What brings you here?

Out of term time (at least as far as related teaching goes), you do wonder what brings people to this blog. This week, the following search terms are bringing people here (highest hits first):

• public sex
• ryan sullivan's island
• derrick burts
• bareback pride
• buggery
• folsom street fair bareback
• golden penis
• leg buckling orgasm
• mason wyler personal life
• mister gay uk nude

I am rather tickled (if you pardon the phrase) at 'leg bucking orgasm'. I hope you found what you were looking for.

HIV Scare and the US Porn Industry

Gay Porn Times are reporting that the USA based Free Speech Coalition (FSC) are recommending a temporary shutdown for adult entertainment following unconfirmed reports that a performer has tested positive for HIV. The FSC describes itself as Adult industry nonprofit trade association, serving the adult community w/ legal & business resources, defending adult entertainment for adults.

They are quoted as saying that: “Due to legal issues concerning patient privacy, we, as yet, are unable to implement exposure protocols and procedures.” As such, the group is recommending “an industry-wide moratorium on production” until certain details are confirmed and potential first- and second-generation exposures are identified. “FSC/APHSS cannot act on behalf of any testing facilities outside the APHSS system until we are requested to do so by the performer or any medical advisor authorized by the performer,” said the rep, adding the group has been in contact with “concerned parties” and has offered any assistance necessary.

The full FSC press-release can be viewed here. Curiously, that statement gives a flavour of the highly politicised and charged environment in which this announcement takes places. This rare scare (and it is just a scare at this point) raises questions of regulation and industry practice. Certain groups that have previously been involved in legal actions to bring about mandatory condom usage will no doubt once again spring into action.

Research Associate Vacancy

Readers may be interested in the following vacancy:

Kent Law School is seeking to appoint a Research Associate to work with Professor Rosemary Hunter and Professor Anne Barlow on their ESRC-funded project ‘Mapping Paths to Family Justice’. The position is a half-time appointment for 32 months, commencing in November 2011. Applicants should have a postgraduate qualification in Law, Psychology or a relevant Social Science discipline along with experience of interviewing, analysing qualitative research data and working as part of a research team. For further details and application materials, see http://jobs.kent.ac.uk, Reference No SS0454, or contact Rosemary Hunter: R.C.Hunter@kent.ac.uk. Applications close on 12 September.

Class, the UK Labour Party and a Lesson in Legal Reform

MP's are there to represent the will of the people, right? Well, I've just finished reading the excellent latest volume of Chris Mullin's diaries based on the years 1994-1999 (they 3 volumes have been published out of sequence) and I was struck by an entry on Monday 25 January 1999:

'At ten o'clock there was a free vote on equalising the age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals. I voted in favour, which will go down badly with most of my constituents'

Mullin was the MP for Sunderland South between 1987 and 2010 and although he was to eventually make the ministerial ranks, he really made his name as a justice campaigner to free the Birmingham six. He is a happily married man with three kids and often regarded as something of a left winger.

Whilst the New Labour history has been written as being a government and party generous in the reform of gay rights, Mullin's dairies reveal that the left wing MP's did not represent their left wing heartlands. Whilst gay rights has often been cast as a left/right issue, it forgets the working class left-wing ('old Labour') voters who are actually quite homophobic. Mullin makes a calculation that his constituents in working class Sunderland South would not want their MP to vote for this early gay rights measure -but he did anyway. This raises questions about class and whether MP's do and should represent their constituents. If - as Owen Jones - has recently argued, the Labour Party had better represented the views of their constituents, rather than the views of the middle classes and metropolitan elite, they would surely have voted against this measure. I'm doubt that Jones would have wanted that end result, but this diary entry is reminder that truly pioneering reform often comes from ignoring the people. For a democrat, that's an uncomfortable truth to accept.

Despite Mullin's efforts (the Bill was passed with a majority of 207 votes), the House of Lords fought the Bill and it was not until the passing of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act in 2000 that the age of consent was equalised.

Now You See the Condom, Now You Don't: Pornified Desire

Max Sohl, a New York pornographer with Treasure Island Media posted a story yesterday responding to a piece that had appeared on Gay Porn Times on Thursday.

That piece was a fairly extensive interview with a guy called Mark Dylon, who had recently appeared in a TIM film (for the online site) as Chris Gabriel.

Sohl posted a video in which the apparently less than angelic Gabriel in shown being fucked bareback and declaring such things as "Yea. Fuck yea. Give me your cum". Sohl posts the quotes in text over the scene (in old school TIM style) and intercuts with quotes from the Gay Porn Times interview.

In the interview, Dylon talks quite openly about wanting to get into porn and the first offers being bareback. He wanted to get into porn so he compromised and did bareback, but he claims he was "never comfortable with it" and now he's been offered condom porn, he's opting for it. If anythign, he seems to go out of his way to be as nice as possible to all concerned and appear honestly prgamatic in his approach to what is, after all, work:

'After my second shoot, I just really felt uncomfortable with the barebacking even though they pair negative guys together [after testing], so I declined shooting with them anymore, even though they made me a really good offer. Shooting with them was an interesting experience for my first time ever doing porn. They were nice and friendly people, but I just decided it wasn’t for me. About the same time, I started getting some interest from other companies that shoot with condoms, so I jumped on the chance to work with them. I really enjoyed the experience of doing porn, except for the barebacking, so I thought it was good timing'.

I actually welcome the fact he's being open about what he's done and what's his approach is now. I don't, as Sohl clearly believes (who adopts the tone of a jilted lover in his edited clip) feel this is some sort of betrayal or -the word Sohl uaes - schizophrenia. I guess this comes from the fact that a company that defines itself by presenting 'real' and 'authentic' sex has actually captured an 'inauthentic' act (i.e here the bareback sex becomes 'false'). However, if you accept the view that 'bareback' represents Gabriel's/Dylon's true authentic desire, then his current 'right on' statements are a reflection of a commercial calculation and represent the 'false' depiction of desire.

Yet, one can perhaps look beyond this binary and see Gabriel's/Dylon's desire as fundamentally being a commercial one rather than a sexual one, and as such any visual representation remains an ephemeral documentary of desire - but a more complex form of desire than merely the orgasmic.

In a climate of social and growing legal/regulatory pressure around the uae of condoms in pornography, Dylon has apparently calculated that there is a benefit in making this remark, that becoming a 'Born Again' condom wearer is the commercially astute thing to do. Curiously, he does at the same time admit he doesn't always use condoms in his 'personal' life so this does indeed seem to be about strategies of risk and/or good publicity/aspiring to big condom studios.

More importantly for the legal scholar, here we see desire being molded and re-molded to accord with shifting constructions of socio-legal expectations and for TIM - a company that defies those norms at every turn - this highlights that Gabriel/Dylon was never 'one of them', never a' believer' and someone afraid of displaying his 'true' authentic sexual desire.

You can read the (safe) Gay Porn Times piece here. You can read and watch the (very unsafe) Max Sohl post here.

All of which dramatically contrasts to the recent odd appearance that TIM performer, self-fellator, and porn star of epic penis proportions, Jessy Karson, recently made in a safe sex video and discussed on this blog. Now that was strange...

Follow Friday: OutdoorLads

This Friday's 'special' Follow Friday mention goes to @outdoorlads. As an outdoor pursuits group, each month they run a wide range of activities: from camping, hostelling, hillwalking and indoor climbing, to the more extreme activities like gorge scrambling, ice climbing, technical mountain biking and many more. There’s something for everyone, no matter what your interest. They have events all over the country and despite the name, they're not all 'outdoors'. For example, in the North East region, they run indoor climbing sessions every week in Leeds, Newcastle, and Sunderland.

Check out their full website here.

Perry, Prop 8 and "Social Progress"

There's been much written about the Perry case - the California case that was successful in finding that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. Proposition 8 was passed back in 2008 through a kind of public petition and defined marriage as between a man and woman. This meant that California's marriage laws were suddenly prohibited and marriages came to a stop. The Perry case has been an attempt to rule that such a measure was unconstitutional. If you earch this blog, you'll find various posts about related events, videos of the trial re-constructed and more.

Today, the Bay Area Reporter (the San Francisco based gay weekly free newspaper) carries an interview with Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, the lesbian couple at the centre of the case. It's a really interesting insight into the impact the case has had on their lives. Read it in full here.

The case is currently before a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court by late 2012 or early 2013.

The Metrosexual Arse

Remember Philip Oliver? He's an actor who made his name in the British soap Brookside, and went on to appear in many calendars that men, women and those who find young sexy men half naked attractive devoured (he's depressingly just 2 months younger than me but you wouldn't think it). Well, he's straight. He's repeatedly said he's straight in all the gay magazine interviews (of which there are many) that he's done. In 2005, he was a national judge on Mr Gay UK and he's appeared at various gay pride events and in 2010 appeared in a BBC soap, Doctors, playing a gay yoga teacher so he's a straight guy who likes playing with the gay boys.

This is a metrosexual who has apparently made some money from the gay community and so it perhaps helps if men keep thinking there's a possibility of some sexual liaison. In that sense, he is the professional cock tease. He is very very good at it.

It's wasn't therefore a total surprise to learn of his latest 'escapade' (pictured below). He's on Twitter as @officialoliver and had been interacting with out gay Coronation Street (huge Brit soap tv show) actor Charlie Condou via twitter. A curious thing to do you might think, but happily the Charlie Condou fan site 'Charlie Condou Confidential' caught the relevant tweets.

Oliver later tweeted: 'Noooooooo! Note to self. Stay

away from twitter when intoxicated. Noooooooooooooooo! xx'.

Condou replied: Charliecondou: @officialolivier 'Mate, can't wait to see that photo in Heat xx'.

Heat is a big UK celeb gossip magazine. It's all a bit odd. Metrosexual banter perhaps? Heaven help us. it can only be a matter of time before such confident heterosexuals start posting pictures of them being mounted by a very well endowed porn star whilst fellating his best mate. "Just for the craic like'

The Bareback Resistance?

Back in February I blogged about the Bareback Brotherhood and inadvertently pissed some people off. Surprisingly, it was some of the barebackers who seemed to assume that an academic must be taking pot shots rather than pro-safe sex groups who were offended. Since then the #bbbh hashtag seems to have exploded on the web/Twitter. Anyone who thinks that bareback sex is the refuge of the ugly, desperate and the few should simply look online. It is an all-encompassing diverse range of people, seemingly of all ages and a heavy transatlantic bias in the membership from what I've seen. I've been surprised at the young people - under 18 - who identify with that hashtag. I don't know why I was surprised - perhaps I shouldn't have been - but I was.

They are forming an online community, of people who use the label 'barebacker' as an identifiable characteristic. In using the hashtag and declaring oneself a barebacker it apparently sets you apart from merely engaging in barebacks ex. It re-defines the act as an empowered decision, a choice and with it certain characteristics. Two appear to dominate. One is sluttyness. Something I've written about before and find a fascinating counter-weight to the prevailing happy families homonormativity that currently dominates. I'm planning to further develop these ideas in a series of papers to be presented in Australia and the US int he coming months - so look out for details.

With this public declaration inevitably comes a public response. It is perhaps inevitable that people will post comments saying "you're mad", "sick" etc. Yet, when does this visceral response become bullying or harassment? It's a tricky call but clearly some of these barebackers think that point has been reached. A tiny fraction of those defining themselves as part of the 'Bareback Brotherhood' published a statement on the iBlastinside blog (NSFW) earlier today stating the following:

'We, the undersigned bareback bloggers, unify in this statement today.

We believe in the First Amendment and for all people to express themselves. We have chosen to express ourselves through these blogs.

The actions we take are our own and we believe, as consenting adults, we can enjoy the sexual relations in the manner which we choose.

If you find what we write about as offensive, wrong or immoral, we ask you not to read our blogs. If you follow us on Twitter and you consider what we write as offensive, wrong or immoral, we ask you to block each of us. None of our communications is required reading and we do not force it upon anyone.

Since each of us launched our blogs, we all have received vitriolic lies, terroristic bullying, and even death threats.

Our voices will not be silenced. We shall no longer tolerate further cyber harassment. We will not give these threats or statements a voice in our forums.

We thank our supporters. We thank our readers. We thank those who just ignore us and let us live our lives.'

It's an interesting further step in the formation of this identity, acting as a collective defence and also further defining an 'island' of barebacking identity, a them and us, and yet also reminiscent of actions by the gay and lesbian community or the trans community (to a lesser extent) in creating a 'safe' space, often in the form of online spaces, but traditionally in the form of 'Queer Space', such as Canal Street in MAnchester, the Castro in San Francisco or Boystown in Chicago. This is a safe virtual space but it reflects all of those known 'safe' real world spaces that might operate behind a 'safer sex' code (eg certain sex clubs).

Read my original post on the Brotherhood here.

"My six month-old baby...was diagnosed with AIDS; I was then tested for HIV"

One of the all too often silent voices in HIV debates is that of the HIV+ woman. Positive Lite recently published an icnredibly moving. Denise Becker begins by sumamrising her story:

'IN 1994, I FOUND OUT THAT MY SIX MONTH-OLD BABY, KATIE, HAD PNEUMONIA AND SHE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH AIDS; I WAS THEN TESTED FOR HIV. UNTIL I RECEIVED THE RESULT OF MY TEST, I HAD NO IDEA I WAS INFECTED WITH THE HIV VIRUS.'

As she details her story, she also addresses the subject of criminalising HIV, but she comes down against criminalisation concluding that 'criminalsiation leads to complacancy' and that we must 'look for a better answer'.

It's a must read article, and you can read it in full here.

The Leatherboy

There's an interesting piece on the Positive Lite site about the leatherman/sub identity. It's an in-depth interview with 'Boy Iain', Eastern Canada Leatherboy 2011. He offers some really itneresting insights, commenting that:

Leather is many things to many different people and it’s hard to nail down what exactly Leather is. For some it’s clothing (Leather, rubber, gear, etc…). For others it’s uniform fetishes or kink or BDSM play without the domination and submission or it’s a Dom/sub relationship. Or any combination of the above, and more

When I was first exposed to the Leather scene, all I saw was black leather and the traditional look of a Leatherman – somewhat Tom of Findland-esque. What I understood was that there were certain protocols when interacting with Leathermen and they scared me. I didn’t know what to expect so I never took that step forward back in the days of The Toolbox.

Read it in full here.

Bisexuality, Social Science Research and Re-discovering the Personal

A lot of fellow academics think I have a nice time of it given I spend so much of my research exploring issues of public sex, barebacking and porn. Oh yes, it's a string of rampant antics and masturbatory machinations. Well, no it's not. Not quite. When I therefore read of scientists who spend their time attaching penises to electrodes (or electrodes to penises - I find myself pondering this sentence structure) and watching men orgasm all day, I know that it might sound more fun than it is.

Anyway, I found myself thinking of these fellow academics upon reading Mark Simpson's latest blog post in which he highlights what he calls 'those kinky penile plethysmograph fetishists at Northwestern University [who] just can’t get enough cock.'

This latest study reveals (shock, horror) that bisexual men do exist. Interestingly, Simpson doesn't welcome the report and is critical of the impact these findings will have on bisexual identity (read his post in full here).

Simpson disciple (or Simpsonista), Quiet Riot Girl (and regular commenter on this blog) supports Simpson's claims, noting that his own comments are rooted in experience rather than the 'removed' objectivity of science. I've spoken at a number of conferences and written on what I regard as a failure of modern day academia in addressing the personal. For reasons of complex ethics and established methodological norms, we can not (usually) merely talk about our own experiences even though we quietly acknowledge that they are crucial. In contrast to the 'say it all' scholarship of the 1960s and 1970s, social science research has become impersonal.

Nonetheless, this is starting to change. Tim Dean's Unlimited Intimacy is a remarkable mould breaker. Similarly, I was recently on the awards committee that bestowed the 2011 Hart-SLSA book prize to Rosie Harding's Regulating Sexuality - a book that includes a moving and powerful personal conclusion. If social science is having these difficulties, it is perhaps unsurprising that traditional science operates in a separate silo. A silo in which things can only be precisely measured, prodded and reduced to quantifiable data. Social scientists have traditionally stood as a counter-wight to this, and if anything, the comments of Simpson and QRG are a reminder that we need to re-discover the personal in our own writing.

Internet Control, Censorship and Child Safety: New Parliamentary Inquiry Launched

I've just posted news and initial thoughts on a new Parliamentary Inquiry into online child safety on the new IT Law Node blog I've been setting up. Check it out here.

Journal Alert: Sexualities

A new issue of Sexualities has been published and full details can be found here. A full list of article headings is provided below:

Faris A Khan
Powerful cultural productions: Identity politics in diasporic same-sex South Asian weddings

KL Broad
Coming out for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: From support group grieving to love advocacy

Jean Calterone Williams
Battling a ‘sex-saturated society’: The abstinence movement and the politics of sex education

Ela Przybylo
Crisis and safety: The asexual in sexusociety

Mark Carrigan
There’s more to life than sex? Difference and commonality within the asexual community

Eunjung Kim
Asexuality in disability narratives

Lawrence James Hammar
Book Reviews: Adele D Jones, Jacqueline A Padmore, Priya E Maharaj (eds), HIV-AIDS and Social Work Practice in the Caribbean: Theory, Issues and Innovation. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2009. 226 + xviii pp. ISBN 978 976 637 356 6. $US 24.95

Jackie Turton
Jo Woodiwiss, Contesting Stories of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 256 pp. ISBN 978 0 230 57404 5 (hbk). £55.00

Christian Klesse
Lindsey Moon (ed.) Feeling Queer or Queer Feelings? Radical Appproaches to Counselling Sex, Sexualities and Genders. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 152 pp. ISBN 13: 978 0 415 38520 6 (hbk), £65. ISBN 13: 978 0 415 38521 3 (pbk), £24.95

Journal Alert: Feminist Legal Studies

Apologies - I've been a bit slow getting this added. Feminist Legal Studies has a new issue out. Full details can be found here and article titles are listed below.

Liabilities of Queer Anti-Racist Critique
Stacy Douglas, Suhraiya Jivraj and Sarah Lamble

Problematic Proximities: Or Why Critiques of Gay Imperialism Matter
Sara Ahmed

Citation and Censorship: The Politics of Talking About the Sexual Politics of Israel
Jasbir Puar

The Dutch Homo-Emancipation Policy and its Silencing Effects on Queer Muslims
Suhraiya Jivraj and Anisa de Jong

What Happens to Anti-Racism When We Are Post Race?
Alana Lentin

INTERVIEW
Queer Anti-Racist Activism and Strategies of Critique: A Roundtable Discussion
Tamsila Tauqir, Jennifer Petzen, Jin Haritaworn, Sokari Ekine and Sarah Bracke, et al.

BOOK REVIEW
Lizzie Seal: Women, Murder and Femininity: Gender Representations of Women Who Kill
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 175pp, ISBN 978-0-230-53558-9, Price: £55.00
Joanne Pearman

BOOK REVIEW

Joan C. Williams: Reshaping the work-family debate. Why men and class matter
Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2010, 293 pp. ISBN 978-0-674-05567-4
Maureen Spencer

BOOK REVIEW
Albie Sachs: The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 2009, 306pp, £19.99 (HB), ISBN: 9780199571796
Yvonne Rigby

Sex Offenders: The Last Pariahs

The New York Times caries a really interesting op-ed piece today from Roger Lancaster on US sex offender laws. It's a powerful and engaging article, with a conclusion that will upset many:

Our sex offender laws are expansive, costly and ineffective — guided by panic, not reason. It is time to change the conversation: to promote child welfare based on sound data rather than statistically anomalous horror stories, and in some cases to revisit outdated laws that do little to protect children.

This reflects Lancaster's thinking in his book, Sex Panic and the Punitive State and he is one of few academics brave enough to make these remarks in print (I've met many academics who agree with this position, they just don't want anything written down). Given the UK has attempted to import ideas such as Megan's Law (Sarah's Law here), the ideas/critique offered in this piece are also applicable to English law and the English criminal justice system. The article once again underlines the need for an informed and reasoned discussion in an area too often, if understandably so, characterised by panic, fear and emotion.

Read the full article here.

Take Several Gay Porn Actors and Add Kylie...

It's Saturday and thus I offer forth some light distraction. The video below was sent to me this morning by @ExFratBBoy (frequently NSFW) and features a series of models from the US porn website Randy Blue (NSFW). An amusing minor thing in itself but I was struck by how much one guy looked like Ciaran Griffiths who appeared on the cover of Attitude magazine last month (see right).

The Manchester-born actor is best-known for his role as Micky Maguire in Shameless and has more recently been seen as Dylan Hodge in Waterloo Road.

BTW - Attitude this month features a special Manchester theme throughout. It's a magazine that for me, seems to go from strength to strength.

Has anyone seen a straight, lesbian or queer equivalent to these type of 'fun' porn performer videos?

Follow Friday: Manchester Pride

Last week I announced that I'd be selecting one group or individual for a special twitter 'follow Friday' shout-out. This week it goes to @manchesterpride who are busy launching a fantastic ten day festival as I type. You can get full details on Pride 2011 on their website here, and you can also download a brilliant App to your smartphone (which I'm currently playing with).

This a special celebratory 21st for the festival - an amazing achievement and extraordinary when you reflect upon how it's changed. The organisation isn't just about a once a year party however, and they recently launched a fantastic Out in the Past website which you can check out here.

EHRC in Equality Law U-Turn

In the video above, you can hear and see a car screeching as it comes to an abrupt unplanned halt. A similar sound could be heard coming from the Equality and Human Rights Commission as they confirmed that they will not seek ‘reasonable adjustments’ to be made for religious workers who refuse to serve gay people. The Commission had planned on supporting a number of cases appearing before the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds of religious discrimination.

I blogged on the original planned legal action next month (see it here). I wrote:

'This case is about discrimination and ultimately the Commission is trying (and failing) to find a third-way between discriminating against the religious, and discriminating against homosexuals. I often tell students that understanding the law is about the application of values and ideas. There is no such thing as equality in this arena - there is instead the necessary choice of which side you back - a hatred of homosexuals or a hatred of religious freedom.'

Words I stand-by and the Commission has clearly made a fresh choice. In doing so, and as I indicated last month, they merely irritate an alternative audience - this time, the religious.

Pink News reports that Don Horrocks, head of public affairs at the Evangelical Alliance, has condemned the move, stating: “It seems pretty clear that the commission has been successfully intimidated against proceeding as they initially announced.

“They appear to have changed their initial approach as a result of the outcry from those groups who wish to restrict freedom of religion and religious rights of conscience being recognised more fairly by the courts.”

She is right. This is about restricting the freedom of religion, but if you are opposed to that, you must be in favour of homophobia. The EHRC had to made a choice and they have. However, the decision is open for consultation for two weeks so further flip-flopping on this issue can't yet be ruled out.

Sexing the Transman

I'm really excited about the latest project from self-styled "man with a pussy", Buck Angel. The porn performer, makerand now, educator is launchign two films that are linked as one project. Sexing the transman (the documentary) and Sexing the Transman XXX offer a radical take ont he subjects of gender and sexuality. The documentary element is described as 'an audio-visual tour of transman sexuality, including interviews and graphic video with a variety of transmen and the people who love them.' More details is provided on on the XXX feature, although both films seem worthy of praise. I've yet to see them, but I'm hoping to use one or both my undergraduate law and sexuality students this next academic year.

The films seem to address the questions that non-trans folks often seem to have when encountering gender and trans identities. Crucially, they also appears to still cast the 'performers' as sexual beings. They are not 'freaks' or some science class, they are erotic individuals who generate and enjoy desire, passion, and yes orgasms.

The press release for the XXX film rightly describes it as a 'groundbreaking educational adult film' and tells us that it consists of interviews and jack-off scenes with four different transmen (aged 20-35). Each scene starts with an interview in which the performers share intimate details about who they are and why they transitioned from female to male. Publicity for the film states that 'The transguys reveal what turns them on as they stroke their enlarged clits and use their favorite sex toys in all their holes.' Each scene, we are told, concludes with an orgasm.

You can read more about both films here.

Sexing the Transman (safe for viewing)

Sexing the Transman XXX Trailer (safe for viewing)

It's also brilliant to see James Darling featured in the XXX feature. James is a friend of this blog and my law and sexuality class, having kindly agreed to respond to questiosn from my law and sexuality undergraduate students last year. You can check out that video below:

I Exist

I've just finished completing a really important survey that LGF are running. They recently launched the"I Exist" survey, to find out about a range of issues affecting lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people, from health to homophobia and relationships to legal rights.

It comes, they argue, in the wake of the 2011 census (which already seems so long ago!) which despite campaigning, did not include a question on sexual orientation. This survey attempts to address that balance and although LGF is based in Manchester, the more responses, and the greater the geographical spread, the more valuable the final report will be. So, click here to start the survey and say to policy-makers "I exist!"

It only takes 15 minutes to complete, but the answers you give will be used to sustain and improve services for LGB people. In return for your time, there is the chance to win some fantastic prizes, including £500 worth of holiday vouchers, an iPad 2 or £100 worth of shopping vouchers.

Run Homophobes, Run!

Christine O'Donnell probably doesn't mean much to Brit readers. She once had a rather silly TV appearance in which she indicated she was a witch and this clip haunted and defined O'Donnell when she went on to run as a candidate for the US Senate. Yes folks, she wants to be a political figure, bringing about the 'second American revolution'.

She defeated nine-term U.S. Representative and former governor Michael Castle in Delaware's September 2010 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, pitching herself as a 'Tea Party' (taxed enough already) candidate. Despite this initial success, she lost the November 2010 U.S. Senate election in Delaware, to Democrat Chris Coons by a margin of 57% to 40%, and this defeat was seen as a big set-back for the Tea Party movement. She'd previously made two attempts at the Senate and got nowhere. Whether voters were scared by her extreme right wing views or a rather creepy TV ad she made - in which she said she wasn't a witch.

So what now? Well, she's flogging a book that sets out what she has described as 'policies'. Although, it's rather like buying a cook book from someone who has had every restaurant they opened shut down by health inspectors - you just wouldn't.

As a lead tea-bagger, O'Donnell has typically homophobic views (just as we saw with Bachmann at the weekend) and so when she appeared last night on Piers Morgan's CNN show, he quite reasonably asked her about her witchcraft (which she covers in her book) and her homophobic views (which are also apparently in her book). Unfortunately, she didn't like this line of questioning and ended the interview. He was clearly only meant to say how wonderful her book was and let her say a few platitudes.

However strident these right wing figures seem to be in presenting their homophobic views in speeches, and to similar-minded folks, it is interesting to see that when the light of scrutiny is shone upon them, they become remarkably silent and scurry away.

So, let's keep shining that light at these homophobes who wish to impose their intolerant and hateful philosophy upon America. BTW - I note that she claims she had turned down another interview - I wonder if that's true as she alter said she was arriving at a republican event later (the story seemed to shift). Any journalists looked into whether she was fibbing?

Check out the CNN appearance below. British viewers can catch the show again tonight on CNN international at 8pm BST (7pm GMT).

Queer Quarter for Leeds?

Interesting to see that Pink News is reporting on a campaign in Leeds to create a 'gay quarter'. The move apparently follows attempts to clearly establish a gay village in Liverpool. Followers of the Liverpool development might recall that it was in turn inspired by the Manchester gay village and proposals for development in Liverpool have been rumbling along for years. As with Liverpool, the creation of a queer space post Queer as Folk is symbolic of a progressive urban habitat. The possession of such spaces is a useful marketing technique and can hep re-position the city brand. It's therefore interesting to see that this seems a 'grass roots' campaign in Leeds, and not one coming from city officials or marketing consultants.

Nonetheless, gay campaigners are using the same the arguments. I'd be interested in hearing what really motivates people into this campaign. Is it merely as they say about making Leeds more welcoming, if so why choose this method. If it's something else, what?

The extension and creation of new queer spaces in our apparently transformed socio-legal culture suggests that these spaces continue to carry out a vital function(s), although whether that is the same function(s) as earlier queer space is something worthy of debate.

There's more on gayleeds.com

Mandatory Minimums: Get Your Condom On?

Interesting piece on the Sword website/blog concerning the ongoing regulatory push to make condoms mandatory in porn in California. The piece explores the campaigning zeal that the LA Times seems to have brought to the issue. It's well worth a read, but please be warned, the Sword website does contain some explicit images in the adverts by the side of the post.

The LA Times story (totally safe) can be viewed here.

Consensual Slavery and the Law

Sometimes it seems that Law and Sexuality is just a fun subject, offering some interesting theoretical perspectives in a traditional liberal arts setting. It's not really 'proper' law, some say. Yet, the importance of practitioners understanding the law and sexuality in a socio-legal context is constantly proven in the courts, and before tribunals. Jane Fae comments in the Guardian today on a case that took place last week concerning the issue of 'consensual slavery'.

The case apparently focused on whether BDSM fell within the scope of 'belief' per the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. Yes, I was surprised too, given that this regulation (along with what would have been more sensible, the Employment Equality (Sexual orientation) Regulations 2003) were repealed by the Equality Act 2010 (from 1 October 2010). I am left feeling a little confused! I'm assuming that the discussion is around the application of section 10 of the Equality Act (essentially, the old religion or belief regulation) but again, section 12 (sexual orientation) would have been a wiser (although still uncertain) course to pursue.

Read Jane's full piece here.

I also continue to strongly recommend Jane's blog which you can check out here. It focuses on trans issues and specifically her own transition but it will be of terrific interest to anyone interested in gender and sexuality.

Academia, Liberation, Equality, and Diversity

I must confess I missed this story when it appeared in the Times Higher as it had a rather bland headline. No fear of missing it in Pink News however. They scream the headline 'Academia Has Ignored LGBT Issues'. These news stories follow the publication by the National Union of Students (NUS) of a briefing document entitled Liberation, Equality and Diversity in the Curriculum which explores the issues of liberation, equality and diversity in high education curriculum's. The report seems to bear very little to the media coverage associated with it. You can check out the briefing document/report here.

It isn't just about sexuality, it's about disability, race and any other discrimination that can take place. The idea is that 'non-traditional' (in the language of the report) students should be catered for. For example, family law problems might commonly include same-sex couples in exam problem questions, but what about contract law, or commercial law, or tort?

In my experience, academia has actually been addressing these issues for years and the ratcheting up of quotes by NUS folks in a bid to get a headline (rather than base them on the substantive report) coupled with the near hysterical academic reactions on the Times Higher story are both misplaced responses.

This was a well meaning report that seems to have suffered a PR disaster. I'd be interested in hearing the thoughts of fellow academics and students on this.

Guest Post: The Intersection of Men, Metrosexuality and Disability

I'm pleased to present this abstract from Quiet Riot Girl, promoting her post on The Good Men Project, which you can view here.

'There has been much written by feminists on pressures on women caused by ideals of feminine ‘beauty’, as promoted by the media. Ever since Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth (1991) it has been accepted that we should be critical of how women’s Body Image is affected by representation. But less thought or attention has been given to men in this regard.

According to Mark Simpson, originator of the term and key theorist of ‘metrosexuality’, it’s not about flip-flops and facials, ‘man-bags’ or ‘manscara’. Or about men becoming ‘girlie’ or ‘gay’. Metrosexuality is about men becoming everything. To themselves. In much the way that women have been for some time’.

So if men are starting to enjoy being ‘objects of desire’ just like women, it is likely that they are also becoming subject to the pressures of the ‘body beautiful’, just like women. How do these pressures manifest themselves, particularly for disabled men?'

By Quiet Riot Girl www.quietgirlriot.wordpress.com

QRG's interview with Mark Simpson: http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2011/06/metrosexuals-of-world-unite-and-bend.html

Bachmann: Praying Away the Gay

So, Michele Bachmann, perhaps expectantly, has come top in the Iowa straw-poll. Good news for her campaign, or is it? It inevitably means that her campaign and herself will be subject to ever greater scrutiny and that, I would suggest, may not help her.

OK, I'm biased, I'm inevitably going to find her a scary figure of the right, a religious homophobic loon who wants to take the American people back to the dark ages. I am, of course, going to think that if the prospect of her as President of the United States wasn't so damn scary, it would surely be the funniest joke of the century.

Yet, with greater scrutiny, it might not be liberal Europeans like myself who take issue with Bachmann and her message.

One of the enduring sticks that is used to beat her over the head with his her husband's sexuality and persistent rumours that he might be gay. This is only a story because it represents hypocrisy by the Bachmann's and suggest a phony quality which is generally not regarded as a good quality in a President.

Today, Bachmann displayed her anti-gay credentials by appearing on CNN's State of the Union and declaring that she "probably would" re-introduce Don't Ask, Don't Tell if elected President. She added that she thought it had served the military well.

As Pink News reported last month, the Bachmann family own Bachmann & Associates in Minnesota and Marcus Bachmann, who has called gays “barbarians”, runs the centre. This is a centre that actively seeks to 'pray away the gay', to 'cure' homosexuality. So, let's start with a discussion on the left of centre show, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (please Brit TV executives, why can't we have this show?):

A number of satires of the Bachmann marriage have also emerged, such as this one from Second City Network:

More recently, there has been these satire of Michele's appearance on the cover of Newsweek which was seen as displaying her 'crazy eyes'. No doubt, Republicans will spin this as her 'Thatcher like qualities'.

Behind the Scenes of Michele Bachmann's Newsweek Cover - watch more funny videos

You might think this all seems unfair - especially portraying him as sounding rather camp. Well, here's an exert of him talking from 2010:



For comedians such as Jon Stewart and others, this can lead to intense efforts to repress one's inner urges (with limited success). Check out this great MSNBC report:

DUDE Launches

Exciting times, DUDE: transmasculinity magazine from Australia and New Zealand is now available online.

They've also issued a Call for Submissions which I've reproduced below:

DUDE 2 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Deadline: October 31st, 2011

Theme: Body Image

Please note DUDE does NOT seek research essays, however brief articles/reviews/comments from trans theorists will be greatly received.

…
Be brave, bold and beautiful. Value everyone.

Is the trans movement celebrating body type diversity in positive ways? Does it further impose mainstream pressures on our body image? How can we celebrate all body types in healthy and constructive ways? And how do we do this without adding to the fetishisation of the sex
and gender diverse community?

We want to hear what your thoughts are on body image. What do we need to share with each other? What assumptions are often made and why?

Including but not limited to, body image in relation to:

• expectations of uber masculinity: both in the mainstream, such as media, magazines, movies; and on youtube and ftm forums
• various subcultures such as bears, lesbian, sporting clubs and codes, gyms, punks, S/M, leather, anarchist, activist, men-only spaces, SOP
• not being on T/natural transitioning
• butch-not-trans / butch-and-trans
• genderqueers or dykes who bind or have had top surgery
• people with (dis)abilities or people who are differently abled.
• sex
• genitals
• body size diversity and positivity
• substance use
• people with eating disorders
• scars
• femme ftms
• binding
• surviving sexual assault
• gender dysphoria
• dealing with health professionals
• strategic essentialism

Submissions from Australia and New Zealand will be highly regarded, but the call out is open to everyone world wide.

About Dude

Dude is a not for profit, creative resource on transmasculinity; a zine combining short articles, stories and imagery.

We encourage photo submissions from a diverse range of people who identify as male / trans /genderqueer / transmasculine / butch / femme ftm / ftm / m2m / especially people of colour / people who are chubby/ people with disabilities / freaks / people not on T.

Also, we love cock pictures.

TO SUBMIT

Length: No submission is too short: brief articles are preferred (less than 500 words) but longer text will be considered if relevant and well crafted.

Payment: At this time we are unable to offer payment for submissions.
Each contributor will receive a copy of Dude 2.

All submissions in electronic format to dudetranszine@gmail.com
Include with subject line SUBMISSION DUDE 2: PHOTO/TEXT (as appropriate).

Text in .doc format
Images: JPG format, higher quality the better. Please note that colour
images will be converted to greyscale.
If you have further enquiries, email with subject line “ENQUIRY DUDE 2”

This call out is on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261928483834260

Thank you.
http://dudemagazine.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/call-out-dude-2/

Dan Bradley Award 2011: Nancy Polikoff

The (US) National LGBT Bar Association has announced that Nancy Polikoff is the recipient of the 2011 Dan Bradley Award, the organization’s highest honor.

Nancy Polikoff is a professor of law at American University Washington College of Law and richly deserves the award. For 35 years, she has been writing, teaching, and working on litigation and legislation about LGBT families. Each year, the LGBT Bar recognizes the efforts of a member of the LGBT legal community whose work, like Attorney Dan Bradley's, has led the way in our struggle for equality under the law. Dan Bradley was the founder of the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibility's Committee on the Rights of Gay People (now known as the ABA’s Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity).

Hold the Confetti! No Wedding For Bert and Ernie

I confess I am a bit of a Muppets fan, and as a child, like so many generations, I was a big Sesame Street fan. I was therefore pretty thrilled with the campaign to marry Bert and Ernie. Whatever your thoughts on marriage (and I remain in the sceptic camp) I do believe that same-sex marriages should exist and it would be great for children to see two much loved male characters get married.

Sadly, the BBC reports the campaign has not succeeded. A statement from the show's makers said: "They remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation."

But they conceded that the pair are "male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics".

The confirmed bachelors have lived together for 40 years and sleep in the same bedroom, albeit in single beds.

"Bert and Ernie are best friends," the statement from Sesame Workshop added. "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.

If you've had some sort of deprived life and have never seen Bert and Ernie check out the clip below. Personally, they've always struck me as looking like Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell (with wig) - maybe Ernie will one day be found bludgeoned to death by a hammer? As it is, we see a much more gentle relationship in the clip below but I'm sure I'm not the first one to think Ernie was to later say: "this one's really hard Bert, what's in my pants?"


In case you were wondering...Grover was always my favourite character.

It's Porn Jim, but Not as We Know It!

James Franco, favourite of the liberal left, announced earlier in the week that he is going to make a documentary about the porn industry. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the star once shot a sex tape with his girlfriend, but was so disappointed with the result, he vowed never to make another one. The experience gave him a new respect for porn stars - because they really know how to sell sex.

Speaking on the US chat-show, Conan O'Brien he apparently said: "Those people in pornos, they are great performers; they're not just doing it, they're selling it to an audience. ... They're performing so that an audience can get turned on by that kinda thing.

"My girlfriend and I didn't know that, so it was just kinda like weird movement. ... It was really boring."

The Guardian took up the story yesterday, oddly describing it as the 'latest in a series of weird movements from Franco' (which sounds like a doctor monitoring an overactive bowel).

We'll see what the final film - if made- actually consists of but the positive porn angle that Franco seems to be going for is clearly unusual. Guardianistas would no doubt prefer a flat condemnation of pornography but Franco seems to recognise that some porn represents a skill - it's more than simply filming people having sex, there is an erotic performance an that is worthy of comment and analysis.

The Homo Hero Awards

Readers may be interested in the news that the LF's Homo Heroes awards nomination process has begun...

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation's 'Homo Hero Awards' are designed to showcase the contributions made by individuals, groups and organisations for, and on behalf of, the lesbian, gay and bisexual community.

It is an opportunity to celebrate those that have challenged homophobia, achieved significant gains for our communities and who share in the Lesbian & Gay Foundation's values of innovation, diversity, excellence, fairness, integrity and engagement.

There are a total of seven categories in which you can put forward your nominations;

• Community Champion of the year
• Business of the year
• Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual role model of the year
• Public Sector Partner of the year
• Volunteer of the year
• Community Group or Organisation of the year
• LGB&T Venue of the Year

These nominations are open to anyone who wishes to vote for any person, group or organisation who they believe have made a difference to the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The initial nomination period will be open until 18 August 2011.

Following this initial nomination period, the top three nominees for each award category will be put forward for a public vote from 19 August 2011; the winners will then be announced at a special Homo Hero Award Ceremony on 22 September 2011.

These awards are important because they are voted for by you!

They are about celebrating people in our everyday lives who have made a significant contribution to supporting either you or people you care about. There is no committee involved in selecting candidates for inclusion in any round of the nominations so you can literally nominate any one you know who you think deserves to be called a Homo Hero!

It could be a member of your family, a worker who you think deserves special praise, an organisation that you believe deserves special recognition or someone who volunteers their time to support other people, it is entirely up to you!

Click here to submit your nominations

Follow Friday: The Lesbian and Gay Foundation

From time-to-time, I used to post 'resource focus' items on a particular website or organisation, but I thought in the age of Twitter it would be helpful to have a 'follow Friday' feature. For the uninitiated, each Friday people use the twitter tag #ff and suggest people who should be followed. Over time, your networks interact with one another and grow even more. It's kinda cool and I try and do several shout-outs each week. However, such is the nature of Twitter that these are then lost in the ether so I want to use my blog to single out one 'follow Friday' that people should follow. Sometimes they will be really useful, sometimes authoritative, and sometimes just witty and amusing. Once the new teaching term kicks-in the focus will slightly shift, as I try and reflect the higher number of student readers.

Anyway, this week's shout out goes to @lgfoundation

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation delivers community, health and support services to lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the UK.

Their website can be found here.

Don't forget, you can find me on Twitter here.

Gay Asylum Seeker

The Solicitors Journal reports today on the interesting case of SL v Westminster City Council and others [2011] EWCA Civ 954. According to the Journal, a gay asylum seeker who tried to kill himself after finding out his partner had died in an Iranian prison was in need of ‘care and attention’ by his local council, appeal judges have ruled.

Read the full story here.

A Memo From History

I spent the first part of this week down in London at the National Archives. I made some interesting discoveries but because I want to save them for publication, you'll forgive me if I don't publish them on here. I did however come across one memo to the Wolfenden Committee in 1955. Wolfenden was the committee that reccomended to the government in 1957 that homosexuality should be decriminalsied - and this was to herald the eventual decriminalisation of homosexuality in Engladn and Wales through the Sexual offences Act 1967.

Anyway, this memo was written to the committee, the identity known the Chairman but hidden from the official 'evidence' document. The reason? The man providing evidence was a homosexual and thus given the moral and legal condemnation of his disposition, he remained anonymous for the purposes of this document. Here's an extract:

‘What possible good can a prison sentence do? Fear of it will not stop a fundamental biological activity like sex. As it has not stopped it thus far, it presumably will not do so in future. Again imagine the opposite, i.e a law passed by homosexuals to make heterosexual relations illegal. Would it stop it? It would, if course, only drive it underground, as the law has at present driven homosexuality. It certainly helps to fill the overcrowded prisons at the tax payers expense.’

Replace the word 'homosexual' with 'paedophile' and it's quite a scary passage. No, I've not suddenly turned into a paedophile rights campaigner but I do recognise the law has thus far not found a satisfactory response to paedophilia. The above extract - albeit about homosexuality - serves as a powerful reminder as to why the law is having a real problem addressing this phenomenon. Sex is about desire, and a biological desire. Can one ever stop such a desire?

Riots, Queer Space & The Ties That Hold Us Together

The story that has dominated the media in the last few days has obviously been that of the UK riots and one of the last phases of this mass disorder were the Manchester riots. The new coverage focused on Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens with Sky (I think) featuring a live feed opposite the Britannia Hotel as they moved into Portland Street. Off camera, they went on to near-by Canal Street, the centre of the gay village in Manchester.

Twitter and Facebook swirled with rumours that Canal Street was under attack with conflicting reports. Some saying they were there and could see it being attacked, others saying they could see Canal Street and it wasn't. Once I saw a photo (which I can't now find online), I tweeted that it did indeed look as if it was under attack - but others remained unconvinced.

Nonetheless, I was immediately struck by the tweets from all over the country from those who regarded this as attacking 'their' space. Gay men (and it was just men but that probably reflects my followers) and seemed to say "oh no" in a way that other riots around the country didn't cause the same personal attack. The Village acts as not only an attractive tourist destination for many gay men and women but also acts as a symbol of queer space. There is a sense of ownership that crosses geographical boundaries and says something about the queer ties that hold us together.

Manto's on Canal Street was my first gay bar and I remember bravely going in on my own, feeling I had crossed some invisible but powerful force-field into another world. I remember sitting upstairs in what was an ultra trendy venue with tall lime green tables upstairs (remember them?) in the very spot that had featured weeks earlier in Channel 4's Queer as Folk. As I paid, I was given the bill on a saucer with a mini bar of dairy milk (these seemed like opulence gone mad to the Lancashire lsd that I was) as a slightly rotund older man said words along the liens of "There's something to have a suck on, I bet a young lad like you would love to suck on other things". I was a slim, tanned, mildly cocky teen and as disturbed as I was, I also immediately wanted to go back to this magical space. It was a space that combined humour and wit with sexual tension. It was, and is a hunting ground of intense looks, subtle gestures and tantalising promise.

The important symbolic visit of a gay bar means that these spaces hold a special importance to us as gay men and women. Even today, there is something about crossing that threshold into queer space and feeling a sense of belonging, of community. When it is attacked, we are attacked.

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation reported that Village venues: Churchills, View, Via, The REM Bar, and Tribeca all sustained damage. Olive Deli on Sackville Street was the victim of widespread damage and looting and the Probation Centre at the very top of Canal Street also had windows put through, whilst a burnt out shell of a van on was seen on Minshull Street Car Park opposite Essential night club.

Businesses were quickly back to normal and Bent magazine reports today that plans continue as normal for Pride alter this month.

Meanwhile, I have a suggestion for what the gay 'community' should produce the next time someone threatens our space. Check it out below...

Next in New HIV Poz Clothing Range?

Those of you who regularly follow me on Twitter, may have noticed I had something of a wardrobe malfunction yesterday. I was down in London doing some archive research and I'd packed a new shirt that I hadn't worn before. I put the shirt on only to find a stitching design on the front I hadn't noticed when I bought it (pictured right). The shirt had a biohazard logo on it - the symbol of choice for bugchasers, and part of HIV/AIDS iconography. It's choice for a clothing design seems a little odd. Although most people probably wouldn't think much about it (would you?) it's a top that could take on new significance in a gay sex club/sauna or a gay bar. I had accidentally bought what could be the UK high street's first Poz clothing item.

The shirt was from UK high street chain Next. it's a popular British brand and has over 550 stores across the UK - so there will be quite a diverse consumer base unwittingly walking around with this logo. it's slightly like those stories I seem to remember of tattoos or t-shirts in a foreign language that turn about to be stupid or plain offensive.

It's from the new Autumn/Winter collection and you can view/buy it from Next here.

Criminalize Hate, Not HIV

Many thanks to Matthew Weait (follow on twitter here) for alerting me to this excellent video. It's been produced by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) as part of their 'Criminalize Hate, not HIV' campaign, launched back in 2010.

In England and Wales, more than 10 cases have been prosecuted since 2002 under the Offences Against the Person Act, a 'catch-all' law from 1861, for grievous bodily harm. This film is a commentary from a selection of experts about the criminalisation of HIV transmission in England and Wales. It brings together a selection of policy makers, programmers, advocates, academics and people living with HIV to inform the public debate.

Abused Men In Scotland

A wonderful Scotland-based law & sexuality academic, Brian Dempsey, has embarked on a fundraising mission. Here's a brief note from him, I hope you'll lend your support:

As you may know I have been concerned about domestic abuse law and services for some time and have recently become involved with the support charity AMIS (Abused Men in Scotland). There’s a great group of volunteers who answer the phone and are building the service with next to no funding and no paid workers. You can see more about AMIS at http://www.abusedmeninscotland.org/

As my contribution I am trying to raise the finance to produce and distribute 10,000 information leaflets so that men who are being abused can find their way to the support that AMIS offers. Some of AMIS’s volunteers have experience of effective leaflet distribution with other groups so you can be assured that the information will be distributed effectively.

AMIS IS about supporting all men who are experiencing abuse, whether in a mixed-sex relationship or a same-sex relationship as well as their children, family and friends.
AMIS IS NOT about taking away services from women who experience abuse

If you felt able to help me support AMIS then please visit https://amis.workwithus.org/Fundraising/Donate.aspx?page=6772 and make a donation – every little helps (as some corporation might say) and please don’t forget the GiftAid option if that is relevant. And please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in the subject.

Event: SEXUAL CULTURES: THEORY, PRACTICE, RESEARCH

Readers may be interested in this forthcoming conference. I'm hoping to attend myself.

This conference, co-hosted by the Onscenity Research Network and the Schools of Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel University, will take place on April 20-22 2012 at Brunel University, London, UK.

http://www.onscenity.org/conf1/


Our keynote speakers are:


Martin Barker, Professor of Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University, UK

Violet Blue, blogger, columnist, sex educator, and author, US

Judith Halberstam, Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity and Gender Studies, University of Southern California, US

Katrien Jacobs, Associate Professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong

Fiona Patten, Australian Sex Party


The key themes of the conference are:


Sex and technology

Technologies of all kinds have been central to the ways in which sex is understood and experienced in contemporary societies. We are interested in papers that explore evolving technologies in the presentation of sex through print, photography, film and video to todays online and mobile media; the ways that technologies are increasingly integrated into everyday sex lives; the expansion of sex technologies in toy, doll, machine and robot manufacture, the marketing of drugs such as Viagra and cosmetic technologies such as body modification and genital surgery for enhancing sex; the expansion of sex work and recreation online; sex 2.0 practices, regimes and environments such as porn tubes, sex chat rooms and worlds like Second Life; and the shifting relations between bodies and machines in the present and in predictions of futuresex.


The regulation of sex

Papers in this strand of the conference will examine how sexuality and the ways in which it is represented are the focus of government policy and subject to various forms of regulation. In democratic societies, sexuality is generally thought to be the domain of the private and personal, outside the ambit of the law whose function in this sphere is simply to maintain public decency. Yet vast amounts of institutional effort and resources are invested in what has come to be called moral regulation, in which self-governance and moral discourse are generally preferred to coercive forms of regulation. At the same time, governments continue to make certain forms of sexual practice and representation illegal. What are the limits of the legally possible today, both in terms of sexual behaviour and representation, and what are the various means employed to encourage us to behave properly in the sexual domain?


Working sex

In recent years sex work has become a potent site for the discussion of labour, commerce and sexual ethics, attracting increased academic attention and public concern. Papers in this strand of the conference will seek to develop our understanding of commercial sex, focus on conceptualizing emerging types of sexual labour, and explore the place of sex work of all kinds in contemporary society. They will ask how an investigation of contemporary forms of sex work and sex as work may shed new light on the study of cultural production, industry, commerce, and notions of commodification and labour. We are also seeking papers which are interested in exploring the connections between work and leisure, work and pleasure, sex work as forms of body and affective labour, and the ethics and politics of sexual labour.


Researching everyday sex

Research into sexuality can often be caught in a politics of anxiety where it is constructed as something that needs to be managed, protected and even guarded against. Sexuality is also understood as absolutely intrinsic to our sense of identity, an important indicator of mental and emotional health and a form of intimate communication and individual fulfillment, as well as an important site of pleasure and play. Papers in this strand of the conference will take as their focus the diverse sexual identities, practices, representations, values and experiences that make up the mundane and spectacular elements of everyday sexual life. We seek papers that examine the politics and/or ethics of researching everyday sexualities, as well as the lived realities of sex in the quotidian.


We invite proposals for the following:

Panels and roundtable discussions of up to four speakers

Papers (20 minutes)

Short Ignite papers (5 minutes/20 slides)

Posters


Deadline for the submission of proposals is October 31 2011.


For all individual papers please submit a 150 word abstract and 150 word biographical note.

Please indicate which key theme of the conference your paper belongs to.


For panels and roundtable sessions please submit a 600-800 overview and set of abstracts with 150 word biographical notes.

Please indicate which key theme of the conference your paper belongs to.


Please submit your proposals to conference@onscenity.org


Onscenity is funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council and draws together international experts in order to respond to the new visibility or onscenity of sex in commerce, culture and everyday life. The network is committed to working towards developing new approaches to the relationships between sex, commerce, media and technology. Drawing on the work of leading scholars from around the world, it aims to map a transformed landscape of sexual practices and co-ordinate a new wave of research.

Event: St. Mary’s Centre 10th Annual Conference

Readers may be interested in the forthcoming event:

The St. Mary’s Centre 10th Annual Conference is taking place at Manchester Town Hall on the 23rd and 24th February 2012.

The theme will be Sexual Exploitation: Protecting the Vulnerable.

St. Mary’s Centre was the first sexual assault referral centre in the UK and our conferences have become key annual events for the discussion of new ideas, and a forum for networking within the growing sexual assault aftercare community.

The conference will be addressing a number of issues, including looking at the extent of the problem; prosecuting sexual exploitation cases; protecting young children – child trafficking/exploitation and sexual exploitation among the elderly.

There will be a number of workshops and master classes, including court room skills and surviving cross-examination; successful approaches to tackling sexual exploitation; the challenges of working with children and young people and the latest forensic examination techniques.

It is aimed at, amongst others, social care providers, police, doctors, nurses, counsellors, the legal profession, the third sector and forensic physicians.

Speakers include:

Tim Loughton, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor, Greater Manchester
Dr. George Fernie, President of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (FFLM)
Mary Newton, Former Senior Scientist, Forensic Science Service
Dr. Bernadette Butler, Associate Specialist / Sexual Offences Examiner, The Haven, Camberwell

A detailed programme will soon be available online at www.stmaryscentre.org

Finally, if you register your place by the 31st October, you will ensure an early bird booking fee!

The T-Shirt Row

What silliness! Pink News reports that CJ de Mooi, 'star' (if that's the word) of BBC 2′s Eggheads, has revealed that he was banned from presenting prizes to the winners of the British Chess Championship because he was wearing a Stonewall ‘Some people are gay. Get over it’ T-shirt.

My reaction was 'and?'. Had I been running the chess competition I would have done exactly the same, just as I would have done if someone was wearing a t-shirt about race, disability, religion, a political party or any other politicised slogan. It's not a political event and the message detracted from what it was about. It's not homophobia and getting carried away with silly incidents like this merely serves to diminish real homophobia. Get a grip folks.