Audacia Ray's Blog, page 69
March 16, 2010
I Hate This Book: Exotics and Erotics
Exotics and Erotics: Human Cultural and Sexual Diversity by Dewight R. Middleton
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Fuck this book.
Last year when I cast my net in search of potential texts for the "Human Sexuality 101″ class I teach at Rutgers, several people recommended Exotics and Erotics to me. It came into my periphery too late to check it out and add to the syllabus, but I decided I would check it out as potential reading for a future class.
It's short – only 120 pages, so I thought it might be a g...
March 2, 2010
My IWHC blog Akimbo is One Year Old Today!
Just this afternoon I was beating myself up about the number of Waking Vixen posts I have stuck in my craw, and how deeply I miss letting that writing flow out into this space. But it's not like I haven't been writing. Or running an entire other blog. I have been doing those things. The blog is called Akimbo, and I edit it for the International Women's Health Coalition, where (if you're tuning in late or need a reminder) I'm the program officer for online communications and campaigns. Check o...
February 24, 2010
Sex Worker Organizing News & Events
Yesterday I posted about the upcoming Sex Worker Literati on March 4, but there is a whole lot more stuff happening over the next two weeks and change, both in NYC and elsewhere, that I thought might be of interest. And so:
March 1: Deadline for Desiree Alliance Conference Call for ProposalsThe Desiree Alliance conference is a conference put on by and for sex workers – this year's theme is "Working Sex: Power, Practice, and Politics." It will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 25th to 30th...
February 23, 2010
Sex Worker Literati: March 4 – My Favorite Outfit
Hosted by Audacia Ray and David Henry Sterry
Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street between Forsyth and Eldridge, in New York City
Thursday, March 4. Doors at 7 pm, reading from 8-10
Stick around after the reading to dance and party with hos, hookers, and ne'er do wells!
21 and up – FREE
15% of the bar goes to support Project SAFE
Our performers this month:
Gerry Visco is illegally blonde. A writer, performer, photographer, fashionista, and radio show host on WKCR FM, she regularly covers parties...
February 19, 2010
Sex and the Library: Research on Access to Sexuality Info Online
Last June I was excited to announce that I'm part of a team (go Sex Work Awareness!) that got funding from the Association for Progressive Communications to do research about access to sexuality information online. After our initial literature review and report to APC, we decided to focus our research on investigating the use of content filters on public library computers with Internet access. Content filtering today cannot be fine-tuned to exclude only pornographic or violent content rather ...
February 10, 2010
Free Training: Sex Work Issues and the New York State Legislative Process
Over the past year and change, the local sex worker community has started to move more toward trying to affect public policy – so Sex Work Awareness is stepping up to offer this training that will give the details of how a bill becomes law and how sex workers and their allies can have an effect on legislation. The Sex Workers Project is co-sponsoring the training – and they'll tell attendees about the legislative agenda they're working on.
So: if you are in the New York area and are...
February 8, 2010
Not Quite Silence: Finding My Voice, Nurturing Others' Loudness
Today, in response to a request to write a piece about Speak Up (applications for the April 9-11 training are due next Wednesday, February 17th – nudge nudge plug plug), I wrote back that actually, I'd prefer it if one of the 2009 alumna or the soon-to-be minted 2010 alumni wrote about it – to quote myself (which I realize is a total jackass move, but whatevs): I'm trying to encourage other folks to step up and take leadership roles on stuff like this – I don't have to/want to be the only...
February 2, 2010
The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health Legally Allowed to Open in Rhode Island
The lovely and amazing Megan Andelloux, who is an alumna of the first class of Speak Up trainees from last year, has great cause to celebrate. Her Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (CSPH) is finally being allowed to open its doors in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The CSPH has been awash with controversy and legal battles over the zoning of the building it is in since last September.
Join me in congratulating Megan by emailing the Center at thecsph [at:] gmail.com and telling her how glad you...
February 1, 2010
Sex Nerds and Oversharers: Your Contribution to Important Sexuality Research is Needed!
I have always thought that research on sexuality is cool. Plus, having engaged in various kinds of research on sex, its presence (it being sex research, not actual sex) in my life allows me to make lots of puns (actual sex provides plenty of opportunities for punning as well). But in all seriousness, sexuality research is important, especially the good kind, done by good people. How many times have you read an article about the latest sexuality research report and been annoyed by not just...
Love and Pain at Sex Worker Literati
This upcoming Thursday, February 4th is the "Love and Pain" edition of Sex Worker Literati. We've got a great line-up (below) that will be a complex mix of brevity and misery – we like to keep things complicated.
And, I'm totally getting better at posting video on the regular. Above is Dylan Ryan's performance from November. It's got a lot of love and pain in it – this piece actually brought tears to my eyes when she performed it.
Here are the details for Thursday, hope to see you there!
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