To Maggies

Hi Maggies,

To preface this email, I am a sex worker -- I have contacted Maggies before under a few different emails (and via phone) and appreciate the help I have received greatly.

I am also a graphic design student at OCADU doing my fourth year thesis on the sex industry -- in my thesis I am aiming to talk about the nature of work by talking about sex work, from an anti-capitalist/political standpoint. At this point the pieces meander and are not explicitly activist/advocacy in nature -- my graphic design practice is more in creating work that asks questions rather than solving problems. 

To give a sense of the kind of work I have been doing so far, “The Cumshow” (https://vimeo.com/110849832 - 6 minutes long) is a video I have just completed about my personal experience of being a camgirl.  The tone is not a feature I intend to carry through all my pieces, but hopefully it shows my personal investment and the level of care I put into my work. I have also created a quick poster critical of the monologue/dialogue nature of the reformation of Canada’s sex work laws.

I am contacting you about a several of possibilities in ways Maggies can help me with my project.  I understand the organization has limited resources, and appreciate any aid you can offer.  The three possibilities are interviews, participatory research, and/or advice.

The first possibility would be to help me find subjects for one on one interviews -- not for “gritty life stories” or on whether or not sex work is “exploitation or empowerment” -- but on their opinions of the nature of work in general, experiences with other jobs, as well as specific questions such as “what upsets you the most about the conversations happening about sex work (ex. in the media, between individuals)”, “what do you think is missing in conversations about sex work”, “what questions should we be asking”, and “who do you think the people who need to hear this the most are”.  I intend to use the material gathered in pieces (as direct quotes or storytelling), and to inform the overall direction of my project.  The final work will be shown in an end of year student exhibition at OCADU (in May), and will likely be published online.  I am not certain of what the mediums will be, but print, video and audio are all likely possibilities.

A second possibility is participatory research.  One of my professors, Sheila Sampath, has worked with Maggies before, and suggested this.  I will admit this is a methodology I am interested in but not familiar with -- however I have ample resources to guide me.  This would take up more of the organization’s time than the one on one interviews, but would ensure the outcomes aligns in a way that meets the needs of the organization.  It would also ensure that my research conducted with the help of Maggies is more of a give and take scenario, with regular check ins and benefits on both sides, than extracting information from individuals (although even that case I would like to keep everyone “in the loop”, if desired).  In this case we would meet and discuss needs Maggies as an organization has, and identify ways I can help.

If the above possibilities are not within the scope of what Maggies can offer, if someone could look over questions I have prepared for interviews (I know several sex workers who are interested), and advise me on questions/ideas I have regarding the safety and support of individuals participating (before, during and after), that would be very helpful as well. (And also, I guess, advice on safety for myself, as I am outing myself as a sex worker at a pretty pivotal point of my creative career).

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again I appreciate anything you can do to help.

Cheers,

Josephine

Email Exchange Feedback from a Friend

Hi hi hi 

So (as you know) I'm doing the sex industry, but it's starting to lean towards talking about the nature of work by talking about the sex industry (i dunno i’m p. sure the ultimate statement is gonna be “capitalism is oppression”).  To set the stage for future pieces I am working on a video / short film / audiovideo EXPERIENCE that gives some kind of sense of the nature of sex work  /camming.

I just want feedback on the writing cause your words help me fix the niggly bits... but to give you a sense of what is going to give the writing more context, some of the processes I’m working with are glitches (real ones, not aesthetic ones) in video and audio.  Glitches are a process, a fleeting, personal experience, glitch art is meant to show negative experiences / accidents / imperfection / broken systems as a thing of beauty / a place for intimate, personal experiences.  The italic text is glitched in the audio+video to draw paralells between glitches in technology and glitches in people, and how the glitch is a part of the appeal of camgirls. The video is going to be very textural.

In the link there is an audio file with music + glitching (there’s no yet video) that you can listen to.  It is still a rough // definitely not final.  http://sexindustryworkshop.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-cumshow-draft-4-w-audio-music.html

(PS: the underlying message of glitch art is also “capitalism is oppression”).

-------

Hi beautiful lady,

I read these carefully and listened to the recording with glitches. I can't wait to see with video; I think it's missing that element right now (obviously) so it'll be a good addition.

I'm not sure how you are with audio technology but the first thing I noticed was that the glitch bits could be WAY more "glitchy." There's a lot of opportunity to make some interesting sound worlds happen, especially since the text you've chosen for this treatment (to me) seems a lot more powerful and sort of distorted. 

This line is my favourite:

 I shut my eyes and rubbed my nipples. I tried not to look too sad or lost or like I had a very fat chin. I tried not to spend too much time in my head, so I could feel the sensation in my nipples as it tingled down and into my cunt. But it didn’t. It stopped in my gut like a lead weight.

I think that the pacing/tone/everything of this excerpt is kind of the ideal for the set. Some of them are there and some of them aren't. I feel that the power of the last couple sentences especially would make a perfect ending or send off - not necessarily this one exactly, but I feel that (for example) this tidbit is a much stronger way to finish the experience than what you have for the end now. "Do you sell your panties?" is still interesting/revealing/encapsulates an attitude and belongs and deserves to be here, but I think you should leave a real storytelling gem for the end. Your strongest or rawest moment should go there. When this experience is over, leave a taste in people's mouths of you, not the men on the other side of the camera. Does that make sense?

I also dearly love:

 I readjusted the camera, trying to find a suitable angle for the movement I was about make. There was no way of knowing. I lowered myself into the bathtub, a disgusting yellow green. I thought of my fleshy rolls and the folds of my body.  How my pale skin must have looked against the yellow.  How the dark brown walls and ceiling made me think of taking a shit in a cave made of packed dirt.

I left out their thought as the conclusion to this idea - I understand what you're going for with these descriptions followed by the hivemind that is the consumer responding in a dissociated way. I think it works, but I think the ones that don't use it are better. I don't know why - obviously it's a good point of continuity but the men are just not near as interesting as you. I'm not sure if that's a problem or not!

I like the tone and language - I can tell it's a rough draft from you. The language is a little square - I've seen you use more evocative language to describe the same things you've written of here (ie, "a disgusting yellow green" is a chance to use more colourful literary devices - metaphors etc. I know that sounds oversimplified but words like sludge or bile would be perfect here - "I lowered myself into the bile bath - yellow, green, both. Disgusting.") I don't know, maybe that's pedantic. I'd love to see more colour with the language though. The ideas are so good, they deserve it.

I hope that's helpful at all!!! Can't wait to see the finished product, my darling genius :)

------ 

later we talked about this / her feedback.  She said she felt the writing went between neutral to negative.  I reexplained the glitch aspect.   She said that after talking to a creative person about their work and finding out all the little secrets about it opens so many more doors and meanings than just experiencing it.

Via Emily Van der Meulen

Hi Josephine,

Looks like you are finding some great resources!

For art projects and such, you might look up Carol Leigh
(http://www.bayswan.org/leigh_bio.html). Click around her Pros Education
Network (http://www.bayswan.org/penet.html) and you'll find all sorts of
art-related work, announcements for sex work film festivals etc. Also
Sasha Van Bon Bon does some fantastic local sex work activist art
performances and videos, so it might be worth checking out some of her
work online.

You can also look up past films screened at the Feminist Porn Awards. And
also past sessions at the Desiree Alliance Conferences.

You might like Michelle Tea's work (see: Rent Girl, 2004), and Shannon
Bell's Whore Carnival. At this point, it might be hard to get back issues
of Spread, unfortunately.

There are literally hundreds of books on sex work, as you know. Less that
focus on art. I'm not sure if you will be able to get access to it, but
you can probably order it from their website - from the Prostitution
Information Centre in Amsterdam. They have a book titled When Art Becomes
Work.

Other docs that are good: Hookers on Davie, Hot and Bothered: Feminist
Pornography, Scarlet Road: A Sex Workers Journey, Meet the Fokkens.

Last, I would go to a bunch of different sex worker rights organizations
websites (from across Canada, USA, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia) and
see if they have a pages with resources. From there you will be able to
get quite a bit of good suggestions for other progressive materials.

Hope that helps!

Let me know how your project shapes up.

mom~

i told my mom what i was doing for my thesis
and she posted don't tell mama from cabaret
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhIt69v0yzY
and said
haha see i know you

Lewis Questions

Hi Lewis,

After much deliberation (and thanks to your feedback + talking to others about it) I have decided comfortable enough with pursuing sex work and the sex industry as my topic of exploration.  I do not think I will become too inhibited (although I might start that way).

I have done some reading and tried accumulate some thoughts on what aspects of sex work I find interesting, however I am still having difficulty formulating a core question.

Here is a list of topics within sex work I have found most interesting:

- anti-porn vs pro-porn feminism

- relationship between sex work research and corporate interests

- the rescue industry -- especially regarding things such as: “fallen women”, migrant workers + sex trafficking, magdalene laundries

- academic research vs common sense / emotional intelligence in sex work criticism

- polarization in sex work research

- sex work as a form of labour / sex worker’s rights

- relationship between free/stolen content and content aggregators (porn hub etc)

- manipulated sex work statistics to serve a cause

- personal experiences + needs of sex workers / importance of sex worker voices

And a list of questions I have written down while reading:

is pornography good for us

how does pornography effect us

how does the sex industry effect us

how does sex work impact society

how do anti and pro stances impact the sex industry

what is the “problem” with pornography

is there a threat to “healthy sexual development” in pornography

what is the effect of polarization in sex industry research

is porn harmful?

why do we need to research the sex industry?

is an unbiased approach to researching the sex industry possible?

why should sexual material be “offensive”

Out of these I feel the question that speaks most to what I am interested in exploring and provides the most opportunity for broad exploration is “Why do we need to research the sex industry?”

Does this question make sense as a starting point, should I try to pull it back a bit?  I am definitely open to going many directions in my exploration and could make a much longer list of areas of interest if I wasn’t trying to be reasonable.

In my pecha kucha, when introducing my topic, should I spend time defining what I mean by sex work and specify what aspects of it I am interested in?

Thanks again for your feedback, I am looking forward to starting class on Tuesday.

Cheers,

Josephine