Radical media, politics and culture.

Sex

December 10, 2003 - 10:45am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Sex

"Michel Foucault and Pornography"

Wendy McElroy

"Feminist scholars, many drawing on the insights
offered by Michel Foucault, have urged us to develop
new ways of thinking and speaking."(1) So write the
editors of the book Analyzing Gender. In their
scholarly work Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge,
two different feminist editors explain why the French
philosopher Michel Foucault is quoted extensively
therein: "Foucault's discourse theory and the
'post-structuralist' methods of analysis which depend
on it have become very influential within feminist
studies."(2) Since I have an antipathy to fully
one-third of the words in the preceding sentence, I
tend to screen out such scholarly discussions of
Foucault for the sake of my digestion.

December 21, 2002 - 6:23pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Sex

hydrarchist writes:


Here is the last of a set of three articles on Sex from the anarchist journal Organize. The previous two were "Interview with An Anarchist Dominatrix" and "Interview with the International Union of Sex Workers".


Anarchism and Sex

Safe, Free, Diverse and Consensual


Within the broader anarchist movement,
attitudes to sex and sexuality tend to be pretty varied.


Anarchist views on sex can range from the
idea that `anything goes' between
consenting adults, to the more traditional
approaches of what constitutes free
love between individuals. One thing these
diverse opinions do have in common,
however, is the idea of sexual freedom and
the opposition to sexual exploitation.
Nevertheless, being pro sexual freedom
and anti sexual exploitation is open to
wide interpretation and can encompass
diverse, and sometimes conflicting,
analyses from one anarchist to the next.

December 18, 2002 - 3:28pm -- nomadlab
Analysis & Polemic
Sex

hydrarchist writes "This interview was published in Issue 59 of Organise, a journal of the Anarchist Federation in Britain and Ireland.Please see the article Interview with the International Union of Sex Workers as well.


Interview with an anarchist
dominatrix


For two years Mistress
Venus was a
professional
dominatrix in central
London. She’s also an
anarchist communist.
So, we at Organise!
thought we’d take the
opportunity to ask her
a few questions about
this.



Organise!: There’s a popularly-held
belief, also prevalent among the left
and some anarchists, that anyone
(particularly female) who works in the
sex industry, is in some way a victim
and has been forced into that
situation. How realistic is this view?


Mistress Venus: I think it’s very
important to make distinctions
between workers in different areas of
‘the sex industry’. The role played by a
girl working the streets is very
different from the role (as that’s
exactly what it is) played by a
professional dominatrix. Speaking from
personal experience, my decision to
work as a dominatrix was purely my
own choice and was something I
wanted to do. It was an extension of
having spent years going to fetish
clubs and performing as a fetish
model. I knew the scene, the roles
played and exactly what was involved.
I had no illusions about it and I was in
no way coerced into it.I kept my day
job (working in a shop), worked when I
wanted to and unlike many, had no
monetary pressures I was forced into
supporting.

December 5, 2001 - 12:44pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Sex

Louis Lingg writes: "Freethought Mecca has posted a respectful yet skeptical article about Sulayman X, a gay convert to Islam 'whose Sufi interpretation of Islam exalts the qualities of divine love and mysticism.' Sulayman X has embraced the challenging task of struggling for the acceptance and tolerance of queer Muslims by Muslims: Queer Jihad."

August 31, 2001 - 3:49am -- Stenglander
Sex

Anonymous Comrade writes: "cryptome.org has posted a confidential memo from Clarence A. Lee, jr.,
Associate Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, to a judge (name redacted) alerting him or her to the voluminous amount of porno browsing occurring in his or her court."

July 1, 2001 - 6:19pm -- Stenglander
Sex

Uncle Fluffy writes "In a comprehensive report on educating children about sexuality, Surgeon General David Satcher also asserts that homosexuality is not a reversible lifestyle choice and that committed, "mutually monogamous" relationships are an acceptable alternative to marriage.


Despite the controversial nature of the topic -- and intense pressure from all sides -- Satcher said he was releasing the document because the nation faced an array of grave public health problems related to sex, such as unintended pregnancies, anti-gay violence and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.

"We have created an environment where there's almost a conspiracy of silence when it comes to sexuality," he said at a news conference. "It's talked about in the wrong places in the wrong ways."

June 20, 2001 - 9:09pm -- nomadlab
Sex

Louis Lingg writes: "The LOWER EAST SIDE BIOGRAPHY PROJECT presents:
"Down There: Aesthetics and Sexuality on the Lower East Side"

Compiled as part of a program presented recently at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, this video directed by DEAN LANCE will be re-broadcast on Wednesday, June 20 at 11 pm on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's Channel 34/78 (Time Warner) and RCN channel 109/112.

Featuring legendary transgendered punk rocker Jayne County, this work
explores the locale as it informs aesthetic practices, focusing in particular on how sexuality is elaborated in this site and in works made there.

Also appearing are Penny Arcade, Frogie Conga, Taylor Mead, John Vaccaro, Ruby Lynn Rayner, and Ron Vawter.

Wed. June 20, at 11 pm
Time/Warner CHANNEL 34/78
RCN Channel 109/112

"Stemming the tide of cultural amnesia" - Penny Arcade"

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