queer

Sideshow: The Queer Literary Carnival

by Viviane on 04/03/2010

in Events, queer, sex

04/13/2010
8:00 PMto10:00 PM

sideshow april13 500x259 Sideshow: The Queer Literary Carnival

Hosted by Cheryl B. & Sinclair Sexsmith

Location:  The Phoenix, 447 East 13th Street (Avenue A), East Village
Doors open at 7pm. Reading: 8pm.
Cost: Free. $4 drink specials
Blog: http://sideshowreadingseries.wordpress.com
Twitter: @sideshowseries

This month’s theme is Secrets, starring:

  • Kate Bornstein (Hello, Cruel World)
  • Sam J. Miller (The Rumpus)
  • Seth Clark Silberman aka PhDJ (Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction)
  • Kathleen Warnock (Drunken! Careening! Writers!)

The Readers

Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright and performance artist whose work to date has been in service to sex positivity, gender anarchy, and the building a coalition of those who live on cultural margins. Her work recently earned her an award from the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, and two citations from New York City Council members. Her latest book, “Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives To Suicide For Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws,” is an underground best-seller. Other published works include the books “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us”; and My Gender Workbook. Her books are taught in over 150 colleges around the world.

Sam J. Miller is a writer and a community organizer. His work has appeared in places like The Minnesota Review, Washington Square, Fiction International, and The Rumpus. For more info check out samjmiller.com or facebook.com/samjmiller

Seth Clark Silberman aka PhDJ is a fantastical NYC DJ Writer Photographer. He was the first junior faculty to teach lesbian and gay studies at Yale University, where he coordinated the first academic conference on Michael Jackson. His academic work has been included in the journals GLQ: A Journal for Lesbian and Gay Studies and Social Semiotics. His fiction has been included in the Lambda Award-winning anthology Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction, edited by Edmund White and Don Weise, and in Quickies: Short Short Fiction on Gay Male Desire, edited by James C. Johnstone.

Kathleen Warnock is a playwright and editor. Her plays have been seen in New York, Ireland, London and regionally. She is Playwrights Company manager of Emerging Artists Theatre, and director of the Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Series for TOSOS Theatre. She is also editor of Best Lesbian Erotica. She is tired.

The Curators

Cheryl B. (cherylb.com) is an award-winning writer, poet and performer. Her work appears in dozens of print and online publications, including; Ping Pong, Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution (Seal Press, 2007) and BLOOM, among many others. She has appeared at most major New York City literary evenings and toured throughout the U.S, Canada and the U.K.

Sinclair Sexsmith runs the award-winning personal online writing project Sugarbutch Chronicles: The Sex, Gender, and Relationship Adventures of a Kinky Queer Butch Top at sugarbutch.net. With work published in various anthologies, including the Best Lesbian Erotica series, Sometimes She Lets Me: Butch/Femme Erotica, and Visible: A Femmethology volume 2, Mr. Sexsmith enjoys whiskey, topping, the serial comma, political activism, and has been known to get on her knees in order to fix the strappy sandals of a queer femme. Sugarbutch Star chapbooks are available, if you ask nicely (and have ten bucks).

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Bookmarks for March 30th

by Viviane on 03/30/2010

in del.icio.us, sex

  • The Art of Restraint @ Femina Potens – Some willing volunteers get all tied up in knots at Femina Potens art gallery's "The Art of Restaint" where attendees indulged in rope bondage, champagne, chocolate and all other kinds of sinful delights.Photos by Gretchen Robinette.
  • Why Women Don’t Want Macho Men – WSJ.com – New research suggests that women from countries with healthier populations prefer more feminine-looking men. Jena Pincott on the science behind attraction and masculinity, and the future for manly men.
  • Jamie Wetherbe: SXSW Comes Out: The Annual Conference Gets More Gay Friendly – "There was nothing queer about SXSWi, despite many lesbians ― and other parts of the LGBT community ― being techies, geeks and the like," said Bendix who organized the panel. "There have been panels and talks about other minorities in the industry, but nothing specifically LGBT…. I was shocked to find out our panel was the first."
  • Q: What to do if attacked by Donna M. Hughes and Margaret Brooks? | Sex In The Public Square – Margaret Brooks and Donna M. Hughes recently attacked Maymay, originator of the KinkForAll unconference model, in a bulletin published by their organization, Citizens Against Trafficking (CAT), which Maymay suggests is more suitably named Citizens Against Sexual Freedom and Discussion (CASFD). The bulletin [1] uses a technique typical of CAT CASFD: Take out-of-context statements and blend them with factual inaccuracies to produce a piece of writing capable of creating (or sustaining) irrational moral panic on the part of those who read it.
  • The mythology of prostitution – advocacy research and public policy | Ronald Weitzer – This article examines the claims made by organizations, activists, and scholars who embrace the oppression paradigm, evaluates the reasoning and evidence used in support of their claims, and highlights some of the ways in which this perspective has influenced recent legislation and public policy in selected nations. The author presents an alternative perspective, the polymorphous paradigm, and suggests that public policy on prostitution would be better informed by this <br />
    evidence-based perspective.

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Body Heat: queer femme tour in NYC

by Viviane on 03/13/2010

in Events, queer

03/14/2010
7:00 PM

Location: Bluestockings Bookstore
Street: 172 Allen St., NYC

Body Heat is a fierce, sassy, irreverent Femme artist collective setting performance art communities ablaze and smashing Femme stereotypes. They’ll challenge your assumptions, entertain the hell out of you, and leave you panting and begging for more!

Armed with an arsenal of erotic song, dance, camp, poetry, smut, and prose Body Heat was hailed by the Center for Sex Positive Culture (Seattle, WA.) as “The best Femme porn writers in the country.” These `pull no punches,’ `it’s never too nasty,’ power femmes are touring to support and promote queer femmes and their contributions to erotica, the sex industry and the sex-positive movement. Thru the use of art and performance they are literally, visually, emotionally, psychologically and socially revealing a more complex sexual identity for queer femmes.

The line-up will feature :

  • Kathleen Delaney (Atlanta, GA.)–Body Heat founder and spoken-word performer
  • Meliza Bañales (San Francisco, CA)–Sister Spit vet, former slam champion, filmmaker, writer
  • Jen Cross (San Francisco, CA)–published author and sex-workshop facilitator
  • Nicky Click (Durham, NH)–Nationally renowned singer / performer
  • Alex Cafarelli (Oakland, CA.)–martial artist, writer, versatile performer, and Psycick Slutz co-founder
  • Vagina Jenkins (Atlanta, GA)–The Queen of Queer burlesque
  • with special guests:
  • Diana Cage (NYC)–former On Our Backs editor, radio personality, and acclaimed author
  • Gigi Frost (Boston, MA)–The Femme Show founder & performer
  • J. Dellecave (Riverside, CA)–dancer and performance artist extraordinaire

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KinkForAll Providence

by Viviane on 02/03/2010

in Events, kinkforall

02/06/2010
10:00 AMto6:30 PM

kfapvd KinkForAll Providence

Location: Brown University, Wilson Hall
Street: Intersection of Brown Street and George Street
City/Town: Providence, RI
Google Maps: http://bit.ly/a4a7gB

KinkForAll is an ad-hoc educational unconference about the convergence of sexuality with the rest of life for anyone and everyone. It is 100% free and open to the public. Anyone with the desire to learn or with something to contribute is welcome and invited to participate.

KinkForAll is a 100% free event that is open to the public. It is an intense event with discussions, presentations, and interaction from all participants. There are no spectators, only participants. To attend, you must give a presentation or otherwise help out in some way (check the wiki or email queer@brown.edu if you want to know more about ways in which you can get involved!).

KinkForAll events aim to create shared knowledge with lasting benefit to humanity. KinkForAll is inspired by and based upon the BarCamp community and unconference model.

ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY:
KFA Providence will be hosted on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. We have four rooms in Wilson Hall at our disposal (101, 103, 105, and 109), all on the first floor (though there are stairs in front of the building). However, the building is unfortunately NOT handicapped accessible, so if you believe you will need special accommodations of any sort, please contact Aida Manduley (queer AT brown dot edu) as soon as possible.

Participate online before the event at your favorite social networking
web site:

Homepage (and to RSVP): http://kinkforall.pbworks.com/KinkForAllProvidence
Google: http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KinkForAll
Identica: http://identi.ca/kinkforall
Facebook: http://bit.ly/ds5War
Fetlife: http://fetlife.com/groups/2962

All organizational efforts are coordinated in public via the mailing  list. Join for free and help turn ideas into realities!

http://groups.google.com/group/kinkforall

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Gay Identity in 26 Voices (NYTimes)

by Viviane on 01/24/2010

in movies

By DENNIS LIM

WHAT did gay liberation do for gay cinema? To begin to tackle this question, one has to survey the shadowy history of on-screen homosexuality, consider the elusive notion of a gay sensibility and — as with all minority-group debates — weigh the conflicting ideological positions on difference and assimilation. But while there may be no easy answer, the coincidental appearance this week of two gay-theme events in New York repertory houses provides a window into the evolution of gay cinema, both in the shadow of liberation politics and far beyond it.

“Word Is Out,” a 1977 documentary that is being revived in a restored print at Anthology Film Archives starting Friday, interweaves the stories of 26 gay men and lesbians who speak openly about coming out, finding love and fighting prejudice. It was a milestone in the developing public image of the gay-rights movement.

When “Word Is Out” was released in theaters and broadcast on public television more than eight years after the Stonewall riots, media depictions were still largely confined to unflattering stereotypes, and gay audiences had yet to see their experiences reflected on screen. Reviewing the film in The Advocate, Vito Russo declared, “The silence of gay people on the screen has been broken.”

But gay (and gay-friendly) filmmakers were never exactly mute, nor have they all opted to speak in the same ways. Queer/Art/Film, a monthly series that begins its new season at the IFC Center on Monday, serves as a reminder that there is a strain of gay cinema that predates and runs parallel to the consciousness-raising tradition pioneered by “Word Is Out.” Organized by the filmmaker Ira Sachs (“Forty Shades of Blue”) and the journalist Adam Baran, the series is programmed by gay artists and writers invited to present a film they find personally significant.

More

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Uncovered: The Diary Project: Sean Dorsey Dance w Kate Bornstein

by Viviane on 07/29/2009

in Events, transgender

07/30/2009to08/02/2009

Location: Dixon Place
316 Chrystie Street, New York NY, 10002 [map]
Tickets: $20 general / $15 students & seniors
Online Tickets: www.hotfestival.org;

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/171

press tn UncoveredTheDiaryProject1 Uncovered: The Diary Project: Sean Dorsey Dance w Kate Bornstein

Sean Dorsey Dance

kate bornstein Uncovered: The Diary Project: Sean Dorsey Dance w Kate Bornstein

Kate Bornstein

After taking San Francisco by storm with an extended sold-out run, standing ovations and critical praise, Sean Dorsey’s acclaimed Uncovered: The Diary Project is coming to New York! This one-weekend-only New York performance features a collaboration with and world premiere prologue performance by legendary author, playwright and performance artist Kate Bornstein.

Sean Dorsey (trailblazing transgender choreographer and winner of two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance) and a stellar cast of dancers chase the naked truth in Uncovered: The Diary Project. Using text from actual, real-life diaries, Uncovered’s powerful dances reveal lives and stories that history has tried to erase.

This powerful, highly praised dance theater concert is the culmination of a year-and-a-half long research process in which Dorsey uncovered and researched diaries of transgender and queer people – from the famous to the unknown. Uncovered features ‘Lou,’ a suite of dances based on the lifelong journals of Lou Sullivan (1951-1991), a San Francisco transsexual gay man and pioneering activist; and ‘Lost/Found,’ the story of an imaginary boyhood based on a very real diary. Uncovered offers an evening of full-bodied, powerful dances honoring remarkable life stories.

Uncovered features an outstanding cast of performers: Sean Dorsey, Brian Fisher, Juan de la Rosa, Nol Simonse and special guest Kate Bornstein. Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright and performance artist whose latest book is “Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives To Suicide For Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws.” Other published works include the ground-breaking books “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us;” and “My Gender Workbook.” All three books are now taught in over 150 colleges and universities around the world. Kate performs, lectures, and facilitates workshops at college campuses, theaters and performance spaces across North America, Europe, and Australia. Kate is currently working on a memoir – “Kate Bornstein Is A Queer And Pleasant Danger” – due for a 2010 release by Seven Stories Press.

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Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation: Call For Submissions

by Viviane on 06/08/2009

in submissions

Call For Submissions
Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation
Kate Bornstein & S Bear Bergman, eds
Deadline: 1 September 2009

In the fifteen years since the release of Gender Outlaw, transgender narratives have made their way into cultural locations from the margins to the mainstream and back again. Today’s trannies and other sex/gender radicals are writing a radically new world into being. GENDER OUTLAWS: THE NEXT GENERATION (Seal Press) will collect and contextualize the work of this generation’s most forward-thinking trans/genderqueer voices—new voices from the stage, on the streets, in the workplace, in the bedroom, and on the pages and websites of the world’s most respected mainstream news sources. Edited by that ol’ original Gender Outlaw herself, Kate Bornstein and writer, raconteur, and theater artist S. Bear Bergman, GENDER OUTLAWS: THE NEXT GENERATION will include essays, commentary, comic art and conversation from a diverse a group of trans-spectrum people who live and believe in barrier-breaking lives.

*What we’re looking for*

GENDER OUTLAWS: THE NEXT GENERATION wants to collect work that represents a quantum leap forward in thinking and talking about gender and the gender binary, in the same way Gender Outlaw did almost twenty years ago. So blow us away. Bring the smart, bring the sexy, blind us with science, break the gender barrier, shine a bright light (or a disco ball) on the whole gender situation. Tell us about your future, what you imagine, how you want things to go and what you (and your friends) intend to do about it. Think big.

We’ll look at whatever you have for us – essays, graphic art, interviews/conversations, haiku, rants – as long as you’re thinking smart and fresh about sex and gender (and being an outlaw, of course). We will feel especially keen about your work if it adds to or advances the conversation about gender (as distinct from simply reflecting it, or lamenting it).

People of any identity are encouraged to submit work. This means you – yes, you!

We intend to privilege non-normatively gendered/sexed voices in the book but will include all the good stuff we can, regardless of current identifiers of the author.

*The Details*

Deadline: Sept 1 (early submissions are encouraged). Submissions should be unpublished; query if you have a reprint that you think we’ll swoon for. While we hesitate to list a maximum, please query first for pieces over 4,000 words. If you have an idea and need help writing it out, contact us to discuss an interview-style piece or other accommodations.

Submit as a Word document or black/white JPEG (no files over 2MB). Please include a cover letter with a brief bio and full contact information (mailing address, phone number, pseudonym if appropriate) when you submit. Submissions without complete contact information will be deleted unread. Payment will be $50 and 2 copies of the book upon publication in Fall 2010. Contributors retain the rights to their pieces. Send your submission as an attachment to genderoutlawsnextgeneration at gmail dot com.

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Tonight: Alphabet Soup: Serving up Solidarity!

by Viviane on 03/26/2009

in Events

alphabetsoupflyer Tonight: Alphabet Soup: Serving up Solidarity!

Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009
Time: 07:00 PM to 12:00 AM
Where: Dtox
Address: 31 2nd Ave, Between 1st and 2nd St.
Cost: FREE
Dress code: Come as you are… no judgments, no labels, no rules!

Alphabet Soup… Serving up Solidarity!

Come join us the Fourth Thursday of Every Month for a Sex-Positive Social Gathering for the Entire Alternative Community!

Uniting the LGBTPQ, FABGLITTER, and other sex-positive communities, Alphabet Soup serves up solidarity! Queer or straight, trans or cisgendered, kinky or vanilla, poly or mono, or anything in between… come be among friends!

Alphabet Soup is for ALL kinksters and sex-positive folk to gather regardless of gender, sexual orientation, relationship paradigms, lifestyle preferences, etc.

This event is free.

Buy One, Get One Free Drink Specials until 10p

Stay for the Drag Show after Midnight!

Spread the Word!

Please join the Evite Guest List

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Kinkforall 2009

by Viviane on 03/12/2009

in kinkforall, sex

The inaugural Kinkforall was a smashing success!

I remember reading the Tweet worrying whether we’d get 40 attendees.  Turns out 100 people turned out for 45 presentations. Tremendous energy, lots of different conversations, lots of folks from different organizations and lots of new folks. I know there was was poo-pooing about this event and I was proud to have helped sponsor it.

Now there are other Kinkforalls being organized.  See the gallery below for my pics from the event. Kudo to MayMay, Sara Eileen, the timekeepers (who kept us on track) and all the volunteers who came out and made the event happen. I’m looking foward to the next ones.

The next opportunity for us sex nerds to geek out will be Sex 2.0 on May 9, 2009. Will you be there?

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CrashPadSeries.com

by Domina Doll on 01/02/2009

in porn, pornography

crashpadseries CrashPadSeries.com

Lucky me!  I purchased a 2009 Sexblogger Calendar to support Audacia Ray’s Sex Work Awareness Project, an organization that trains sex workers in media skills and educates the public about issues that affect people who work in the sex industry.  I was happy to get the calendar alone and support sex workers!  As a bonus, however, I received a free 1 month subscription to the Crashpadseries.com.  I am already a huge fan of Pink and White Productions and Shine Louise Houston’s films.  So it was wonderful to get a behind-the-scenes look on the website with all the amazing content they have on their site.  This is the place to hang-out (or crash) if you want to see all the sexy footage of what Shine is working on with the hot stars in her films, for they post them all here first before they ever go to DVD.  And, there is lots of footage that is specifically just for the site, so stuff you’ll never see in the films themselves is here as well.

I got to watch Cyd & Red:  It was cool seeing them talk about their sexual likes and dislikes before the actual shoot as a form of negotiation.  You can also hear Shine’s directorial commentary to the performers, so it really lets you in behind-the-scenes, like you are there as one of the crew members.  Sweet!  You also have the option of downloading the clips to watch in Windows Media Player or QuickTime formats.  I prefer Media Player, so that was great for me.

They have six episodes to date up on the website and each episode has numerous scenes.  So there is a lot of to watch. It would take you weeks and weeks to go through all the content and watch all the videos, and at the rate they update, this would be a never-ending battle.  The site is stock full of hot photos of all episodes and the stars including Carson, Dallas, Donna, Dylan Ryan, Javier, Jake, Jiz Lee, Michele Aston, Lorelei Lee, Rozen Debowe, Shawn, Trouble, Trucker Cash, Vai, Wilder and many more.  You’ll see plenty of heartthrob bois, girls and gender-bending crushes on the site, many of which have yet to be seen on DVD.  The site also has a free forum where you can talk about various topics and even correspond with the stars and director themselves.

Crashpadseries.com is super hot and if you haven’t checked it out already, then you must be caught in some strange time warp in a very lame-ass parallel universe.  But, there is one way to break free and get the coveted key to the Crash Pad cosmos.  Cyber-surf your way over to Crashpadseries.com now so you don’t miss out on all the great content.  Just because they are so cool!  And, hey.  It’s hip to be cool.

pwavatar banner1 CrashPadSeries.com

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‘Chris And Don’: An Extraordinary Couple (Fresh Air)

by Viviane on 07/27/2008

in gay, queer

Artist Don Bachardy met British ex-pat author Christopher Isherwood on a Santa Monica beach in 1952. Bachardy was 18; Isherwood was 49. Given their age difference and Hollywood’s then-repressive attitude toward homosexuality, their relationship came as a shock to many. Few expected their romance to last for years, let alone decades.

Their relationship is now the subject of the new documentary Chris and Don: A Love Story. The film traces their union from their first meeting to Isherwood’s death from cancer in 1986.

Bachardy speaks with Terry Gross about his career as an artist and his relationship with Isherwood, who penned the Berlin Stories, which served as the basis for the musical and film Cabaret.

(more. . .)

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