Self Portrait, Oly WA

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

Okay, the NY photo (see below) didn't upload or something. This one is me with Sex Workers' Art Show in Oly.
Cheers

Review of Sex Workers Art Show, 2006

I took this photo of myself in New York when I was there with Sex Workers' Art Show. Actually, I ended up taking a lot of self-portraits because, it seems, there was a shortage of photographers in the audience who offered to share their photos. There was, however, a bunch of journalist and opinionated folks offering their thoughts. Here is one review that is luke-warm - but I want to talk about it:

Sex Workers Art Show plays to full house
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By Neil S. Cody
The Daily Item
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LEWISBURG — The Sex Workers Art Show presented its controversial material to a full house Wednesday night at Bucknell University.

Despite weeks of alternating positive and negative attention, the show debuted to a largely optimistic audience, even after paring down material to appear less offensive.

"Bucknell is one of four schools that tried to censor the show," said Annie Oakley, president and founder of the group, "so you are getting the G-rated version."

The show was comprised of a combination of performance art, skits, poetry and music, all geared toward showing sex workers in an artistic light.

Several students showed up at the event in protest, but Kristen Danley, 19, of Washington, D.C., was one student who was offended after researching the show on its Web site.

"I was struck by how much this group glorified the sex trade," she said. "After the recent stories about child sex rings, I couldn't believe our university would condone a group that trivializes the plight of those people."

Apparently, many faculty members felt the same way. At one point during the performance, the projection screen on stage displayed a message that read "Video Content Censored by Bucknell U's Reactionary Admin. Policy."

"There was some concern from the faculty that we not have any nudity on stage," said Jenna Yingling, president of the Bucknell Feminist Majority.

Ms. Yingling explained her reasons for supporting the event at Bucknell.

"This campus has a lot of conservative programs, and I thought it would be good to talk about some of these issues," she said. "I think Central Pennsylvania is a perfect venue for this show because we have a lot of diversity."

"It's good to get the two sides talking, whether positive or negative," she added.

J.T. Dean, vice president of operations in the Bucknell Student Government, agreed.

"I've got to admit we were skeptical at first," he said. "We eventually came to the conclusion that there are different view points on campus, and we thought this would help to create some dialogue."

The Sex Workers Art Show was founded nine years ago and has been touring for the last four years. It has garnered rave reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Theatre Journal. It has also brought controversy with it wherever it goes.

"We encourage debate on campus," Mr. Dean said, "and this will definitely bring that."


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Bucknell, along with a few other USA universities, was a challenge. There was a lot of "but what about kiddie porn" and "but what about HIV" and so on. I just wanna say that kiddie porn is not sex work. It's not work at all. Kiddie porn is child abuse, straight up. Evil people cash in on abusing children - via sex, forced labor, an so on. If ANYONE wants to talk about how to fight child abuse, I'll go there. I have a fount of information about how children are abused in Canada and the US and I'll gladly share it with anyone who wants to put this info into action. But blaming sex workers for child abuse is a tired and impotent critique. And you know "the man" hates that - "the man" really hates when we attack sex workers. The man hates when us struggling folks like children and sex workers are pitted against each other.

Porn Scam

A friend just sent me this:

Porn swindle - Lured by scam, Revere man loses his shirt
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=131590
the guy was scammed for $16k in "deposits" supposedly needed to secure an "audition" to be in a porn flick

The sad truth is real and fake pornographers get away with sh*t like this all the time. I've never heard of a $16, 000 scam before - but I'm sure happens more than I think. Working in the sex trade is so stigmatized and silenced that all sorts of unseen grossness can and does happen. Really we all, sex workers, porn consumers, and otherwise, need to be talking about adult employment standards - sharing information, especially if we discover an abuse of workers or a scam going on. And for the love of fuck, if you wanna work in porn talk to someone about it. Even if you simply go online and talk to porn work experts, like Sharon Mitchel (ask Mitch/aims) or contact a local sex workers' rights group. Never sign anything or give a deposit to anyone without investigating it. Geez. Porn is like any thing else - if you're going to have it in your life you should educate yourself about it. Why is it we know, say, the names of every local coffee shop - we know who has soy milk and who sells organic coffee, what have you. Yet most of us don't know that name of one single local adult employer or what kind of product they produce or how they treat their workers? This whole sex silence thing has got to stop.

The talk at Sistahood/Feminist Porn Hunt

Two nights ago I gave a 1/2 hour talk about porn at the Sistahood Celebration. It was a lot of fun. One thing I focussed on was 'ethical porn' - or porn that has good employee standards. I have a lot to say about this . . . One thing it really got me thinking about is finding more Feminist Porn Producers. So far I know Annie Sprinkle, Carol Queen (Good Vibrations), Candita Royal (Adam & Eve films), and Nina Hartley. Webcam girl, Anna Voog, has great politics too – I know from personal experience with her - and she works for herself (anacam.com)
So it’s on: the feminist porn hunt. Who are the other ethical porn producers and stars?

sista'hood 2006

sista'hood 2006
Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

Hey - friends in Canada. I'm gonna be bringing 'dirty talking my way' home to Vancouver on March 17th for Sista'hood 2006. Come hear me tell all about my experiences with pornography and how I finally found hot and healthy ways to have porn in my life - followed by a Q&A and sharing session. Anyone who likes porn, feels uneasy about porn, works in the porn industry, or wants to make their own porn please come join me. Info is forthcoming at www.sistahoodcelebration.com
YOU GOT QUESTIONS about porn that you wanna bring up - feel free to post them and I'll try my best to include them on March 17th.

On Our Backs

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

TK and I are in the Winter 2006 issue of On Our Backs. The photo shoot is pretty funny, in a nasty way.

www.onourbacksmag.com

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

girlongirl - queer docu-porn

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

Who knew a short docu-porn would be welcomed with such open arms? Thanks to all the festivals and folks who have supported this film.

What do you get when you mix a drag performer, a sex artist, a film-maker and a few broken taboos?
A sex documentary like you've never seen before.

Girl on Girl: a documentary
17 minute docu-porn
Canada 2004

Created, directed and edited by the Miss Nomer Collective, consisting of Dawn, Smith, and video artist lisa g, Girl on Girl also features an original score (“a blessing, a marrying of the sexes”) by Toronto trans composer/performer Dana Baitz.

In his alter ego as Miss Cookie LaWhore, Canadian novelist Michael V. Smith gives up his hetero-virginity to performance artist & sex worker Amber Dawn in Girl on Girl: a documentary.  A Canadian first, this 17-minute documentary porn video won the Zed People’s Choice Short Film Award at its world premier at the Out On Screen Film & Video Festival, 2004.  

Shot on mini-DV, Girl on Girl is a candid documentary that humanizes sex as it battles the social stigma of being sexual.  Touching on hot buttons such as the exploitation of women in the mainstream porn industry, shame and body image, sex phobia, and gender ambiguity, Girl on Girl lays bare our shared fear of being sexual and being seen.
 
Exploring the intersection between sex, gender and identity, Girl on Girl invites us to ask: What determines gender identity?  Is it the clothes we wear, the gender we ascribe to ourselves or what others name us?  Does sexual behaviour dictate sexuality?   Is identity situated in the body, and if not, where?

Don’t miss Girl on Girl, a thoughtful, camp, outrageous, insightful and tender new project
that asks us to rethink not just who we do, but who we are.

Contact:  girlongirl@michaelvsmith.com
Distributed by : videoout@telus.net

IF YOU HAVE YOUR OWN QUEER OR HOME GROWN PORN. Please feel free to post it on this blog. It's all about sharing the lust.

With A Rough Tongue

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

In September 2005, Trish Kelly and I put out a dirty book! I love 'porn lit' for a lot of reasons: the characters are always having a genuine good time, it's easy to fill in your own imaginative versions of the fantasy, and it supports writers (not commercial porn producers). I say this book a hot and human collection of dirty femme fun. Here's what the publisher said about it:

A rebellious anthology of stories about sex and the modern femme: no-holdsbarred queer sex tales that reinvent lesbian erotica in ways that are transgressive and empowering. Starting off where other lesbian erotic anthologies end, these are not your typically delicate, lace-and-feathers kind of stories; instead, they're blunt and hard-hitting and challenge traditional notions of gender roles when it comes to getting off.


The anthologists argue that good, clean lesbian smut is difficult to come by these days, overwhelmed by political correctness and authorial self-censorship. Unabashedly raunchy, these stories prove that femme porn can be sexy and smart at the same time.

For more visit arsenalpulp.com

Sex Workers' Art Show website

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Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

www.sexworkersartshow.com

Sex Workers' Art Show Tour

Sex Workers' Art Show Tour
February/March 2006

The Sex Workers' Art Show Tour is coming to your town! The show is an
eye-popping evening of visual and performance art created by people
who work in the sex industry to dispel the myth that they are anything short of
artists, innovators, and geniuses!

The wildly successful cabaret-style show is hitting the road again,
bringing audiences a blend of spoken word, music, burlesque, and
multimedia performance art; as well as a visual art display that
travels with the show. The artwork and performances offer a wide range of
perspectives on sex work, from celebration of prostitution and
sex-positivity to views from the darker sides of the industry.

This year’s incredible lineup of performers includes acclaimed Whitney Biennial
artist and burlesque performer Julie Atlas Muz; iconic queer writer and author
of The Chelsea Whistle Michelle Tea;  hip-hop poet Juba Kalamka; foremother of
the prostitutes’ rights movement Scarlot Harlot; artistic director of the only
existing Black burlesque troupe Harlem Shake, Simone de la Getto; filmmaker and
performance artist Bridget Irish; writer and feminist smut purveyor Tralala
Farsi
Sentiamo; and tour founder and ringmaster Annie Oakley. Visual artists include
infamous camgirl and artist Ana Voog and activist and
performer Teresa Dulce.

The show includes people from all areas of the sex industry:
strippers, prostitutes, dommes, film stars, phone sex operators,
internet models, etc. It smashes traditional stereotypes and  moves
beyond "positive" and "negative" into a fuller articulation
of the complicated ways sex workers experience their jobs and their lives. The
Sex Workers' Art Show entertains, arouses, and amazes while
simultaneously offering scathing and insightful commentary on notions
of class, gender, labor, and sexuality!

For more information or to schedule interviews, please visit
www.sexworkersartshow.com, or email Annie Oakley at
annie@sexworkersartshow.com.

2/10 Portland, OR   Reed College
2/11 Olympia, WA   The Capitol Theatre
2/12 Arcata, CA   Humboldt State University
2/13 San Francisco, CA   Cafe du Nord
2/14 Los Angeles, CA   UCLA
2/15 Santa Barbara, CA   UC Santa Barbara
2/16 San Diego, CA   UC San Diego
2/17 Phoenix, AZ   Alwun House
2/18 Santa Fe, NM   Backroads
2/20 Austin, TX   University of Texas
2/22 New Orleans, LA   Zeitgeist Gallery
2/24 Atlanta, GA   Eyedrum Gallery
2/25 Huntsville, AL   Flying Monkey Arts
2/26 Asheville, NC   University of North Carolina - Asheville
2/27 Williamsburg, VA   The College of William and Mary
2/28 Baltimore, MD   The Patterson Theatre
3/01 Swarthmore, PA   Swarthmore College
3/02 New Brunswick, NJ   Rutgers University
3/03 Newark, Delaware   University of Delaware
3/04 Boston, MA   The Coolidge Theatre
3/05 Middletown, CT   Wesleyan University
3/06 Hartford, CT   University of Hartford
3/07 New York, NY  The Knitting Factory
3/08 Lewisburg, PA   Bucknell University
3/09 Athens, OH   Ohio University
3/11 Chicago, IL  Las Manos Gallery


www.sexworkersartshow.com

Amber Dawn

Amberdawn1
Originally uploaded by lady_tralala.

discovering porn

In nineteen eighty-two pornography made its debut in my young life in the form of a couple crumbled magazines in a shoe box under my mother’s bed. Mama’s magazines weren’t of softly-lit, Playboy-style nudes; her magazines were hard-core gay porn. What my ma, a heterosexual woman raised Italian-Catholic, was doing with gay porn I had no idea. I was eight years old.
This is when pornography and I could have got off on a wrong foot. I could have tucked the magazines back in their hiding spot and remained confused, maybe even leery of my own mother. Thankfully, I had the courage to simply ask her about them. She took my hand and calmly told me, “Amber, you’re too little now, but when you’re old enough you can look at pictures of sex, too. It’s a normal adult thing to do.” Then, like the good single working mom she was, she baked me chocolate cookies so I’d forget whole thing.