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From Sexademic:
Girl Guilt - About internalized slut-shaming (and a few other things).


From The Village Voice:
Women's Funding Network Sex Trafficking Study Is Junk Science
Related Links:
Charlie Glickman writes on what happens When Junk “Science” is Used to Attack Sexwork,
AND
A Dallas Observer article: The Super Bowl Prostitute Myth: 100,000 Hookers Won't Be Showing Up in Dallas.


From Audacia Ray:
What the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire has to do with sexworker's rights.

Okay.

So, first thing: Last night, Ghost and I went to POWER’s launch of their report Challenges: Ottawa Area Sex Workers Speak Out (which I seriously encourage ALL of you to read, particularly if you are involved in sex work and/or are Canadian – as their finding are reflected in cities across the country).

You can read (and comment) about the launch and, more the point, the report here.

Also: Please link the hell out of the report PDF, as I (and they) want it to be as widely distributed as possible!


Second thing: The report is really, really good. WELL DONE POWER! :-D


Third thing: Tonight, Ghost and I are going to the first meeting of Ottawa’s brand new MasT chapter. Which is at 7pm at PTS (I think it’s being started up by some of the guys in the Ottawa Knights?) I’d link it if I had better information. (I’ll try to update this later from a non-firewalled computer).
I’m hoping it goes well. (I’d love to be throwing this up on the HOWL group, for example…)
I’ll see what I can dig up.

Hoy.


Plans for this weekend include: My sweetie’s work xmas party (mwahaha – I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that We Can Only Go If You PROMISE Not To Smack My Boss. So he’s safe. I can put the Irate Gloves away when required. ;-) as well as hunting up chunky 2nd-hand sweaters to use as knitted fabric for sewing projects AND making a bunch more ring-style necklaces. Mwahahahaha. :-)


Wish me luck! :-D


- TTFN,
- Amazon.

So there's been kind of a TDOR debacle around town.

The folks organizing the local TDOR events wanted to start a march at the Ottawa police station and, when it was brought to their attention that a lot of the people who are remembered on TDOR are street-sexworkers of colour (IE people who face a shitload of violence from the police), basically said that if someone felt unsafe in the presense of police (due to being a sexworker, being street-involved, being of-colour, having experienced trans/queer-phobic crap from police in the past, etc) that was their problem (and not systemic at all...) and the event-organizers weren't about to change things up to accomodate/acknowledge any of this.

Which sucks.

A lot[1].

BUT. A couple of other folks decided that, in light of this problem, they would organize a demo with an alternate starting point.

And, yeah, there are Some People who are going "This is so divisive!" (mostly, from what I can tell, friends of the folks who organized the original problematic event). But, beyond that, it seems to be getting a lot of support. A way for people who aren't comfortable involving the police (and photo-ops) in this, who would still like to be able to publically mark TDOR.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160851957278283

Melanie of Ottawa and (I think) Deliriumfae and a couple of others are putting this one together.

This one feels... better to me. I just wanted to spread the word that it's out there.


- TTFN,
- Amazon.


[1] On the plus side, a lot of the folks who said "I can't in good conscience take part in an event that is ignoring so many of us" are opting to make donations to POWER instead so, if you were hoping for some kind of a silver lining, there it is.

Folks!
So. We all know about Justice Susan Himel’s decision to strike down those three anti-sexwork laws.
BUT we also, I’m sure, know all about the misinformation being handed around by the media and various politicians in an effort to scare people into demanding that those laws be reinstated.

As such, I think it’s up to us, as people who support Justice Himel’s decision, to email/phone/write everybody we can think of and let them know of our support for this ruling and why we think the decision is a really good idea.


To that end, here is a sample letter that you can feel free to copy-paste and/or modify as need be:


*~*~*~*~*


( Sample Letter )



*~*~*~*~*



Additionally: Have a list of links and addresses:


( Contact Information A-Go-Go! )
*~*~*~*~*


One last request: Keep this moving.
Link to this post, or copy-paste the information to your own LJ.
If you are on twitter, tweet the link to this list.
Keep the information moving.
Write to EVERYBODY, and encourage others to do the same.
Let’s make this change a lasting one.

My darling Ex is doing a presentation at Blue Stockings tomorrow (probably "today" by the time some of you see this) on her experiences as a sex-worker (under one of her many names).

You should totally all go.

From the Bluestockings Events Calendar:
Wednesday, June 2nd @ 7PM - $5 Suggested
Discussion: Lydia Love “Life Lessons”
Sex-work has provided contortionist and gender bender Lydia Love some life lessons. Please join her for a frank and educational conversation about her first year as a sex-worker, about radical sex-positive feminisms, and about the stigmas associated with sexual liberties.


Go out and support my sister-gal. :-D

From Qestioning Transphobia:
Intent! It's Fucking Magic! (Warning: Contains Sarcasm).


From Capital Xtra:
Lesbian prostitute speaks out against Winnipeg bawdy house bust.

In-which I respond to Torrain's post about Titillesbians by linking you to my external blog where my actual response is located. ;-)

Dangerous Women Post Here.

About IDtEVASW:
http://swopusa.org/dec17/about.htm


Annie Sprinkle’s 2009 Address:
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/cafe2.php?id=21


Audacia Ray’s 2009 Address:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/019377.html

From Feministe:
Yay Cleveland! Sort Of!


From Kate Bornstein:
Open Letter to LGBT Leaders Who Are Pushing Marriage Equality.


From HuffPo:
The Whore Wars (via Audacia Rae).

From Harlot's Parlour:
Working in the European Sex Industry -- an article on sex-worker skills and migrant sex workers in the EU.


From the Guardian:
Prostitution, for fun and profit: "The men behind Freakonomics offer a stunningly shallow and flawed view of sex work as a career option for women." (Not sure what this article will be like).


The Wisdom of Whores -- a blog about HIV, sex work, and other sundry things.


The Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy -- This homepage connects to the carnival editions of the same name (I wouldn't mind hosting one myself) and seeks to promote the sexaul rights and freedoms of women. Rock on. :-D


From Bound Not Gagged:
Reform advocates push for overhaul of prostitution law in Chicago because "What we're doing now does not work". Go, read.


From The Feminist Agenda:
"Working mothers 'don't harm their children's development', major study reveals." About the assumptions that lead to headlines like that.


From FWD/Forward:
Disability and Sexuality 101, or, Do disabled people have sex? -- Short answer: Well, DUH! For the longer version, complete with a discussion of issues like body-shame and beauty standards, click the link. :-D