Audacia Ray's Blog, page 42
October 18, 2011
Yes, Roxanne, Put On The Red Light.: Hi.
I'm SW1. We don't use our names here - for a few reasons. So sometimes you'll see signatures from posts we've made for personal reasons or asks we've answered. They'll be SW1, SW2, SW3, and so on.
I made this for a lot of reasons, but the primary one is this: I'm the one of us who hates being a…
I kind of feel like Sex Worker Problems is $pread magazine for the Tumblr age. Of course, there are many ways that's wrong/could be argued against. But as a former $pread editor, I am happy to see this kind of sex worker self representation being carried on.
October 15, 2011
Me at the Old Operating Theatre in London. It's above the...
Me at the Old Operating Theatre in London. It's above the St Thomas church, and when they did operations they put a "blood box" underneath the operating table, a box filled with sawdust so the blood wouldnt drip from the church's ceiling. Love that detail. The stadium style seating (standing really) -I'm at the top in this pic- is so students can get a clear view of the surgery from above.
October 14, 2011
My stealth pictures from my visit to the Hunterian Museum in...
[image error]
My stealth pictures from my visit to the Hunterian Museum in London! John Hunter is widely regarded as the first modern surgeon, and he also was all about comparative anatomy. Behold:
Comparisons of animal tongues. The big fat one in the middle is a lion tongue.
Male sparrows at different times in the season. Their balls get bigger when its breeding time.
Wax model demonstrating nineteenth century mandible removal surgery.
Cow fetus with head stuck inside its rib cage.
Extreme trauma practice set (contemporary, with fake blood).
Syphilitic skulls.
Me excited about amputation saws.
October 13, 2011
View from my morning run in London. Pretty awesome.
View from my morning run in London. Pretty awesome.
October 12, 2011
Guardian: Porn is good for society
I'm in a room with Anna, the author of this piece today. Have been discussing the role of "choice" in debates around sex work and porn.
October 10, 2011
"Speak Up! Media Training for Sex Workers
Speak Up! gives participants a peek into into how the media..."
Speak Up! gives participants a peek into into how the media machine functions and what kinds of opportunities there are for sex worker activists to engage in news cycles. We will examine the types of stories that get told about the sex industry, discuss strategies for success with reactive and earned media, and hone our interview skills through roleplays."
-
I am teaching a half day session of Speak Up! in London on Wednesday at Sex Worker Open University.
This will be the FIFTH Speak Up! training we've done this year. Pretty amazing how much this little project has grown from when we did the first training in 2009. And hopefully next year it will grow even more.
October 6, 2011
"Contrary to what this debate implies, sex workers don't make a choice—we make choices, plural—all..."
-
The H-Word: Rachel Lloyd vs. The Fashion Police | Bitch Media
Melissa Petro.
(I feel like my Tumblr has become a little bit of a Melissa Petro fanblog over the past weeks, a lot of my quotes and links have been to her stuff.)
October 3, 2011
Melissa Gira Grant: Turning my ambivalence into action
Like a lot of activists, I was skeptical of what was going on at Occupy Wall Street, but started showing up just to see what it was all about. And then ended up staying. And then ended up volunteering.
Which last night meant asserting a progressive stack at the Internet Working Group meeting, so that white tech dudes would not dominate the conversation (and calling one one directly when he continued to jump process to do so).
Which means joining a smaller working group to ensure the stories of people who are actually on the ground at Occupy Wall Street are making it online, to counter the images of brogressivism and manarchism that have dominated.
It takes a lot of work and persistence to hold the Left accountable. I can understand completely why it is exhausting, why it makes people reluctant to do it. But this is so early. At the end of the meeting, we — a group of women and queer folks — had all got admin access to the "official" website, started an "official" Tumblr to share more firsthand accounts to complicate the OWS narrative, and are meeting over the next few days when we can to figure out how to share the richness and complexity of what's going on down there. I'm not on-board with all of it, but I want people who cannot be in the Park to have an accurate picture of what's going on before they come to conclusions about whether or not it merits their support.
And then also, there's this from Melissa…
Occupy Wall Street: I want to believe
I've been staring at this blank box on my blogging screen for three or four days now, trying to figure out just how to start a post about the thoughts and conversations I've been having about Occupy Wall Street (and by extension, Occupy Everything). I keep wishing I could state my relationship status to the occupation as "it's complicated."
The heart of my politics are clear on the situation: I believe in dismantling the paradigms and systems that allow egregiously selfish capitalism to thrive while destroying and oppressing a huge percentage of those that have little to no say in the matter. I'm on the left. The very, very far left. That much is clear to me.
It's all in the execution, though, isn't it?
THIS captures my own ambivalence about the occupy wall street movement.
You should also read Jessica Yee's piece on Racialicious - here's the first paragraph:
The "OCCUPY WALL STREET" slogan has gone viral and international now. From the protests on the streets of WALL STREET in the name of "ending capitalism" – organizers, protestors, and activists have been encouraged to "occupy" different places that symbolize greed and power. There's just one problem: THE UNITED STATES IS ALREADY BEING OCCUPIED. THIS IS INDIGENOUS LAND. And it's been occupied for quite some time now.
