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Invisible Men and Blind Curation

By
Estelle Lucas
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tumblr_n3b9i3QnoZ1sn3as5o1_500The Invisible Men Project, a tumblr-turned-Glasgow-art exhibition, supposedly reveals the previously unknown attitudes of men who engage the services of sex workers. The project was launched by the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership who come off as bonafide in their intention and achieve poor results. They do this by constructing a poorly designed mask (a faceless one, because sex workers are faceless, right?) and plucking quotes from the worst reviews written by clients. They paint this in the same manner an artist might paint a mask for a masquerade—with the idea of presenting cryptic truth through ambiguous art.

The Invisible Men Project is a propaganda project that fails as a creative project. They have painted the “faceless” sex workers with the words their clients use for them. As if the client’s opinion even matters. As if the sex worker’s worth weighs solely on their clients opinion about them. They haven’t even thought to use the words of the sex worker in question, they just assumed that the client’s opinion about their work resonates similarly.

Bravo to the Invisible Men Project for creating a space to glorify the misogynist attitudes of these men. And they are glorified. Highlighting their words does nothing but promote their behavior. They’re not ashamed—if they were, they would never had posted their reviews in the first place. The curators are completely aware that attaching a price tag to each piece will further shock their audience, especially if that price seems low. They don’t bother to put the prices in a context that allows for regional or socioeconomic differences.

The sex industry is competitive in its very nature. It’s not odd for fake reviews to be written, especially from the direct competition. Or for them to be exaggerated by a disgruntled client. This often happens because these business dealings are not in the economic mainstream (depending on the type of legal framework the country functions under). Every sex worker and every punter knows to take reviews with a grain of salt. The public doesn’t always know this, and the Invisible Men Project doesn’t bother to mention this.

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Now Recruiting

By
suzyhooker
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(Image via obglobal.net)
(Image via obglobal.net)

Have you ever wanted to be in an endless e-mail chain with Caty, Josephine, and Bubbles? Are you interested in the policy that affects our working and personal lives? Do you like to debate the differences between representations of sex workers on Game of Thrones and The Wire? We want you! Tits and Sass is seeking co-editors to help run the site.

Candidates will be:

1) deeply committed to sex workers’ rights
2) interested in representations of sex work in the media and popular culture
3) able to commit 10 hours of their week to the site
4) familiar with WordPress and Google Docs
5) preferably a full-service sex worker or porn/cam performer; must be a current sex worker
6) able to use either their real name or a pseudonym to represent their work
7) familiar with the site, with real fondness for it
8) from anywhere in the world—preferably from outside the U.S. to add international perspective to our currently all-American editing team

This is a volunteer position. Contact us here introducing yourself and explaining why you’re interested in working with Tits and Sass, along with links to your writing samples and online presence. We especially encourage candidates who are neither white nor cisgender to contact us.

The Week In Links—April 25

By
suzyhooker
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A poster for stripper Jeff Tetreault's movie about, er, an anthropomorphized, detachable penis (Image via Vulture)
A poster for stripper Jeff Tetreault’s movie about, er, an anthropomorphized, detachable penis (Image via Vulture)

HuffPo set up an interview with two student sex workers through Student Sex Worker Outreach Project coordinator Adrienne Graf, whom we featured in a post the other week. One of the workers interviewed was Tits and Sass’ very own contributor Red, who valiantly resisted all of the interviewer’s efforts to sensationalize stripping.

Screenwriter and go go dancer Jeff Tetreault: “Sometimes you have a good dick day, and sometimes you have a bad dick day. It’s like a good hair day and a bad hair day: Sometimes the blood just settles down there and it’s sweet — it’s an awesome dick day. And sometimes, I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ ”

John Turturro gives sex workers his vote of confidence in an interview on “Fading Gigolo,” a film he directed and starred in about a laid off bookstore employee turned escort for lonely ladies. Our only quibble is that perhaps Turturro should’ve done a bit more research first–we find it highly doubtful that a middle aged guy sex worker in most heterosexual markets would be netting “$1k for each hour of his time, plus a $500 tip.”

OK, so this guy’s thesis is that the development of sexbots will somehow lead to the adoption of basic income, once the state is inundated with a bunch of human hookers put out of work by robots. Right, because the government obviously gives a shit if sex workers go the way of cottage weavers.

Nearly 65,000 sex workers and their family members across Bengal have decided not to vote for any candidates this year, planning to press the NOTA (None of the Above) button instead. Bhurati Dey, sex workers’ rights organization Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee secretary, stated: “None of the political parties have ever looked into our demands. So it is our conscious decision to opt for the NOTA option.” In Forbesganj, Dehli, and Kolkata, Mumbai based federation of sex workers Aastha Parivaar and nonprofit organization Apne Aap Women Worldwide have also taken action on the eve of the election, collecting demands from regional sex workers for politicians. 

What is it really like to work in a brothel? This Buzzfeed piece won’t really tell you much about that, but it will let you know all about Dennis Hof’s ego.

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Outdated Fear: Criminalizing HIV+ Sex Workers

By
Robin D
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(Image via the Stigma Project)
(Image via the Stigma Project)

With thanks to members of SWOP-USA

Laws that criminalize HIV exposure are supposed to benefit public health, but in practice are extremely harmful to public health and to the targeted HIV-positive individuals. Sex workers are highly vulnerable to these laws, which sometimes target HIV-positive prostitution specifically. Many require forcible HIV testing, and sometimes they simply criminalize HIV but in reality are applied to sex workers more frequently than to other populations.

The criminalization of HIV-positive sex workers and mandatory post-arrest HIV testing arguably violates international human rights treaties signed by the United States. Treaties with applicable provisions include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), specifically their provisions on privacy, rights to equality before the law, and sanctions against inciting hatred and racial bias. Recent forced HIV testing in Greece provoked outrage among international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. WHO/UNAIDS (World Health Organization/the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) made a statement opposing forced testing. It is widely accepted that best practices for HIV testing, with the best public health outcomes, involve three key principles—consent to testing, the provision of counseling before and after testing, and confidentiality of results. The imposition of felony offenses on individuals who are said to be engaging in sex work while living with HIV punishes members of already vulnerable communities. They are prosecuted even when they use condoms and engage in less risky forms of sex with their partners, sometimes even if they have disclosed their status to their partner. Information about their HIV status, sometimes accompanied by photographs, is often distributed widely by the media in their communities, placing arrestees at risk of retaliation and other abuse. This incentivizes avoiding testing and does nothing to encourage treatment or safer sex practices.

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Stacks & Cats

By
suzyhooker
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I am Goddess Destiny Kaine, a Dominatrix and owner or a house of Domination. My baby Cellar would love to be featured for his 1st Birthday coming up on May 4th. He LOVES cash, all of the cash. The Blue Russian is Rupert, he loves money too!

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Sex workers, submit pictures of your furballs and funds here.

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