- Right-wing feminists, which the Guardian have uncritically platformed for over a decade, have harassed a trans-positive erotic film fest. “Faced with the prospect of a picket, organisers of the London porn film festival, which describes itself as “celebrating queer, feminist, radical and experimental porn”, pulled screenings from the Horse Hospital, an arts venue in Bloomsbury. The three-day event will instead be held at a new location disclosed only to ticket holders. Janice Williams, chair of the activist group Object, said the films on show promoted “degradation and oppression”. Rude Jude, one of the festival’s organisers, disagreed. “This is the next step on from the moral panic and the rightwing conservative groups that protested this kind of thing before.””
* London porn festival goes into hiding after feminist protests (Guardian)
- “The profile is almost complete, set to be published in the May 3 issue of the newspaper, which is led by an all-female editorial board. The piece charts the student’s path into the porn industry, including a fallout with her parents that led her to leave home last year. It humanizes her, said Bailey, a 17-year-old junior … Now, however, the story is encountering resistance from school administrators. The officials are threatening to dismiss the newspaper’s faculty adviser, who was recently named educator of the year by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, if she doesn’t submit the article to them for prior review.”
* A story on a teen porn worker could cost a California high school journalism teacher her job (Mercury News)
- A lot of people have wanted to talk to me about Arya’s sex scene. It really surprised people, made some uncomfortable. Others saw something they felt was very important. I think this is the best article on the subject. “In the second episode of season eight of “Game of Thrones,” we are reminded that young Arya Stark isn’t just a killer of all those who have harmed her family. She’s also a young woman with a crush — on her friend Gendry — who has a chance to act on it before what she assumes will be her death. The show has been foreshadowing that relationship since an infamous scene in episode five of season two, when a then-underage Arya stole peeks at Gendry’s bare chest.”
* What Arya’s sex scene in “Game of Thrones” got right about young women and sex (NBC News)
- “[Three] briefs were filed in support of the federal government’s pro-FOSTA position in the “Woodhull Freedom Foundation v. United States” case currently being heard at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. These groups argued that “any inadvertent ‘chilling’ effects on speech can be remedied through education regarding what the law does and does not do” … The government’s filing of their position last week did not focus on the constitutional issues arising from FOSTA’s deliberately overreaching, ambiguously worded provisions, but instead challenged the legal standing of the plaintiffs to bring forth the lawsuit.”
* New Amicus Briefs in FOSTA Appeal Highlight Ideological Split (XBIZ)
See also: Sex website shuts down in U.S., blaming ‘dumb’ trafficking laws (Mercury News)
- “You’ve probably heard of the idea of a queer “scene,” perhaps most often from people who don’t care for it. But what, exactly, is this scene? Who’s a part of it? Who isn’t? Who decides? Is there more than one? What happens when a scene evolves—or when it doesn’t? These are the questions we’ve gathered a group of writers to consider for an Outward special issue on “the Scene” in LGBTQ life today.”
* “Leather” Usually Conjures Images of Butch Gay Men. But a Gender-Inclusive Scene in L.A. Is Creating Its Own Kinky Magic. (Slate)
- “Many have suspected that Sony was implementing strict rules on sexual content in PS4 games, and those hunches have just been validated. The company confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it created its own guidelines for sexual material in games, overriding rating systems like the ESRB’s and PEGI’s. The move will help developers “offer well-balanced content” that doesn’t “inhibit the sound growth and development” of young people, according to a spokeswoman. She didn’t outline the rules or say when they took effect.”
* Sony clamps down on sexual content in PS4 games (Engadget)
- It is my belief that Instagram permits this harassment of women on its service because they are essentially doing Instagram’s own work. “Omid has claimed responsibility for shutting down several dozen performers’ [Instagram] accounts—providing evidence in the form of screenshots of the messages he’s allegedly received from Instagram. “Thanks for reporting this account,” reads one such screenshot. “We’ve removed it from Instagram because it violated our Community Guidelines.” Often, he accompanies these tweet with hashtags like “#no_porn,” “#no_porn_on_IG,” and “#no_pornstar_on_IG.””
* A Troll’s Alleged Attempt to Purge Porn Performers from Instagram (Jezebel)
- “Reddit announced that it has ‘updated’ its NSFW advertising policy. In news that will frankly surprise no one by now, ‘updating’ means ‘getting rid of adult content.’ Adult ads will no longer be allowed on Reddit – porn ads, sex toys, you name it – and NSFW subreddits will no longer display advertising at all. Interestingly, though, Viagra ads will still be permitted – Reddit appears to be telling us that Viagra is good, but sex toys are shameful.”
* Reddit NSFW ads: Viagra is good, sex toys are shameful (Girl on the Net)
See also: Reddit Bans ‘Adult-Oriented’ Ads (XBIZ)
- “So, what exactly is sex work? Not all sex workers engage in penetrative sex, though, undeniably, that is a big part of sex work. Sex-worker services between consenting adults may include companionship, intimacy, nonsexual role playing, dancing, escorting, and stripping. These roles are often pre-determined, and all parties should be comfortable with them. Many workers take on multiple roles with their clients, and some may get more physical while other interactions that may have started off as sexual could evolve into emotional and psychological bonding.”
* Why Sex Work Is Real Work (Teen Vogue)
- “In 1996 — when I was in third grade and hitting puberty like a brick wall — President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act and ushered in the beginning of the abstinence-only sex education era. President Bush doubled down on abstinence-only policies; in 2006 — when I was, thankfully, already a high school graduate — he explicitly forbade educators who received federal funding from talking about condoms and other contraceptives.”
* What Sex Education Looked Like In The ‘90s Versus Today (Bustle)
Main post image via: The Incredible Art Of Maciej Kuciara, Who’s Worked On The Last Of Us, Ghost In The Shell & Crysis (Design You Trust)
