October 16, 2008
Sexies Winners Celebrated in Style; Awards Receive Grant to Continue into 2009
Contact: Susan Wright, 917-848-6544 or Miriam Axel-Lute
A hundred supporters of sex-positive journalism, including 13 winners of 2008 Sexies, crowded the downstairs lounge of Splash bar on 17th Street in Manhattan on October 4 to celebrate the awarding of the first ever Sex-Positive Journalism Awards.
Carol Queen, cofounder of the Center for Sex and Culture, gave a rousing introduction talking about the importance of sex-positive journalism even in the age of ubiquitous blogs, and founder Miriam Axel-Lute talked a little bit about the reporting she'd done that had led her to wonder if such awards existed and to decide that since they didn't, they should. Judith Levine, author and Sexies judge, spoke about the media and sexuality from the perspective of the pre-press "coverage" of her award-winning book Harmful to Minors.
Though it wasn’t announced from the stage, the night also involved some very good news for the awards: The presentation of a $1,000 grant from the David Weinbaum Memorial Foundation to support the 2009 Sexies. The foundation, founded in 1994, provides grants to support projects that are of service to the SM-leather-fetish community and which further the rights, awareness, education, health or well-being of adults engaging in safe, sane and consensual sexual expression.
Along with the money raised by the party itself, this grant will go a long way to ensuring that the Sexies can continue to seek out, lift up, and celebrate journalism that reports responsibly about sex in all its manifestations.
(Photos here.)
--
The Sexies were brought about in collaboration with writers, readers, and activists from The Center for Sex & Culture and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, and with support from sponsors Babeland, The Playboy Foundation, Xbiz, UltraVirgo Creative, and Splash.
###