Audacia Ray's Blog, page 54

Coverage of Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean | Media Program | Open Society Foundations

Coverage of Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean | Media Program | Open Society Foundations:

I want there to be a report like this on sex work and media, and I want to write the damn thing. 

That said, this is really interesting.

"Our model demonstrated that the prostitution market may be pulling educated women – these so-called..."

""Our model demonstrated that the prostitution market may be pulling educated women – these so-called 'high-opportunity-cost' women – out of the conventional labor market and the marriage market, in many cases," said Jennifer Hafer, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Arkansas. "The findings suggest that these women are not forced into the prostitution market but rather choose to enter it for many of the same reasons that people enter the conventional job market – money, stability, autonomy and even job satisfaction.""

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Affluent, Educated Women May Choose Sexual Prostitution | Arkansas Newswire | University of Arkansas

Interesting: research on sex work being done at a business school. It's good to have this work being done, but also funny that we need this heady academic language to tell us/legitimize things that we already know. 

It's good that there is nuance being introduced into the way sex work is researched, but this kind of work also perpetuates the divide between the empowered choices of "high opportunity cost women" and degraded exploitation. There's a lot in the middle too.

"If SlutWalk truly wanted to bring attention to the systematic ways in which women are harmed by..."

"If SlutWalk truly wanted to bring attention to the systematic ways in which women are harmed by regressive and misogynistic thinking, they could have done the heavy lifting of reaching out and supporting black, poor and transgender women in New Orleans, for whom the word "slut" carries a criminal sex offender record. Instead, they force us to keep bearing the multiple burdens that come with not only being a woman, but also being a working class woman of color. Had SlutWalk organizers considered New Orleans – or perhaps any city in the Northern Hemisphere where undocumented women possess a very real fear that a call to the police for any reason will result in her own deportation – they might have thought twice about sinking so much time and energy into their event. They might have had to listen to women of color, and actually involve them in visioning for what an equitable future would look like. Instead, they decided to celebrate a term not everyone is comfortable even saying. While I will not pretend to speak for women targeted in New Orleans, I doubt that the mere idea of naming themselves "sluts" would be welcomed. SlutWalk has proven itself to be a maddening distraction from the systematic and interpersonal violence that women of color face daily."

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SlutWalk: A Stroll Through White Supremacy « To the Curb

I haven't posted at all about SlutWalk over the past few weeks… here's the best analysis of why SlutWalk is problematic and harmful (and not from Gail Dines' perspective, to be sure)

apt4e:The library. So pleased that all the books are unpacked...

apt4e:

The library. So pleased that all the books are unpacked and there are comfy places to sit and read and work.

This weekend, I moved into my new home. Mine, one I own (as part of a coop, of course, since this is NYC). It's amazing.

I set to work right away unpacking forty plus boxes of books and creating my library, pictured above, complete with leather wing chairs.

We made a serious dent in unpacking and setting stuff up - the dining room is totally useable, but the kitchen is only partly so (and the contractor has some details to complete tomorrow), the green/media/guest room is and will remain pretty cluttered for a while, and the bedroom is getting there. The closets aren't done, but hopefully will be tomorrow, and then we can get more serious with the unpacking and putting things in closets (particularly in the bedroom).

There's still so much to do, but I am so glad to be in this apartment, getting settled, getting used to the sounds it makes and the way everything works. A really great way to move along toward celebrating my twelfth anniversary of living in NYC this August.

I have spent eight of those twelve years in the apartment I just left - the most tumultuous, interesting, and complicated years of my life thus far. I have some regrets, but overall I am glad I lived those years the way I did - and even more glad that I've come out on the other side to tell the tales.

Photo

apt4e:Black chandelier for the dining room. So excited about...

apt4e:

Black chandelier for the dining room. So excited about this one! After the move (Saturday) we'll hang all the (black!!) crystals from it. Yay for goth home decor.

Forgive me for having gone so quiet on the internet in the past week. I'm preparing to move (on Saturday) from the apartment I've lived in for eight years and into the apartment I bought in February (and have been renovating since). It's in the final stages of renovation this week. We painted this past weekend: purple for the dining room and kitchen, red (with fun details) in the living room and master bedroom, green in the guest room/media room. Still have to do trim all over the place (white) and the bathroom (blue, with stenciling). Plus packing, waiting for new furniture to be delivered, moving, unpacking… you get the drill. 

Deep thoughts on other matters are on hold for the moment, but scheduled to resume early next week.

ASK DOMINICK: Male Escort Advice Column #3

Thanks for the shoutout, Dominick! 

I'm always looking for performers for the Red Umbrella Diaries - email me if you're interested in telling your story at a live event in NYC.

rentboyblog:

ASK DOMINICK: Male Escort Advice Column #3   

Former kept boy and retired full-time escort "Dominick" transitioned into a successful career in commercial real estate—where the art of the sell is supreme. He's appeared in various forums, bringing true accounts of his experiences to light. Look for news of his next appearance and upcoming publications here. Listen to a free podcast of his latest appearance! "Dirty Tricks & Happy Endings" at Red Umbrella Diaries, click here to listen. 

 

QUESTION #2

Dominick, what's that group that you do the readings at? I want to read there! - Danny, New York

So I attended the last session of Red Umbrella Diaries at Happy Ending this past Thursday. It's one project of Red Umbrella, which also does some really cool training events for sex workers. The theme of the last event was "the boss of me" First we heard from the founder/hostess Audacia Ray, who told a story about how she learned to say no. You've got to be able to say no sometimes. Then we heard from Niesha Davis, who told us about her comically failed attempt at working in a house of domination. Next up was Hawk Kincaid, who delivered some poetry that smashed through the intolerable politeness of the office. Hawk is in the process of bringing back the amazing HookOnline project; prior content is available again after going offline for a time, and new stuff is to follow. When I was escorting, I kept a copy of Hook's wallet card with me at all times, which gave advice on what to do in case of arrest or entrapment, and included a blank place for a lawyer's phone number. Luckily, I never once had to use it, but it made me feel more secure and confident.  Tiny dancer and ass-kicker Annabelle Xaah then took us all to graduate school with a radical manifesto about how outlaw freak sex workers are gonna rise up united and turn the tides of injustice, cruelty and lousy sex. Zambian-born Damien Decker closed the night by sharing what it's like to be hired for a cuckolding scene by a White man, agent to his own humiliation, as he orders a Black man to fuck his wife. Awkward.  

You can find Red Umbrella reading series guidelines here. Good luck!

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Packing. File this under things I am unlikely to wear soon but...

Packing. File this under things I am unlikely to wear soon but refuse to part with. See the leopard print on the lapel? Entire back of the jacket is covered in it. Hand sewn with dental floss and my 19 year old punk rock determination.

Awesome, it's the venn diagram of my I Am A Sex Worker...

Awesome, it's the venn diagram of my I Am A Sex Worker video and Stepping Stone's ad campaign.

More of these please.

Tonight's project: paint six bookshelves red, black, and...

Tonight's project: paint six bookshelves red, black, and gold.