Results tagged “sex work” from Uncivil Society
Facing pressure from state attorneys general, Craigslist has announced that it will no longer allow escorts to place ads for free. The company has responded to criticism that it would be profiting from sex by announcing that all the proceeds will go to charity.
Because as every professional do-gooder knows, giving the profits to charity makes everything OK.
I'd say more to say about this, but I have to go check out some property for my new social enterprise brothel!
UPDATE: Melissa Gira raises a key point about the ethics of charities accepting the money from these ads. Government crackdowns on sex work tend to have serious negative consequences for the health and safety of workers forced underground; enforcement efforts also tend to be discriminatory.
Should good causes benefit from harmful acts? The question is important, yet far less discussed than it should be, especially in social enterprise circles. Though occasionally it does bubble up, as in the EPA's recent decision to withdraw a proposal to allow cause marketing on pesticides.
I guess the issue is a lot more clear cut when we're dealing with insects and animals, as opposed to women who have sex with innocent men.
A Saatchi & Saatchi alum, Kate Roberts of YouthAids sells condoms & AIDS awareness like any consumer product: “You have to make something desirable, available, and affordable.â€
For another look at the marketing of AIDS awareness, check out Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores.
Tera Patrick's Mistress Couture runway show approaches the event horizon for do-gooding, sex and design.
The discussion of sex and charity ads over on Philanthropy.com raises the question of what constitutes an appropriate and effective integration of sex into cause marketing.
One that's been getting a bit of mixed attention is the "Declare Yourself" campaign, which features Jessica Alba in bondage.
The promoters call this "provocative." Critics call it "creepy." Me, I'm trying to figure out how, if Alba silenced herself, she managed to wrap that tape with her hands bound behind her back.
The NYC Sexbloggers Calendar is an example of a fundraising medium that aligns with the values of the multiple communities it serves--the sexbloggers who created it, the sexually themed blogosphere to whom it is targeted and the sex work charity that it benefits.
This eBay auction for the ASPCA raises several interesting questions, not least of which is whether the chosen beneficiary welcomes publicity from the sale of a dinner with a porn star. If the ASPCA is opposed to this, the use of the ASPCA logo provides a hook for taking it down.
But should the ASPCA protest? While some may find the association with a porn star unsavory, the fact is that porn stars, strippers and others in the biz are people too. They pay taxes, raise children, have hopes and dreams like everyone else. Is it more charitable to stigmatize people or to encourage them to join in a greater cause?
Finally for now, here's one aimed at promoting safe sex among teens. The message: condoms stop global warming, because by preventing babies from being born they reduce the number of folks hurting the environment.
Of course, you could use the same argument to promote abstinence or becoming a priest, let alone other forms of birth control that aren't as effective in preventing disease. But hey, the site is by kids for kids, so A-for-effort and all that!
Above: the Facebook page for Porno Bingo, a weekly New York gathering that "has raised nearly $70,000 for Manhattan based GLBT non profits." Will Clark World has more on Porno Bingo and other charity events.
Susannah Breslin links to the trailer for 9to5, a new documentary that provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the mundane reality of porn. What particularly caught my eye: the Health Care Foundation sign in the office of Dr. Sharon Mitchell.
2 seconds of research reveals that it's the logo of the AIM Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit that serves "the physical and emotional needs of sex workers and the people who work in the Adult Entertainment Industry."
Like many who watch porn, the nonprofit mainstream tends to act as if this type of organization does not exist, but its work is just as important--and just as inspirational--as raising money for children and puppies.
From the AVN photo gallery taken at the world record lapdance for charity at Scores Las Vegas. NSFW, probably.
It's easy to say that stuff like this isn't really charity or social enterprise, but if that's your opinion, why not? On what basis should folks draw the line?
Speaking of which, porn star Tera Patrick has promised that if she wins the 2008 Booble Girl of the Year contest, she'll donate the $5000 prize to breast cancer charity B.A.B.E. Anyone who wants to demonstrate the power of web 2.0 fundraising can vote at the decidedly NSFW porn search engine Booble.com.
Defending Freedom is a project of the Nevada Benefits Foundation. The aim: to raise money for charities that benefit U.S. troops and their families. The project's home page is chock-a-block with the values of the American heartland--tradition, family, civic association, a fundraiser with the Girl Scouts, a wristband touting prayer.
Not featured: this benefit in the city where the American heartland goes to play:
Scores Las Vegas will set the world record for most lap dances given during a single song this Monday night.
Scores is working in a charitable partnership with DefendingFreedom.org on the first-of-its-kind event that will feature hundreds of dancers from around the country. All proceeds from the world-record dance will be donated to various charitable organizations that aim to give back to those who have bravely served in the armed forces.
The night's festivities will be hosted by Nathan Burton of the Flamingo Hotel & Casino's "Nathan Burton Comedy Magic" and adult star Carmen Hart, who is the reigning Exotic Dancer national champion. Hart is also on the cover of the August issue of AVN magazine which explores the synergy between the gentlemen's club industry and the adult film industry.
Leveraging synergies--social enterprise at work!
Via Radar Online's Secrets of a Hipster Hooker:
One of the guys took a seat next to Heather and, after some small talk, disclosed that he had just left his wife. "I'm looking to spend my money," he said. He was fiddling with a cash clip stuffed with $100 bills. She accepted his business card and later Googled him. The man turned out to be a honcho at a major investment firm; the New York Times had profiled a charity he had started.
The next morning she called his office. "I got shaky when he answered," she recalls, "but when he figured out it was me, it was better." That night she went to his apartment in Trump Tower. "It was pretty straightforward. He offered me $3,000 to let him fuck me. I almost leaped on him."
Read the whole article for a rather colorful analogy to charitable fundraisers and a blurb for sex worker charity.
- A lawyer advises the adult industry that sexual harassment remains a live issue despite the nature of their work. Tip #2 is common advice--keep #s of employees below the Title VII threshold--but as a strategy I find it rather skeevy. My own focus: eliminating the illegal behavior in all organizations regardless of size.
- John DiBello calls for the San Diego Comic Con to announce a policy & reporting mechanism re sexually inappropriate behavior directed toward attendees. Some responses here. As you can guess from my post on the rape chic tees at SDCC, this is a matter on which I agree--again, not just to avoid a lawsuit, but because it's the right thing to do.
- Yes, the cake above is from a real office, via Cake Wrecks.
In her must-read expose' of the AIDS biz The Wisdom of Whores, epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani talks about the practice of "beating up" data in order to gain support for a cause. As Pisani explains, beating up data isn't straight-out lying; rather, it's all about presenting information in a way that creates the desired rhetorical effect, even to the point of creating possible if unproven statistics that persuade people to take the desired action.
Boinkology provides a provocative discussion of the beat-ups & design flaws in the above PSA from Chicago's Prostitution Alternatives Round Table.
Higher education has a muddled history with distance learning, with several high profile ventures flaming out. Maybe if we'd tried this . . .
Opening to the public this week: the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas. Its mission:
The Museum seeks to bridge the gap between that which is commercial and often misidentified as pornographic, with that which is aesthetic, often identified as folk, pop, and fine art through a common visual language.
AVN Media Network provides legal advice to budding porn webmasters. It's a lot like the sort of thing you'd hear in a b-school entrepreneurship class, except with shemales and Hot Bukkake Nuns.
NSFW, obviously. Just another reminder that behind the image of sex without consequences there's an all too mundane reality.
Speaking of which, this is as heartbreaking as this is poignant.
The latest of the Letters from Working Girls provides a revealing look at the subtle but significant re-branding of sex work as a social enterprise:
It has always seemed to me that it was more like being a therapist, albeit a very intimate one, than something dirty or immoral. . . . [I] got married, got divorced, and am now back in the business. I live in a very hip, alternative, new-agey mountain town, where being 50ish is not the kiss of death for a woman. I'm calling it "intimate touch for healing and well-being." I found I missed it. Also, I grow organic vegetables.
