I’m going to be starting a new sex workers rights project.  The name I’ve chosen for it is SWAAY, which stands for Sex Work Activists, Allies, and You.  Of all the names I considered, I picked this one because it best explains what I want to do in two ways: outreach for normalizing sex worker politics into people outside the ho bubble, and SWAAY also works as a descriptive for what the aim is – swaying public perceptions.

[...] I truly believe that the most important thing that the sex workers rights movement in the US fails to do is to real public outreach.  Before we can get to changing laws and decriminalize all of our professions, we need to start with simply humanizing ourselves and giving regular people the basic tools for understanding our issues.  Most people don’t even know the term “sex worker,” and many who do think that’s just the PC way to say “hooker.” 

Read the full post: “Announcing SWAAY: Sex Work Activists, Allies, and You (with stuff you can do to help!)”

Here’s how you can help, whether you’re an interested ally, a sex worker, or a curious passer-by: Furry Girl needs a few people who can give 15-20 minutes of their time in February to answer a survey that will help her shape the project’s focus.

Email swaay at swaay.org if you’re interested in completing the survey, with SURVEY as the subject line.

This week I’ll be announcing a very special fundraiser to help kickstart the launch. There’ll be something for supportive clients, fellow sex workers, and allies of all stripes. You’ll want to get in on this. Follow me on Twitter to be the first to know: @SabrinaMorgan

Originally thought of by Dr. Annie Sprinkle and started by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA in 2003 as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers has empowered workers from over 30 cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence.

During the week of December 17, 2007, sex worker rights organizations will be staging actions and vigils to raise awareness about violence that is commonly committed against sex workers. The assault, battery, rape and murder of sex workers must end. Existing laws prevent sex workers from reporting violence. The stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by prohibitionist laws has made violence against sex workers acceptable. Please join in drawing attention to this injustice around the world with the 5th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Please check out the new DEC 17 web site.

If you or your organization are holding an event, please email your info.

If your organization would like to help sponsor an event in your local area, please send your contact info.

Please go to the web site for Dr. Annie Sprinkle’s ‘10 Things You Can Do for International Day to end Violence Against Sex Workers.’

We encourage participants to carry red umbrellas on December 17 as a symbol of international solidarity for sex workers’ rights!

***Please post widely***

(source: Being Amber Rhea)

The bad news: For the past two years, conservative anti-porn organization Morality in Media had $150,000 in Congressional funding.

From the Morality in Media announcement list:

Dear Friend of Morality In Media,

You can’t save the world if you can’t pay the bills.

It’s a sad truth. Many a fine project has disappeared into the dustbin of history because of a lack of funding.

And now Morality In Media is facing a financial crisis. The Congress has changed hands, and MIM has lost vital congressional funding for one of our most important projects.

Which means that, in months ahead, MIM will have to raise $150,000 from other sources to keep this project operating!

If you want us to keep up our battle against pornography, please click here to donate your most generous possible emergency contribution!

Let me explain how this happened.

You see, for the past two years, Congressional appropriations for the U.S. Department of Justice have included critical funding for MIM’s obscenity-fighting website.

That website, www.obscenitycrimes.org, supplies vital information that federal investigators and U.S. Attorneys can use to investigate and prosecute internet obscenity.

I’ve told you in the past of the important role this website plays in our nation’s fight against internet obscenity.

In fact, since its inception, MIM’s website has received over 60,000 reports of internet obscenity!

But we are now facing what is for us a major crisis.

You see, for the past two years MIM has received an annual grant of $150,000 for our website. That money was contained in an Appropriations Bill that was passed by Congress.

But, this past November, Congress changed hands.

And with the change in Congress, the Appropriations Committees changed. As a result, the 2007 Appropriations Bill contains no funding for MIM’s obscenity-fighting project.

Yes, we can and will apply directly to the Justice Department for a new grant. But when we do so, we will be competing with thousands of other applicants.

MIM won’t know for months whether we will get a new grant from Justice. But one thing is certain – THIS PROJECT SHOULD AND WILL CONTINUE IF WE CAN RAISE THE ADDITIONAL $150,000!

That’s why I’m writing you today with this appeal.

You know, fighting obscenity and indecency is tough work. But there are also great rewards.

And I want you to know that there is one reward that all of us at MIM find very encouraging.

It is the realization that so many Americans are willing to sacrifice to help us in our battle against pornography.

Yes, the generous and faithful support of Morality in Media’s donors gives us great inspiration in our work.

But the job also has its hard parts. And today MIM is facing a potential deficit of $150,000. And today I am asking you to make a truly sacrificial gift to Morality In Media.
So here’s what I’m asking you to do…

First, we need your fervent prayers in support of our work. We simply couldn’t survive without them.

Second, we need your most generous support possible, right now. I know from what MIM president Bob Peters tells me that MIM depends a great deal on gifts of between $100 and $1,000.

Some of our donors can make donations of much more than $1000. And others of very limited means give us $10 or $25, with their enthusiastic and prayerful support.

Can you help Morality In Media at this critical time?

Please click here to make a truly sacrificial contribution! Can you support our work with a $250 donation? I know it’s a lot, but this situation is crucial.

Your critical donation today will assure that Morality In Media can continue its vital work to combat illegal obscenity and indecency in every facet of American life.

And let me assure you, with your indispensable help, we will continue that battle on all fronts.

In recent months, MIM lawyers submitted amicus briefs in two federal court cases involving the broadcast indecency law.

Both cases were filed by broadcast TV networks that are unhappy about specific indecency fines they received for polluting the public airwaves with vulgarity and nudity.

But the networks aren’t just asking the courts to reverse the fines for specific programs. They are asking the courts to declare the broadcast indecency law unconstitutional!

And by suing in both New York and Philadelphia, they think they have a better chance of finding friendly judges.

Yes, these are critical battles, and MIM needs your most generous possible help to win them!

Thank you, and may God bless you.

Sincerely,

Christopher Manion
Vice President

If that lengthy fundraising letter has you fumbling for your wallet, I’m sure the Free Speech Coalition (adult entertainment advocacy group) will be more than happy to take your money.

You can find out more about Morality in Media through their official website and through ObscenityCrimes.org.

Today, March 9, is the last day to comment on the proposed .XXX domain extension.

• .XXX domains would cost $60 per URL per year
• The new extension would be voluntary, punishing businesses that choose to self-regulate and not addressing the vast majority of adult webmasters using .com, .net, or international extensions
• Defining adult content, commercial or noncommercial, is very subjective
• The extension would likely become mandatory or pseudo-mandatory through credit card processor regulations; this would financially penalize the adult industry in a way that no other industry is subject to as well as open the industry up for censorship

From the Free Speech Coalition:

It is imperative that ICANN hear from the industry in a BIG way! Please send an e-mail to ICANN and simply state “I am in the adult entertainment industry and I oppose .XXX”. If you are a webmaster, state that you are a webmaster in your e-mail as well as how many websites you manage.

E-mail your comments to: xxx-icm-agreement@icann.org.

Public comments can be viewed at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/xxx-icm-agreement/. Comments received on or before March 9, 2007 will be considered at the next scheduled Special Meeting of the ICANN Board.

“Oppose .XXX,” Free Speech Coalition

Act now and make your voice heard.

(Thanks to Madame for the reminder.)

The Event

“WHO? All Men and Women, you and everyone you know.

WHERE? Everywhere in the world, but especially in countries with weapons of mass destruction.

WHEN? Winter Solstice Day – Friday, December 22nd, at the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you choose.

WHY? To effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy, a Synchronized Global Orgasm.”

More details at globalorgasm.org. Thanks to Halycon of Globalgasm for the tip.

I’ll be incommunicado observing the Solstice from midnight EST til dawn of December 22nd. Happy holidays.

By Steve Javors
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
XBiz News

CANOGA PARK, Calif. — Stepping up educational efforts in anticipation of upcoming elections Nov. 7, the Free Speech Coalition issued its first online Congressional Report Card. The report was compiled from numerous online sources and voting records.

The final grade utilizes a numeric rating system to calculate an average voting record, which is then converted to an alphabetic grade for the incumbent politician in each U.S. House and Senate race.

“Our goal is to inform FSC members how votes in Congress can affect their access to adult entertainment products, and to encourage them to vote their ‘erotic interests’ as well as their economic and security interests in this year’s critical midterm elections,” FSC Legislative Affairs Director Kat Sunlove said. “With the hostile attitude of this administration and this Congress toward our industry, we felt that our members and our consumers needed this data in order to cast an informed vote.”

(full article at XBiz)

If you’re pro-porn and you don’t vote, keep in mind that the members of groups such as Morality in Media do. Outside of the FSC the adult industry has few advocates. We can use all the help we can get.

His last point is his best: “And it is clear: Pornography is not Obscenity. The Rove machine, and other cultural warriors have done everything they can to blend those boundaries, and it is time to take back those terms and reframe the debate based on law, not smirking, adolescent innuendo from the religious extremists…”

Make no mistake about it, this is a cultural battle, and the “other side” is in it for the long haul. It cuts across party lines: neither red nor blue has a monopoly on individual liberty or the right to read, purchase, and produce works of fiction and fantasy. There is a strong push right now toward believing that ideas are harmful. No creatively sexual society can thrive when those guys are unopposed (and our society is pretty damn creatively sexual).