Filed under: Art, Feminism, Porn, Sex | Tags: Art, Feminism, kink, obscenity, Porn, Sex, sex work, sex workers, sexuality, stigma
Hey I’m super busy with various projects but I thought I’d start a segment on this blog where I occasionally share stuff by other people that I like or find interesting. Huzzuh!
I might have to try this. Emma Frost by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Annie Sprinkle, who is awesome, said in this article:
“The answer to bad porn is not no porn, but to try to make better porn.”
Sex Workers: Stigma and barriers to health. The UCL Institute for Global Health’s 12th symposium. I found this talk really interesting and though the video is a bit long, I highly recommend a listen as I think education is a wonderful way to challenge people’s assumptions and beliefs surrounding sex work.
Porn Star Lorelei Lee talks obscenity. Here are some choice quotes from the article:
“If we lived in a society in which women’s sexuality was celebrated, and was seen as usually proactive rather than usually passive, I don’t think people would jump so quickly to the concepts of exploitation and dehumanization when they thought of female performers.”
Annnnnddd…
“Porn, I think, is sometimes dark because sex is sometimes dark — because people are sometimes dark. Of course, porn is also often lighthearted, funny, ugly, gorgeous and ridiculous. Human desires evolve out of our varied, complex experiences in the world. Sex is so basic to our humanity, and sexuality is an arena, like dreaming, that connects us to the parts of ourselves we don’t always fully understand or have words for. This is what makes sexuality fascinating and endlessly variable and certainly worth performing.”
Sex is not the enemy. This lovely tumblr blog is a great resource for pretty, sexy pictures and good articles. In fact, it’s where I found a few of the things I’m now sharing here!
Greta Christina on Porn, Social Criticism and the Marginalization of Kink. This article reminds me why Greta Christina is one of my favourite bloggers:
“The problem isn’t with critiquing kinky or rough-sex porn for perpetuating misogyny.
The problem is with critiquing rough-sex or kinky porn for perpetuating misogyny… simply because it’s rough or kinky.”
Copyright Infringements in the Porn Industry. An interesting article on the challenges faced by the porn industry. I’d be interested to hear any thoughts people might have on this one.
The Gore-Gore Girl – “XXX through a feminist lens”. In this article she said:
“In my experience, people seem to think that women want no close ups of genitalia, and no “nasty” content, while men of course desire exactly these very things. Men and women aren’t so simple though y’all (…)”
SANGRAM’s Bill of Rights posted here. This is my favourite so I saved it for last…
1. People have a right to be approached with humility and respect.
2. People have the right to say YES or NO to things that concern them.
3. People have the right to reject harmful social norms.
4. People have the right to stand up to and change the balance of power.
5. People have the right not to be “rescued” by the outsiders who neither understand nor respect them.
6. People have the right to exist how they want to exist.
I think that could be applied to a lot of things. Awesome.
8 Comments so far
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Feminism. Art. Porn. Sex. 
I love the “people have a right not to be rescued…” statement. I get this a lot, partially because I have otherwise awesome, dedicated bunch of friends and partially because I look quite young and innocent and people get a little parental about me…but this really struck a cord with me.
Comment by Miss Roslyn August 13, 2010 @ 12:42 amYeah people tend to get pretty parental towards me too, so I hear ya on that!
Comment by Nio August 17, 2010 @ 1:43 pmAmen to that last snippet! Rules to live by if I ever saw them. Shame the people with money and power don’t seem to agree…(or, people who maybe once agreed, kinda forgot about that stuff once they attained money and power…am I sounding cynical?).
Comment by Gore Gore Girl August 13, 2010 @ 3:09 amIf you’re cynical, then I am too… sigh!
Comment by Nio August 17, 2010 @ 1:44 pmOoh I like this
“If we lived in a society in which women’s sexuality was celebrated, and was seen as usually proactive rather than usually passive, I don’t think people would jump so quickly to the concepts of exploitation and dehumanization when they thought of female performers.”
And your second quote from that article is interesting too. Sometimes sex is dark just like movies or plays or any sphere of human imagination and does connect us to parts of ourselves we don’t fully understand (our subconscious). Sex doesn’t have to be wholesome to be OK. treating other people with respect is the important thing.
Bill of rights is good.
Like sex is not the enemy blog, lThis image got me going :)
Comment by Jake August 13, 2010 @ 8:12 ambut there’s quite a few that are good. It’s good for our mind to see broader representations of sexuality. They filter into our subconscious and so broadens and develops our own sexuality
“treating other people with respect is the important thing”
Hear hear!
Comment by Nio August 17, 2010 @ 1:45 pmI mean broaden and develope :) the typo makes me sound like popey. I hate typos that deminish my credibility :) I make them quite a lot though so I’ll have to get use to it.
Comment by Jake August 13, 2010 @ 8:16 am[…] Sharing is Sexy by Feminism, Art, Porn, Sex […]
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