January – Mia Martina tells her story

2010 marks the second year that Tess and Diva have put together the New York City Sex Blogger Calender. All proceeds from the calender go to Sex Work Awareness (SWA). If you are aren’t sure what sex work awareness is all about, here is a portion of SWA mission statement:

We believe that all sex workers have a right to self-determination; to choose how we make a living and what we do with our bodies. We conduct research about sex workers and the sex industry in order to better understand it, develop public education initiatives, and advocate for the rights of sex workers.

Read more here.

When Tess and Diva asked me to be a model in the calender, I was honored and thrilled to be a part of such a great project. They paired me with a photographer, told me the theme, Visions of Sexual Freedom, and gave me a deadline. I completely appreciated the freedom of expression to interpret the theme as I desired and I was a bit overwhelmed. What would my interpretation of sexual freedom look like?

Through lots of self reflection and discussions with the photographer, I discovered my sexual freedom is rooted in openness. I have found myself to be open in my sexual fluidity as a lesbian and bisexual, in exploring variations of non-monogamy, and in pushing boundaries in kink. All of which can be well described in written form, but how would it be translated into 2D and remain a hot, sexy photograph that would make people want to buy the calender?

On our first shoot, the photographer and I ended up with some sexy photos, but we felt the photos didn’t fully capture a sense of openness in bisexuality or non-monogamy. So for the second shoot we had help from willing participants to be props in the photos (thanks, MS & AW), which ended with many of the photos feeling contrived. Also, with additional limbs in the frame, sometimes I got lost and my agency confused. Was I preying on or being preyed on? Depicting agency in the photograph was really important to me; I wanted to look in control of my sexuality. So we dutiful set out on a third shot. And, ladies and gentlemen, the phrase was true again. The third time was the charm. (Thanks, CS & MS.)

I don’t expect congratulations for having completed so many shoots (but many, many thanks to Alex for all his hard work). Rather, I share the details of the photo shoots because it was an interesting and challenging journey in self-expression. I am grateful to have been given an opportunity and a platform to interpret my sexual freedom amongst so many cool and inspiring sex bloggers.

Check out Mia’s blog and listen to her sexy, sultry podcasts at I Want Your Sex.

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