San Francisco Best Sex Writing 2008 reading tonight and MUST READ "Ugly Violet" column

Best Sex Writing 2008 Reading
Thursday, March 27, 7 pm
Best Sex Writing 2008 features the best writing from across the sexual spectrum. Hear contributors talk about sex in academia, mainstream porn reporting, hiring a professional submissive, sexual abuse and butch/femme, circumcision, and working in the field of sex. Hosted by Carol Queen, with contributors Amy Andre ("The Study of Sex"), Violet Blue ("Kink.com and Porn Hysteria"), Jen Cross ("Surface Tensions"), Paul Festa ("How Insensitive"), and Melissa Gira ("The Pink Ghetto"). Read more about the book and interviews with contributors at http://bestsexwriting2008.wordpress.com
At the Center for Sex and Culture (http://www.sexandculture.org), 1519 Mission St. (between 11th and South Van Ness), San Francisco
Free (donation requested)




I interviewed the amazing Violet Blue for the Best Sex Writing 2008 blog. Also, you MUST read her latest San Francisco Chronicle column "Ugly Violet," about how women are treated (and denigrated and sexualized and all that bullshit) online. It's brilliant.

What prompted your piece "Kink.com and Porn Hysteria: The Lie of Unbiased Reporting?" I know you were reacting to articles about Kink.com specifically, but how long had you been noticing this trend of unbiased reporting?

I write for the SF Chronicle; I'm their sex columnist. and on the same day my column ran "Open Source Sex" I had an interview with sex-positive alt porn director Eon McKai up. it was a great interview that showed the breaking down of porn's redundant gender and physical stereotypes, the sex-positivity and inclusiveness of modern sex attitudes into the mainstream (which had been going on for a while, I was just drawing attention to the newest wave of it). porn from the POV of the makers, not the critics who don't know what's really going on. that week, local BDSM empire (and all-inclusive, sex-positive, politically minded local porn company) Kink.com had purchased the SF Armory for its new studio location. the Chron's website bumped my column to the bottom of the page and ran a totally anti-porn, completely biased piece about a staged "protest" in front of the Armory -- many have said that even the number of protesters stated in the piece was incorrect and more than the few who showed up. the website showed photos of Kink employees who were there to wash the building and called them "protesters" (though later corrected their mistakes).

the piece was so anti-porn, and especially anti-kink, I saw red. especially since Kink is one of the most incredible places to work -- they threat their employees better than any company I've seen (except for Google), the performers are treated with respect, paid really well, have hair and makeup people and are regarded as Olympic athletes. the cleanliness standards should be envied by every restaurant in San Francisco and copied by every porn company in the world. and the owner's mission is to demystify kinky sex, normalize it, and make the world a better place for all sexual outsiders for doing do. the Chron's hit piece disgusted me, the rest of mainstream media predictably followed suit, and I wrote a powerful response.

Read the whole interview