Feminist strategies for change

Readers may be interested in this call for contributors:

Feminist strategies for change
Activist debate - call for contributions (extended deadline)

In the heyday of the second women's movement, feminist utopias and strategies for a world without patriarchy were the stuff of lively debate and defined different kinds of feminist politics and theory. In the grey light of 2011 - the darkness before the dawn? - is it still possible to imagine a post-patriarchal society? Can we imagine what kinds of feminist revolution or transformation might make this possible? And what sorts of everyday collective practice can social movements engage in to bring such a future closer?

Interface: a journal for and about social movements < http://interfacejournal.net> is produced by activists with an eye to theory and social movement researchers as a practitioner journal for people engaged in o! r studying the practice of social movement, and aiming to stimulate discussion and learning between people in different regions and continents, different political situations and theoretical traditions, and different movement contexts. After issues on movement knowledge, civil society, revolutions, activist media and repression we are now working on an issue devoted to feminism, women's movements and women in movement.

Sara Motta is curating a special section within this on feminist strategies for change, open to contributions from feminist groups, whether they are written collectively or individually. These pieces will not be peer-reviewed (unless the authors request it) but will be worked on directly with the editor. We hope that this section will be part of a more general revival of feminist strategising, thinking beyond the everyday crises to which we still need to respond and articulating broader perspectives for change which make a world without patriarchy th! inkable and - hopefully - possible. Below is the original call for this section:

"Throughout the 1990s feminist politics became increasingly professionalised and arguably de-politicised. Yet neoliberal globalisation has witnessed a feminisation of poverty and sexualisation of public space. The result is a paradoxical situation of defeats and de-politicisation combined with new forms of re-politicisation. This special section seeks to engage with attempts to re-articulate feminist politics in the current conjuncture, be they liberal, radical, socialist or anarchist in character or taking new forms. Arguably many of these re-articulations are simultaneously localised and transnationalised, articulating a praxis that is often mis-recognised and mis-represented by social movement scholarship.

The questions we hope will be considered in this section include:

- What does feminist strategy mean today?
- What are the challenges and limitations of feminist strategising in the current moment?
- How do contemporary feminist activists and women’s movements draw on the practices and experiences of earlier movements?
- Where do they see themselves in terms of movement achievements to date and the road still to be travelled?
- What barriers and possibilities for feminist struggle has neoliberalism created?
- Does the decline of neo-liberalism create openings for feminists?
- And what move! ments today could be allies for a transition out of patriarchy?

We also invite feminist groups, communities and movements to frame their own questions and problematics for this section."

The extended deadline for this section is September 1st, 2011. If you are interested in contributing to this section, please contact Sara Motta at >.

The full call for papers ("Feminism, women's movements and women in movement") can be found at http://www.interfacejournal.net/archives/call-for-papers/. The other editors for this issue are Catherine Eschle, Cristina Flesher Fominaya and Laurence Cox.

Bareback Porn

I only realised a day or two ago that I'd had a piece published in Bent magazine last month. It's too late to pick up a hard-copy but it's still available in digital form. The piece explores bareback porn and I knocked it together last year. It was a nightmare to get the tone appropriate right and in the end, I fear it didn't work as well as I would have liked. My job title is wrong on the piece (it was right when it was submitted many moons ago) so don't go thinking my job has changed again!

You can download the June issue here. If you have an iPad, you can download it to ibooks (just choose to download and then the option appears in the top right). Downloading it to ibooks makes it a much more pleasurable experience, but anyone else can download the issue to their desktop.

Gay Academics

It is rare that I've felt discriminated against within HE, although I have faced some challenging issues from some international students. An interesting piece on Inside Higher Ed explores whether gay and lesbian academics face discrimination from students. A new study -- just published in The Journal of Applied Social Psychology -- suggests that they do, with regard to perceptions of political bias.

Read the full story here.

Sexualities: Sexualities and the Law

I normally post the table of contents for Sexualities when a new issue is released but this month is a little bit special as the June issue was edited by me. Although a bit of a nightmare (and so many lessons learnt!), the final issue pulls together (if I may so so) a really interesting selection of work from the US, UK, Australia and Spain. It shows the breadth of law and sexuality scholarship in a field that is rapidly developing. Contents are listed below and abstract details etc can be viewed on the journal website here. You can read my extended editorial for free on the journal website here. I'd really appreciate any feedback on the issue.

Chris Ashford
Sexualities and the law
Sexualities June 2011 14: 265-272, doi:10.1177/1363460711400807

Leslie J Moran
Forming sexualities as judicial virtues
Sexualities June 2011 14: 273-289, doi:10.1177/1363460711400808

Brian Simpson
Sexualizing the child: The strange case of Bill Henson, his ‘absolutely revolting’ images and the law of childhood innocence
Sexualities June 2011 14: 290-311, doi:10.1177/1363460711400809

Anna Carline
Criminal justice, extreme pornography and prostitution: Protecting women or promoting morality?
Sexualities June 2011 14: 312-333, doi:10.1177/1363460711400810

Patrícia Soley-Beltran and Gerard Coll-Planas
‘Having words for everything’. Institutionalizing gender migration in Spain (1998-2008)
Sexualities June 2011 14: 334-353, doi:10.1177/1363460711400811

Crystal A Jackson
Revealing contemporary constructions of femininity: Expression and sexuality in strip club legislation
Sexualities June 2011 14: 354-369, doi:10.1177/1363460711400964

Michelle Wolkomir
Book Review: Melissa M. Wilcox. Queer Women and Religious Individualism. 2009. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 276 pp. ISBN: 976-0-253-22116-2
Sexualities June 2011 14: 370-371, doi:10.1177/1363460711400965

Christian Klesse
Book Review: Darren Langdridge and Meg Barker (eds.) Safe, Sane and Consenusal. Contemporary Perspectives on Sadomasochism. Houndmills, Basingtoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 310pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-23-51774-5 (hbk) ISBN-10: 0-230-51774-9 (hbk)
Sexualities June 2011 14: 371-374, doi:10.1177/13634607110140030702

Life After Porn Death: Mason Wyler

Mason Wyler is a strangely fascinating guy. Since being 'unemployed' as a porn performer at the start of this month, he is, in a very public way, trying to find a new sense of direction, either within or beyond the world of gay pornography. I think I'm right in saying that the HIV positive slutty star has recently shot bareback and there have been repeated calls on Twitter for him to join the high profile bareback studio Treasure Island Media. He has appeared less keen but in any case, I'm not sure they'd want him. It would mean some sort of personal evolution and shifting from the 'performance' into as more raw (in every sense) experience. Check Mason out on his website and twitter, and see if you too find yourself drawn in. What do you think? Where now for Mason?

Age, Statutory Rape and Consent

I've been meaning to get this post up for ages and failed miserably, so let me link to another blog that considers a fascinating US legal development and leave it for you to comment. When I get more chance, I'll try and come back to this case, and blog some thoughts on it.

The Regulation of LA Porn Shoots

I previously blogged on an attempt in California to ban condomless porn in the State; this week an LA Appellate judges, in an unpublished opinion, said the county's health department has discretion to determine what measures are necessary to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases and could not be forced by the courts to implement the specific means advocated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Read more here, but it's interesting to see this ongoing use of the law to try and regulate the depiction and practice of bareback sex in pornography. Read the full story here.

The Strange Decline of the English Cottage

On Wednesday I was down in London doing some filming for a documentary on 'cottaging', or sex in toilets (tearooms, bogs, boxes, beats). After some slight shifting around the schedules, I popped off to Central Station for some filming. Graham and Sapphire were very patient as I repeatedly rambled, tripped myself, um'd and err'd and generally made a fist of it. After a few hours, we'd filled the video memory and that was that but I'm assured it went well. I might get some preview video to share with you, and if I do (and it's not too embarrassing) I'll pop it up on here for you're entertainment.

I'm one of the unknowns to be interviewed but the documentary team have spoken to a fantastic line-up, and you can see some of them on the documentary Tumblr page here. You should also follow Graham/the documentary on Twitter here, and it also has a Facebook page here.

New York Marriage Equality Act

I've been terrible at getting posts up the last few days - even busier than normal. Well, as you have probably seen, New York is the latest US State to introduce into law same-sex marriage. It was done via a legislative process rather than a court-driven one, and on Friday the Marriage Equality Act was passed. In a press release, the State Governor, Andrew Cuomo said:

"New York has finally torn down the barrier that has prevented same-sex couples from exercising the freedom to marry and from receiving the fundamental protections that so many couples and families take for granted," Governor Cuomo said. "With the world watching, the Legislature, by a bipartisan vote, has said that all New Yorkers are equal under the law. With this vote, marriage equality will become a reality in our state, delivering long overdue fairness and legal security to thousands of New Yorkers."

"I commend Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Minority Leader John Sampson for their leadership and Senator Tom Duane for his lifetime commitment to fighting for equality for all New Yorkers," Governor Cuomo continued. "I also thank Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell for ushering this measure through their chamber."

The Act means that:

• A marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or different sex
• No government treatment or legal status, effect, right, benefit, privilege, protection or responsibility relating to marriage shall differ based on the parties to the marriage being the same sex or a different sex
• No application for a marriage license shall be denied on the ground that the parties are of the same or a different sex

There is - rather like the Civil Partnership Act - a religious exclusion. The Act states that no religious entity, benevolent organization or not-for-profit corporation that is operated, supervised or controlled by a religious entity, or their employees can be required to perform marriage ceremonies or provide their facilities for marriage ceremonies, consistent with their religious principles. In addition, religious entities will not be subject to any legal action for refusing marriage ceremonies.

Crucially for activists and lawyers, this does not create a new category of legal relationship such as a civil union or civil partnership, rather it extends the institution of marriage (in civil terms) to same-sex couples.

Read more on The Advocate here. The Bill can be read here.

Pornified? Sexualisation of Culture Conference

Readers may be interested in details of the following London event:

Pornified? Complicating debates on sexualisation of culture, CONFERENCE, Institute of Education, LONDON, December 1st and 2nd, 2011

Sexualisation of Culture Conference

*Call for Papers*

Complicating debates about the 'sexualisation of culture': An International Conference
Institute of Education, London, 1 & 2 December 2011

Are we seeing the sexualisation of culture?
Has pornography become mainstreamed and normalised in 21st-century Western societies?
How do practices associated with sexualisation play out across different spaces, sites, subjectivities, cultural groups and generations?
Can we move beyond the moral panic/libertarian dichotomies that seem to dominate debates on 'sexualisation'?
This international conference will interrogate 'sexualisation', exploring sexual politics across key social and cultural spheres. We encourage papers that explore the multiple meanings of sexualised cultures, across social generations, cultural groups and within and between different sites -- for example workplaces, schools, leisure spaces, intimate sexual relationships and online culture.

Our goal is to create a space for dialogue that spans disciplinary, theoretical, political and national boundaries. We are keen to include practitioners, members of NGOs, policy makers and other stakeholders in the conference as presenters and participants. We will also be holding a student networking session for postgraduates, postdocs and researchers working in this area. We are committed to ensuring diversity in participation across geographical location, race, ethnicity and sexual and gendered identities.

Keynote Speakers

Susie Orbach, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer, London, UK
Sue Jackson, Department of Psychology, University of Wellington, New Zealand
Mireille Miller-Young, Feminist Studies University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Leonore Tiefer, PhD, author, educator, researcher, therapist and activist, New York City, USA

Plenary Panel

Onscenity Network, including: Feona Attwood, Communication, Sheffield Hallam University, UK and Clarissa Smith, Media Studies, University of Sunderland, UK

———————————————

We are interested in a diverse range of formats and welcome proposals for papers, performance pieces, roundtables, posters, and workshops. We anticipate a standard allocation of 20 minutes per presentation and 80 minutes per session, however, we are open to proposals that suggest alternative uses of time – please state this clearly in your submission.

Please use the abstract form (pdf) to submit a 200 word abstract summarising your presentation/session (rationale and content), or a 500 word abstract for symposium or workshop (including timing and format).

Download: Call for Papers Flyer (pdf)

———————————————

Closing date for abstracts: 30 June 2011 | Send submissions to Richard Bull: r.bull@ioe.ac.uk

Sex Work and Constitutional Law

Interesting research article on sex work and the Canadian constitution. Full access to the article via the link at the bottom.

Rising to the Challenge: Addressing the Concerns of People Working in the Sex Industry Shaver, Lewis & Maticka-Tyndale 2011 Can Rev Sociol 48(1) 47-65

Abstract
In September 2010, three Canadian Criminal Code provisions related to prostitution were ruled unconstitutional because they increase the risk of harm to people working in the sex industry (PWSI). Using data from studies with PWSI and key informants conducted in several Canadian cities, we examine three domains related to worker health and safety: occupational
health and safety, perceptions of and behaviors toward workers, and access to essential services. Addressing these issues necessitates moving beyond decriminalization. We conclude that using a harm reduction/labor rights framework would enhance our ability to address issues related to the physical, social, and mental well-being as well as rights of PWSI.

Download from:
http://myweb.dal.ca/mgoodyea/Documents/CSWRP/CSWRPCAN/

The Sexualisation of Youth

The publication of the Bailey Report on the so-called sexualisation of children coincided with me being out of the country, and swamped with work. I may be back in the UK, but I'm still swamped. Let me therefore point you in the direction of an excellent discussion of the issues with the wonderful Petra Boynton - check out her blog here - It's full of all the links you could possibly want. Charlie Brooker has added his ever caustic and wise voice to the debate in today's Guardian; check out that piece here.

Free Book: : The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians

Here's a wonderful thing; the University of Chicago Press are giving away an ebook version of 'The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government' by David K Johnson. It's only available this month, so get a move on and request your ebook here.

Reflections on Law and Society Annual Conference

I've probably already told you far too many times that I was at the Law and Society Annual Conference in San Francisco last week. You can read my abstract and look at the slides in this earlier post.

The conference felt more hectic than normal as I had to finish a much-delayed book chapter when I arrived. More info on that when the book comes out. Anyhow, a few papers are worthy of a public mention. Joe Rollins (CUNY, Queens College) presented a fascinating paper entitled 'Sexting Cyberspace: Sex, Social Media and the Law'. The topic has taken on a new lease of life in the media in light of the Weinergate stories. Rollins focused on the issue of young people sexting (sending revealing photos to one another). His paper seemed to come from a position of concern and pro-regulation. As you might imagine, I come at it from a different angle, and his paper was a reminder of how utterly lost the law sometimes seems to be in addressing new technologies. In truth, these developments (I found myself thinking), are about our fear of childhood sexuality. This was a theme, Rollins touched upon but could be developed much more. When kids sext, they are transgressing the traditional boundaries of childhood, expressing consensual desire and that threatens our non-sexual conception of childhood.

Sexting also threatens to create additional dangers to young people, as their photos fall into the possession of the unintended but I'm still unclear on how worried I/We should be about that. It's one of the trickier issues of cyberspace.

Steven Vaughen (Cardiff) presented a paper that had been co-authored with Matthew Williams (also Cardiff), entitled 'Commidifying Sexuality? The Rise of Law Firm LGBT Groups.' It was an engagingly presented and important piece exploring the growth of LGBT groups in UK law firms. There seemed to be lots of thoughts about future development/work and I think some really exciting articles will come from the work Steven and Matthew are engaged with. For my part, I was curious to see the kind of identity that these groups are forming - i.e, is it restricted to 'the good gay'. This far, it seems to groups are client-focused and about bringing in more clients/income. Which is very lawyerly and rather depressing. Steven is also on twitter, follow him here.

I was also fortunate to hear a couple of great sex work papers from Laura Graham (Nottingham) and Thomas Crofts (Sydney). Trevor Hoppe (Michigan) presented a paper entitled 'Surveillance by the Book: Community Level and Public Health Policing of HIV Disclosure.' I found it the best paper of the conference. Hoppe set out not only the emerging US response to the issue of HIV transmission, but specifically the issue of disclosure and duties to disclose ones HIV status. It made for an interesting comparison to English law and I can't wait to read the full paper, and eventual article.

In my own panel, I was moved by a powerful paper by Nancy Knauer (Temple) exploring the issue of LGBT elders, along with an engaging paper from Don Short (Manitoba) on Canadian queer citizenship. The ever wonderful Arn Thorben Sauer presented an excellent paper exploring gender and human rights, although we clearly disagreed on the issue of bareback sex.

On the final day I went along to an excellent paper from Annette Houlihan (Murdoch), who presented a paper exploring HIV offences in Australia. Again, lots to think about and hopefully some scope for collaboration. I look forward to talking to Annette further.

Finally, as part of the conference, I also had the good fortune to serve as a chair/discussant at a work in progress session. I oversaw two papers. Kevin Maass presented his research entitled 'Examining Cocaine Sentencing with Both Forms, across Race/Ethnicity, and after Judicial Decisions. It's not really my area but I found the presentation and discussion very enjoyable. Kevin is clearly passionate about his work and it has the makings of a really interesting project. The other paper was from Mai-Linh Kong (Virginia) entitled '"Get Off Your Ass-Phalt Off My Ancestors": The VCU Slave Cemetery Controversy.' Mai-Linh had a very sharp mind and focus, and presented an incredibly engaging piece. I can easily see her going far, and you can follow her on twitter here.

United Against Condoms

Fascinating developments in California yesterday when it comes to the regulation of pornography. XBiz reported that early 70 porn performers came out in force to voice their concerns and give input on a Cal/OSHA draft proposal containing modifications to California's health code to strengthen adult industry workplace safety regulations. You can read the story in full here, and read the proposed regulation here. Here's the main part of the regulation:

Section 5193.1 Sexually transmitted infections in the adult entertainment industry
(a) Scope and Application.

(1) This section applies to all occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other sexually transmitted infections in the adult entertainment industry, as
defined below.

(2) Employers shall also comply with Section 5193 when employee activities include
Intentional parenteral exposure, for example, when piercing the skin or providing
injections.

(3) The employer shall provide all safeguards required by this section, including the
provision of personal protective equipment, training, and medical services, at no cost to the employee, at a reasonable time and place for the employee, and during the employee’s working hours.

The section goes on to define 'adult entertainment' as: 'the production of any film, video, multimedia, or other recorded or live representation in which performers actually engage in any activity that may result in exposure of the eyes, skin, mouth, anus, vagina, or other mucous membranes to the blood or OPIM—STI of another person if protective measures are not in place'.

The section goes on to offer further details/definitions and seems 'comprehensive' to put it mildly. My reading suggests a ban of bareback porn, along with SCAT and piss-based porn. It also seems to require condoms to be used for vaginal penetration and oral sex - it is essentially a condom charter. The regulation also appears to take the somewhat extreme measure of banning kissing (although simulated kissing, like fucking would be OK). The cum-shot would be banned. It is hard to envisage how a porn company could survive such measures and it seems inevitable that companies would - if this is approved - move to other states, out of the country or underground.

It's hard to tell if this is political game-playing by the Cal/OSHA (the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health), trying to start out with an OTT measure in a hope to settle with a still-high level of condom requirement. Alternatively, they may simply be out of touch and inept. Either way, this is a development that should be keenly watched by lawyers, health professionals and anyone involved in the porn industry.

Notes From a Porn Island: Queer Identities and Documenting Legal Truth(s) in the Age of Treasure Island Media

I was away at the Law and Society Annual Conference last week (reflections to follow). My paper was as titled above, and below you can read my abstract (summary) and take a look at my slides from the paper presentation. All thoughts/comments welcome. I'm hoping to (finally!) finish an article this summer and get it sent off to a journal (probably sociology based).

Abstract:

Paul Morris cuts a controversial figure in the world of queer pornography. The San Francisco based Director and founder of Treasure Island Media (TIM) remains at the centre of a company that seeks to celebrate, highlight and explore the ‘raw’ sexual experience whether through bareback anal sex, intense oral sexual encounters and cascades of semen.

Morris’ films shock, excite and sell. The recent emergence of a ‘spin off’ website called Ryan Sullivan’s Island produced by TIM employee and film-maker, Ryan Sullivan claims to offer viewers an insight into the world of Treasure Island Media as well as insights into the personal journey of Ryan Sullivan.

Morris is himself at the heart of the bareback controversy, revelling in a brand that casts him as a demonic and twisted porn master, his ‘performers’ cast as the male species set free. Morris has commented that ‘TIM was meant to be a kind of pornographic nature reserve, a place where wildness could take place and be observed.’ For him, bareback porn represents an authentic documenting of the gay sex experience; the notion that wild ‘authentic’ men released from the bonds of a heteronormative society fuck as TIM records them. Rather than porn as the producer of fantasy, here TIM seeks to document gay masculinity as a lived experience.

Lsa11 notes from a porn island

View more presentations from Chris Ashford

In doing so, it challenges the established norms of the HIV/AIDS world, a socio-legal culture that seeks to respond to the medical realities of a world in which the spread of HIV/AIDS is a political and cultural concern in which even promiscuous slutdom is constructed through the ethics of high-risk health strategies. Since the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and the subsequent medical response, the lives of gay men have been transformed leading to Carl Stychin noting that ‘the politics of safe sex education…is surely one of the primary moral issues surrounding our sexuality today.’ Fifteen years on from those words being published, it remains equally true.

This paper will seek to explore how TIM is attempting to document bareback gay sex within the wider context of bareback and bareback pornography. It will highlight the latest move by the Company within the context of ‘barebacking bloggers’ through Ryan Sullivan’s video log and film Island to document itself, and in doing so, will consider the construction of pornographic truth that TIM seeks to present, and the challenge that represents for the legal construction of queer sex.

New College of the Humanities

The big HE story of the week - and dominating academic law blogs - is the news that a group of high-profile scholars have established the 'New College of the Humanities' in London. Of course, the programme structure is limited by their option to deliver the University of London's International Degree. The LLB looks rather dull and conventional but the institution could provide an exciting product in the long term - the type of place where you'd expect innovative law and sexuality offerings (no, I'm not bidding for a job, fat-chance that they'd ever offer anyway). Anyhow, Richard Moorhead offers some interesting initial thoughts on his blog, with further context by Michael Bromby on Digital Directions, and UKCLE Director, Julien Webb adds his thoughts on his blog.

Lots of potential but too early to say whether NCH will achieve that potential. They could certainly gain from the addition of some innovative figures - Gary Watt at Warwick springs to mind.

HIV and the Red Ribbon

As I travelled in to downtown San Francisco from the airport yesterday, I was struck by the sight of a giant Red Ribbon installed on Twin Peaks. I'd read about it in last week's Bay Area Reporter before I flew out, but it's much more impressive than the photo alone suggests. It comes as we mark 30 years since the HIV virus was documented. I was 31 back in April, so for me, the virus has been a backdrop for the total of my sexual life, as it has for so many people today. The idea of a time before AIDS, and with the commensurate different social and legal responses to health, promiscuity and gay/queer identities and masculinities seems increasingly hard to conceptualise, but understandably influences much of the writing of my generation of young academic scholars.

The BBC website carries an excellent reflective piece today which you can view here. The new issue of Bay Area Reporter has a stack of articles exploring the milestone. It begins with a moving, informative and personal piece offering some context. There's also an AIDS timeline, seen primarily from a San Francisco perspective; a piece on the search for a cure (I remain of the view condoms will never work, and the only solution is a vaccine with 'standard' inoculations - as Brits are with a host of other illnesses); there's also a slightly preachy 'right on' young people's bit, and a rather unsurprising piece on a condom company targeting gay men.

In a slightly ironic clash of timings, the San Francisco bareback porn company Treasure Island Media also launched 'The Big One' annual sale (NSFW) - your own unique way to celebrate 30 years of AIDS - and no doubt something to have Larry Kramer spinning.

I'll be touching on this point in my paper on Saturday, here at the Law and Society Annual Conference.

Erotic Awards 2011

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