Melissa Gira

"What also bothers me about this is that the media tends to only focus and be comfortable talking..."

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:32:16 -0400

“What also bothers me about this is that the media tends to only focus and be comfortable talking about women bloggers if they’re a Mommy Blogger, or, if they’ve been involved in prostitution or are sex writers. There is a huge, diverse community of women bloggers, but as far as people the mainstream media outlets are concerned - we’re either whores, ex whores, or mothers.”

- DollyMix: How in the world is the concept of Mommy Bloggers still blowing people’s minds? (I’m not digging it up, but there was a rather strange interview I did in 2006 on the same — how mommybloggers and sex bloggers are comrades)

Actually, this too has been up for debate. Some believe the blog...

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:30:52 -0400

Actually, this too has been up for debate. Some believe the blog and book on which this series is based are pure fiction, written by someone with no experience in the sex industry. [Belle de Jour] writes pointy-headed prose about “the explicit commodification of sex” being “preferable to the hawthorn thicket of modern relationships”, and discusses the works of Germaine Greer, Goethe and Pablo Neruda with clients before disrobing for a spot of hectic how’s your father.(via)

diesel sweeties: (rstevens is a mad man and that is beautiful)

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:28:53 -0400

diesel sweeties: (rstevens is a mad man and that is beautiful)

"If you can watch the amount of sex Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda have without shouting ‘harlot’ at..."

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:10:33 -0400

“If you can watch the amount of sex Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda have without shouting ‘harlot’ at the screen; if you’re not horrified by the idea of women having professional jobs, living alone, talking about sex, drinking alcohol, having children out of wedlock, experimenting with lesbianism, owning vibrators and all the other stuff they do, then you support a level of freedom for women that is a very long way off for a majority of women in today’s world.”

- Kate Smurthwaite - quoted in this article (via gauntlet)

Ask and ye shall — details via letsmeetinsf.

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:07:07 -0400

Ask and ye shall — details via letsmeetinsf.

An Experiment!

Mon, 12 May 2008 17:40:40 -0400

syntheticpubes:

Excursions planned for the coming week which could provide material

launch party for much-hyped search engine startup

SF Tumblr meetup

shameful acts of inebriation at SF’s Bay to Breakers

and I recently returned from New Zealand and Thailand

So let’s talk, or please feel free to reblog this. My Gmail address is extremely straightforward, and questions are welcome.

SF Tumblr meetup, you say?

Fake Track List From A Band

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:15:00 -0400

funblr:

ASSIGNMENT: Make a fake track list from a fake album from a recording artist you like.

Cocteau Twins, Oooph a twitty litty lip
01: Magenta M.F.
02: Strike the wing
03: Like boys like tiny anthills
04: For momma’s suck
05: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
06: Bright blue bursts bleeding
07: Unnameable track only available on a 7” packaged in paper made from lightly goat-sniffed oak trees, out now on 4AD

The Bird and The Bee, of that fucking boyfriend song, but now...

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:09:00 -0400

The Bird and The Bee, of that fucking boyfriend song, but now even more piercingly hot what with the whole self-referential camgirlishness, which is, seriously-guys cute (via datn, livejamie)

by Sebastian Szwajczak (via, via syntheticpubes)

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:09:00 -0400

by Sebastian Szwajczak (via, via syntheticpubes)

Elliot writes, “I’m what my (legally mandatory) psychologist...

Sun, 11 May 2008 17:24:00 -0400

Elliot writes, “I’m what my (legally mandatory) psychologist would call a transsexual. I got an official diagnosis and everything — gender identity disorder! Certificate of disorder in hand, Dr. ***** was convinced I was a real transsexual. Little did he know I’m actually a bisexual-tranny-fag-dyke genderfucked kid! And now I’ve got my own little fuck-you-gender/sex-binary body!” (via ModBlog - Before and After)

I Want You To Want Me / by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar I...

Sun, 11 May 2008 13:00:41 -0400

I Want You To Want Me / by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar

I Want You To Want Me explores the search for love and self in the world of online dating. It chronicles the world’s long-term relationship with romance, across all ages, genders, and sexualities, using real data collected from Internet dating sites every few hours.

(via danah)

Sunday Morning Soundtrack: Night and Day, Sondre Lerche and the...

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:38:03 -0400

Sunday Morning Soundtrack: Night and Day, Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet

by Matthew Cooke, via syntheticpubes

Sat, 10 May 2008 23:37:39 -0400

by Matthew Cooke, via syntheticpubes

Brutal Affection: Punching, Kicking, Slapping and Sex…...

Sat, 10 May 2008 23:04:17 -0400

Brutal Affection: Punching, Kicking, Slapping and Sex… (video by fivestar)

Gnarls Barkley - Going On (via fimoculous)

Fri, 09 May 2008 23:37:57 -0400

Gnarls Barkley - Going On (via fimoculous)

"I’m not sure I’m capable of writing fiction anymore. Which is probably why I write so little porn. I..."

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:42:45 -0400

“I’m not sure I’m capable of writing fiction anymore. Which is probably why I write so little porn. I also don’t keep my weird theorizing and bad public intellectual habits out of the bedroom. It’s always politics and pop culture and gossip as pillowtalk. All of it overlaps for me, all of it is arousing; what comes out published is due to the good graces of an editor knowing when to tell me what’s masturbation and what’s good for the audience.”

- Rachel Kramer Bussel interviews me about Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women

Produced by the International Sex Worker Harm Reduction Caucus...

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:57:00 -0400

Produced by the International Sex Worker Harm Reduction Caucus and volunteer curators from SWOP-LA, SWANK, SWOP-NYC, BPPP, Desiree Alliance and the Scarlet Alliance (the Australian Sex Worker Organisation), and curated in conjunction with the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival.

St. James Infirmary’s pilot podcasting project starts this...

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:32:00 -0400

St. James Infirmary’s pilot podcasting project starts this month. I’ll be presenting our results at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this August.

also also also

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:04:00 -0400

dacia:

jessicagoldharalson:

I’m sensitive about this whole judgment-about-appearance thing since some people seem to think it’s cool to tell me “I thought you would be dumb!” because I have blonde hair and am somewhat curvaceous.

YES, BECAUSE INTELLIGENCE IS DIRECTLY CORRELATED TO PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. THAT’S NOT SOME OUTDATED VICTORIAN ARCHETYPE AT ALL, YO.

No, seriously, I’ve had several people say to me that I’m “smarter than I look” which is supposed to be some sort of compliment? Because I “look” like I’d be stupid? WTF.

There’s no way to win at the appearance-judgment game.

I’m similarly curvaceous, but dark haired and bespectacled - and I make my living in the sex industry. So I get a lot of “you look more like a librarian” or “you don’t *look* like a model.”

Sexy blonde girls can’t be brainy, and brainy brunnette girls can’t be sexy.

Thanks, cultural attitudes about women!

On the blonde side of things, I’ve been told I look “natural” (highlights and lowlights to the tune of $1200/year, honestly), like “the girl next door” (if you live in the Mission District of San Francisco, sure buddy), “too innocent” (this from a submissive client who smacked my ass after a session), and for my nose and demi-transatlantic accent, “aristocratic” and “cold.” An interviewer, surprised that I had been in a graduate program, once told me I “didn’t look like a sex worker,” even though I was dressed in an outfit I bought expressly to see a client in. The other night Jonah told me I didn’t look “like that much of a bad girl.” Is this because my only piercing is invisible under my dress, or because I don’t have tattoos, or because I talk about sex like someone who spent too much time in the graduate study carrels (while getting fingered in them too, sure). But I was a redhead for most of college. Oh, and I’m white, and extra-pale, so let’s throw that in, too. A Catholic school teacher said in front of my whole class that “Hitler would have spared [me].” On that note, Warren Ellis’ fanboys called my breasts “Nordic,” but Nick says they are “epic.” My mom says none of it.

What The Inkernet Told Me To Make For Breakfast (tomorrow,...

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:11:51 -0400

What The Inkernet Told Me To Make For Breakfast (tomorrow, really!)