The site is outdated and only speaks the the last presidential election, which I find a little sad, but,  I encourage you anyway, to take a gander at the site, considering making a pledge if only to yourself, and get your sexy self to the polls on November 4th.  This could very easily be the most important election of your life.

Happy Voting!

~*~Red~*~

P.S. Make sure to read up on Prop K as well! It’s about time sex workers get the safety and support they deserve.

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!)

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

We already have voter registration events scheduled for New York City and Washington DC, but we need you to help us Grind the Vote all over the country! Volunteer to organize an event in your city or town, email info@spreadmagazine.org.

SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE 4.2

Want to contribute to $pread but don’t know what to write/draw? Here are some easy ways to see your work in print in the next issue. All inquiries and submissions should be sent to contribute@spreadmagazine.org by June 1st.

* Hot Topic: Do you want to leave the sex industry? Why or why not? Tell us in 200 words or less.

* Indecent Proposals: What’s the weirdest or funniest thing a client’s ever asked you to do? We’re seeking submissions for our popular, illustrated column. 500 words or less.

* Positions: Are you religious? Are you a sex worker? We’re looking for a current or former religious sex worker to write a Positions counterpoint arguing that sex work is NOT a sin. 200 to 350 words.

* Positions: Are you a current or former pro-sub who believes pro-submission is dangerous, psychologically damaging, or un-feminist? If so, we want to hear from you. 200 to 350 words.

* Calling Reality TV Addicts!
As reality shows continue to dominate American television, sex worker cast members have become staples of the most-watched programs. Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, Celebrity Rehab, VH1’s Surreal Life, and The Real World have featured exotic dancers and porn stars, while shows like Family Business, Cathouse, and The Girls Next Door wouldn’t even exist were it not for the industry professionals whose lives they document.

We’re interested in publishing an article that takes on issues relating to sex worker involvement and portrayal in the reality TV world. Ideally, we’d like to find someone who could write about several of these shows in one comprehensive article, but if you’re an expert on only one and have something important to say about it, let us know. In your pitch, please include which shows and what specific aspects you plan to focus on, as well as a writing sample, if available.

* Photography and Illustrations
We’re always in need of more artists, illustrators, and photographers. Please send an introductory email before sending your artwork.

* Do you have what it takes to be a Double Take model?
We’re looking for a sex worker with a unique look, someone who dresses very differently at work from outside work. If you’re interested and willing to be photographed and interviewed, get in touch!

ISSUE 4.1 OUT NOW

We launched our new issue, 4.1, with an awesome dance party in New York City last Thursday night. The issue’s already on its way to subscribers, but if you can’t wait till it arrives you can read selected articles online for free at http://www.spreadmagazine.org/samples4.1.html. Enjoy!

This clip is worth watching all the way threw to the end. Nina is adorable, and explains how to properly pull hair, how to let a woman grind herself off on your mouth, and I think I have a crush on Kate.

Watch for the Vulva Puppet demonstration. We still sell them and they are STILL just as cool.

They don’t share their videos so you’ll have to jump over to their site and scroll down.

http://www.afterellen.com/blog/sarahwarn/celesbian-interviews-nina-hartley

The hell-on-wheels traveling family circus that is the Sex Workers Art Show
tour is making its San Francisco stop on Sunday, January 20th at the
Victoria Theatre, which is San Francisco’s oldest operating theater, built
in 1908. Come and have Barbary Coast flashbacks and past-life regressions.
You’ll see classic and reinvented burlesque, hear jawdropping stories of
life in the sex industry and see performance art that will give you wild
dreams for months to come.

I’m glad that the Victoria is showing this Art Show, and is opening up after a surprisingly cold rejection last year, to once again become the theater our sex positive community can love.

Sunday, January 20, 2008, 8pm
The Sex Workers Art Show (http://www.sexworkersartshow.com/)
Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street between Mission and S. Van Ness
All for the insanely low price of $12
Advance tickets: www.victoriatheatre.org/

Hosted by Annie Oakley

Featuring:
Dirty Martini
Chris Kraus
Kirk Read with Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney
Lorelei Lee
The World Famous *BOB*
Erin Markey
Krylon Superstar
Keva I. Lee

*****

The Sex Workers’ Art Show Tour is coming to your town! The show is an
eye-popping evening of visual and performance art created by people who work
in the sex industry to dispel the myth that they are anything short of
artists, innovators, and geniuses!

The wildly successful cabaret-style show is hitting the road again, bringing
audiences a blend of spoken word, music, drag, burlesque, and multimedia
performance art. Intelligent and hot, disturbing and hilarious, the
performances offer a wide range of perspectives on sex work, from
celebration of prostitutes’ rights and sex-positivity to views from the
darker sides of the industry.

This year’s incredible lineup of performers includes international burlesque
sensation and recipient of the “Best Body in Burlesque” award, Miss Dirty
Martini; infamous feminist author of I Love Dick Chris Kraus; award-winning
author of the coming-out memoir How I Learned to Snap, Kirk Read; porn star
and writer Lorelei Lee; performance artist and comic queen of cleavage The
World Famous *BOB*; performer and musical theatre mutineer Erin Markey;
internationally infamous drag-subverter Krylon Superstar; dominatrix and
destroyer of Asian feminine mythology Keva I. Lee; and tour founder and
director Annie Oakley.

The show includes people from all areas of the sex industry: strippers,
prostitutes, dommes, film stars, phone  sex  operators,  internet models,
etc.  It smashes traditional stereotypes and moves beyond “positive” and
“negative” into a fuller articulation of the complicated ways sex workers
experience their jobs and their lives.  The  Sex Workers’  Art Show
entertains,  arouses,  and  amazes  while simultaneously offering   scathing
and  insightful  commentary  on  notions  of  class, race, gender, labor
and sexuality!

Also featured at the show will be a new anthology of sex worker writings,
Working Sex: Sex Workers Write About a Changing Industry (Seal Press),
edited by Annie Oakley. Working Sex features work by several of the show¹s
performers, as well as Eileen Myles, Bruce LaBruce, Nomy Lamm, Michelle Tea,
and many more!

“The Sex Workers’ Art Show is not simply a display of those in the sex
industry… but an active force in articulating, shaping, and contesting the
meaning of the identity “sex worker” in the public sphere” –Theatre Journal

“Annie Oakley doesn’t need a gun.  She’s  armed with fierce creativity,
political passion,  big brains and exquisite sexiness. As the Sex Workers’
Art Show’s director, Oakley leads a brilliant  crew which serves up whore
culture at its  most  delicious and satisfying.”  –Annie Sprinkle, Phd

EXPOSED! Porn in the Valley.

Daily News has compiled a special report on several areas and points of interest in the Porn industry, and they lay it out visually on this site: XXX Valley.

I haven’t gotten a chance to read through all of it yet, but I can’t wait. Has anyone else read it? Have any thoughts?

Part 1 – The Valley’s Secret Industry

Part 2 – Porn and Health

Part 3 – The Economics of Porn

Part 4 -  Porn in the Mainstream

Part 5 – The War Against Porn

Part 6 – Porn and the Family

By the way, in case they miss it, as this so far seems pretty mainstream/heterosexual, etc… there’s a GREAT documentary about Lesbian Sex and Sexualilty that features a segment called Porn Today: Pushing the Limits. This video series looks at Lesbian/dyke porn history. The lesbian, women directors, and the dyke and trans stars they work with would make a great supplement to this series. You can find it at TLA or at Here! Tv.

Have you worked in the sex industry? (Porn stars, strippers, escorts, dommes, webcam girls and boys, hookers, etc…) All are encouraged to apply!

Michelle Tea and Julie Atlas Muz from the 2006 Sex Workers Art Show, photo: sexworkersartshow.com

Here’s their official announcement…

CALL FOR API WRITERS (SEX WORKERS AND NON SEX WORKERS welcome)

Sex Slaves, American Dreams and Happy Endings
Women/People of Asian Descent Speak on Race, Sex Work, Power, Art and Love

ed. by Gennifer M. Hirano, M.Ed.

A collection of realistic, diverse accounts of Asian womens’ lives is URGENTLY needed to educate our youth and communities about the realities of our lives and the strength of our sex worker rights movements. We must not allow them to continue to feed the people media clichés of being only sex trafficking victims without demanding that our voices be heard as well. This anthology is a collection of accounts from women of Asian descent who are current and former sex workers, researchers, [post]feminists, activists, lawyers, artists, mothers and more. Women working in Asian countries, Asian-Americans, LGBTQs of Asian Descent, Hapas and baby mamas are invited to submit writing that will present readers with a portal to complexify the dialogue and perception of the Asian Sex Worker working in the U.S and abroad. These accounts should examine crucial themes in your life and the ways in which the perception of others related to the issues of race, sex work, power, art and/or love has affected you. (For instance, if you are not a sex worker why and how does this topic affect you? How are you involved in this world?) Men are also welcome to submit, the gender specific requirement is yet undecided and contingent on quantity/quality of male submissions.

Possible issues and key words to explore include Migrant Sex Work, Sex Work Activism in Asia, Cultural perception of the Prostitute, A Queer Sex Worker’s dialogue with her boyfriend, The Myths and Truths of Trafficking, Sex Slave Victims, Raid and Rescue Missions, Me Love You Long Time, Sex Tourism, Miss Saigon, Cambodian children for sale, Mail Order Brides, outreach in Oriental Massage Parlors…

OPTION #2-Search under “Me Love You Long Time” on You Tube [here you go] and watch the original footage sequence from Full Metal Jacket. Write a 3-500 word response/reaction to the clip. Feel free to contextualize the 2 Live Crew song and your present and past perceptions into your response. Do you think that the woman in the clip is empowered?Submit using any name you wish to be published with your piece along with a 3 sentence bio. Photo Essays, Interviews, and Academic Papers from College (if you really still think they’re good) are welcome. 1500-2000 words, word files to gmh@asianprincessar tifacts.com by NOVEMBER 15, 2007.