Audacia Ray's Blog, page 61

Writing Workshop for Survivors of Sexual Abuse in NYC

Writing Workshop for Survivors of Sexual Abuse in NYC:

mrsexsmith:

Moving Our Embodied Stories

Creative resilience workshops for survivors of sexual abuse

Facilitated by SAMANTHA BARROW and SALIHA BAVA

NEXT WORKSHOP SERIES: TIME: 4 Saturdays, 1-3 PM April 22 & 30, May 7th & 14th

PLACE: New York City - email for location

FEES: $160 for four sessions. 

Partial scholarships available.

"As I healed, it dawned on me that sexual energy was a positive and powerful force in my own recovery." 

Staci Haines

Healing & Celebrating the Erotic Creating Together

 We approach this workshop as a creative space to engage that part of ourselves that seeks movement, in writing, in community, in creative embodied play; that which may be blocked or not or desires full attention.

We live the stories we tell. We will explore our embodied stories we have lived and continue to live, and how we choose to live our stories, our bodies, and our possibilities.  

We will explore our innate resiliencies as we open space for memories and experiences characterized by pain, abuse, violence or suffering. We seek energy from the sensual powers and imaginative feats that keep our hearts beating alive each day.

How We Do This

The Space

We begin by going through a series of introductions. We talk about how we came to do this work as a survivor, poet, counselor, and educators; then co- create our ground rules and safety nets within the group. Using Narrative Medicine and Relational Thinking, we engage in a series of exercises, including but not limited to meditation, writing, movement and creative play designed to 

 create a feeling of safety in our own bodies and among the group 
 honor whatever we bring with us in relation to our body memory and desire
 celebrate and explore our erotic imaginations in all their complexities

There will be time to share parts of our writings and explorations but no one will be forced to.

This sounds like a really great program. 

More Black Men Now in Prison System than Were Slaves

More Black Men Now in Prison System than Were Slaves:

catbountry:jcfitzner:timetruthhumor:

"More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began," Michelle Alexander told a standing room only house at the Pasadena Main Library this past Wednesday, the first of many jarring points she made in a riveting presentation.

Alexander, currently a law professor at Ohio State, had been brought in to discuss her year-old bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Interest ran so high beforehand that the organizers had to move the event to a location that could accommodate the eager attendees. That evening, more than 200 people braved the pouring rain and inevitable traffic jams to crowd into the library's main room, with dozens more shuffled into an overflow room, and even more latecomers turned away altogether. Alexander and her topic had struck a nerve. 

Growing crime rates over the past 30 years don't explain the skyrocketing numbers of black — and increasingly brown — men caught in America's prison system, according to Alexander, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice  Harry Blackmun after attending Stanford Law. "In fact, crime rates have fluctuated over the years and are now at historical lows."

"Most of that increase is due to the War on Drugs, a war waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color," she said, even though studies have shown that whites use and sell illegal drugs at rates equal to or above blacks. In some black inner-city communities, four of five black youth can expect to be caught up in the criminal justice system during their lifetimes. […]

We've made it a felony not to just use drugs, but to use drugs and not be white at the same time. It's even worse if you use drugs, are not white and poor. It's a class war and a race war and we've essentially reinstated slavery. The American prison populace, which is disproportionately, overwhelmingly Black and Latino are forced to perform unpaid labour as part of their prison sentence. At best, we've reinstated a form of indentured servitude. And it is horrifying how few people actually know or care that we're doing this. 

Let's not forget prison abuse, you guys.

Episode 38 of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features Drew...

Episode 38 of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features Drew Deveaux telling a story about working in porn as a trans woman. This piece was recorded during the International Sex Worker Rights Day event on March 3, 2011.

Dynamic and androgynous, Drew Deveaux has been bending over and shaking up the porn world since her explosive first shoot for Doing It Ourselves: The Trans Women Porn Project. Through self-creation and self-exploration, Drew's work explores gender and power, shame and transcendence, play and authenticity. Pushing boundaries and playing with edges, Drew is a master of dirty talk with a Master of Science and is equally in her element with her face gagged in a pillow or behind a lecturn. http://www.drewdeveaux.com

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

This is a screenshot of Waking Vixen, my blog since...

This is a screenshot of Waking Vixen, my blog since 2004.

I've changed, the internet has changed, and my blogging is happening here on Tumblr now. So (deep breath), I'm shuttering Waking Vixen. Everything will be archived at wakingvixen.audaciaray.com. For now wakingvixen.com redirects there, soon(ish) I'll make it redirect here. 

I'll just quote from my final post:

There's a part of me that feels sad about saying goodbye to this domain, to this part of my internet identity. Waking Vixen has played an enormous role in my life over the past seven years, in good and bad ways. But hanging onto it has become an act of nostalgia, not a reflection of how I'm actually using the internet. So: a big cheers and a fond farewell to what this space has been. I'll be seeing you around the internet.

"Lt. Tim Shaw says police armed with a search warrant found two women in rooms with men, one of them..."

"Lt. Tim Shaw says police armed with a search warrant found two women in rooms with men, one of them in the middle of performing a sexual act. "[We] located condoms throughout the building. They were hidden in false-bottom hairspray cans," said Shaw.

…

According to court records, police believed the massage parlor was a front for prostitution where illegal immigrants might be working as sex slaves."

-

Four Brooklyn Women Busted In Stamford Prostitution Ring: Gothamist

Ooookay, let's talk about this, shall we?

1. Condoms located throughout the building should not ever be used as evidence of prostitution! (this is a friendly reminder to call or email your representative)

2. "Illegal immigrants": Busts like this are as much about restricting immigration as they are about cracking down on prostitution. Because of the challenges that migration to another country presents, working off the books - which sometimes means doing illegal work - is sometimes the best option. That said, it is hard to know whether the women working in this parlor knew that they would be working in the sex industry, or if that was an acceptable outcome for them.

3. "working as sex slaves": If the four women who were arrested were coerced into this work, this phrase makes no sense; they were in a coerced labor/coerced sex situation, which is bad shit all around and should not be arrested for this! If, however, the women were doing the work by choice or circumstance, it's not slavery.

"Lt. Tim Shaw says police armed with a search warrant found two women in rooms with men, one of them..."

"Lt. Tim Shaw says police armed with a search warrant found two women in rooms with men, one of them in the middle of performing a sexual act. "[We] located condoms throughout the building. They were hidden in false-bottom hairspray cans," said Shaw.

…

According to court records, police believed the massage parlor was a front for prostitution where illegal immigrants might be working as sex slaves."

-

Four Brooklyn Women Busted In Stamford Prostitution Ring: Gothamist

Ooookay, let's talk about this, shall we?

1. Condoms located throughout the building should not ever be used as evidence of prostitution! (this is a friendly reminder to call or email your representative)

2. "Illegal immigrants": Busts like this are as much about restricting immigration as they are about cracking down on prostitution. Because of the challenges that migration to another country presents, working off the books - which sometimes means doing illegal work - is sometimes the best option. That said, it is hard to know whether the women working in this parlor knew that they would be working in the sex industry, or if that was an acceptable outcome for them.

3. "working as sex slaves": If the four women who were arrested were coerced into this work, this phrase makes no sense; they were in a coerced labor/coerced sex situation, which is bad shit all around and they should not be arrested for this! If, however, the women were doing the work by choice or circumstance, it's not slavery.

Sorting and packing the things

It's weekend number two of apartment sorting (to recap: have lived in my place for 8 years, bought a place and the boyfriend and I will be moving there sometime in May).

This week we're making piles: toss, keep, keep with modifications (there will be before and after project pictures!), rehome. It's easier than I thought to get rid of stuff when the question is: do I want to pack, move, unpack, and find a place for this? There are definitely going to be at least one or two more weekends like this before the actual packing commences. And some of that time will be spent organizing books. I have six full bookshelves, and there is no organization to speak of, except that I generally sort of remember where books are and what colors and fonts are on the spines. Not the best system.

Renovations of the new place start on Monday. I'm really excited about this new chapter of my life. Intentional organizing and settling and creating my home. Amazing. I guess, after 12 years here, I am really thoroughly a New Yorker now. It feels good.

mabelmoments:CREDIT: York Archaeological Trust2,500-Year-Old...

mabelmoments:

CREDIT: York Archaeological Trust

2,500-Year-Old Preserved Human Brain Discovered

When it was found, the skull — which belonged to a man probably between 26 and 45 years old — was accompanied by a jaw and two neck vertebrae, bearing evidence of hanging and then decapitation. Cut marks on the inside of the neck indicate that the head was severed while there was still flesh on the bones, O'Connor said. There is, however, no indication of why he was hanged, and the rest of his remains have yet to be found.

mabelmoments:CREDIT: York Archaeological Trust2,500-Year-Old...

mabelmoments:

CREDIT: York Archaeological Trust

2,500-Year-Old Preserved Human Brain Discovered

When it was found, the skull — which belonged to a man probably between 26 and 45 years old — was accompanied by a jaw and two neck vertebrae, bearing evidence of hanging and then decapitation. Cut marks on the inside of the neck indicate that the head was severed while there was still flesh on the bones, O'Connor said. There is, however, no indication of why he was hanged, and the rest of his remains have yet to be found.

"LGBT organizations that are not fully inclusive of the transgender community are really no more than..."

"

LGBT organizations that are not fully inclusive of the transgender community are really no more than closed-door groups lying to everyone by displaying the rainbow flag or the using the acronym LGBT. LGBT organizations where transgender is not an equal partner in organizational affairs are deceiving their own communities and the world at large.

To put it bluntly, if you are not universally inclusive and equal to all LGBT, don't call yourself LGBT. The Menace is mad as hell that such a simple concept is still ignored by far too many LGBT organizations after nearly two decades since the battle for inclusion at Stonewall 25.

"

-

T is Not Optional | The Transexual Menace

Dear "LGBT" groups, I hope you are listening.