DISQUS

Yaffa Cafe in the East Village is yummy!

Happy blogaversary! Here's to many more.

Not sure why my gravatar didn't show up in that last comment, but that's me.

And I will say too (shouldn't HAVE to be said, but all too often these assumptions are made, so I'll say it) that listening to sex workers means listening to ALL sex workers, whatever their experience. This includes women like Rebecca. Here voice should not be silenced, and neither should any other sex worker's. It's about acknowledging that sex workers are PEOPLE, and as such have a wide variety of experiences and there is not a one-size-fits-all profile of a sex worker - whether as victim, patriarchy-enabler, or whatever else.

No worries.

I doubt you'll become "that male feminist," Derek. :)

Here's some of what I've written about Jensen:

http://www.beingamberrhea.com/2007/12/12/degrad...

http://www.beingamberrhea.com/2007/11/28/should...

http://amber.tangerinecs.com/viewentry.php?entr...

And a sampling of Ren's thoughts:

http://renegadeevolution.blogspot.com/2006/11/w...

http://renegadeevolution.blogspot.com/search/la...

(I'm certain this will get stuck in the spam queue, because of all the links... hopefully you will see it!)

Oh god, no, not Robert Jensen... ugh... Derek, save yourself!

What Emily said. Great video!

I'm so sorry to hear you were mugged, Derek; that must have been scary. Glad to know you were not harmed.

First of all, I'm pretty sure 2-year-olds are too LITTLE to eat cake and ice cream. Or if not, they're just barely old enough.

Secondly, what the fuck ever! Cake and ice cream are awesome. My grandmother will be turning 83 in August, and she's had cake and icecream on every one of her birthdays. I plan to follow her lead!

It's all well and good to say "let it slide off you" or "let it bounce off you," but that's not always easy to practice. This shit can HURT, very DEEPLY.

Twanna, I don't know what to say other than I feel for you. I know how it feels when people shock you with their hang-ups when you least expect it. And it hurts 10x worse when it's someone you care deeply about and consider a major part of your life.

People can be assholes. I am not a patient person, and I don't understand it. I don't get what is so fucking weird and threatening and scary and "gross" about SEX for fuck's sake!! Grow the hell up, assholes, and stop taking your insecurities out on the rest of us.

Hugs, if you want 'em Twanna.

Why a zine as opposed to a blog? I've seen various people mention zines recently and wondered about it... I remember making zines in high school/college, but it seems so, well, late 90s now! Seems to me that blogs have taken away the need for zines, and also let you reach more people with less logistical effort. What do you think? Or are you saying you see the function of a zine as different from the function of your blog?

I wondered if Kanye had hemorrhoids because he stayed seated for so long

Well, the way to answer that is whether or not he was sitting on a donut pillow.

Although, to be fair, I have one of those at work and it's not for hemorrhoids - just sore ass.

I can think of reasons (excuses), but none of them are any good.

No?

I've grown to hate what I see as a dismissal of "just" sexism. Oh, it's JUST sexism, it's not THAT big of a deal.

Hi Derek,

Start here:

boundnotgagged.com

They have a wealth of important, vital content, as well as a very thorough blogroll down the left side.

Here are a few you should specifically check out:

sexinthepublicsquare.org
- in particular, the Sex Work, Trafficking, and Human Rights Forum: http://sexinthepublicsquare.org/forum/sex-work-...

sexwork101.com

redlightdistrictchicago.com

www.spreadmagazine.org/blog

Derek, I wouldn't take those "facts" at face value, if I were you. I hope that in your feminist blog reading you've encountered some of the wonderful sex workers' rights activism blogs, and can see why most of those "facts" are problematic at best and damaging at worst.

That happened to me a few years back, and I was freaked out for a while. Now my mom says she doesn't read my blog because it's "too personal." I think this is hilarious... if she doesn't read it, how does she know it's "too personal?" She also always seems to send emails inquiring about how I am and urging me to see a doctor, at particularly coincidental times... like when I was blogging about having a lot of headaches one weekend.

Okay Michael, now you're being snarky to me, and that really was not necessary. I read the post and all the comments. I didn't mean "gripe" as a dismissive term, either. I gripe about stuff all the time! To me the word doesn't imply that the thing being discussed is minor or unimportant.

Anyway I guess I missed some backstory. I didn't read Justin's post. And honestly, Michael, I am getting a bit of a "holier than thou" vibe from some of your comments. If I'm reading it wrong then apologies.

Amber: Even so, the people you mention are probably not trying to convince you to join them in the act, or pretending to be your friend so that you will watch them.

Ummm... yeah, probably.

I guess I'm just not grokking what (or why) your gripe is here.

Yeah... some people use all kinds of tools for stupid, pointless, or even dangerous uses. We don't blame the tool.

Dude, we are SO in the Land of Recursion now!

And another thing...

Why does everything have to be "productive"? Why does everything have to have a "clearly defined goal"? Why do I get the feeling those terms have specific meaning to the speaker, that not everyone might agree with? What if my "goal" is having a damn good time? Is that not worthwhile? And why do I get the feeling there's a little projection in there, somewhere...?

Justin:

If the answer is “nothing even remotely as fun as this,” you should probably quit and re-evaluate your life…

Really? That sounds weird and judgy. And it also seems to directly contradict how you started out your comment:

No one wants to believe they’re wasting their time. And, if they derive value from it - whether personal or professional - they probably aren’t.

For me, it all comes down to, nobody gets to tell me how to live my life, and nobody understands better than me what's important in my life and why. And people who think they know better REALLY chap my ass.

I always tell the haters: blogging has made me new friends, reconnected me with old friends, gotten me laid, and landed me in a kick-ass long-term relationship.

So there.