Posts tagged as:

censorship

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 03/02/2011

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Control Tower by Mistress Matisse – The Stranger – Because being a nerd—especially if one participates in nerd culture around things like comic books, science fiction/fantasy, RPGing, etc.—is excellent training for becoming an active member of the BDSM community. The young nerd, shunned by the elite, perforce becomes accustomed to hanging around other nerds and social outcasts of all types. Nerds thus develop a high tolerance for socially nonconforming people and come to feel that such individuals are, by definition, nicer and more interesting than the Cool Kids. They embrace being weird, in other words.
  • Majoring in Kink | The Eye – I’m at the semester’s first meeting of Conversio Virium, Columbia’s BDSM, or kinky sex, education group, witnessing famed fetishist Dov demonstrate “rough body play,” or “thug play.” The demonstration is instructional, with an emphasis on avoiding actual bodily harm, but it’s easy to forget this as Dov maneuvers her onto the floor, grip strong, demonstrating an impressive and creative repertoire of ways to twist her body and apply force.
  • The Cambridge Porn Debate Story « The Sexademic – I waited to hear what I knew would be many misrepresentations of the porn industry as well as false data. It came rather quickly when she stated that the average age of internet porn exposure was 11.
  • Sex, Law, and Cinema in the Digital Age (1989-2010) – James Fallows – Personal – The Atlantic – On that cheery note, here’s my survey of the key social, legal, cinematic, and technological moments of the last 22 years, with my take on how they delivered us (and by “us” I mean “me”) to where we are now.

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Bookmarks for 2011-01-24

by Viviane on 01/24/2011

in del.icio.us,sex

  • OSU Cancels Keynote Speaker Payment for LGBT Conference | KEZI – News video, with interviews with Tristan Taormino and OSU Modern Sex Organizer Rachel Ulrich
  • Tristan Taormino, Ann Coulter, And The Disgrace Of Oregon State University | violet blue ® :: open source sex – Oregon State University is doing a huge disservice to its students. Not only in missing the opportunity to have Taormino speak (an already-vetted speaker at dozens of universities) – but in assuming the students are ignorant about how taxpayer-speaker money is spent. Tristan Taormino takes private money to make pornography (among other sex ed products). OSU does not give speakers money to make products – unless OSU has something they need to tell us about paying for the creation of Ann Coulter’s 2002 book “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right.”
  • Sex Conference Un-invites Keynote Speaker For Being Too Racy? | The Bilerico Project – There is speculation that the reason for the cancellation is due to her work in the porn industry. If so, the university has overstepped significantly in this case. First off, the talk is not about porn whatsoever and to make hiring decisions based on a contractor’s other unrelated employment sets a dangerous precedent around academic freedom. Secondly, if there was ever a conference where it is appropriate to invite a feminist pornographer to talk about their work, it would be a feminist conference titled Modern Sex. And finally, to turn away a feminist pornographer while allowing Playboy to annually spend a week on campus recruiting for the “Hottest Girls of the Pac-10″ smacks of a horrific double standard.<br />
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    The ironic part is that while Tristan’s speech was not about feminist porn, I will be presenting at the conference on that exact topic – and showing clips.
  • Pucker Up – OSU Press Release – Sex Educator And Speaker Tristan Taormino, Set To Give Conference Keynote, Uninvited By Oregon State University Because Of Her ‘Resume And Website’
  • Tristan Taormino, Modern Sex conference organizers weigh in on OSU controversy – National Sex & Relationships | Examiner.com – Oregon State University’s Intercultural Student Services (ISS) and Office of the LGBTQ Outreach and Services are presenting Modern Sex: Privilege, Communication, and Culture on campus, February 14-16, and controversy around the conference and its invited speakers came to a boil this week. Since my own coverage of the hubbub around Tristan Taormino’s canceled keynote lecture — and the university’s response — has been garnering significant attention, I took the opportunity today to speak at length with Taormino and Rachel Ulrich, co-organizer of the Modern Sex conference, for more on the story.
  • Oregon State U Shuts Tristan Taormino Out | Charlie Glickman – Second, it’s not clear to me how making porn invalidates Tristan as an educator or as a speaker. She is a porn producer AND a sex educator. And from talking with her, I know that each informs the other. But if anything, that makes her a better speaker on the relationships between feminism, sex and porn than most people. (Which is absolutely not meant as any slam against Tobi Hill-Meyer, who is also one of the best folks to talk about these topics.)
  • State Budgets, Higher Education, and Sexual Freedom | Sex In The Public Square – When experts are rejected because their work is controversial, we should be worried not only about sexual freedom but also about academic freedom more broadly. There are places where evolution is the hot-button issue, or where the politics of Israel and Palestine is the main cause of political concern.  We can’t ignore this instance of self-censorship simply because it has to do with sexuality. Once “we can’t afford to offend the legislature” becomes a widely accepted rationale for canceling or refusing to fund programs, we can expect to see many more threats to the foundation of public higher education in general.
  • Got a WordPress blog? This plugin tells you if any of your readers are on the Gawker hacker list | TNW – With Shared User Checker, WordPress admins are now able to detect which users have been compromised, making their own sites more secure but also giving the option to alert the users that they may have had their details stolen in the Gawker attacks.

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Sex Educator and Speaker Tristan Taormino Uninvited By Oregon State University Because Of Her ‘Resume And Website’

by Viviane on 01/19/2011

in sex,Tristan Taormino

January 19, 2011

Contact:
Tristan Taormino
tristan@puckerup.com

Award-winning author, columnist, sex educator, and filmmaker Tristan Taormino was set to be the keynote speaker at Oregon State University’s Modern Sex conference, scheduled for February 15-16, 2011. Yesterday, she was uninvited by a university representative, who cited her resume and website as the reason.

On October 28, 2010, organizers of the OSU Modern Sex conference booked Taormino to give the keynote talk; they confirmed the date and agreed to fees, and Tristan’s management received a first draft of the contract on November 1. That contract was incomplete and sent back to OSU for revisions. As with many negotiations, the contract was pending as all the paperwork got done, but in late December, OSU again confirmed Tristan’s appearance and conference organizers told her manager to purchase airline tickets, for which OSU would reimburse her.

On Tuesday, January 18, 2011, Steven Leider, Director of the Office of LGBT Outreach and Services contacted Colten Tognazzini, Tristan Taormino’s manager, to say that the conference had come up short on funding. Tognazzini told him that since the travel was booked and the time reserved, they could work with whatever budget they did have. Leider said that would not be possible: “We have to cancel Ms. Taormino’s appearance due to a lack of funding. It has been decided that OSU cannot pay Ms. Taormino with general fee dollars, because of the content of her resume and website.” At OSU, ‘general fee dollars’ include taxpayer dollars given to the University by the Oregon State Legislature to defray various costs. They differ from ‘student activity dollars,’ which are part of every student’s tuition and help fund student groups and activities.

Taormino’s resume includes her seven books on sex and relationships, the 18 anthologies she has edited, numerous television appearances from CNN to The Discovery Channel, and her award-winning adult films. She was a columnist for The Village Voice for nearly ten years and has given more than 75 lectures at top colleges and universities including Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Brown, NYU and Columbia. Her website, puckerup.com , includes sex education information, advice, and information about the films she directs for Vivid Entertainment, one of the largest adult companies in the country.

“In my ten years of booking Tristan at colleges and universities, of course there has been some controversy. But I have never had a university cancel like this last minute,” says Colten Tognazzini, Taormino’s manager. “It’s not unusual for contract negotiations to drag on. Once they confirmed we should book her travel, I felt comfortable the event was a done deal. I continued to work with them in good faith that a signed contract would be forthcoming. I believe that the conference organizers’ hands are tied, and this decision came from much higher up. They have cancelled with less than a month’s notice during Tristan’s busiest season. She gave up other opportunities to go to Oregon. Without a signed contract, we may have no recourse, and were told we will not be reimbursed for her travel.”

Tognazzini spoke to a source at OSU who speculated that the University feared that when it went before the legislature in regards to future funding, legislators would use OSU’s funding of a “pornographer” on campus as ammunition to further cut budgets. This source, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Tognazzini, “I think they’re uninviting Tristan because they don’t want to have to defend her appearance to conservative legislators.”

“I’m extremely disappointed that OSU has decided to cancel my appearance. I’ve been protested before, but never uninvited. I have never misrepresented who I am or what I do. I am proud of all the work I do, including the sex education films and feminist pornography I make,” says Taormino. “The talk I planned to give at this conference, titled “Claiming Your Sexual Power” has nothing to do with porn, but the porn is such an easy target for anti-sex conservatives and censors. I find it ironic that one of the missions of the conference is to understand diverse perspectives of sexuality. Apparently, my perspective—one of educating and empowering people around their sexuality—isn’t welcome at OSU.”

If OSU students and others still want to hear Taormino speak, she will be teaching two workshops at She Bop in Portland on February 13 and 14. “She Bop supports a healthy perspective on sex and sexuality and we are proud to have Tristan Taormino present two years in a row at our shop in Portland. Tristan is a leading educator paving the way for others to help break down the stigma around sex in this country. It is part of our mission as a female friendly adult shop to support sexual empowerment and growth,” say co-owners Jeneen Doumitt and Evy Cowan.

***

Note from Tristan:

Don’t Let the Anti-Sex Conservatives Win!

If you support free speech and my mission of sexual empowerment, please voice your opinion about OSU’s decision to cancel my appearance at the last minute (and not reimburse me for travel expenses) to the following people. I would really appreciate your support —Tristan

Larry Roper
Vice Provost for Student Affairs
632 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331-2154
541-737-3626 (phone)
541-737-3033 (fax)
email: larry.roper@oregonstate.edu

Dr. Mamta Motwani Accapadi
Dean of Student Life
A200 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331-2133
541-737-8748 (phone)
541-737-9160 (fax)
email: deanofstudents@oregonstate.edu
twitter: @deanmamta

Dr. Edward J. Ray
President
600 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331-2128
541-737-4133 (phone)
541-737-3033 (fax)
email: pres.office@oregonstate.edu

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“A Fire in my Belly” Censorship Protest, NYC

by Viviane on 12/17/2010

in censorship,Events

12/19/2010
1:00 PM

StopCensorship A Fire in my Belly Censorship Protest, NYCOrganized by Art Positive.

A version of “Fire in My Belly” may be viewed on Youtube (you must be signed in).

For more info about other protests, visit Hideseek.org (Chronicling responses to the “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibition and the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s film “A Fire in My Belly.”)

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 11/05/2010

in del.icio.us

  • Facebook and adult social networking: A dream that’s all wet | Violet Blue| ZDNet – That’s what a perfect Faceporn might look like. All of the good aspects of Facebook: finding people with similar interests that aren’t necessarily about sex, but with whom you could also share a dirty gallery with for fun or… or more. Sharing links and videos with friends you’ve chosen in your own network, without the fear of censors deleting your posts without notice.
  • To NSFW or not to NSFW? (NSFW) – Roger Ebert’s Journal – Now as to the problem of the workplace. I understand there will be pictures on a computer screen that will be offensive. I get that. Why will they be offensive? Perhaps because they foreground a worker’s sexual desires, and imply similar thoughts about co-workers. Is that what’s happening with the blog entry on Hefner? Is anyone reading it for sexual gratification? I doubt it. That’s what bothers me about so many of the New Puritans. They think I have a dirty mind, but I think I have a healthy mind. It takes a dirty mind to see one, which is why so many of these types are valued as censors or online police.
  • ‘Client 9′ Filmmaker Focuses On Spitzer’s Foes : NPR – Filmmaker Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, suggests that Spitzer’s demise wasn’t just about sex — that the many enemies Spitzer made on Wall Street and in the New York state capital at Albany may have contributed to his political demise.
  • Oakland home to nation’s first transgender trial judge | SF Gate – Oakland resident Vicki Kolakowski became the first transgender trial judge in the country when she won Alameda County’s vacant seat on the county’s Superior Court bench in yesterday’s election.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 10/14/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Prostitution “Experts” Versus Prostitutes: Why Don’t All Sex Workers Deserve a Voice? | Monica Shores |Huff Po – This ugly display of disrespect is unwarranted and near inexplicable. Why would these women be so threatened by sex workers organizing for themselves, gaining national attention, and working to influence public perception? Is the abolitionist narrative or abolitionists’ prominence as experts more important than the people they’re purporting to help? The poor thinking and outright bigotry exhibited by some anti-prostitution figures can no longer go unchallenged. Sex workers of all ages and genders deserve better advocacy than this, and thankfully, as the recent VAMP example proves, their demands for more honest discussion may no longer go unheard.
  • How Obscene is This! The Decency Clause Turns 20 — NCAC – In September 2010, the National Coalition Against Censorship, in partnership with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School and the BFA Department of Visual & Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts, held a series of programs to highlight the effects 1990s attacks on culture continue to have on art and society and to reassess the state of art funding, censorship and self-censorship today. The programs included panel discussions, film screenings and event-specific videos.
  • PEEP SHOW Interview w/ Tristan Taormino, Part One « FilmSnobbery – Tristan’s written several books, including The Ultimate guide to Anal Sex for Women, and served as an editor for many others. She was a syndicated columnist for the Village Voice for almost ten years and currently writes an advice column for Taboo Magazine. Between her writing, her teaching, and her TV appearances, we feel lucky to have gotten her to answer our Peep Show questions.
  • Trve West Coast Fuck-Up Lit: Protection | Danny Wylde – Anyone who’s been a part of the adult industry for any significant amount of time has no doubt heard countless rumors about who’s an intravenous drug user, who escorts (a polite term for an upscale hooker), who has gay sex in their private life, and who has sex with transsexual women. Some of them are baseless, but a portion always turn out to be true. Each of the above stated behaviors could be considered “high risk,” and each are practiced by performers within the straight “side” of the industry. So when going to work, every performer puts themselves at risk. It’s a part of being a sex worker. Surely, no one wants to increase that risk, but finding a scape goat is the worst possible way to address the issue.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 09/30/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • The future of sexology comes to San Francisco with the Arse Elektronika conference | io9 – . I love this array of crazy science fiction/science/sex presentations that straddle the line between academic credibility and outright perversion.
  • Dr. Logan Levkoff: Sex Educators Unite to Support University Sex Weeks | Huffington Post – Though Brooks appeared to be concerned for students' and colleges' reputations, she offers no voice for the student organizers of these events or their faculty supporters (and hints at no discussion with them either). In an effort to present their voices, I reached out to sex educators, college student groups, and faculty members from various universities. Every educator and group contacted was frustrated by Brooks' mischaracterization of their events and their work. Many of them were outraged that the individual leading the charge against sex-themed programming was an economics professor with no experience in sexuality education. We decided to respond and together composed a Letter to the Editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education. It was sent it to the editors on September 16th.
  • Assistant attorney general blogs against gay student body president – CNN.com – For nearly six months, Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan, has waged an internet campaign against college student Chris Armstrong, the openly gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
  • Sexy Books: Celebrate your freedom to read during Banned Books Week | Examiner.com –
  • Internet Pornographers Now Suing Pirates | Mashable – The producers have targeted users who downloaded titles that prominently feature transsexuals and “barely legal” 18-year old girls. Since the lawsuits are on public record, the defendants’ porn-viewing habits would be exposed.
  • Why Folsom St. Fair is Fun, Sexy and Important | Charlie Glickman – One of the key pieces of sex-positivity can be summed up by the acronym YKINMKBYKIOK, which stands for “Your Kink Is Not My Kink But Your Kink Is OK”. Once you realize that your turn-ons and your squicks come from within you, once you realize that it has less to do with what someone else is doing or saying than you think, you can discover much more sexual freedom within yourself.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 09/28/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 09/05/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Craigslist Censored: Adult Section Comes Down | TechCrunch –
  • Court won’t force state to defend Prop. 8 | SFGate – The outlook for the legal defense of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, grew cloudier Thursday as a state appellate court refused to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal a federal judge's ruling overturning the measure.
  • Conservative Group Foiled in Attempt to Mandate Defense of Prop. 8 – Law Blog – WSJ – On Thursday, a state appellate court in Sacramento without comment refused to order Schwarzenegger and Brown to appeal a federal judge’s ruling overturning the measure.
  • Bering in Mind: Polyamory chic, gay jealousy and the evolution of a broken heart | Jesse Bering | Scientific American – Unless you have the unfortunate luck of being coupled with a psychopath, or have the good fortune of being one yourself, broken hearts are not easily experienced at either end, nor are they easily mended by reason or waved off by all the evolutionary logic in the world. And because we’re designed by nature to be not only moderately promiscuous but also to become selfish when that natural promiscuity rears its head—again, naturally—in our partners, “reasonable people” are far from immune to getting hurt by their partner’s open and agreed-upon sex with other parties. Monogamy may not be natural, but neither is indifference to our partners’ sex lives or tolerance for polyamory. In fact, for many people, especially those naively taking guidance from evolutionary theorists without thinking deeply enough about these issues, polyamory can lead to devastating effects.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics: ‘The media have become one of the leading sex educators in the U.S.’ – National Sex education | Examiner.com – In a policy statement released yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics weighs in on Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, calls for a national task force on children, adolescents, and the media, and advocates for comprehensive sex education, noting that "It is unwise to promote 'abstinence-only' sex education when it has been shown to be ineffective and when the media have become such an important source of information about 'nonabstinence.'"
  • One Woman Explains Her Journey From Anti-Porn to Pro-Porn | Our Porn, Ourselves – After working with her former boss and mentor for an unspecified amount of time, female research intern Beth Brigham completely disagrees and now openly disputes with Gail Dines anti-porn claims. Brigham and has since worked in porn and so now can speak firsthand about what’s true in Dines’ porn statements about porn and its performers, and what is not.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 09/04/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Comment Period Now Open on .XXX – Make Your Voice Heard | techyum :: – On August 24 the 30-day comment period opened for the proposed .XXX top-level domain. Until September 23, the public is invited to tell ICANN what they think. If you’re unfamiliar with the history and issues around .XXX, and the men who stand to profit from it (while exhibiting blatant disregard for the very serious problems it poses) please read Now Playing: .XXX. TLD Carpetbaggers Give New Meaning to “Drop and Snatch” (carnalnation.com).
  • How To Get A Sex Blogger To Have Sex With You | Sex and the 405 – A good way to get to know me is to engage me regarding the content I post. Yes, we may talk about sex, my preferences and your own. That does not mean you should suggest we fuck. It just means we’re discussing our preferences. Please note that many people engage me in this way and the best way to differentiate yourself is by having intelligent conversation with me.
  • An Interview with the author of Sex at Dawn; The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality | Examiner.com – I recently had the opportunity to speak with psychologist Christopher Ryan, one of the authors of a revolutionary new book that debunks the theory that monogamy is a natural and thus appropriate construct for our species. The book is entitled Sex at Dawn; The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality and was co-written by Ryan's wife, psychiatrist Cacilda Jetha.
  • “it’s not about sex” and other lies « Sex Geek – I realize that I come to my poly from a place of queerness, where because of a long history of oppression, of being told our sex is bad, many of us hold onto and defend the beauty of our sexuality with great ferocity. I come to it from a place of kink, where we spend tons of time talking about how to play and have sex in ways that feel good to us. But whether you’re kinky or queer or poly, all of the above or none of the above, I invite you to join me in refusing to buy into any variety of “sex is bad” or “sex is less than,” no matter whose mouth it comes out of. Whether it’s conservative lawmakers, or our intimate partners; the American Psychological Association or our community leaders; the Religious Right or the sacred sexuality proponents.
  • 5 Things an Affair May Not Mean | Christopher Ryan | Huffington Post – In "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality," Cacilda Jethá, my coauthor (and wife) and I argue that there's a good reason long-term sexual monogamy is hard for human beings. The evidence we present in the book shows that til death do us part may be a wonderful ideal, but it's anything but an easy (or natural) path for most human beings. Yes, we are moral beings (most of us) with the capacity to override our evolved predispositions to some extent, but maybe, just maybe, an occasional slip on that long and arduous path is to be expected…Or maybe not. Such notions of tolerance are actively discouraged in America. As Pamela Druckerman explains in "Lust in Translation," her survey of global attitudes toward infidelity, "It has come to seem obvious to Americans that the discovery of infidelity leads to a confrontation, followed by counseling, perhaps other forms of support, and a long period of discussion and recovery (sometimes in perpetuity)."
  • Sex and Censorship: What Recent Attacks on Online Sex Discussions Have to Do With Your Blog | BlogHer – That is what is at stake here. This isn't an issue of us versus them, morality versus indecency, conservatives versus liberals, believers versus atheists. This is a matter of freedom to speak, freedom to congregate, freedom to learn about ourselves and to share that knowledge. That's what this country stands for and it's essential that those of us who believe in these tenets take a stance against those seeking to oppress them.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 08/03/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • 11 years old, on the pill and sexually active? The media loses the news again | Dr. Petra – Through these conversations I discovered none of the journalists knew hormonal contraception had medical uses. All of them assumed hormonal contraception was simply used to prevent pregnancy. And because of this assumption it hadn’t occurred to them to find out what else hormonal contraceptives might be used for.
  • News: Sex, Journalism and Censorship – Inside Higher Ed – College media are filling in the Grand Canyon-sized gap in this coverage – via sex columns, sex magazines, full-blown campus newspaper sex issues, and even a few high-profile sex blogs. They are rightfully proclaiming that sex is a worthy component of every news cycle. Sexual issues, behaviors, and trends are incredibly significant and relevant factors in our lives. They deserve more, and more responsible, news media attention. Student journalists have figured this out. Professional journalists should follow their lead.
  • The Postmodern Hester Prynne | The New York Observer – Sex means just as much to women as to men, but secrecy is a more fundamental component of sexuality for women (Ms. Holmes said the female cheaters she knew had all successfully kept it from their husbands.)
  • Erotica–Fanning the Flames | Publisher’s Weekly – While the breakneck pace by which erotica publishers turned out titles as recently as two years ago may have slowed, the category's influence on culture—and on publishing—continues apace. The demand for explicit sexual writing is as strong as ever, and readers want characters with a range of desires and experiences, and stories that push the limits of their fantasies
  • Cutting off your vagina to spite your Face(book) | Psychology Today – In the past week, Facebook deleted a number of pages from their website, ostensibly due to their concerns about the sexual nature of the material. Interestingly, the organization appears to have primarily targeted the pages of several women and female sexuality organizations with Facebook pages. It may be that there were male-run sites deleted that I haven't heard about, but at this point, I'm only aware of sites that were focused on the lovely vagina, and that focused on female sexual empowerment.

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 07/30/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

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My letter to Facebook about removing the Our Porn, Ourselves page #proporn (Violet Blue)

by Viviane on 07/28/2010

in porn

Hello,

I’m Violet Blue: bestselling and award-winning author, and educator who speaks from UCSF and UC Berkley (Boalt) to Google Inc. Tech Talks on my field of expertise — exactly what this Facebook group page was about.

My page did not violate any of the reasons stated for deletion. It was under constant attack by people who disagreed with our point of view, and constantly reported our posts and images, even though we were very careful not to violate your Terms. May I find out why the page was removed? It is my utmost priority to follow and uphold Facebook community rules and standards. With national media attention to the page, questions will be raised and I hope to be able to furnish answers. Especially with a higher minded page of over 3000 members seeking community and discussion around a topic that did not target any group, threaten anyone, or link/depict/suggest inappropriate content. In fact, I policed the posts hourly for spam and attacks on our members, of which there were many. We never posted obscenity in links or images, though innocent user photos seemed to be increasingly mysteriously removed.

I feel that our page was targeted, and that we did nothing to violate the community standards of Facebook, which we sought to uphold. Any help to find out why this has happened would be deeply appreciated. I do not want to be talking to press about this in the next few days and be left guessing. We sought a safe place to discuss sex culture in media, and that is all.

I sincerely hope we can resolve this. Salon and Examiner wrote about our page as a signifier of community organization around women’s empowerment, calling it a new movement for women’s rights. I could tell we were under attack by those who violently opposed our discussions and representation as a community intersection for enriched discussions about important women’s rights issues. This development is confusing and saddening.

This fostering of group community around female empowerment and the page topic stems from my work as a talkshow guest (Oprah), international conference speaker, and columnist for various national and international magazines and publications (Oprah Magazine, Forbes.com, MacLife, etc) and media pundit (Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Esquire, Redbook, Wired, etc).

Please help me understand what I can tell media outlets asking about this, and the over 3K member we had in the page group.

Sincere thanks,
Violet Blue

Link

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Bookmarks

by Viviane on 07/14/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FCC | 2nd Circuit (text of opinion) – “the FCC’s policy violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague, creatin.g a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here.
  • Supreme Court Strikes Down FCC’s Indecency Policy – WSJ.com – A three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency policies violate the First Amendment and are “unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here.” (Fox v. FCC)
  • “Buttman’s” porn obscenity trial: Why it matters | Salon.com – Whatever the outcome, the moment in our legal history when at last we recognize that community is now everybody with a computer, that “prurience” is in all our cable boxes and our hotel rooms — and that civilization has somehow managed to continue to exist anyway — may soon be upon us.
  • IML 2010 and Getting Real About Contests | Race Bannon – I now liken the contest circuit to the court system within the larger LGBT community. It has its own community, priorities, protocols, rituals, honors, awards and social constructs. It is a subset of the overall LGBT community, but does not necessarily “represent” that entire community in the sense that not all LGBT folks relate to the court system or its adherents. They might attend a court event or mix socially with court members and winners, but that doesn’t mean they relate to them personally whatsoever. That’s not a judgment, just an observation.

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Bookmarks for December 18th

by Viviane on 12/19/2009

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Man on Man: The New Gay Romance (LA WeeklyO – In many ways the growing popularity of gay romance represents nothing less than a tectonic shift in a culture that says women don’t (and shouldn’t) consume porn. Hot and steamy gay-romance literature is to women what Internet porn is to men: They get off on it, mostly in secret, and keep coming back for more.
  • Canadian Minister Calls for Regulation of Adult Sex Toys | Cory Silverberg – The letter (which you can download here) calls out phthalates and BPA in particular, pointing to what little research has been done on sex toys, and suggesting that there is an "urgent need for responsible regulation in the adult toy industry." The minister wants products to be safety tested before they can be sold, and the chemical composition of all sex toys to be made publicly available.
  • Fantasy On Trial (Again) | Dr. Marty Klein – I’m on my home from Denver, where I testified as an expert witness at a deeply troubling trial—a trial that’s become way too common in America.
  • Porn For Women Retrospective 2009 | Ms. Naughty – The year is drawing to a close and thus it’s time again to take a look back at all the newsy and interesting things that have occurred in porn for women in 2009. Overall it’s been a big year with plenty of media attention and what appears to be a growing recognition within the adult industry itself that yes, women do enjoy porn.
  • Reality and Faux Ho Bloggers | Monica Shores | Carnal Nation – Sex worker web journals generally fall into two camps: marketing tools used in conjunction with a work name and website, or anonymous confessionals in which the writer discloses details about her personal life and clients. (For the purpose of this article, only female bloggers are examined.) These blogs are uniquely positioned to complicate the discourse around sex work in both negative and positive ways. They're capable of revealing rifts and commonalities in sex worker communities while also influencing the public's perceptions of and reaction to those who sell sex.
  • Netflix Spilled Your Brokeback Mountain Secret, Lawsuit Claims | Threat Level | Wired.com – An in-the-closet lesbian mother is suing Netflix for privacy invasion, alleging the movie rental company made it possible for her to be outed when it disclosed insufficiently anonymous information about nearly half-a-million customers as part of its $1 million contest to improve its recommendation system.

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