SlutWalk 2012

SlutWalk London 2012 will be taking place on Saturday 22nd September 2012, meet 12.30pm at Top of Piccadilly (near Hyde Park Corner).

The protest received wide-spread media coverage last year and represents an important public statement about rape - and tackles conceptions of people 'asking for it' when it comes to rape.  Put simply, Slutwalk is the radical notion that nobody deserves to be raped.

Campaigners describe on their website the background to the campaign:  'On 24th January 2011, a Toronto policeman told a group of law students that in order to avoid being raped ‘women should avoid dressing like sluts’. This sparked outrage around the globe, with sluts and allies from Chicago to Amsterdam standing up and saying that we have had ENOUGH of being victimised and labelled, speaking out for freedom, equality and fun and saying that nobody gets to tell us how to be women...We believe that rape is always the fault of the rapist, never the survivor. And until that attitude is held globally, we will continue to speak up.'

Read more and find out about the campaign here.

Bring On the Anal, Take off the Condoms...GMFA Porn Survey

Sexual health campaigners GMFA are really making an impact with the latest issue of their magazine.  As Pink News reports,  a survey of over 1,000 gay men by sexual health charity GMFA suggests just under 7 percent believe they were led to having unprotected sex after watching bareback pornography, but more than half thought it led others to do the same. 98 percent of the respondents said they watched porn.

The magazine makes the following summary of their findings:

You lot are a horny bunch.

You LOVE watching anal and oral sex.

Muscle guys turn you on the most.

A good chunk of you like to watch bareback porn but do not think it affects your sex decisions.

But you think younger guys and people with less intelligence copy what they see in porn. l 7% of you say watching bareback porn has led you to taking risks.

Some of you like to put yourself in front of the camera.

And some of you have put this stuff on the internet (links please?).

9% of you have had videos uploaded to the internet without your consent.

You like lots of different porn stars but a lot of you wouldn’t date one.

You wouldn’t care if someone you were dating did porn in the past.

You don’t care if a mate has done porn - and the majority of you would be happy to watch them.

The summary points are a little biased.  A 'good chunk of you like to watch bareback' suggests what? 20%, 30%?  The figure in the study is 95.8% so saying 'almost all' seems a fairer description.

Interestingly, the magazine also made use of bareback voices in the form of porn filmmaker, Liam Cole, of Treasure Island Media who commented that;  “If you can find true pleasure in condoms themselves, and record that honestly, the viewer will recognise that authenticity...but an artificial ‘sexing up’ is only going to fool the most gullible people.” “I don’t believe they need to be ‘sexed up’,” adds English Lads’ Nick Baker. “We just make them part of the scene from putting them on to removing them.”

So Cole prima facie appears to accept a role for condom porn  - as documenting 'authentic' sex.  However, given this kind of sex is rarely seen as 'authentic', it's pretty hard to imagine 'authentic' condom porn, as it pre-supposes pleasure and desire which - for some - is hard to equate with condoms.   Although  - as you would expect - the piece does maintain a safe sex emphasis, it is perhaps the comments of Cole which are most supported by this survey.

FS magazine can be downloaded for free from the GMFA website here.

CAAN Rides Again

I'm delighted to say that the Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN) is back, reinvigorated and energised.  I'm not involved in the group, but do support their mission.

CAAN works to campaign for sexual freedom, with a simple mission statement:

“We believe in the right of consenting adults to make their own sexual choices, in respect of what they do, see and enjoy alone or with other consenting adults, unhindered and unfettered by government.” 

“We believe that it is not the business of government to intrude into the sex lives of consenting adults.”

If that's something you agree with, sign up here.  Don't think somebody else will protect your sexual freedom, they need your support.  You can sign to say you support that statement here.

They've also published a new newsletter with some interesting updates on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act and look at the various socio-legal sexuality stories currently in debate.  A must-read for anyone interested in law and sexuality.  You can view/download the new newsletter here.

OUT4MARRIAGE

I always tend to be suspicious of 'pack mentality' initiatives, typically trendy projects that everybody piles in on and serve as nothing more than the most ephemeral worthy event, soothing the egos of celebrities and 'ordinary' members of the public alike.  Sometimes however, I've just got to get over my own cynical streak and get involved.

So it is with the Out4Marriage campaign, a campaign that Pink News is promoting with gusto.  Unsurprising, given that the project was conceived by PinkNews.co.uk founder Benjamin Cohen and Mike Buonaiuto, the director of the Coalition for Equal Marriage viral video.  Inspired by the 'It Gets Better' Campaign, the idea is that individuals record videos of themselves coming out for marriage, explaining why they are supporting a change in English law and always ending with the same phrase.

I've previously expressed my view that same-sex marriage is politically inevitable in English law and it remains my view.  However, there is a always the possibility that in an apparent silence from the pro same-sex marriage lobby, we might concede an open goal.  Moreover, the historical narrative will suggest that there was no great demand for same-sex marriage - that it was merely an example of political expediency by the Coalition government of 2010-2015.   This campaign suggests otherwise.

I'm also incredibly conscious that I'm uncomfortable with marriage and whilst some queer theorists reject the die oaf marriage full stop, I disagree with that strand of Queer Theorists, accepting instead a fluidity which allows a range of social and legal partnerships to emerge.  Anyway, the other week I had a go at making a video for the campaign.  The end result is below.  It's rather hideous but I tried.  I hope you'll think about recording one too.



Check out their website here.

Benjamin Cohen: It Gets Better

Channel 4 correspondent and Pink news founder, Benjamin Cohen has produced a nice little video as part of the It Gets Better Project in which he talks about being gay and Jewish (not to be confused with the straight, rugby playing, anti-bullying campaigner and homo pin up  - Ben Cohen).

I know these videos have attracted some criticism from within the LGBTQ 'community' for simplifying things, for suggesting that things 'get better' when perhaps they don't but I think the message is an important one - and you can explain that things can remain complex but also that they do get better.  The message is simply one of hope, and heaven knows we all need that in our darkest moments.

Check out the lovely Benjamin below (and watch out for Krishnan bobbing around in the background):

LA Condom Measures

By now, many of you will be aware of the news last week from LA regarding new rules on the use of condoms in the production of porn films.  I'm knocking together a piece for elsewhere so forgive me for not commenting further than my previous posts (see this and this, and also this).  However, you can read more about the latest developments here on LA Weekly and also this piece from the wonderful Katherine Sansom.

A Legal Year in Review

With the festive season upon us, and the year coming to a close it is perhaps inevitable to look back on the last twelve months. The big story has been partnership rights and marriage rights as the Coalition Government looked to focus the social policy agenda on 'families' in the wake of austerity at home, a global economic crisis and riots on the streets. The UK took steps towards same-sex marriage and this time next year it should be on the statute book. We'll then know what that means for civil partnerships and the ongoing legal action from the Equal Love Campaign. As I argued in the Huffington Post earlier in the year, this shift is in line with conservative thinking and presents some interesting questions for conservatives in the States. Yesterday saw the sixth anniversary for civil partnerships but we still don't know if those who are in civil partnerships today, will be this time next year and whether other people will have access to those rights. More than 46,000 civil partnerships have been held since the December 2005, with 18,049 of those taking place in the first year. How this area pans out in English law will be a key issue of law and sexuality in 2012.

In the US, as Obama sinks in opinions polls -and looks to an election in 2012 that he looks set to win not because of his skills at governing but because the GOP candidates look unelectable, his law and sexuality policy win has been the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Although signed this time last year, it's now been in force and is changing lives. NBC's Nightly News included a great feature last night on life in the armed forces post DADT. I've pasted it in below. The long term implications of the repeal will be to contribute to a cultural change in America enabling further progressive measures to pass. The problematic question for Obama is 'what now?' as US lobbying groups inevitably sharpen their political knives over the issue of same-sex marriage and the Perry case continues to progress (with the reassuringly legal pace of a snail) through the US courts.

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Some People Are Gay...in Prison?

Feltham Young Offenders Institute appears to be in some hot water according to Pink News. They report that Prison staff at the Feltham Young Offenders Institute refused official recommendations to display positive images of gay and bisexual relationships to inmates, according to a report released today.

They don't include a link to the full report but it can be viewed here.   The report seems more positive on equalities than the picture painted by the Pink News Story.  Of greater concern for me was that young people didn't always have access to free telephone calls to their legal representatives but they did have relevant legal books in the library.  Seriously folks?  That's adequate for the demography likely to be needing advice?  (let alone a breach of legal rights).  

Anyhow, the fact prison officers resisted the display of the posters is disheartening but I suspect it came from a culture in which such posters  -it was specifically the Stonewall posters - might have led to increased bullying etc.  Feltham does, the report indicates, have issues with gangs to the extent of riots and in that environment the prison officers might think the Stonewall posters are inappropriate - for a host of reasons.  It doesn't necessarily indicate homophobia on their part.  I'd rather the posters were up, but this seems an area that the Inspectorate should have probed more, and groups such as the Howard League for Penal Reform should be less quick to condemn (as they do in the Pink News piece).

The report points to positive treatment of one trans inmate, stating:

'A transgender young person who arrived during the inspection was interviewed on the day of his arrival by the liaison officer to assess and address his needs. He was placed on a unit with a higher than average staffing level to address his support needs. Staff told us that they had previously put in place a programme of support for transgender young people, including the opportunity to wear suitable clothing for their preferred gender.'

On sexualities, the report concludes that:

'Some impressive work had been undertaken to support gay and bisexual young people and to raise awareness of issues among young people and staff.'

Hardly condemnation.  The report and the Pink News story point to the presence of a group - PRIDE - as a positive sign but many years of report writing made me question thesis action.  The report writes (and this bit is repeated in the Pink News report):

'A support group for gay young people, PRIDE, had been established which met whenever there were young people who wanted to attend it. All young people were told about it on induction, which provided an opportunity for young people to offer information about their sexual orientation if they wished.'

So, how often has it met? How many people attend? What do they do? How useful did people find it.  As currently phrased, this sounds like something that exists on paper but not in practical reality.

Read the full Pink news story here.