Sex 2.0 Sex Commons Forum

Can we change the words we use and be heard? Over the years, I have discovered something. The language I use forms the way I think in a sort of chicken and egg way. Not only does it change the way I think, it changes the way I am perceived and the way I am heard. (Communications 101: I am not responsible for what I say; I am responsible for what you hear.)

Let me explain by way of a story. Working my way through school, I took a job at a Yachting Chandlery. I fell in with the skipper of ‘Riskin’, a 6-meter raced out of Shilshole Bay. I landed a berth handling the running backs. About half the crew worked with me at the chandlery and the other half were experienced racing sailors from other vocations.

A lot's gone down in the last year with Sex in the Public Square; I think that Elizabeth and I have accomplished even more than we originally expected to here so far with projects like the sex work forum, and the networking that we've done with people in the real world and all the discussion of news items. Looking at the site as a whole, I'm not only proud of what we've done, but outright amazed.

And there's still so much more that we can do.  Recently, we came up with an idea to take us even further: a sex-positive wiki. 

One of the things that made this seem like such a good idea to me was the surge of media coverage in the wake of the Spitzer scandal, and especially the Diane Sawyer 20/20 special, which repeatedly seemed to make a deliberate effort to snatch bullshit from the maw of truth.

I can't summarize the entire discussion because it was too lively and I was paying too much attention in the moment to take many notes, but let me summarize here the remarks I made at the start of the session. I hope others will add to this thread if they remember things that should be "archived" from that session. I also invite anyone who wants to start a topic in this forum to do so. There were so many interesting threads in the discussion on Saturday that I'd hate for them to all get jumbled in the comments on this thread. So please feel free to add topics as needed!

I introduced the idea of the sex commons this way: The commons is a resource. As a resource it needs to be useful, accessible, sustainable and independent.