Now, I know that lots of folks will have lots of opinions and beliefs about each of these. But we’ve been dealing with the social and public health consequences of a sex-negative president for a while now and if you haven’t been affected by our current policies directly, you probably know someone who has. Personally, I think that it’s time for the politicians to stop trying to control everyone’s sex lives and to stop trying to force us to accept ideology instead of accurate, non-judgmental information.

Things that John McCain opposes:

* Equal pay legislation, saying it wouldn’t do “anything to help the rights of women.”
* Requiring health care plans to cover birth control.
* Comprehensive, medically accurate sex education.
* Funding to prevent unintended and teen pregnancies.
* Funding for public education about emergency contraception.
* Restoring family planning services for low-income women.
* Roe v. Wade and says it should be overturned.

and…

* In his 25 years in Washington, DC, John McCain has voted anti-choice 125 times!

I also invite you to read John McCain in His Own Words, also courtesy of the Planned Parenthood Action Center. And if you want a grimly funny video clip, here’s one for you:

Fortunately for us, we can still find these authors/editors at their individual sites, which we should support. Long live sex writers. (Check out these NYC Sex Writers 2009 Calendar — )

Audacia Ray – Waking Vixen (her site) – Live Review Girl (her awesome review site)

Tristan Taormino – Pucker Up (her site) – Opening Up (open relationship site)

Rachel Kramer Bussel – RachelKramerBussel.com (her site) – LustyLadyBlog (her blog)

You can donate to Prop K through a website Scarlot Harlot has created: www.yesonpropk.org, which helps some great folks spread the word about decriminalizing prostitution in SF. (Donating is an easy way for busy folks to participate.)

Photo: Sadie Lune

Recently the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) showed it’s support for sex workers rights movement, providing free advertising through auditions via Tony Labat’s show “I WANT YOU”. Look for Sadie Lune, 1st place winner, on posters throughout SF during the week before the election. Check out a video screening of the auditions at a free screening at SFMOMA on Tuesday Nov 4th at 6pm. (Thanks SFMOMA for your support!)

Here’s your chance to share your story for a Call for Submissions at Feministing (thanks @audaciaray for the tip! She said “sex industry ladies should pitch essays for this new anthology” and I couldn’t agree more!)

Here’s the info, or go straight to the source.

“J. Courtney Sullivan and I are editing a new anthology for Seal Press on the topic, and we want your ideas. Send us a couple of paragraphs–in the style and voice that you’d use in a full-fledged essay–proposing what you would write, along with your name, email address, phone #, age, and ethnic background (we understand that this might seem a little reductive, but we are committed to including diverse authors). We’ll look them all over, then get back to you once we’ve accounted for a range of moments, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds.

We hope it will be a historic document, a totally entertaining gift, a course adoption text, and, most of all, a collection that makes young women who already identify with the movement feel seen and heard, and welcomes all those just growing into the still unfolding story of feminism.

Send your ideas to: clickmoment@gmail.com
DEADLINE: October 15, 2008

Bonus: We’ve already got some great feminist writers on board that you may have heard of, including (in no particular order):

Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan (well, obviously)
Jessica Valenti
Miriam Perez
Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Curtis Sittenfield
Rebecca Traister
Anna Holmes
Rachel Simmons
Winter Miller
Deborah Siegel
Alyssa Quart
Hannah Seligson
Latoya Petersen
Shelby Knox
Jennifer Baumgardner
Amy Richards

Special Note: While the gender bender in me wants to say “Man and Wife?” what’s up with that?! Shouldn’t it be “Man and Woman” or “Husband and Wife”… you know… it references “I now join you, man and wife… you may kiss the bride…” Man owns his woman as property marriage vow from way back in the day… eh, straight cisexual people, go figure. I’ll let it drop because I really do love how OPEN they are about talking about sex and sharing it with their audience.

Turns out that on September 29th, MTV is going to premier the show, bringing pretty explicit sexual health topic, as well as information and resources, yey, to the ginormous mass of MTV viewers. The demographic is perfect; particularly as I imagine the show to combate some of the more dumbed-down representation of sexual relationships that youth see in music videos. Shanda is also an HIV/AIDS counselor.

Here’s the trailer:

• Man and Wife
• MTV Shows

Are you located in the Bay Area or know someone who is?

Let them know that they can come to the State Building this Wednesday (ie Tomorrow) August 13th at 6:30pm to testify or to support those who testify about why sex work should be decriminalized in San Francisco. You just need to get up and talk for ONE MINUTE about why you support this – regardless if you identify as a sex worker – just if you support this issue. Feel free to bring a mask if you do not want to show you face. There is an example of what to say listed below, so this does not have to be off-the-cuff. The summary that will appear on the ballot pamphlet is also listed below. For extensive informaiton, please go to: http://www.bayswan.org/SFInitiative08

(Warning: this clip is Not Safe for Sex Workers. ; ) If anyone has any tip on how to stomach watching Bill O’Reilly please let me know.)

THIS IS **YOUR** BIG CHANCE TO HELP DECRIMINALIZE PROSTITUTION!

Show up for Public Testimony at Democratic Central Committee. This Wednesday, August 13 at the State Building, 455 Golden Gate between Larkin and Polk, (across from the Federal Building) Milton Marks Auditorium (in the basement?)

Show up at 6:30 PM even though the meeting starts at 7 PM, but we are very close to the top of the agenda. This is the most important and most promising endorsement meeting, the Democratic Central Committee. They are the ones with the most flyer distribution and people take it pretty seriously. If we can get our friends to come to this meeting, it could have a HUGE impact on the initiative. We also have to make sure they don’t endorse in opposition to us! (BTW the Harvey Milk Club PAC endorsed us, so it’s coming along!)

Email Carol or Slava to let us know you are coming or call 415-751-1659 for more info. Pass this to your personal friends. We are also posting this around. We want sex workers and supporters, even (and especially) with masks for security purposes to come forth and ask the committee to endorse the Sex Work Prostitution Ballot Measure.

Please DON’T FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO ‘COME OUT’ as all supporters’ voices are important. Further info, contact:

Slava Osowska, IWW “Slava”
Carol Leigh, BAYSWAN Carol Leigh

So, the meeting is around 7 PM at the Sate building-AND PUBLIC COMMENT IS AT THE BEGINNING. You can gather outside and be with friends at 6:30 to be safe and so we can talk together. We believe phone banking for this would be helpful, calling your friends and asking them to show up. Please call me for help with that. 415-751-1659. Your speech will be 1 minute long. Even if you don’t testify, your presence will be appreciated. Personal experiences are valuable, etc. A focused message would be about WORKERS ORGANIZING and SAFETY, but individual accounts are also valuable.

For example, my speech is: (I have worked as a sex worker in San Francisco for ____ years. Or, you could say: Many people in my community are sex workers.) I am asking the Democratic Central Committee to endorse the prostitution ballot measure. We are workers. We are an important part of San Francisco. We have contributed a great deal, historically and now, through culture and economically. The criminalization makes us vulnerable to all sorts of abuses such as rape, robbery. As criminals, we can’t access police protection as we are targets of the police. We need to be decriminalized in order to be able to organize as workers. As members of the community, we ask you to endorse the ballot measure to support the health, safety and labor rights of sex workers. (You might also want to say you are a registered Democrat if you are. )

Background info for you: Below is the summary as it will appear in ballot pamphlet. For extensive information, including complete text of the measure. You can also see video including Leigh, Few (with Bill O’Reilly), Starchild (on CNN) and Cindy Sheehan at the rally advocating for the ballot measure.

San Francisco Prostitution Ballot Measure 2008: ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS RELATED TO PROSTITUTION AND SEX WORKERS Prostitution Ballot Measure as it will appear in the San Francisco Voters’ Pamphlet 2008 THE WAY IT IS NOW: State and local laws prohibit prostitution. State and federal laws prohibit human trafficking for prostitution or forced labor. Criminal laws also prohibit crimes such as battery, extortion and rape, regardless of the victim’s status as a prostitute or sex worker. In 1994, the Board of Supervisors established a Task Force on Prostitution (Task Force) to examine prostitution in the City and to recommend social and legal reforms.

In 1996 the Task Force released a report recommending that:

* City departments stop enforcing and prosecuting prostitution crimes;

* City departments instead focus on neighborhood complaints about quality of life infractions;

* The City redirect funds from prosecution and incarceration to providing services and alternatives for those involved in prostitution.

To date, the City has implemented some of the Task Force’s recommendations. In 2003, the City adopted an ordinance transferring the licensing and regulation of massage parlors from the Police Department to the Department of Public Health (DPH). In 2006, DPH adopted another recommendation by establishing an anonymous telephone message line for sex workers to voice concerns about their working conditions. The District Attorney’s office, in cooperation with the Police Department and a local non-profit organization, manages the First Offender Prostitution Program. This is a diversion program with separate programs for prostitutes and clients who have been arrested. It is partially funded by fees from clients who have been arrested.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition __ would prohibit the Police Department from providing resources to investigate and prosecute prostitution. It would also prohibit the Police Department from applying for federal or state funds that involve racial profiling to target alleged trafficking victims and would require any existing funds to implement the Task Force’s recommendations.

Proposition ___ would require the Police Department and the District Attorney to enforce existing criminal laws that prohibit coercion, extortion, battery, rape, sexual assault and other violent crimes, regardless of the victim’s status as a sex worker. It also requires these agencies to fully disclose the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against sex workers.

Proposition ___ would prohibit the City from funding or supporting the First Offender Prostitution Program or any similar anti-prostitution program.

The Board of Supervisors would be able to amend this measure by a two-thirds vote if it found the amendments would reduce criminalization of prostitution and violence against sex workers.

A “YES” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “yes,” you want the City to:

* stop enforcing laws against prostitution,

* stop funding or supporting the First Offender Prostitution Program or any similar anti-prostitution program,

* enforce existing criminal laws that prohibit crimes such as battery, extortion and rape, regardless of the victim’s status as a sex worker, and

* fully disclose the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against sex workers.

A “NO” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “no,” you do not want to make these changes

… says John Woods (one part of the duo Dr. Carol Queen’s fav The Wet Spots, the other part being Cass King) in an interview on Naked City TV (edited by the multi-talented author / editor / blogger / director / reviewer… shall I go on?… Audacia Ray).
The video cuts between interview and stage time, highlighting some of the couple’s most loved numbers. If you ever have the opportunity to check them out, do.

Naked City is edited by Audacia and is a great extension of the Village Voice — bookmark or RSS feed the site for everything from articles about porn casting, to odd sex toy reviews (bugs?), and even a nod to sex toy retailer blogs (like ours)!

I was caught by the interview’s explanation of what the wet spots are. More than an entertaining and sexy, the performers also allow the audience, if just for the 75 minute set, to be part of an environment where sex is not shameful. Instead, it is celebrated, praised, and enjoyed — all with great harmony, humor, charisma, and if you’re lucky, a live spanking demo.

The Wet Spot’s John also recently appeared, along with some other friends like Essin’Em and Jayme Waxman (catch her Personal Touch videos 20% off at GoodVibes.com), author/editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (some of her books also 20% off at GV, and who’s book Spanked is… eagerly awaited… and has it’s own book trailer, which you can read the recent history of and watch, on Violet Blue’s website) and also CuddleParty co-creator Reid Mihalko in an interesting several-person (including Ron Jeremy) interview in L Magazine’s special feature The Private Lives of Public People.

I just realized this post is pretty link-heavy. Hmmm… clicking through these alone will give you at least 75 minutes of non-shameful sex-related content. (Start with the Wet Spots Video here on Naked City TV.) Enjoy!

But, as with many political situations, this issue runs deeper than local… there are people all over the world engaged in this same struggle for rights and we have many battles to wage before we can call it a day.

Many links later I read this article and it reminded me how far we have to go. This story is upsetting in so many ways and representative of the varied fights we have to fight and the difficult struggles the LGBT community has ahead of us:

Photo by: Jorge Saenz * News source [Yahoo]

ASUNCION, Paraguay – A couple jailed on suspicion of having a same-sex wedding was freed Monday after a doctor determined that the groom is a hermaphrodite. Prosecutor Jose Planas ordered the couple jailed after their civil wedding Friday, when the priest scheduled to perform the religious ceremony the following day said he received a call saying the groom, Jesus Alejandro Martinez, was actually a woman.

Same-sex marriages are illegal in Paraguay, and news of the arrest became the talk of the nation.

Planas had threatened Martinez with five years in prison for falsification of documents, and said he could charge the bride, Blanca Estigarribia, with complicity.

But the couple was released Monday. A doctor who inspected Martinez in jail ruled that he is a hermaphrodite, with atrophied female genitals and well-developed male genitals, according to the couple’s lawyer, Jorge Cantero.

“Conclusion: He is a man,” Cantero said.

He also said the document in the name of Jesus Alejandro Martinez is legitimate, meaning the forgery charges wouldn’t have held up.

“So this case goes into the archives,” he said. “It will remain as an anecdote for the media and a bad experience for my clients.”

Martinez, who has some feminine traits, said he suspected an ex-girlfriend made the accusation to the priest.

“I always felt like a man, with no feminine inclination,” he said.

Martinez said the couple would continue to live along the border near the Argentine city of Clorinda — “where everybody knows us and loves us.”

And the beat goes on….

There are TONS of new features on our new site, and one of them is the much anticipated VOD and PPM. What is Video on Demand? It’s just that — you buy it online and watch it right then! What’s PPM? Pay Per Minute means you can check out a few minutes — scan ahead and browse — or buy the whole discs’ worth of minutes and watch the video in the comfort of your own laptop. Maybe you’re wondering what a studio is like, and want to get a short glimpse before throwing down all your money on a DVD you may not care for when it arrives in the mail.

The Video on Demand (Digital Downloads) and Pay Per Minute (PPM) options we now have are available for quite a few of our DVD films. If you see the little play button, that’s what that is! Why is it not available for all videos? Well, because some smaller studios do not offer their content online like the big budget producers can. And that’s okay, because you’ll probably want to support those smaller companies with a great purchase of their DVD.

Okay, what’s new besides VOD stuff… is international shipping, and a Buyers Discount Club where you can earn points for each purchase. Sweet!

So, log in and take a look!

WWW.GOODVIBES.COM 

Trans visibility is rising. Just recently I was sent two different messages from very different people deeply connected in trans activism. They’re looking for submissions from people who want to include their stories. One is a playwrite, the other, editing a book. Please pass this info along to anyone you think may be interested. And if you are not trans identified, consider your own experiences living within your gender identity.

The Play
Ed Decker is a playwrite working on a new play called “Rites of Passage”. Ed is interested in the stories of queer people from all over the world. Stores of oppression, survival, revolution, and more. In particular, he is concerned about Trans inclusion. This is where we come in.

Please visit his blog to add your stories to the project. Pass this message along to trans friends and allies who might be interested as well.

http://rightsofpassage-nctc.blogspot.com

The Book
Morty Diamond (director of Tran Entities, and hot brilliant author/activist) just asked me to spread the word about another book he’s editing called “Gendered Hearts: Sex, dating, and relationships in the transgender /gender variant community”. (His last was “From the Inside Out, FTM and Beyond”.) He’s looking for first person stories, interviews and poetry from trans and gender variant writers about the experience of dating, sex, relationships, and finding love.

Topic examples: hilarious or heartbreaking dating stories, how we negotiate sex, transitioning within a relationship, being trans and starting families, passing/not passing and how this affects our choices for dating, marriage – legal or otherwise, online dating, sex and dating before and after surgery and/or hormones.

Morty says, “I strive to make this anthology as diverse as possible within age, race, sexuality, and gender identity. I encourage all writers who identify as transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, third gender, non-gender, or gender variant in some way to submit work.”

Here’s the submission info: If submitting a short story your work should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Sexually explicit work is ok but I am not looking for erotica. Please include a short biography with your work. If your story is accepted you will receive a cash stipend and two free copies of the book.
LAST DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: July 15th, 2008
Please submit your writing via email to: genderedhearts@gmail.com