For all my sex work scholars and aficionados out there…you’ve just been gifted a treasure trove of research! Norma Jean Almodovar is a former Los Angeles traffic officer turned sex worker turned sex work activist and founder of the nonprofit International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education (ISWFACE), and her personal archive of […]
South African Left Calls for Decriminalizing Sex Work
Parliamentarian Julius Malema, head of the pan-Africanist Marxist party Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa, has endorsed decriminalizing sex work at a Women’s Day rally, linking this move to a broader agenda of protecting women from violence. Whether this will provide new impetus to the long-stalled bill proposed by the South African cabinet in 2022 […]
Doubts Surround Media Hype over Jeffrey Epstein
Political actors and media on both the Left and Right are motivated to keep this story going, as it feeds popular anxieties about sinister elites exploiting the innocent with impunity. However, there has been too little scrutiny over the credibility of the claimants who have won millions in civil actions against the Epstein estate and […]
Junior Hockey Players’ Sexual Assault Acquittal Sparks all the Usual Debates over Consent
A high-profile Canadian case involving five ex world junior hockey players ended on July 24th when all players were acquitted of criminal charges. The case revolved around a group sex episode, seven years prior, that occurred after a Hockey Canada Foundation Gala & Golf event the players had attended. A lawyer for one of the accused referenced the […]
Sex Work: It Does a Body (Image) Good
A recent study published in the Sexuality and Culture explored sex workers’ relationship to body image. Although sex work can ofcourse lead to sexual objectification, the study found that sex work can also act as a productive enabler of body positivity. Participants in the study described experiences of receiving positive feedback about their bodies from […]
Brazil Stalls Youth Gender Transition Services + Judith Butler’s Latest Treatise
Moves to limit minors’ access to medicalized gender transition are not unique to the U.S. and Europe. Under political pressure and tied up in litigation, even Brazil’s leftist government has announced it is rescinding an earlier proposal to lower the age at which hormones can be obtained from 18 to 16 and the age for […]
Bad Monks and the Woman Who Scammed Them
Wilawan Emsawat was arrested on July 15 in Thailand and has been charged with extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods. She is alleged to have blackmailed several senior monks for money and gifts. Thai police have noted that about 385 million baht ($11.9m) was deposited into the accused bank accounts over the past three […]
Sex toys: overpriced commodities or radical tools of resistance?
Pop star Harry Styles is not currently touring, but he has found a new way to monetize his sex appeal by marketing a double-sided vibrator (adapted for both external and internal use) and his designer lubricant. His “Pleasing” brand previously specialized in female lifestyle products such as cosmetics and candles, but has now opened a […]
Men with Vaginas Who Attract Gay Men
“Chicks with dicks” is an infamous straight male sexual taste (scientifically known as gynandromorphophilia), but less explored is the corresponding phenomenon of gay men’s attraction to dudes with vaginas (androgynomorphophilia). Not all transmen are – or were – lesbian, and some identify as gay men themselves, with or without a vagina. Sometimes known as “autoandrophilia,” […]
Paying for Pride: A Queer Conundrum Continued
Dr. Daniel Conway – Reader in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, UK and a Research Associate at the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg – participated in the 13th Annual Conference of the Sexuality Studies Association in Toronto earlier this summer. His presentation was based on research from […]