vanessa - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I am a social worker and I have been a sex worker's rights advocate for 7 years- working with and in most of the sectors of the industry off and on. I currently work as a case manager for an AIDS service agency. I believe that my personal experience in the sex industry, working among women who chose sex work out of their own volition, in combination with the experience I have working with the women who come to my agency, who suffer great deal of trauma in their lives, allows me to have a better perspective on the multiplicity of experiences and people who work as sex workers, either currently or formerly. I often use art/words/film/performances/poetry and other forms of art as a medium to express, educate, advocate, and actively give a voice to sex workers and every aspect of the sex industry (positive; negative; celebratory; horrible). I curate and co-curate art events nationally and internationally by, for, and about sex workers and the commercial adult sex industry under the name "Breaking the Silence." www.tediumshift.com/breakingthesilence I love to travel. I lived and worked in Calcutta and Kerala India for 1 year. Other places I've lived or visited include Sri Lanka, DENVER (CO)- WORD!, New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle (WA), Toronto (ON, CA), Quebec, Quebec City, Montreal, Winnipeg, Singapore, Austin (TX), Boston (MA), Providence (RI), Tuscon (AZ), Phoenix (AZ), and I think that's all, but there will be more.NICE BOMBS TRAILER

My Interests

Reading (about sex), writing (about sex), being with friends and family, learning (about sex), educating others (about sex), organizing, (sexual)politics, traveling, eating, smiling, laughing, crying, sleeping, debating, drinking, screwing, advocating, skateboarding, music, underground films, porn, painting my nails, sharing, living, loving, missing, discovering.... "What makes people despair is that they try to find a universal meaning to the whole life, and then end up by saying it's absurd, illogical, empty of meaning. There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person. To seek a total unity is wwrong. To give as much meaning to one's life as possible seems right to me." - Anais Nin "Art was the prescription for sanity and relief from the terrors and pains of human life." - Anais Nin

I'd like to meet:

Anyone who has an educated, informed opinion about any topic, issue, etc. Just because is not an answer- it's a cop out.

Movies:

Women of War

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Television:

Right now I'm addicted to LOST, I enjoy watching the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, TLC, especially Miami Ink (which I'll probably be on soon), PBS, and E! (I need my mindless entertainment!). Oh, and I sometimes still watch Sesame Street (fuck off!)

Books:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), Slowness, The Moon and Sixpence, and Of Human Nature (Somerset Maughum), The Maimie Papers, From Cop to Call Girl (Norma Jean Almodovar), Unrepentant Whore (Scarlot Harlot), I Know This Much Is True and She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb), Crooked (Louisa Luna), The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), anything by Anais Nin, Disposable People (Kevin Bales), Stigma (Erving Goffman), The Gardens of Kyoto (Kate Walbert), Native Speaker and A Gesture of Life (Chang-rae Lee)......

Heroes:

My mom, The Divine Mother Amma, Mother Theresa, Norma Jean Almodovar, Carol Leigh AKA Scarlot Harlot, Carol Queen, Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Robyn Few, Ginger Rogers, Lena Horne...... and the list goes on.

My Blog

Feminism & Prostitution: A Non-Monolithic Debate

Feminism cannot be defined as one mode of thinking, nor can prostitution be defined as one experience, although, historically it has been stereotypically defined as such. Although the pervasive stereo...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Remembering John Gustin

I was driving downtown to the AIDS Taskforce. My supervisor called me, "Vanessa, are you on your way down here?" "Yea," I said. "Where are you?" "Um, I'm on Detroit right now." "When you get down he...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 02:55:00 PST

Too late, but better than never

It's been a while since I've blogged on here. Too long, but as the "subject" explains, better than never. For those of you who don't keep in touch with me or those who really don't care so it shouldn'...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:21:00 PST

Rape is not equivalent to prostitution

So, I have to write something about this woman who called and left me a message today. Her name is Julian and she's from Portland, OR. She left me a very upset message, not stating where she got her "...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Wed, 12 Oct 2005 04:53:00 PST

Are People Having Safe Sex?

Are People Having Safe Sex? The issue of sex education is facing major changes now more than ever. Whether it is funding for sex education programs, sexual health, counseling, condom and contracept...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Commentary on the First Presidential Debate.

Commentary on the First Presidential Debate On Saturday night I received a call from a representative from Move-on.org, an on-line organization to get Bush out of office. He asked me if I had seen ...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Abortion: Who's Right is it Anyway?

I not only advocate for sex workers' rights, but for individual rights over one's own life, choice, and future. Comments/questions welcome. Abortion: Who's Right is it Anyway? The issue of abort...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Sex Workers' Advocates Seek Same Rights

First article published in the Vindicator. Its another semester. My next to last semester, yet I can already predict the angst, stress, and utter time-consuming year ahead of me. Ah, but thats n...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

What was John Ashcroft doing on the Morning of 9/11?

This was the second article published in the Cleveland State University Vindicator, a multi-cultural/diversity publication. Comments/questions encouraged. After the third anniversary of the Sept. ...
Posted by V-A-N-E-S-S-A on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST