Last year, Amber Rhea brought the first Sex 2.0 to Atlanta and without her enormous effort in conceiving and organizing that amazing event we could never even begin to think about repeating its success in 2009! Read Amber’s excellent wrap up post here. It is our wish to bring forward the ideas of an un-conference in 2009 and allow an open and safe environment to continue the conversations of sex, feminism and technology.

If you wish to help organize or volunteer for Sex 2.0 2009 we would love to hear from you!

In the coming weeks we will be announcing dates, venues and start opening the floor for 2009 speakers, sponsors and vendors. Stay tuned!

About Sex 2.0
“Sex 2.0 will focus on the intersection of social media, feminism, and sexuality. How is social media enabling people to learn, grow, and connect sexually? How is sexual expression tied to social activism? Does the concept of transparency online offer new opportunities or present new roadblocks — or both? These questions, and many more, will be addressed within a safe, welcoming, sex-positive space.”

Call to action, please redistribute widely.

The Stop Porn Culture Slide Show Training Program includes a script, tips for conducting the session; it also includes the power Point Visual presentation, which contains pornographic material. They are saying that this slide show falls under the preview of Fair Use.

However, as it can now be watched, downloaded, viewed, reproduced, and yes, even sold, the creators of Stop Porn Culture, or anyone and everyone else who wishes to showcase, distribute, or otherwise use the material in the slide show is in violation of Federal Law 2257.

Never mind that not a one of the performers featured in this “educational tool” were asked their opinions, or for their consent, nor were the companies that originally produced the images…but now see, there are questions of a Federal Law which applies to Pornographers, and as these people have essentially made themselves such, the law also applies to them. Any person exhibiting pornography, even if it is free, is beholden to 2257, this includes SPC, and those who run this seminar. You will note, at the end of the presentation, there is a claim of copyright over images already subject to copyright, and used without permission.

You will also note, their attempts to keep this material out of the hands of minors are scant at best.

I encourage everyone to write a letter of protest the organizers of the SPC Training Program, inform anyone and everyone you know who is pondering doing one of these sessions of the lack of 2257 compliance and lack of consent on the part of the performers and owners of the images, and if necessary, alert legal authorities to the use of this slideshow where ever it may occur.

Oh, and I am curious, are people CARDED before attending one of these events? Viewing the slideshow on line? If not, then anyone and everyone involved in this program is guilty of showing pornography to minors…oddly enough, John Stagliano is in court for such things… do the same laws not apply?

Enough. If Pornographers must comply with 2257, so must their adversaries.

In response to Match’s question:

3. Did the conf pay for travel/boarding for any speakers?

I answered:

You’re funny! Unless you count Dacia staying at my place, nope.

On the one hand I wish we could’ve, but that would’ve taken a shit-ton more money than I even dreamed of being able to raise. I do feel very strongly that people deserve to be paid for their hard work, including speaking, presentations, etc. - and I resent the fact that oftentimes in “progressive” circles, it’s taken as a given that people will do things “pro bono,” or they’re seen as greedy or somehow bad if they expect compensation for their efforts.

On the other hand, since fundamentally this was an unconference, setting up a hierarchy of “speaker” vs. “not-speaker” defeats the purpose. There was no call for papers. Sessions did not have to be pre-approved. Basically if somebody wanted to lead a session, they said so, and sent me a description and I posted it on the web site. It was first come, first served.

So I would caveat my first statement (”on the one hand”) by pointing out that those expectations are reasonable in some circumstances and not in others. I feel like w/ Sex 2.0, there’s a real spirit of community and all of us working for a greater good - and recognizing that we DON’T get a lot of funding, bc we have to fight tooth and nail for what little we get bc of the stigma. I feel like there was passion behind Sex 2.0 that I’ve rarely seen elsewhere.

Y’all certainly don’t have to structure it as an unconference next year if you don’t want to. Seriously, you can and should do whatever you want! Personally I think the unconference model works for Sex 2.0 in maintaining and fostering the sex commons that Elizabeth Wood spoke about. To me it makes sense for Sex 2.0 to be a space for non-hierarchical, collaborative learning. We all have things to teach and things to learn.

Finally, I will caveat THAT by saying that while I really enjoy the unconference model, I think if taken too far it descends into unmanageable chaos. I’ve had a few people lecture me on why I shouldn’t call Sex 2.0 an unconference, since it doesn’t use the “open space” model. I think these people are, quite simply, assholes - and I welcome them to run their own sex conference if they’re so full of bright ideas. I just think asking people to travel across the country without SOME idea of what to expect in terms of sessions, participants, etc. is unrealistic. I think it works best to strike a balance between the two extremes - build a general framework of expectations, and let the content grow organically.

[Cross-posted at Being Amber Rhea]

What they all have in common, however, is that they succeed in embodying the Sexies criteria for sex-positive journalism far better than the vast majority of their counterparts, helping to improve the quality of dialogue around sex and create a more well-informed reading public. “Too many mentions of sex in the media recapitulate our culture’s biases about sexuality and sexual diversity, especially as far as ‘controversial’ topics are concerned,” says Sexies judge (and writer, Good Vibrations Staff Sexologist, and Center for Sex & Culture founding director) Carol Queen, Ph.D. “Publications’ editors are too often afraid to let their writers show all sides, and certainly the sex-positive side, of a story. The Sexies give us a forum to highlight the exceptions, and hopefully shine a light by which all journalists can see more clearly.”

The first-place winners are:

News or feature (daily newspapers): “Never Too Old for Sex,” by Jill Bauer, Miami Herald News story (other general-topic news publications*): “Hysteria, Exploitation, and Witch Hunting in the Age of Internet Sex,” by Debbie Nathan, Counterpunch

Feature (other general-topic news publications*): “Naughty Nursing Homes,” by Daniel Engber, Slate

News or feature (sex-themed news publications): “Sex in Iran,” by Pari Esfandiari and Richard Buskin, Playboy

Opinion (all news publications): “Abstinence 1, S-CHIP 0,” by Amanda Robb, New York Times

Column (all news publications): Between the Briefs, by Alysha Rooks, Res Gestae, University of Michigan Law School

Click here for a full list of all the winners, with links to online versions of their stories where available, and comments from the judges. All entries were read by at least two members of the Sexies judges panel, including at least one with a journalism background. Copies of those winning stories not available online can be provided to the media upon request.

Awards will be presented at a cocktail party open to the public in New York City in October. Details will be announced shortly. (Sign up on our mailing list to receive updates.) The Sexies are seeking volunteers to help with the event and donors for a raffle to be held there. Raffle proceeds will help defray the costs of starting and maintaining the awards, the only journalism awards to exclusively address sex-positive coverage. For more info, contact us.

The Sexies are the brainchild of journalist Miriam Axel-Lute, and were brought about in collaboration with writers, readers, and activists from The Center for Sex & Culture and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.

The Sexies board thanks all the writers and readers who sent in entries, and encourages all of the writers who entered or were nominated to keep up their crucial work. Submissions for the 2009 Sexies are open and they will be accepted through March 2009 at www.sexies.org/submit.php.

The Sexies would also like to thank our corporate sponsors, Babeland (founding sponsor), Alt Life Films, The Playboy Foundation, and XBIZ, and all of our individual donors. It’s not too late to become part of that sex-positive number: www.sexies.org/support.html.

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(Original post)

“Pulling Back the Sheets: Sex, Work and Social Justice”

July 16-20, 2008 Chicago, IL

REGISTER NOW!

The Desiree Alliance is a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of organizations, communities and individuals across the US working in harm reduction, direct services, political advocacy and health services for sex workers. We provide leadership development and create space for sex workers and supporters to come together to advocate for human, labor and civil rights for all workers in the sex industry.

This convergence will create space for dialogue between hundreds of sex workers and their allies to share their personal experience and skills, identify workers’ most pressing needs, share training and networking skills for developing solutions, and to collaborate on strategies for social and political change on local, state, national and international levels.

Some of the scheduled workshops include:

*

“Safety for Sex Workers Through personal Privacy – Legal and relatively simple ways for working and living out of harms way”
*

“Tantra: How it can uplift the plight and struggle of sex workers and clientele”
*

“Self marketing and self branding: How to run a profitable (and more safe) sex worker business”
*

“Safety 411″
*

“Falling Through All the Cracks: Young adult transgender sex workers”
*

“Challenging Discrimination Among Sex Workers: Reconstructing ‘sex work’”
*

“Bad Date Line: How to start, run + maintain a dam good project”
*

“Sex Workers Against Rape”
*

“Sex Workers Rights and Direct Services in Urban Los Angeles”
*

“Adult Entertainer’s Guide to Disabled Customers – 2008 Edition”
*

“We, Asian Sex Workers”

Conference registration fees are $150 if you register by June 10th, and $200 if you register between June 10th and July 10th. All participants must register no later than July 10th. Fees include registration materials, admission to the opening reception, breakfast and lunch Thur-Sat, admission to the after party on Sat and brunch on Sunday. To register for the conference visit our site and submit the registrant screening form. After you submit this form, a registration packet and payment information will be sent to you.

For more information on registration scholarships, contact: Liz Copl at hdfemme@gmail.com
If you have registration questions please contact: tara@birl.org.

The Desiree Alliance is a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of organizations, communities and individuals across the US working in harm reduction, direct services, political advocacy and health services for sex workers. We provide leadership development and create space for sex workers and supporters to come together to advocate for human, labor and civil rights for all workers in the sex industry.

www.desireealliance.org
Desiree Alliance is a Project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

One by one, hotel chains, which provide a major chunk of revenues for feature porn companies, are yielding to pressure from anti-porn groups to remove sex vids from their in-room video menus. Marriott may be the latest. Here’s the scoop from AVN:

avn.com/law/articles/29757.html

Well, if that’s the way the antis want to play, they’re not the only ones who travel, patronize hotels and can put on the squeeze. Write to Marriott and other chains that have already caved and let them know, loud and clear, that you will not be enjoying their hospitality in the future, not because you like dirty movies (even if you do), but rather because you don’t care to leave your dollars with companies that allow extremist organizations to dictate their policies.

Money talks. Make yours shout out.

- Ernest Greene

A few days ago, I posted a big round-up of what other people had to say about the conference; but I have yet to post my reactions. So here are a few.

First of all, simply the fact that all of last week seemed like a post-orgasmic bliss-like state - and Twitter was a downright lovefest - is testament to Sex 2.0’s huge success. I had hoped for it to be successful, bring people together, foster community, blah blah blah… but it really did all that and more in a way that exceeded my wildest dreams. I am so pleased!

The only complaint I heard was that there were too many interesting sessions going on at once! I lost count of the number of people who told me they wished it had been two days.

Dacia and I were talking about how one thing that was unique about Sex 2.0 was that people seemed to be more interested in actually talking and interacting face-to-face, rather than obsessively documenting the event via liveblogging, photos, Twitter, etc. Don’t get me wrong, all of those things were going on; but it definitely was a different vibe than any other social media-related conference I’ve been to. People were so interested and engaged in the discussions, that they couldn’t be bothered to stop and pick up their iPhones. And to me that’s what it’s all about! Social media should foster the social, after all.

Also - and this might seem paradoxical to the last point, but it’s really not - instead of just talking about the various social media tools available, people were actually using the tools to create original content and do cool things. Whether it was showing people how social media can help sex workers form an online community for real-world activism, or role-playing the ups and downs of being internet famous (I’m still annoyed with myself for not going to Melissa’s session), this conference was about doing and not just being meta. Several people were inspired to create new blogs or other social media projects last weekend, and I look forward to seeing how they develop.

Overall, I believe it was the combination of strong content, the energy of the people there, and the comfort of being in a judgment-free space that created Sex 2.0’s unique heights of awesomeness. There are already plans in the works for next year; I love to see this excitement! The consensus seems to be that it will be in DC next year. Sounds good to me… I’ll see y’all there!

The Clermont may be in danger of closing down!!

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/04/17/clermont-lounge-for-sale/

I feel like we need to write to someone (and include Match’s podcast, if necessary). But who? The mayor?

[Via Going Through the Motions]

Update: Ah, what a relief!

Live-blogging

• Ellie Lumpesse
• Funky Brown Chick
• Viviane’s Sex Carnival

A sampling of wrap-up posts

• village voice sex naked city - Sex 2.0 Brings the Internet’s Sex Nerds to Atlanta - Dacia’s Sex 2.0 video on Naked City TV
• Sex Trade: Sex conference brings bloggers together to Twitter about getting laid - Melissa’s wrap-up on Valleywag
• Renegade Evolution: Sex 2.0, the Awesome & the Suck - Ren’s truly comprehensive wrap-up of Sex 2.0! (”The Suck” refers to her being stuck in the airport.)
• Radical Georgia Moderate » Sex 2.0 exceeded my expectations - Rusty’s wrap-up post.

Many more Sex 2.0-related blog posts are saved in my del.icio.us, and I’ll be updating with more as I find them.

I’ll also be checking Technorati periodically. If you write something Sex 2.0-related, please remember to tag it “sex20″ so it’ll get picked up by Technorati!

Other links

• Outline of Audacia Ray’s keynote
• Sex 2.0 “sex commons” forum on Sex in the Public Square, where participants in Elizabeth’s session (or anyone, really!) can continue the discussion begun at the conference.

People who were Twittering at Sex 2.0

• amberlrhea
• audaciaray
• cunningminx
• debrisblanche
• elizabethSITPS
• ellie_lumpesse
• eternal42
• funkybrownchick
• furrygirl
• inaradeluna
• Jennagain
• jbrotherlove
• kimberleecline
• melissagira
• misstreah
• MistressMaeve
• museumfreak
• peacetara
• playwithmatch
• raquelita
• reginalynn
• rustytanton
• SakuraSarashi
• SFEley
• Starre
• subnouveau
• tiffanybbrown
• tmoenk
• viviane212

All tweets from people who used the #sex20 hashtag are at http://twemes.com/sex20.

I took screenshots of some of my favorite tweets. (I certainly missed some, because there were over 1,000 tweets, y’all.)

More screenshots here.

Photographic evidence

Of course, there is a Sex 2.0 Flickr group. Currently it’s invite-only, to keep away prying/creepy eyes. If you want to join so you can add photos, there’s a “request invitation” link (or something like that, I don’t know what the exact text is) that you can click, and I’ll add you.

—

Thanks to everyone who came to Sex 2.0 and made it a truly amazing event!! The only complaints I’ve heard about it were that there were too many awesome sessions going on at once so it was hard to decide where to go, so I consider that a success!

There’s already energy for doing it again next year… how about in Washginton, DC this time? That seems to be the growing consensus. (Maeve, I would totally be down with Burlington, VT too, if you can find a venue!)

Thanks again, y’all. It was a wonderful weekend.

[Cross-posted at Being Amber Rhea]

Rhea expects at least 100 participants at Sex 2.0 and hopes that the meeting of the minds has a long-lasting impact, even as she admits that the event title is as much of a joke as anything.

“To be honest, I hate the term ‘Web 2.0,’ and I make fun of it,” Rhea admitted. “But I couldn’t help calling this event Sex 2.0 because it’s so catchy.”

Rhea also sees this event as heralding a shift towards how sex should be dealt with on the Internet compared to the now old-fashioned Sex 1.0 version.

“I would consider Sex 1.0 as less participatory,” she said. “It’s like the old dial up connection where you wait and wait for the part of the GIF with the boobs.”

I admit I’m a little flustered about being compared to Martin Luther King, Jr., though (seriously, that’s in the third graf). I feel like I should apologize or something!