I saw this image all over Facebook and Twitter. If anyone know who to credit it to send me an email.

Posted by Vixen as News, Activism at 11:38 PM CST

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It’s that time of year again-Buy Nothing Day! This really is one of the easiest holidays to celebrate. Just relax-no stress, no shopping, no fighting fellow customers for the “hot toy of the year”.

From Adbusters:
Buy Nothing Day/#occupyxmas
“This year’s Black Friday will be the first campaign of the holiday season where we set the tone for a new type of holiday culminating with #OCCUPYXMAS. As the global protests of the 99% against corporate greed and casino capitalism continues, lets take the opportunity to hit the empire where it really hurts…the wallet.

On Nov 25/26th we escape the mayhem and unease of the biggest shopping day in North America and put the breaks on rabid consumerism for 24 hours. Flash mobs, consumer fasts, mall sit-ins, community events, credit card-ups, whirly-marts and jams, jams, jams! We don’t camp on the sidewalk for a reduced price tag on a flat screen TV or psycho-killer video game. Instead, we occupy the very paradigm that is fueling our eco, social and political decline.

Historically, Buy Nothing Day has been about fasting from hyper consumerism – a break from the cash register and reflecting on how dependent we really are on conspicuous consumption. On this 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, we take it to the next level, marrying it with the message of #occupy…

We #OCCUPYXMAS.

Shenanigans begin November 25!”

Occupy Xmas? I like it! Some people are saying no gifts which I’ve advocated for years. Others are saying buy gifts from small, local businesses. Or try Etsy if you can’t find something locally-there’s tons of indie sellers there.

Posted by Vixen as Activism at 10:34 PM CST

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From Women With A Vision:
December 2nd: Save the Date! Summit on Sex Work in the South
“On December 2nd, 2011, Women With A Vision is joining forces with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, Asheville Sex Worker Outreach Project, Sex Workers Without Borders, North Carolina Sex Workers Alliance and Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) to host the first regional Summit on Sex Work in the South. Attendees include the awesome Human Rights Watch and other national allies.

We will be discussing sex work in the South, human rights & sex work, the negative public health & criminal justice effects of criminalization of condoms, advocacy for sex worker related issues, risk reduction for sex workers, drug use & sex work, bad date reporting and more!”

If I were in the area I think I’d go to this.

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From Self Served:
Haystacks, Fucking, and Needles: Is Sex Work a Cop-out?
“Let’s talk about the world’s oldest profession. In my experience, the societal view of sex work claims it’s easy. Women and men who choose sex work, our culture tells us, are throwing away their education, or should go make something better of themselves, because exchanging sex or sexuality for money is a drag on society, morally corrupt, and a waste of one’s talents. For this blog, we’re going to examine the last stereotype—that being a sex worker wastes a person’s talents because it is easy. The implied idea in this stereotype whispers: “You’re such a smart/pretty/talented/capable girl; you come from such a good family/religion/socio-economic status; why are you doing this?”

I don’t know that I can argue that being a sex worker is easy, even for the sake of argument. I do know that not everyone can do it.”

My friend Sera Miles is blogging over at Self Served, a hip sex store in New Mexico that gives a discount to sex workers. In this post he writes about traits sex workers need to have to do well in the industry. It’s a good read.

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Found via Tits and Sass:
Why are sex workers and their allies occupying Wall Street?
“In the last four weeks, many have been wondering what has driven people to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and bring attention to the economic situation that has developed in our country. Critics have argued that so many issues are being discussed and that so many disparate groups have joined forces, that the occupation has no cohesive message, purpose, or goals. As our group of sex workers and allies stood in solidarity with our fellow revolutionaries Wednesday, October 5th at the rally at Foley Square in New York, it was apparent that we were included in that critique or question. What were we doing there? What was our purpose? What was our message? And how do sex workers’ rights connect to the larger OWS movement?

Those of us who were there, or who are active in the sex workers’ rights movement generally, have no doubt about how we fit within OWS and how OWS fits within our movement. United, in solidarity, with everyone coming together in Zuccotti Park and in all the plazas nationwide, we can bring about greater change. After the rally, we decided to highlight the points that bring together our intersecting movements and realities.”

Yes, yes and yes. This post is from last month but is still a good read. I wholeheartedly agree with it!

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From SWAAY:
Sex Workers’ Rights Activists Step Up Public Education Campaign with a Controversial Mobile Billboard in Los Angeles
“After being rejected by every billboard company in Los Angeles, the sex workers’ rights project SWAAY (Sex Work Activists, Allies, and You) has launched their public awareness campaign with a mobile billboard, which will be running for eight days between November 1 and November 9, 2011.

SWAAY’s text-only billboard reads, “Sex worker: a person who consensually exchanges their own sexual labor or sexual performance for compensation. Sex work is not the same as forced sex trafficking or sex slavery. Learn about the people and facts behind sex work at SWAAY.org.” Any variation of the group’s message was banned by Clear Channel, CBS, Lamar, Regency, Van Wagner, Avant Outdoor, LA Transit Authority, and Outdoor Solutions, but was finally picked up by a mobile billboard company.

The sex workers’ rights billboard was paid for by 115 supporters on EpicStep.com, a Kickstarter-like website that allows grassroots activist groups to crowdsource the funding of a media campaign. Previous billboards successfully launched through Epic Step include messages in support of WikiLeaks and accused war crimes whistle-blower Bradley Manning.”

While a billboard would have been awesome I’m glad SWAAY got the mobile billboard as a backup. It’s so nutty that the simple definition of a sex worker is considered controversial. Let’s hope this campaign gets bigger and goes nationwide.

Posted by Vixen as News, Sex Workers at 11:59 PM CST

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“It’s like I’m young again.”
-new client

Posted by Vixen as Quote Book at 12:05 PM CST

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Mr. Radical and I closed our Wells Fargo account today. Yes, Move Your Money Day was last Saturday. But it’s better to be late to the party than not go at all right?

We had pulled out most of the cash via ATM machine before Move Your Money Day. We went in today and were greeted immediately with a hello, how are you doing and a how can I help you. This is significant because this has never happened before with Wells Fargo. We’ve even been to this same branch before and were ignored until we were next in line.

I put on a cheerful smile and after returning the greeting said we were here to close our account. The teller’s smile went away but he was still polite. He pointed us over to another bank personnel. We were about to sit and wait when she called us over. Again this is significant because in the past we always had to sit and wait awhile before being seen.

We told her why we were there and she set about closing our account immediately. She didn’t ask why were wanted to close it or if there was anything she could do to persuade us to keep it open. She gave us a slip to take back to the teller to get the $39 left in the account.

All told it took us about five minutes to close it down. No hassle whatsoever. As we were leaving Mr. Radical commented that they seemed to have streamlined the closing of accounts. I think he’s right. It was incredibly smooth and easy to do.

At my small, independent bank this week I told the teller (who always greets me and knows my name) that we were closing out our Wells Fargo account for Move Your Money Day. He told me the bank had gotten a lot of new accounts from it. Woot!

Posted by Vixen as Activism at 11:06 PM CST

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Recently I had the pleasure Cameryn Moore’s two plays Phone Whore and Slut (r)evolution. Since I saw them both in one night I’m combining them into one post. I first blogged about Phone Whore here.

Phone Whore

I was particularly excited to see Phone Whore. A play all about what I do-yay! The audience was small and the stage was sparse. I don’t know if this is the case in all of Moore’s performances but she performed so close to us that I felt like I could reach out and grab the phone from her. This gave an immediate intimacy to the performance.

The play starts with the phone ringing and Moore offstage. She speeds in, grabs the phone and talks to the dispatcher. And then bam-the audience is experiencing her side of of phone sex call. After the phone call Moore breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. This gave the whole play such strength. Since sex work is something that’s “hidden” to many people this dialog made a connection with the viewers.

Phone Whore’s tag line is “a one-act play with frequent interruptions”. And there are lots of interruptions. She’ll talk for a bit, sometimes about herself, the callers, sex work in general, and then the phone will ring and she’ll go on a call. This is an accurate portrayal of the work. My friends are used to me talking to them on the phone and then suddenly saying “I gotta go” when a call comes in.

Moore talks about her callers with compassion. She may poke fun at some of her clients but she also cares about them. She sees herself as an outlet where men can express their hidden desires in a judgement free space. I totally relate to that.

In one instance Moore is working on an art project. Later after the show my friend Kelli remarked, “how many of us do sex work to fund our art”? How true. So many of my sex worker friends, including myself, are artists.

There were a few surprises with how Moore did her calls. She didn’t use a headset. I started off without one but that quickly changed. I find a headset essential to doing calls. While she’s working on an art project her phone rings. She stops working on the project and sits in her work chair to do the call. I wasn’t expecting that. I love working on art while on calls; it helps me relax and focus on the fantasy. Another time she is making a snack and the phone rings. While talking to the client she looks longingly at her quickly getting cold food. Normally I don’t eat on calls but if I’m hungry I utilize my mute button and eat anyway. (I blogged about eating on calls here.)

The play was funny. As a PSO myself I laughed hard at some of her sex work jokes. She refers to the abundance of BBC calls-big black cocks. I often joke if I was back in college I’d write my thesis on the middle-aged, married, heterosexual male’s obsession with big black cocks.

As the phone rang one time Moore turned to the audience and says “you’re going to wish I would have signed off instead” before starting the call. I got excited. We were going to get a sick roller coaster ride of a call.

It turned out to be an incest call. At the time I felt disappointed. Incest? That’s easy. I can do complex lace knitting while doing an incest fantasy. But after the play my friend Kelli put it into perspective by commenting “wow that incest call was really hard to listen to”. As soon as she said that I appreciated that part in the play. For most people that scene is probably hard to sit through. I know a few PSOs that refuse to do that fantasy. I’ve been doing phone sex for nine years now-of course it was easy for me to hear that.

After the play Moore held a Q&A with the audience. This was a great idea. It gave non sex workers to engage with her. I’m sure many people haven’t knowingly talked with a sex worker. Remember we walk amongst you. ; ) The Q&A increased the intimacy of the performance and stirred up an interesting dialog.

Slut (r)evolution

After an intermission Moore performed Slut (r)evolution. I’m not a slut myself but I certainly am supportive of my slut friends. If that’s your kink I say go for it! So I went into this play with curiosity. What would her perspective be like?

The play’s tag line is “no one get there overnight”. Indeed the play shows her evolving into the proud slut that Moore is today. She again breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. This works well for one person plays I think. Again, it created an intimacy between performer and audience.

Moore switches up the timeline. The first scene is her as a college aged woman. A scene of her as a girl appears in the middle of the play. Like Phone Whore, Slut (r)evolution shows Moore having conversations with unseen companions and then addressing the audience. This didn’t work as well for the play I thought. There is a scene where she is playing with a fellow kinkster at a play party and another where at Burning Man that I felt would have been enhanced with another actor. The scene with the white sheet portrays her as a young girl finding an erotic passage in a book. That scene felt the strongest to me.

Again there were several moments that were laugh out loud funny. Moore is a funny person. The ending surprised me. It wasn’t the context per se-it’s more that I didn’t realize it was the last bit until it ended. Unfortunately she didn’t do a Q&A after this play. That was a disappointment. I so enjoyed the one for Phone Whore that I was hoping for a repeat for Slut (r)evolution.

If Cameryn Moore is visiting your town I recommend seeing her. You can check out her travel schedule here.

Posted by Vixen as Reviews, Sex Workers at 9:07 PM CST

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From this gallery.

Posted by Vixen as Sexy Sensations at 10:43 PM CDT

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So I’ll admit to getting totally sucked into Occupy Wallstreet news. For days I’ve been getting all my news through Twitter hashtags. When a friend asked why I still hadn’t responded to her email from last week I had to admit my inbox and blog were sorely neglected.

I’ll be back to blogging soon but in the meantime here’s two funny videos:
Stephen Colbert’s Plot to Co-opt Occupy Wall Street Foiled by Ketchup and Justin

Posted by Vixen as Musings at 11:12 PM CDT

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