A lot of my personal storytelling on the internet (er, I mean, blogging) has been about finding myself – not just finding but also locating myself in the greater context of the wild worlds of sexuality, activism, and various movements and communities. Over recent years, I’ve been evolving away from telling all the intimate details of my life to the internet, and though there are some aspects of that frenetic, gut-spilling writing that I miss (and which I still give audiences at Sex Worker Literati a taste of that personal confession stuff), it’s also revealed a lot for me.

Public storytelling – as many anonymous sex bloggers who’ve been outed to friends and family members know – is a risky business. But it’s a risk taken with some intentionality. If you’re publicly telling your story in some capacity, even if it’s with details obscured, it’s partly because you want to be known. “Known” not necessarily in the famous-with-a-book-deal way (but also – that) but you want to strike a chord with other people who can relate to you, either through mirrored personal experiences (“me too!”) or because they value your perspective (“I never thought of it that way”).

I’ve been wrestling with storytelling, with the value of not just my stories, but how sex worker stories get told and promoted – who is doing the telling? how? who is listening?

In particular, I’ve been thinking about these issues with respect to the two major projects I’ve done in the past year that related to sex worker media and storytelling: my monthly series Sex Worker Literati and the Speak Up media training.

I know these projects are important and valuable and that they shift thinking and assumptions about the ways sex workers experience the world and the ways in which sex worker stories can be told. But for the last bunch of months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways in which these projects also uphold some cultural norms, create a dominant narrative of sex work, and value some stories and experiences over others. And I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to fix this.

Although the rallying cry for the gay rights movement has been “come out!” and there are people in the sex worker rights movement that urge this as a priority as well, coming out doesn’t benefit all (or even most) individuals in the sex industry. In fact, being out puts many people in the sex industry at risk of violence and discrimination. The sex workers who are most able to come out are people like me: middle class, educated (though I don’t necessarily mean degreed), white, cis women who can use coming out to their advantage in some way, whether to get a book deal or to promote a political agenda. Yes, sex workers of all stripes are stigmatized and discriminated against, but chosen coming out is a privilege.

I think there is value in being able to, as a sex worker, say “I’m a lot like you” to the Average American. I have certainly been told “You seem so normal” and “You don’t look like a prostitute” while watching the gears in someone’s head turning and reconsidering their bias. This is useful. But there are also other messages embedded in this re/presentation.

We discussed this during the Speak Up training during our session on Crafting Your Message. Here’s a blurb from the training manual:

Think about the unintended messages of things you say. How can things you are framing in a positive way also have negative effects? For example, you say, “Not all sex workers are drug addicts and street prostitutes.” The subtext of this phrase is, “There’s something wrong with being a drug addict or a street prostitute. I’m better than them. I’m not asking you to respect or give them rights, I’m asking you to respect me and give me rights.” In this example, the intent might be to show you are like other people and humanize yourself. This can be done by saying, “People have extreme and fantastical ideas about who sex workers are, but we’re people just like you.” This conveys diversity without marginalizing anyone in the community.

Especially because I run a monthly event in which sex workers are exposing their stories in public, I’ve become hyperaware of the fact that the public performance of sex worker experiences in the United States is very much about the personal adventures of middle class, white, cis women. I’ve been trying to take a hard look at how this came to be, and at what points along the way trans women, cis men, trans men, people of color, and people from a variety of class backgrounds have been shut out of this movement – and what role I have played in all that mess. I’m certainly guilty of wielding my privilege along the way.

Not all stories need to be public, with a face and a name to match (that’s another post for another day). However, the fact that the sex workers who are public and part of the movement tend to fit a particular profile certainly has meaning. Not insignificantly, it means that the American sex worker rights movement, despite being frequently shunned by the mainstream feminist movement, has mimicked the problems of the feminist movement with regards to representation. This is hugely disappointing and hugely problematic. The sex industry is such an interesting site of intersection between issues of gender (by which I don’t mean “cis women,” but the broader consideration of gender roles), race, ability, international migration, public health, and capitalism. Potentially, activists who talk about the sex trade could be discussing all these things and creating a platform for diverse viewpoints and solutions. But that’s not happening here in the US right now.

Which is all a long way to say that, in my absence from writing here, I’ve been doing some thinking and laying of foundations to make some shifts in other people’s thinking (and my own, too). I need to get back in the swing of sharing that thinking here. In my non-blog life, I’ve been having lots of conversations and trying to figure out ways to do this better. Which is good, because doing this work is really what this is all about, not just bitching about it on the internet (sorry internet, you’re clusterfucky – but I still love you).

I’ve been a bit lax about it over the past two months, partly due to some hard drive messiness (le sigh), but I spend some time this weekend digging into my archives of video files from Sex Worker Literati.

There are a lot of good stories coming down the pike, since I’ve now got 10 videos edited and ready to go, and I’ll be posting at least two a week for the next while. I still have to edit videos from the December and January readings. At the moment, there are eighteen videos online – you can watch them all on our blip.tv channel or subscribe via iTunes or Miro. It’s not quite as good as being there, but these stories are damn awesome.

The video above is of Melissa Gira Grant reading “The Secret Diary of Melissa Gira Grant” at the September event.

I can’t believe we’ve been doing Sex Worker Literati for 6 months already! It’s been such fun, and I’ve got a lot that I’m hoping to do with it this year. For starters, all the events are themed. Speaking of, we’re working on booking the shows for this year, so if you or someone you know has a story to tell, please get in touch:

Call for Performers: Sex Worker Literati
Everyone has a story to tell…and Sex Worker Literati is the place for sex workers to tell theirs! Through spoken word, song, dance, or writing, each person on stage has a chance to lure the listeners into their world – to tantalize, scandalize, and give them a look into the life of a sex worker.

If you’re a current or former sex worker, or you have stories about the sex industry, please consider joining us for an evening as a performer!. The event is held on the first Thursday of each month at the Happy Ending bar in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and is co-hosted by Audacia Ray and David Henry Sterry. While we cannot pay performers, we will shower you with gratitude, offer you a place to sell your books / zines / CD’s, and let you have a drink on us.

Our upcoming themes are:

February 4 – Love and Pain
March 4 – Show & Tell: My Favorite Outfit
April 1 – Goddesses, Sinners, and Saviors
May 6 – Embarrassing Things I’ve Done for Money
June 3 – Coming Out & Passing
July 1 – The Craziest Ho I Ever Did Know
August 5 – Why Being a Whore Sucks, and/or Why It’s Great
September 2 – Tricks, Johns, Clients, and Sir Save-A-Hos
October 7 – Healers and Whores
November 4 – Dicks, Cops, & the Long Arm of the Law
December 2 – Family Affairs

Interested in participating? Email host@hoshookerscallgirlsrentboys.com with your name, your website, and/or any samples of your work! We especially encourage newer writers and untested performers to inquire – the themes that we’ve developed are intended to inspire sex workers to tell their stories, big or small.

December 17th is the annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, a day on which sex workers and their allies gather at vigils around the world to mourn our dead and bring attention to the continued acts of violence and injustice faced by sex workers. It’s a tough event, but a necessary one – because sex workers are so stigmatized, they are often disrespected in both life and death. Our community must come together to memorialize those who have been taken from us, and support each other in the ongoing fight for justice and rights.

This is a video of the speech I made at last year’s vigil in New York, held in Washington Square Park. In it, I do something that I’ve never done at a public speaking event or on the internet – I cry. Like I said, it’s a tough day.

There are events being organized around the world – for a list of locations for events that you can attend, check out the Sex Workers Outreach Project December 17th page.

Here is the information for the gathering here in New York:

And this is the text of the speech in the video (the original post is here):

Every year I come to this event, and every year, in the hour before the vigil, I seriously consider not showing up, because it’s hard to be here, hard to stay present and be witness to the sadness and struggles of this community. Sex workers and our allies are strong – no doubt – but we are also vulnerable. And those two words -strength and vulnerability- are exactly why the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers exists.

Today, on the 6th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, there are gatherings in 20 cities around the world, including places like Tucson, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Copenhagen, and Sydney. There’s a National March that happened earlier today in Washington DC, culminating in a rally in front of the Department of Justice. And here we are, a little chilly but resilient. Our movement is growing, and though we have many obstacles, we are moving forward toward a world in which sex workers’ rights are recognized as human rights, where we are free to choose what we do with our bodies and how we make our livings – whether that means working in the sex industry or keeping far away from it because we have viable economic alternatives.

In a minute we’ll read the SWOP demands for ensuring justice and safety for sex workers, but I also wanted to add in my very own demand – and it’s not directed to policy makers, health care providers, law enforcement, or any other official organization. It’s directed to the people standing right here today. My demand is this: take care of yourselves, ask for help when you need it, and offer support to others when you can. And by support, I mean the purest and most human form of support – listen to sex workers and allies about their experiences, their struggles, their doubts. It’s true that we have a lot of work to do, and sex workers are dying while we’re trying to do that work. But it’s also true that we can’t be of service, we can’t fight the good fight, if we don’t take care of ourselves and each other. When we’re done with the program today – after we read the SWOP demands and the list of names of sex workers who were murdered this year, I want to encourage you to hang out a while, decompress, and just talk to each other and offer support.

This day is a hard one to face, a hard one to be present for, but the purpose of any memorial service is to create a space for the living to show respect for those who have lost their lives and to be there for one another. So let’s do that – not just today but throughout the year.

Above is a picture of me at the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar Launch party at the beginning of November. See more of the great pics that Nick McGlynn took here. I am sharing the month of April with Sinclair Sexsmith – it’s our mutual birthday month, and the pic is pretty hot, if I do say so myself.

The 2010 NYC Sex Blogger Calendar is an unique project – it brought together a bunch of NYC’s writers, filmmakers and sex educators with twelve outstanding photographers to make a very cool and slickly designed calendar. This year, each model and photographer team came up with the way they wanted to represent their interpretation of the theme: Visions of Sexual Freedom. Over the next few weeks, each model is going to blog about how they arrived at their idea. I’m looking forward to hearing from each team about their creative process.

As it did last year, the calendar benefits Sex Work Awareness, an organization I co-founded with some former $preadsters. Last year’s calendar made the Speak Up! media training for sex workers possible, and with the enthusiasm that has met the project this year, we’ll be able to expand the media training from one day to a full weekend. We learned a lot from doing the training last year, and I’m pretty excited to make it bigger and better and keep working toward my goal of building a fierce army of media-savvy sex workers who can take on the establishment. Our first class of Speak Up participants is already totally doing that.

One of the things that’s unique about the calendar project is that it bridges the gap between advocacy and entertainment in a cool and engaging way. Sure, sex work is partly about sex – but advocacy and activism work isn’t especially sexy. The calendar, however, is sexy. And through the holiday season, when you buy the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar ($20 + $3.25 shipping) you will also get a free MP4 download of the 25 minute director’s cut of my film Dacia’s Love Machine, which debuted last year in Berlin. Link to download will be provided on checkout.

So, for just $20 you can support the Speak Up media training program, plus get a hot calendar and a bonus free download of a weird and funny short film featuring yours truly.

$20 + $3.25 shipping – includes free download of director’s cut of Dacia’s Love Machine

Also, he’s a short teaser with one scene from Dacia’s Love Machine. The 25 minute version has more characters and more awkwardness.

Below is a repost from Akimbo – where I’ll be posting while I’m in India (so you should subscribe).

I’m going to India at the end of next week to do trainings and documentation of organizations that work on health and rights issues with women and youth in India. I’m starting of the trip by doing new media tools and tactics workshops in Delhi with CREA and the YP Foundation.

Then I’ll head south to Sangli, in Maharashtra, to spend five days with SANGRAM. Since 1992, SANGRAM has worked with sex workers in South Maharashtra and North Karnataka, and since then the organization has expanded to work in women’s health and rights more generally. Sangli has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in Maharashtra after Mumbai. In Sangli, I’ll be spending time with Meena Seshu (read a post of hers about sex workers fighting criminlization here) and documenting the experiences of sex workers there in video, audio, pictures, and text.

Part of my mission in visiting SANGRAM is to brainstorm with them about ways to reduce stigma for sex workers in local and global ways, so I thought I’d start out with a little bit of a cultural exchange, done digitally of course.

I want to bring Indian sex workers a cultural gift from American sex workers. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of room in my suitcase, and I just know that I’d get weird and customs-unfriendly stuff in the mail, so I’m asking for this: if you are a present or former sex worker in the United States, send me a digital artifact that represents your experience in the sex industry.

Send me a picture, a screenshot, a video that you think reflects your experience as a sex worker. If you have a story to tell, call and leave it on my voicemail: 718-554-1714.

I’ll need all these artifacts by next Wednesday, September 2, so I can put them together into some kind of finished product and bring it to India with me. When I’m in India, I’ll share this little lump of digital culture from American sex workers, and I’ll create something with the sex workers there to bring back here.

Here are two suggestions of the kinds of things I’m looking for:

• An object that you use everyday in your work or something that you find really useful in whatever part of the industry you’re in
• A symbol that you think represents your experiences as a sex worker in the United States

Please circulate this to networks of sex workers you think would be interested in participating. Remember, I need your stories, pictures, and other digital ephemera in my inbox or my voicemail by Wednesday, September 2. Email me at aray [at] iwhc.org or leave a story on my voicemail at 718-554-1714.

In addition to sharing your digital artifacts with Indian sex workers, I plan on publishing a version online – I will remove names, emails, phone numbers and other identifying info, but if there’s something you’d like shared with sex workers but not with the Internetting public, please let me know.

I’ve been buried pretty deep in my work over the past week and change and haven’t been able to give much brain space to what’s happening in Rhode Island, but I just spent some time catching up with the details, plus thinking some of this stuff through with Eliyanna Kaiser – who, to give you a refresher course, shared my title of executive editor at $pread magazine for several years, is a co-founder of Sex Work Awareness, and is my co-creator and co-trainer for the Speak Up media training workshop. Though Eliyanna isn’t very active in online spheres of activism so you aren’t as familiar with her work as you are with mine – the woman is seriously bad ass. She’s involved with New York city and state politics, and has a long history of organizing around labor and reproductive rights issues (also she’s funny and geeky and awesome and one of my best friends in the world).

Over oysters and booze this evening, we put our heads together to articulate some of our concerns with the way the discussions about Rhode Island have been running.

If you’re not following along super closely, here’s the (very very) short version. Indoor prostitution in Rhode Island has, via a legal loophole, been decriminalized since the 1980s. Since the Craigslist killer incidents in April, some state legislators and concerned citizens have been trying to get indoor prostitution re-criminalized. Click here to check out all the articles that have been devoted to the subject in the Providence Journal, the main paper of record in RI. There is a very outspoken contingent of activists, lead by University of Rhode Island professor of women’s studies Donna Hughes, who are supportive of the move to recriminalize. There are also some activists who are speaking up and saying that recriminalizing would put sex workers at greater risk of violence and exploitation.

A lot of these voices are coming from outside of Rhode Island, including a group of about 50 academics that have been principally organized by Elizabeth Wood (Assistant Professor at Nassau Community College, New York) and Michael Goodyear (Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia in Canada). All the recent posts on Sex in the Public Square are about what’s been happening in Rhode Island and in the ever growing conversations around the issues at hand.

Eliyanna and I have been talking about this a lot, and though things are getting kind of nuts, we thought it was important for us to chime in with our perspectives – not on what is actually happening in Rhode Island, but with our perspectives on effective advocacy. Consider this a bit of a loving smackdown. We know you mean well, that you want what’s best for sex workers in Rhode Island, and that you see opportunity in this moment to make better legal precedents for prostitutes in other states.

Mocking the opposition on the internet, being snarky and dismissive makes us look disorganized, seriously unprofessional, and doesn’t actually do anything to dispel the idea that we’re crazy sex radicals. Think before you snark. It’s not really a useful tactic to counter the opposition – actually these attitudes do us a disservice. If you must snark, do it in private emails and reiterate that the conversation is not blogable or have (gasp, gag) phone conversations to vent.

Strategy and speaking out – especially speaking out to Rhode Island legislators – needs to come from the affected community. Rhode Island legislators most likely don’t care a whole lot what you think if you don’t vote in their district. A good analogy for this is what’s happening with the national health care debate – leaders from other nations with national health care systems can put in their two cents to our government, but ultimately Congress doesn’t care what the French think of our health care system. Same thing goes for how Rhode Island legislators feel about input from folks from Nevada.

It is both politically smart and ethical to help and support people inside Rhode Island to do this work. I know you feel like you want to do something – anything – to speak out and help. But if you are not from Rhode Island, the fact of the matter is that badgering Rhode Island legislators makes it look like you don’t understand how politics work – politics are local. We are creating an image of people who care about sex work issues as people who are outsiders with our own agenda who are muscling in with our own nefarious agenda and not respecting local public debate and political spaces. We folks who are not from Rhode Island need to support and offer help to people who are from Rhode Island so that they can fight this fight and they can build up their local institutions to face this. So what does this look like? I would bet that the folks who are doing the organizing in Rhode Island, like Tara Hurley and Megan Andelloux could use some money – if they didn’t have to worry about day to day expenses they could focus on the hard work of their activism. They could also use support with drafting statements. And they could probably use help in supporting local sex workers in making their statements. The people Rhode Island legislators most need to hear from are local sex workers who will be directly affected by recriminalization. They need to be supported and assisted in talking about what their lives will be like if their work is made illegal. Getting their stories into the hands of the Rhode Island legislators who are receptive to their perspectives (and those folks do exist, Tara has more info about that) should be the main priority.

Although sex workers rights advocates agree that the abolitionist perspective, which conflates trafficking with consensual sex work, is problematic at best, abolitionists do cut straight to the concerns of the public with their rhetoric. Certainly, we agree with the abolitionists that it is a bad thing that men, women, trans people, and youth are coerced into the sex industry. What we differ on is the opinion of how this can be remedied, but there is that baseline understanding.

In a recent abolitionist screed against the “sex radicals” (which I’m not linking to in the interest of discontinuing the feeding of trolls), they did pinpoint some of the weaknesses of approach and credibility of the academics who they refers to as sex radicals. Getting snarky in return is not all that useful, further underscores potential weaknesses, and creates the distraction of bickering, when our time could be better spent supporting the sex workers and allies in Rhode Island.

in solidarity,
Eliyanna Kaiser and Audacia Ray

[note on comments: We both have busy day jobs, which explains why we're co-writing this thing after midnight. We will both try to comment when we can throughout the day. You can also talk to us on twitter: @eliyannakaiser and @audaciaray]

There was, of course, plenty of documenting of the inaugural Sex Worker Literati on Thursday. You wouldn’t expect anything less from me, right?

The above video is a teaser, with short clips of each of the performers (with the exception of Damien Decker, who didn’t want to be on camera). I’ll be uploading one video a week, on Tuesdays, until the next reading on September 3rd. You can check out the videos as they go up on Blip, or you can subscribe to the feed on iTunes (or you should be able to shortly, when it’s hopefully approved).

More documentation: I created a group pool on Flickr and while we’re waiting for Official Photographer Baby Sinead to add her images, you should check out Gerry Visco’s pix of the evening. Also, there’s a fan page on Facebook, where I’m posting links to pieces about the series and the Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys anthology.

Whew. So that’s where you can find content that will keep you looped in and involved, regardless of whether or not you attend the events.

There were a lot of really amazing things about the debut of Sex Worker Literati, not the least of which was that the place was so packed that people were sitting on the floor. I was really inspired by the mix of performance styles – not just all reading – and I really want to make that a priority in upcoming months.

But the thing that was most striking to me was that I think I forgot a little bit that storytelling is really important. Storytelling is a cornerstone of movement building. It’s social, it’s meaningful, it brings people together on a human level. Doing my more politicized work is important, no doubt. But creating good and interesting culture, culture based around story telling, is really powerful. It’s nice to be creating a space where people can share and benefit from stories – and it is giving me something that was missing from my life, a sense of community in a different way. Like I said, social. And social is good, meeting people and inspiring them is great. The evening also made me reflect on an annoying phrase that gets thrown at sex worker activists: “the happy hooker lobby.”

In the sex work versus trafficking debates, one of the things that happens is that people who focus on trafficking (and specifically on the idea that all people in prostitution are “prostituted” and essentially being raped every day at their jobs) try to derail and discount the perspective of people who identify as sex workers by calling us the “happy hooker lobby.” But here’s the thing: most of the people who use the phrase “sex work” and address the issues in the sex industry from a labor and human rights perspective haven’t had a straight forward “empowering” or uncomplicated experience of the sex work that they’ve done. This much was certainly reflected in the stories told on Thursday night.

I’m really excited to see what this series grows into. And I’m also really proud of the fact that we’ve chosen to use the money that we earn from the bar to donate to various sex worker rights groups. I went home Thursday evening and was able to donate $125 to the St James Infirmary in San Francisco. At the next reading on September 3rd we’ll donate a percentage of the bar to $pread, and the featured readers are all folks who’ve written for the magazine. And I might even read something.

(And yes, I am at home blogging and editing video on a Saturday night)

Promoting the rights of sex workers in FYR Macedonia: Film Screening and Discussion at Bluestockings Bookstore – Thursday, July 23rd at 7 pm – FREE
WITNESS and partner organization, HOPS, will be screening their new
documentary on sex workers’ rights in Macedonia, on July 23 at Bluestockings Bookstore. Following the screening, WITNESS partner representative, Marija Tosheva will take part in a discussion on the role of the film in advocating for more just treatment for sex workers in Macedonia and Eastern Europe, and internationally as well.

Marija Tosheva is Program Director of Healthy Options Project Skopje (HOPS), a Macedonian NGO which since 1996 has run outreach and advocacy programs with sex workers and drug users, promoting safer behavior and enabling access to legal, health and social services, as well as resocialization and reintegration of sex workers, drug users, and their families. She is in New York for the summer editing the video with WITNESS.

DATE: July 23, 2009
TIME: 7:00 PM
PRICE: FREE
LOCATION: Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Wanted: Art Made By Sex WorkersShare
Body of Work is the working title of a small group exhibit that will take place in Providence, Rhode Island in the fall of 2009. Focusing exclusively on art made by sex workers, the show will attempt to shatter common myths about what it means to be a sex worker, while also providing much-needed gallery space for talented artists who may lack other means of showcasing their work.

With Providence quickly becoming the center of a national prostitution debate, it is vitally important to remind people that sex workers have minds as well as bodies, and should not be reduced to simple stereotypes. Because of this, work submitted to the show need not necessarily be sex work-related or even sex-related. Sex workers are a diverse group of people with diverse talents, interests, and skills, and this will be reflected in the final exhibit.

Submissions by hookers, strippers, rentboys, sex educators, porn stars, burlesque performers, dominatrices, go-go boys, and more are encouraged, though due to time and space constraints it should be emphasized that Body Of Work will ultimately focus on work by a small number of artists. If the quality of work reaches beyond the scope of the gallery, a larger exhibit may take place in a different venue at a later date.

If you are interested in submitting your work to the show, more specific/logistical deets are after the jump:

2-D, 3-D, and video media are welcome, as are works by writers interested in reading or performing at the event. Performance submissions are also encouraged, though the gallery’s small space will render large-scale performances very unlikely. The show will coincide with the second anniversary of Mixtapes For Hookers and be promoted as such, both locally and online.

To submit work for the show, e-mail (with the word ‘proposal’ in the subject line) yurigellerbentme@gmail.com. Include your name, location, and information about your work (titles, dates, dimensions, media.) Jpegs should be included as attachments. Links to artists’ websites are also encouraged.

About the show:

Work can be no bigger than 24X24, including framing. If the work is unframed, larger pieces may be acceptable.

Unfortunately, shipping will not be covered, so consider that if you are a non-local artist.

The deadline for submissions is August 7th. Work must be delivered to the gallery by the first week of September.

Any sales will be split 70 (you)/30 (the gallery.)

And that fabulous picture? It’s by Sinead McCarthy, aka Baby Sinead, who was one of the Speak Up! participants in April.

The details:

Sex Worker Literati
Hosted by Audacia Ray & David Henry Sterry
at Happy Ending in New York City
First Thursday of the Month
FREE
Behind the bumps and the grinds, under the garters and the pasties, in between the booze fueled clients and the stiletto heels there is in the exchange of sex for money a power dynamic that opens a window into the soul. Sex Worker Literati features sex workers, former sex workers, and people with stories about the sex industry who will read, monologue, perform, and shimmy their ways into your hearts, minds, and naughty bits.

Happy Ending, 302 Broome St between Forsyth and Eldridge
First Thursday of Every Month
Doors at 7, Reading from 8-10. FREE.
Portion of proceeds from the bar supports sex workers rights groups

Very early this year, I got an email from an author whose work I’ve followed and respected for years – David Henry Sterry. I first became acquainted with his work when his memoir Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent debuted in the early aughties. When David emailed in January, he was in the process of putting together an anthology of writing by sex workers and asked if I’d be interested in contributing. So I revved up my personal essay writing engines and sat down to write something, and discovered that writing about a fucked up relationship opened wounds and healed others. I blogged about the writing process for this piece a bit in early February in a post called Fictions of Myself; the final piece is in print now: it’s called “The Hot Flush of Lust and Cash” and it’s about a highly dysfunctional relationship I had with a fellow sex worker several years ago. Yes, it’s lesbian hooker drama at its finest, and you can read it in the just-released anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex. If you’re a long time reader and are nostalgic about the raw emotional writing I used to do – check it out. And if you’re a newer reader who doesn’t know a whole lot about my history of sex work and relationships and you’re curious – check it out. I’m pretty proud of the piece, it’s really different from most of the writing I do these days, but a kind of writing I’d like to explore a bit more.

So David and I started talking because of the anthology. I went to a reading he did with Tracy Quan and Elizabeth Eaves in early February, where we chatted and I revealed that I’m a new media sex geek, and that has turned into me helping out with the online promotion of the anthology. We ate dinners, we talked loudly about inappropriate stuff in public places, we became friends and collaborators. I think this is going to be really really good. And so, that link up there, to the book’s website? That’s my doing.

I’m also starting to plan a blog tour for the book that will take place in late summer and early fall – drop me a line and let me know if you’re interested in reviewing/writing about the book or interviewing one of its contributors.

And if you’re in New York, I expect to see you on August 6th! We’ve got tons of cool stuff in store for the night! If you’re not in NYC, the website will have great goodies – excerpts from the book, web exclusives, plus videos of performers at the reading series and more.

Dear Attorney General Cuomo,

I am writing to express concern about your intent to shut down advertising for erotic services through the internet, especially through sites like Craigslist.

Policing the masseuses, phone workers, pro-dominants, and escorts using Craigslist fails to protect people who are coerced into the sex industry. Preventing the use of Craigslist advertisements also eliminates the advantage of screening clients online, which makes for a safer work experience by filtering out potentially dangerous individuals. Furthermore, keeping sex workers offline hinders police investigations of violent crime. In the Boston murder of Julissa Brisman, it was online tracking that enabled the police to identify the suspect.

I urge you to consider a harm reductionist approach to online prostitution. According to “Behind Closed Doors,” a report on indoor prostitution in New York City released in 2005 by the Sex Workers Project, online advertising has enabled many sex workers to operate independently, without the interference of third parties or “pimps.” Prostitution is not going to be abolished when advertising becomes less publicly visible, but independent workers who make their living in the sex industry may be forced to rely on networks of third parties, thereby giving up their autonomy and control over their bodies. Supporting legal and advocacy services such as those provided by the Sex Workers Project can help to keep sex workers safe and protected from violence and exploitation, as is their right as human beings.

Sincerely,
Audacia Ray
Vice President, Sex Work Awareness
Brooklyn, NY