In the early aughts when I was a novice escort and On Our Backs was still being published, I was wowed by Melissa Gira Grant, an internet porn-making, geeky, theory-spouting phenom, even managing to be friends with her despite the fact that she was an Anais Nïn devotee. Over the years I’ve kept in touch… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Melissa Gira Grant on Playing The Whore and Policing the Policers, Part One
Tag: feminism
The Week In Links—January 17
Myanmar began a debate around decriminalizing sex work. The founder of the Sex Workers in Myanmar network (SWIM), Thuza Win, hopes the law will be changed before the 2015 general elections. Research by University of Michigan economics professor Raj Arunachalam conducted among Mexican and Ecuadoran brothel workers and street sex workers found that beautiful sex… Continue reading The Week In Links—January 17
The Week In Links—January 3
The Lusty Lady’s vacant space will be reopened by Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield, who own the cafe next door, as a cocktail bar which “will pay homage to what the Lusty Lady was…the wonderful seediness, and the dying breed of seediness.” Apparently, “initial design ideas include…a riff on peepshow windows ‘wherein a customer inserts… Continue reading The Week In Links—January 3
The Week In Links—November 29
Sixty French celebrities, including Belle De Jour star Catherine Deneuve, signed a petition to protest a bill in France Parliament that would impose fines on the clients of sex workers. Thus, admirers of Deneuve can continue their fangirling without the bite of political guilt. Meanwhile, France 24 puzzles over the resounding silence around the issue… Continue reading The Week In Links—November 29
Belated Quote of the Week
I agree that sex work, and sex workers, provoke expressions of misogyny that might otherwise be hidden. Well done, people who make this argument! You’ve correctly identified a definitely-existing strand of visible misogyny. As we’ve established, many things ‘provoke’ (read: provide a premise for) misogyny, because we live in a misogynist culture, constantly swarming with… Continue reading Belated Quote of the Week