Bi-Coastal Sex Worker Literati and $pread Magazine

This month the Sex Worker Literati magic is bi-coastal. In New York, Audacia Ray will be hosting their monthly event at Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, from 8-10 pm (get there early to get a seat). The event stars artist and occasional porn performer Zak Smith, queer and trans activist and artistIgnacio Rivera, embedded sex/tech muse Melissa Gira, performer and former stripper Essence Revealed, former domme and porn performer Christina Cicchelli, and lady about town Gerry Visco.

This month they celebrate $pread, a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers – all of the performers have contributed to or been featured in the magazine.  In the most recent issue of $pread magazine  Abiola Abrams, one of our 2010 calendar models was featured.  Here is the introduction from that interview with her,

Alternative pornography, also known as alt porn, is expanding beyond the punk stylings of the Suicide Girls and Burning Angel to include indie feminist, sex worker, queer, and artist produced pornography that challenges the conventional formulas of the adult entertainment industry. Whether it’s showing a broader idea about what’s sexy or insisting on more ethical labor conditions for sex workers, this new alt porn pushes the boundaries of our assumptions about what pornography is.

I was interested in talking to Abiola Abrams, aka Venus Hottentot^* about AfroDite Superstar, her breakthrough 2007 film produced by Candida Royalle’s Femme Productions. A mainstream filmmaker, writer and TV host, Abrams’ first foray into sex films explores black women’s desires and the politics of their performance in commercial hip-hop. Her wonderfully creative and explicitly feminist film is a great example of how alt porn is expanding to include many more people, desires and fantasies.

In Los Angeles, David Henry Sterry will be hosting an event at Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA at 7 pm. The west coast reading will feature Nina Hartley, Georgina Spelvin, Dahlia Schweitzer, Jennifer Blowdryer, Juliana Piccillo, and April Daisy White. [Yeah, seriously, two big-deal porn legends on that bill]

Click the graphic for fleshed out bios of all the NYC performers:

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