pains, though sometimes the price to pay looms large.

Today is our chance to bridge the gap between the words and images on the screen and our in the flesh existences. That’s not to say that the two things are totally separate or unrelated, just to remind you all that we’re privileged to be able to step into three fleshy dimensions. And if that sounds a little naughty – that’s not a bad thing either.

Today is also a chance to tangle with some of the peculiar and hilarious intersections of our lives – we all have multiple facets and some of us have multiple identities. Many of us juggle and try to maintain so-called “secret” lives, sometimes trying to balance more than one job where people know us under different names, while others balance multiple relationships, multiple blogs – we’re busy people.

And though the people in this room represent many different interests, abilities and degrees of involvement online, we are all struggling to find our places within the awesome world of Sex 2.0 – which is not just a place to check stuff out, but to make cool stuff and meet cool people.

But – the main challenge I want to throw out to you for today and beyond is to think about not just your immediate community – the cool people in this room and the people who couldn’t be here who are playing along at home – but also people who don’t quite know that they need what we do. That sounds almost like I’m charging you with a missionary task – but I’m not asking you to go out and convert people to our cause, because that’s creepy and I’m not so sure “we” have one cause anyway. But what I’m saying is that it’s important to build community, but it’s also important to reach outside of our communities – spend some time in non-sexual spaces online, learn as much as you can about new media – and if you’re feeling feisty, challenge people’s assumptions about what sex and Sex 2.0 are all about.

So welcome – mix and mingle, learn and have fun, and make some sex media, for now and the future.

[I also have video that I'll be posting shortly - and then you can compare and contrast the written with the spoken, if you're into that kind of thing]