I’ve been in San Francisco since late Monday night for the purpose of attending and speaking at the Sex::Tech Focus on Youth conference. Maybe I’m a total hardass, but there were a lot of sessions that had the sex tech part down but didn’t have anything to do with youth, which was kind of puzzling. The good news is that there were many many interesting sessions, and I wasn’t bored at all. Which, for a conference with an academic and non-profit service provider base of presenters and attendees, is pretty awesome and impressive.
All my favorite sex tech nerds were out in full force, and as much as I love following them online, it was nice to have in person interactions and conversations not mediated by our writing careers and professional personae. It was also really interesting to watch the interactions at the conference around technology, tech-savvy-ness (or the perceptions of tech savvy-ness), and age.
In Dr Marty Klein’s talk on Sex Tech Panics, he made a crack about his age and feeling left out of all the things young people are doing online and with technology. Personally, I think the language around some of this tech (RSS? SMS? WTF?) is a lot more intimidating and confusing than the tech itself, and this isn’t just because I’m young and immersed in it - it’s because I do my best to be unafraid of looking stupid, of fucking up, of experimenting.
I heard the phrase, “I’m really not that tech savvy,” approximately eleventy bajillion times in the two days of the conference. Some people said it in a self-defeating way, in the “I’ll never be able to figure this out, I’ll be left in the dust” kind of way. But others were saying it in a kind of triumphant, “It’s totally possible to do this,” kind of way. For example, during the last session of the conference, Podcast This!, a pair of students from the University of Nebraska sex ed services podcast, Persunl, said this all loud and proud.
The thing is - it’s not that younger folks know so much more about tech (though sometimes that’s it), it’s that they are not afraid of giving it a go. Melissa Gira (who knows her tech) and Stacey Swimme drove home the give-it-a-go point in their talk about the group-run sex worker rights blog Bound, Not Gagged as well. The process of making new media can be talked about forever, or you can jump in and do it and figure it out as you go - which is what they did with the blog. Sure, some of your early stuff will be weird and bad, but you can always edit later when you know more, and there’s no better way to learn. Of course, for organizations (and not impulsive individuals without anyone to answer to), a little more thought needs to go into the process before your media is up and at em, but new media should be experimental, that’s why there are so many (often free) services online to help you make it.
I was thoroughly encouraged by the range of ages represented at the conference (though in the future, I’d love to see a youth track with more high school and college students), and more than that the pedagogical approach taken by pretty much everyone at the conference: listening, sharing and discussing is key. People who are working with new media, youth and sexual health are acutely aware that conversation needs to be happening, and that the hierarchy of knowledge (”I know, so you listen until you know”) is basically dead, if it was ever a good way to teach and learn (highly questionable). People who do sex education and advocacy with youth have long been aware of this, but the surge of new media in recent years makes it crystal clear. It makes me really look forward to what’s next.
3:14 pm
It was so cool watching you, Regina, Melissa, and Nikol cross-twittering and such. This wouldn’t have happened even a year ago! I used to think liveblogging was awesome… but now there’s this blow-by-blow stuff from different perspectives, in 140 characters or less.
And also, somehow you all managed not to get Twitterrhea, either. It can be a fine line.
I wish I had been able to be there, but reading y’all was the next best thing! (Plus, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to get over my irrational fear of California to come out there.)
5:02 pm
“the hierarchy of knowledge (’I know, so you listen until you know’) is basically dead”
Finally.
And I’m really glad you were the one to say it, and say it so well.
6:27 pm
[…] Waking Vixen ยป Sex::Tech - Generation Gaps “The process of making new media can be talked about forever, or you can jump in and do it and figure it out as you go” (tags: socialmedia blogging tech sex youth conference education awesome internet newmedia) […]
8:14 pm
Amber - hold tight, cuz I’m actually planning to write a post about the Twitter backchannel to the conference. I really enjoyed that aspect of it too.
1:30 am
Aw, man, I was way too busy to Twitter as much as I wanted. My favorite part was the casual lunch we had, and Cory’s sentiment, “I hate the internet sometimes,” re: what happens when we can drop our various personae and chat like the weirdly psychic because of Twitter long-lost, farflung comrades we are.
I’m glad my session made a dent; I thought I saw nods and smiles at our “go in and fuck shit up!” ethos. What I wish I got more time to do was a little Sex Work 101, but eventually, eventually. It was nice to go in a room and just dive in to tech, and be incidentally whores.
Would love to hear more about what we can do to stimulate a more broad back channel (Twitter +) for next time and other conferences!
3:02 pm
you were great at the conf. and it was a really good one. too many good choices from workshops. what a kick haveing the rev. and the waking vixen on the same panel. just the divergency of views and the respect among people. i agree, next one needs a teen track or more teen/student presenters. isis did a great job.
7:14 pm
Who hates the internet SOMETIMES? I can’t stand it MOST of the time. All this talk of “modes of alienation” while we’re in here quietly humping…
9:01 pm
The youth were there, you musta been in the wrong sessions, not listening to questions being asked or comments made or what?
The entire conference was about teens and young people and started off with the youth video contest winners, who got to make speeches and answered questions from the adults about how to solve these issues.
I loved this conference and hope they do it again. I only wished they had more youth presenters and more people of color.
They don’t need to keep us on a separate track– that’s the problem with all of this stuff, we’re treated like separate beings. And it was cool to have adults listen and talk to us and stop us and ask us questions (though it was kinda of creepy sometimes too if we didn’t know who they were and why).
I liked how we were part of the mix and treated as being just as important as everyone else.
10:49 am
ok -noteen track but need more in attendance AND presenting. A local organization in my county recently did a teen website. it’s all done by teens, and done very well.
I agaree that it was a greatconference and hpe that they do it again, or somethingsimilar.
12:55 pm
Hey Peeps, You got it right on! We didn’t want to separate the teens/college students, we wanted to mix it right up all the way. Separation, IMHO, makes for fear and there’s so much present already between teens and adults that we didn’t want to exacerbate.
By the way, there were LOTS of people of color there. Lots of representation on panels, as well as in the audience. Not so much the keynotes, although one contest winner was Cubano (he sortof presented as Caucasian but grew up in a spanish-speaking home).
We’ve got lots to do for “next time.” But right now, ISIS is in the midst of after-conference work - posting presentations, connecting attendees, writing thank yous, adding up the bills.
Thank you all for coming!
Deb
9:47 pm
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