Mini Break

It's the summer and time for a break. I'm therefore going to give blogging a rest for a few weeks so that I can focus on finishing some research and take some much needed 'me time'. Please do keep checking back as I aim to get back to this blog later in the summer and of course it will be supporting two modules from September/October. As ever, if you want any references to my research mentioned in this blog get in touch and/or use the comments feature to comment on individual posts.

DIVA Drugs Survey

The lesbian magazine, Diva is currently undertaking a survey of drug use amongst lesbians. It's the first ever study to consider 'chicks on speed' or 'lesbians on ecstasy' (as the magazine terms it) but it's actually some important work. The stuff around guys on Crystal Meth has been well documented both in academic scholarship and popular culture - through magazines and TV shows yet our images of LGBT drug use revolve around the image of you young slim gay guy. Lesbians have really been absent from this picture of criminality and so this survey should produce some interesting results. The survey can be completed at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sF84g1soKIRPJxRmC17TpQ_3d_3d

Public Sex in the North East

I've just been looking at the April/May issue of the magazine Out North East (yes better late than never) and they have a story about public sex environments (cruising grounds etc). The story is entitled ' Cruising: An Alert from MESMAC North East' and amounts to a "don't do it folks" message which is somewhat less than helpful. In the piece, it asserts: 'All of the region’s public sex environments or cruising sites (as these places are known) are monitored by different agencies including the police.' Really? ALL of them? How do you know? All well known venues perhaps but 'all' seems a little strong and I suspect inaccurate. Although the law is accurately stated the message is the wrong one. Scaring people away from PSE'S with an item focusing on the police and STD's is shockingly backwards from such a progressive group that does such otherwise good work. Having spoken to MESMAC last year on PSE's I feel something of a personal failure in this regard as I clearly failed to develop any understanding of this issue.

Scare tactics will not deter men from an activity they have been engaging in as long as time. Far better to focus upon harm reduction strategies as utilised in the field of sex work. Come on folks, get it together.

It's the Law: Gay Marriage

I spotted this on the Feminist Law Professors blog. Feminist Law Prof Ralph Stein (Pace) is interviewed on this show discussing the subject of gay marriage in the US context. It makes for very interesting viewing and is well worth a look at: http://www.ncctv.org/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=37&album=37&photo=3

THT in the Sauna

Let me begin by saying I have nothing but respect for the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). I think they do amazing work in the fight against AIDS but a recent story in the Pink Paper has led me to wonder they are on the right policy track. According to the paper, gay sauna Chariots will now be receiving out reach visits by THT to promote safe sex including now the offering of testing to clients. This follows earlier trials at similar venues. On the face of it I think the move is a brilliant one, on the other hand (and the story doesn't really cover this) I wonder about the visibility of these new testing services. Won't people be put off visiting the sauna? Particularly men who have sex with men, and those who identify as straight? Yet when I take a look at the cruising listings for the venue there doesn't seem any talk about the new service or expressions of concern so my minor worries seem unfounded. As the presence of testing becomes more the norm in commercial PSE venues I wonder whether their will be a commensurate rise in risky sex in other PSE environments- the cottage, cruising ground and dogging car park as men who fear being tested retreat to the open air sex venue.

Time for Some TLC

As you might have seen from Twitter, having flown back in from Canada I was soon off again, this time to Manchester for the UK Network of Sex Work projects Annual Conference. For reasons of privacy I won't disclose the contents of the event, though it was a very interesting and rewarding two days. I do want to flag up the excellent TLC website though: http://www.tlc-trust.org.uk/

In their own words: 'TLC is a group of disabled and non-disabled people who work together in a voluntary capacity, to provide information and contact opportunities so that disabled people have access to the best possible commercial sexual services. We also provide background support for our sex workers.'

The presentation on disabled clients and sex work was both informative and moving and I would recommend people take a look at the website along with http://www.outsiders.org.uk/

What we leave behind...

There is a scene in the UK TV series of Queer as Folk in which the two central characters - Stuart and Vince - go to a third characters home after his death from a bad reaction to drugs (in the US series he survives). The reason for their visit is to remove those things the deceased wouldn't want his parents to find - porn and sex aids. The central idea is that to have a dead son is horrendous but to have to go and clear out their property and have a pile of porn, dildos and so on is in some way unbearable. Their son is not sexual and not 'deviant' in any way. In death we are all a little homophobic is kind of the message.

A similar scene evolved in my mind upon reading the story on BBC News that Westminster Coroner's Court has been reviewing the death of the former DJ, Kevin Greening. According to the story, Greening died following an accidental drugs overdose and the coroners court recording death by misadventure. The BBC also reports, in a matter of fact sort of way that Greening had died in a sling during a bondage session and goes into some of the details, quoting his former partner. Remarkably, having taken a quick look at the websites of a few tabloids, they all seem to report the story in an unusually factual and respectful way. Whilst homosexuality has become tolerated by society, and depicted in TV and cinema as part of a wider narrative, the idea of a 'normal' being interested in BDSM is still seen as something unusual, something not to be discussed in public. It's also unfortunate that this particular story links drugs and bondage in the way it does and seems to suggest that bondage is therefore some sort of dangerous deviant behaviour.

It's always sad to read of a tragic death but as a national we are fixated on deaths that expose something of the person, particularly the sexual and/or the deviant nature of our fellow human beings. Greening was not, as so many of us are, 'de-sexed' upon death and looking at the media, I'm left wondering how differently an individual might be viewed if they retained their sexuality upon death.

You can view the QAF clip below: