Something I've Learned

Yesterday I came across this news article about a women who right before her wedding found out her fiance was a porn star. After reading it the one thing that stood out for me was the quote from the bride saying,

"There was no way I could marry an adult film star."

I thought about that and wondered about the fact that her fiance lied and deceived her by telling her he was a personal trainer. It prompted me to twitter this,

Do you think it was because he was a porn star or because he lied to her?

All the replies I received back said the same thing I thought. Everyone felt it had more to do with the fact that he lied to her than that he was a porn star and it once again had me shaking my head over how the media portrays stories that involve sex work of any kind.

Ever since I became involved in Sex Work Awareness early last fall I have a different outlook on what I read in the news now. I can read an article such as this one and see the slant to it. See how they don't talk about the basic fact of his lies as much as what he was hiding.

I then ask myself would we even be reading this story if he lied about being an accountant, fireman or dishwasher in a restaurant instead of a porn star. A media that we put our trust into to give us the news without being biased seems to always take a slant when it comes to reporting about anything to do with sex work and sex workers.

That is what I have come to learn after all these months working on both the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar and Sex Work Awareness.

There was one other point made to me on twitter about this article from Lou that hadn't even occurred to me. He said this,

@debaucheddiva So it's ok to have a sex worker over for the "hen party", but not for the nuptial bed, apparently.

I hadn't even thought about that. How it was discovered he was a porn star because one of the bridesmaids was looking for a male stripper for a hen party. There is so much in this article that was not addressed in my opinion and the only reason it is even being written about and being picked up by many other online sites is because of two words "Porn Star." I wonder what the full statements of the bride were. What was left out of this article?

When I read something like that it reaffirms for me the amount of time and work I put into both the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar and my support of Sex Work Awareness. My life these days is a little bit crazy and although there are days I when I have no desire to log onto the Internet or write a single word on any blog I push myself to do it because I believe in the mission of Sex Work Awareness and know that without funding they can't even begin to start achieving that.

These past few weeks have been pretty hectic for me with working on obtaining the final sponsors on the calendar and offering the personalized days for sale on the calendar along with organizing twelve photo shoots in addition to all that is going on in my personal life. It is a weird time of year to try to promote a 2010 calendar but because we need to print the calendar overseas we have no choice but to produce it at this time of the year.

There is only one week left to buy the personalized dates on the calendar for $10 and support Sex Work Awareness. I have been asked a lot what do people put on these dates by some who have not seen the 2009 calendar. These are a few of the things people personalized their days with,

Birthdays, Anniversaries and Blog Anniversaries with URL's.

Promoting events by buying the dates of the event.

Companies showed their support by buying dates on the calendar and personalizing them with their URL's and offers of special discount codes.

Authors promoting book releases.

Social Networking sites.

Those are just a few things that were on the 2009 calendar. Companies that bought one day in a month had their name and URL visible for the entire month on the calendar and ones that bought a day on each month had exposure for the entire year. This was a great way for companies within our community to show support for Sex Work Awareness and also promote themselves at the same time.

If you don't have anything you want to write on the calendar but would like to help support it by purchasing days you can donate them back to us and we will personalize them with a message in support of sex work and sex workers. Just indicate on the special instructions you want to donate them back.

I'll be spending this years Father's Day working which is a first for me. One of the many new changes in my life these days. But for all of you out there who are celebrating it,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!