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SXSW/Momentum

So in March, I'm going to be speaking at two different conferences, a scary proposition but an exciting one! I'm honoured and thrilled to be speaking at both SXSW and Momentum, particularly as an out sex worker. I've been working very hard to get to this point and I'm pleased to see my voice being treated as important and valuable in conversations about gender, consent, sex work and politics.

This last year has raised my confidence immensely when it comes to being in front of a microphone. I've presented at Arse Elektronika on sex work, disability and social media. I've performed on stage at Masquerotica. I've done workshops with Maggie Mayhem on consent and abuse in altsex communities, and safer sex beyond condoms. I've spoken on The Other View about consent too. Tomorrow I'm going to be on Sexploration with Monika.

It's been a pretty amazing year, and next year is starting off with a bang.

At SXSW I'm presenting something I've done before- "En/Forced Femme: Sex Workers and Social Media". It's an exploration of the way that a capitalist market seemingly insists on a particularly sex work aesthetic and attitude (passive, feminine, accommodating) and how, in practice, that seems to be expanding as social media allows sex workers to attract people interested in their brains and opinions. I think I might being up Porn WikiLeaks into this, mentioning how social media allowed this typically marginalized population to drum up support from unexpected sources (hackers, for example). I'm really looking forward to fine tuning this and making it have some serious impact, and who better to talk about this with than a large group of geeks?

At Momentum I'm going to be busy! I'm doing the Safe/Ward presentation with Maggie, a panel about publishing, writing, and new media, and on another panel about issues of victim silencing and abuse in sex positive communities. I'm really excited to be among so many fabulous intelligent people, and I can't wait to connect with them all.

Of course, I'm still a writer, getting paid via gigonomics, and therefore could use financial support in making this happen. It won't take a lot, as I've been saving my pennies, but the more help I get the more of this I can do. I presented Safe/Ward in Boston, for example, and am looking into presenting it in Austin while there for SXSW. Maggie and I are not getting our flights or hotel paid for, so I'm asking you guys to maybe pitch a bit our way, or come to our fundraiser Jan 24th at the Center for Sex and Culture for an overview of Safe/Ward, raffles, performances, and other surprises.

Please help me travel to spread this and enable communities to fight entitlement culture!

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