Dear Podcast Owner

The following podcast has not been included in the iTunes podcast directory.

Name: Live Girl Review [VIDEO]
Feed URL: http://livegirlreview.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Submissions may not be included in the directory for a variety of reasons. For more information, please see the podcast technical specification at http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/techspecs.html.

Sincerely,

The iTunes Store Team

I of course checked out what these “variety of reasons” might be and among them is the phrase “strong prevalence of sexual content.” That’s got to be it, of course. And you know, though its a bummer for me, I don’t entirely have a problem with iTunes putting restrictions on content – I voluntarily labeled Live Girl Review with that bright red explicit tag, and I’ve got it labeled MA for mature audiences over on Blip. But it sucks that I got no warning and I really have no idea where the line is – when does sexual content become excessive? I don’t want to be whiny, boo hoo I want to put pr0n on itunes, I just want to know explicitly what the guidelines are. Anyway, iTunes Abuse hasn’t yet responded to my request for more info. If you or anyone you know might be able to help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated. Live Girl Review was really starting to take off, and without iTunes my progress is going to be a lot slower.

This upcoming weekend is Dark Odyssey summer camp down near Washington DC, but if you’re like me and the idea of camping out in cabins in the woods makes you feel cranky, you’re staying home. If home is the tristate area, you might consider a jaunt to eXXXotica NY. The name might have you believing that the event is in New York – but actually its in New Jersey. The whole thing takes place at the Meadowlands Convention Center, Friday through Sunday. I’ll be there on Saturday, presenting the following workshop at 3.30 pm:

Do It Yourself Sexy Media
In this crash course, sex media professional Audacia Ray will guide you through the ins and outs of making sexy media, whether for yourself and your partners, or to show the whole world. Blogging, podcasting, video blogging, and homemade porn will be addressed. We will examine the how to’s, including equipment selection, software and online platforms to promote your work, as well as privacy and anonymity issues for those who don’t want to be totally revealed to the world.

Or, at least, I will be teaching this workshop if the Mayor of Secaucus fails at his takedown mission. There’s an article up on AVN.com about his and other officials displeasure at the event taking place:

“A pornographic convention where alcohol is served in violation of state law and at a facility adjacent to a nursery school and playground is not the sort of atmosphere I’ll allow in Secaucus,” Elwell said in a statement to the press.

Elwell and other city officials have called a press conference to address the situation tomorrow at noon at the Harmony Early Learning Center in Secaucus.

[snip]

The NJ.com report states that according to Elwell, one of the exhibits at the convention is called “violent dehumanization.” Handy told AVN that Exxxotica organizers are still unclear on what the mayor meant by that reference.

So in the scheme of things, my little squabble with iTunes sucks, but at least I don’t have to attend a press conference with a small city’s mayor. It should be interesting to see how this develops – I’ve been looking forward to presenting at the event.

Her responses are awesome and spot on:

Now Meatholes.com is about obviously about pushing their stars limits. This video has made the rounds of course and enforced the idea that the site is abusive to it’s stars to the point of making them snap. I don’t really know Meatholes or the people behind so I can’t say if it’s awful. It does seem degrading in the viral video but on the first video of the site is a girl talking about how hard she can take things and what she will take. I can not really speak on this site.

(emphasis mine)

She’s talking about labor, not images. And that’s hugely important – and it’s the future of discussions about porn and exploitation, even if there’s still a lot of obsessing about the sex acts happening on screen.

It’s often hard to tell just from looking at a visual representation whether or not the performers are being placed under duress or if their working conditions are bad. Can you tell by looking at a tee shirt whether it was made by workers in ethical working conditions? Nope. Not unless you look at the label and then do your homework on the company.

Sometimes when I present the idea that its not the aggressive anal/choking/cum splattering that makes porn unethical or unfeminist, but the conditions under which the performers are doing said acts, people say things like, “its impossible to know what the working conditions are.” It isn’t impossible – it just requires some research. Just as people research textile factory conditions and then put pressure on corporations to have better practices – the same could happen with porn.

[audio: WakingVixenCitibankMessage2.mp3]

To paraphrase, the voicemail informs me that they cannot open the account for me because of “the line of business [I am] in.” Because I work in the adult industry, Citibank will not take my money.

When I did the account set up stuff with the guy at Citibank, he asked a lot of questions about my business, and I was straightforward about it. When asked what my business does at the beginning of our conversation, I told him that I do adult new media production and consulting (then of course I had to explain what new media is). I explained that I don’t have an office, work at home, its mostly web based, gave him my web address (this one, wakingvixen.com) and told him that Village Voice Media/New Times is my major client. All true stuff that didn’t seem to raise any red flags for him as we talked.

But later when the bank manager reviewed my application and they, as the voicemail says, had a look at my website they decided that “it’s obvious” that my work is adult and not a business they want to work with. As soon as I heard the message, I decided to close all my accounts with Citibank, and that’s what I did yesterday afternoon. When I marched in and told them my intentions, I explained, “Since you’ve told me in no uncertain terms that you don’t want money from the adult industry, I don’t want you to have any of my money. I would like to close my accounts.” They didn’t really argue much at first, though as we worked our way through the paperwork they explained that it wasn’t my personal accounts that were the problem, just the business. As you know, there isn’t a lot of separation in my mind between who I am as a business and who I am as a person, so this argument just isn’t going to fly with me. Also, my business is a DBA, which means it isn’t a separate legal entity (like a LLC or other corporation would be), it’s intimately tied to my personal finances in the legal sense. Who’s to say that at some point in the future, they wouldn’t get a hair across their asses and decide to close down all my accounts with them? That notion aside, no one who objects to how I make my money is going to get their hands on it. That is fundamental.

In a situation like this, I essentially have no legal recourse – the Citibank policy doesn’t go against any protected rights. Businesses are totally within their rights to discriminate against people who work in any sector of the adult industry, regardless of the legality of that work. But I can (and did) take my money elsewhere, and I told them exactly why.

This is something that people who work in all adult-related businesses should think about, and if you feel comfortable, ask companies that you do big business with if they have a policy on adult entertainment. Some will look at you like you’re crazy – money is money, who cares where it comes from? – and others will say that of course they don’t do business with people in adult. I’ve had this experience at post production houses too, when trying to get screening copies made of The Bi Apple.

I took my business to Washington Mutual immediately after receiving my official checks from Citibank, and before I even sat down, I asked if they have a policy against opening accounts for adult businesses. They didn’t think so, but reviewed their policies anyway and there was nothing against my work. Upon explaining what I do, I was also told that it didn’t seem all that adult, because I don’t own or operate a strip club and my primary business isn’t porn production. It’s so fascinating to see what different people’s takes on “adult” are.

So the moral of the story is: if you work in the adult industry or are an ally of people who do, don’t do business with Citibank, even if you can conceal where your money comes from. Money is power. Bestow that power on companies that don’t judge you (and this goes for hairdressers, CPAs, etc as well).

I’ve posted my Twitter stream and replies from my Tweeple below so you can see some reactions to what was happening as it was going on, with the most recent entries at the top.