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Building blocks, activism, and sides of the fence
February 14, 2006
I find myself getting more involved in and more obsessed with communities built around sexuality – actually, it would be more accurate to say that I’m getting more and more obsessed with/saddened by the fact that such communities are hard to come by, the links between and among them scant, so many people seemingly suspicious of one another. Actually, it really just depends where you are standing: sometimes it appears communities are thriving, other times it seems they aren’t there at all. This past Thursday (had to stop and think about what day is when) I jumped in the car with one of my fellow $preadsters to go to Philadelphia for a party the City Paper was throwing for their newly re-launched website, Sexadelphia.com, an advertising site for escorts and other sex workers in Philly. We really weren’t sure what to expect from the evening and thought it might be a client/provider mixer, a new experience for us both. It turned out to be a rather small party (though not intentionally) and we met some really fantastic people from the Sex Worker Action Team and Passional (if you’re in Philly, you can get copies of $pread issues 1 & 2 for free at Passional until they run out).
It was really interesting to see how things are done Philly style (uh, last call isn’t at 4 am, what’s up with that?) and a little jolting to realize that I know nothing about what’s happening in Philly, what issues affect sex workers there, the different ways the law works against them, the organizing that happens there, in a city two hours south. I know it’s all a matter of time and energy, this building of solidarity and dareIsay a sex workers movement (a little premature to say that here on the East Coast maybe), but at the same time there’s an impatient part of me saying – why hasn’t it happened yet?
Friday, after returning form Philly and spending a few hours feverishly writing, I had dinner with my fellow $pread editors, and we reflected on what a year it’s been for us, for $pread, for these burgeoning friendships. “This project has really changed my life,” one editor mused. And it has for all of us, and not just in terms of less-sleep more-anxiety. It’s a pretty powerful thing – of course it’s wonderful to see how people are responding to the magazine (go Utne Reader “Best New Title” award!) but it’s also good to reflect on the personal impact of it all. And then there’s the community stuff – I do believe community can be built with and through the printed word, but I wonder how far reaching it is, how inclusive, and if its ever enough.
I’m also starting to write a piece about alt porn and community that will wind up in a very academic anthology about porn. It isn’t due for another few months, but I keep thinking about how to do it well and avoid the oddly passionless academic style of writing, but also how I can be passionate about but critical of alt porn. So far the preparation to write this piece is an interesting intellectual exercise – being critical of altporn and engaged with it (naked, as a site member, as a fan) is one thing, but writing something critical about it for an audience that isn’t engaged in it and sees it as a peculiar cultural phenomenon, one of many “others,” is something else entirely.
Though I’ve always had the prurient interest, my subject position with regards to sexual cultures (and arguably, culture in general, as I used to be much more of a chicken-shit outsider, lurker, and hands-off researcher) has shifted from that of an outsider to more of a “participant observer,” more than seduced by it all. I know I’ve grown protective of sex workers, sexual deviants and other misfits in a new and intense way over the last several years. Though I’ve always been wary of academic intentions when it comes to people as objects of study, this has been heightened the more deeply involved I get in these worlds – I feel that my primary allegiance is with these communities, and academia is secondary.
Okay, to switch gears almost entirely – a link to an interesting webzine, Dragonfire, a publication from Drexel University. Their sex issue is up, and it’s a kind of interesting interface – you have to explore the image to find the content. Jane and I both have short pieces in the “Why I Choose…” section (hint: its in the top right hand drawer of the desk). Mine’s on polyamory, hers is on blogging her sex life.
And, in “you snooze, you lose” news, I’m reading at PS 122 on Valentine’s Day, in WYSIWYG’s annual Worst.Sex.Ever. reading. Full info is in the sidebar at right, but online tickets are totally sold out.
UPDATE Although tickets are technically sold out, rumor has it that there are still 45 left, and you can acquire them by calling or stopping by the box office - (212) 477-5829 (I think it’s ext 301) at 4pm Tuesday when they open.
Posted by Dacia at February 14, 2006 01:18 AM
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Comments
I was sharing drinks with friends last week, when I began to mention several of the things I’ve read from your site over the past couple of weeks.
One of my friends scoffed at the very term “sex workers,” and shrugged off an invitation to join me at the sex workers traveling caberet by saying something about self-esteem issues with burlesque performers, WTF?
At first, I thought J. was joking. I offered a personal story about a visit to transsexual strip club in New Orleans, but the more I offered, the more she bristled.
She’s liberal, active in women’s health issues, and very bright, but by the end of the evening, I realized she wasn’t joking. I still haven’t figured it out, but I felt compelled to share it from the tone of your most recent post.
Who knows, maybe it’s time to check out Spread?
Posted by: Mprovise at February 13, 2006 01:41 PM
Actually the sex scene in Philadelphia is getting worse. By my count, over the past 4-5 years, the city has closed down one very successful bbsm club (the group still exists, though membership has decreased significantly) and a number of private sex/swingers clubs that were operating for a number of years legally (and of course harmlessly). The city is on a crusade to stop adults from meeting others in private settings to explore their sexuality. This is obviously not a way to make your city world class. Sad
Posted by: trace at February 14, 2006 10:38 AM
this post made me realize that i don’t know much of anything about sex in philly. perhaps i need to talk to trace a bit more.
and perhaps i’ll have to stop by passional when i’m up in the city tomorrow.
Posted by: meg at February 18, 2006 11:50 PM
