January 19, 2009
2009 Sexies Winners
Contact: Susan Wright, 917-848-6544 or Miriam Axel-Lute
Mainstream News Sources (Newspapers/National News Magazines/TV Station Print Affiliates)*First Place: “Plastic Surgery Below the Belt,” Laura Fitzpatrick, Time Magazine
Judges said: “Balanced, fair, well reported and well-written - I actually wanted to read the whole thing even though I find the topic - vaginal plastic surgery - depressing. Love the conclusion! This story reflected a strong feminist perspective, which is sometimes lacking even from the most admirably sex-positive journalism.”
Three-Way Tie for Second Place:
“A Little Too Anatomically Correct,” Tom Wharton, Salt Lake Tribune
Judges said: “When politicians decide that art objects that have stood in plain view for years (in this case 20) are obscene-well, aren't we on a slippery slope to the Taliban, and isn't that very much worth writing about?”
“What's Normal Sex?” Brian Alexander, MSNBC.com
Judges said: “The author does a fine job distinguishing, in terms accessible to a mainstream audience, between the illegal and the kinky. At the same time, he writes at a high intellectual level, truly bringing us inside the professionals' debates.”
“Trials of an Oregon Lawyer,” Susan Goldsmith, Oregonian
Judges said: “This is true investigative, impact journalism. The man did not get a fair trial, and Goldsmith's reporting not only draws attention to that important fact, but advances his defense. Goldsmith avoids sensationalism, covers a controversial story boldly, and isn't afraid to take a side. It's brave to take on the problem of false accusations by children, because the public is hysterical on the subject of child sex abuse, a panic that's led to intense and usually unnecessary repression of kids and everyone around them.”
News/Features (Alt-Weeklies, Monthlies)*
First Place: “Growing Up Gloucester,” Rachel Baker, Boston Magazine
By unanimous acclaim. Judges said: “This piece looks closely and sympathetically at working/lower-middle-class teen American girls to show their passivity AND their agency in having babies while unmarried. While laying that groundwork, it goes on to show how vulnerable these girls and their desires are to being used as sex-panic grist by the mass media. I loved how the piece described the making of a nationally publicized sex panic, using all show and no tell to do so. Refreshing, creative, poignant, infuriating, educational.” “The story also reveals corporate media's role in fostering a conversation that exploits teen sexuality for adults' guilty kicks rather than supports their healthy development and expression.”
Second Place: "Red Sex Blue Sex," Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker
Judges said: “An intelligent compare and contrast of the sexual cultures in the red vs. blue states that reminds you that 'family values' are often more aspirational than actual descriptions of daily life among evangelicals. Professed abstinence often leads to teen pregnancy, STDs, early marriage-and early divorce. And lots of shame. Talbot is too much the mainstream journalist to come out and say it, but her article shows us that religiously motivated sexual repression leads not to happy families but instability and sadness.”
Third Place: “Poly Amor,” Marisa Demarco, Weekly Alibi
Judges said: “A refreshing and rare example of non-sensational sexual news-you-can-use. Demarco's clear, straightforward explanation makes sexual ideas that can seem radical instead feel relatable and safe for exploration. The article could be improved through more story telling, however.”
Runners up:
“The Martha Stewart of Gay Sex Parties,” Rich Kane, OC Weekly
Judges said: “Kane's paints a sweet and genuine portrait of a sexual scene so often depicted as depraved and disease-ridden. He turns the popular image of gay sex parties (an image held even in the gay community) on its head--rather than seeing a breeding ground for disease, he describes a welcoming community attempting to enjoy sexual freedom alongside the reality of AIDS. He writes not as a tourist or a voyeur, but rather as a respectful chronicler.”
“The Real Girlfriend Experience,” Michael J. Mooney, New Times Palm Beach
Judges said: “I looked at the letters in response to the article and it was clear readers were impressed by the story at the same time many were completely thrown off balance by it. It made a lot of them think. Even the ending, with its multiple meanings, was as complicated as the rest of the story. All in all, a wonderful and Sexies-worthy piece of writing.”
Columns
First Place: Carnal Knowledge, JoAnn Wypijewski, The Nation. Winning entries: "The Shadow of His Smile," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Scenes from the Crackup"
(A rare unanimous vote by the judges). Judges said: “While we could do without her editors' strangely defensive introduction - why shouldn't a political magazine have a sex column? - the column itself is splendid. Beautifully written, sharply analyzed, and unabashedly libidinal, without a trace of the dry pedantry or shrillness that infects so much left-wing commentary on sex.”
Second Place: Between the Briefs, Alysha Rooks, Res Gestae. Winning entries: "Greek Questions," "Spitzer? I Hardly Knew Her," and "Soap on a Rope Is So Passe"
Our 2008 first-place winner still going strong! Judges said: “Thoroughly informative and absorbing - an admirable translation of legal concepts into lively, comprehensible English. Rooks has a distinctive voice, an eye for interesting facts, a keen sense of justice -and she's funny! Particularly loved the column on sex in prison - who knew that conjugal visits were regarded as a fundamental human right in Argentina?”
Tie for Third:
Giving Guidance, Jamie Phillips, The Meliorist. Winning entries: "Keeping It Up When You're Down," "Monkeying Around," and "The Science of Sex"
Judges said: “She gives smart, compassionate advice, isn't afraid to criticize the readers, writes lucidly and gets right to the point. One of the better new sex columns I've read in a while.”
The Sexist, Amanda Hess, Washington City Paper. Winning entries: "Yes, We Have No Birth Control," "Electoral Dysfunction," and "What the Fuck Is a Peter Meter"
Judges said: “There is an indulgent quality to these long pieces (they seem almost too longwinded to be 'columns'), but they're funny, creative, well reported, and the topics well chosen. A reminder of why we still need alternative weeklies-pieces like this take time and can't be done by unpaid bloggers, and won't be done by the mainstream because it's too bold and too quirky!”
Opinion
Tie for First Place:
“A Poverty of Solutions,” Judith Levine, 7 Days
Judges said: “As Levine points out, challenging child molestation laws is the real taboo. But she nonetheless offers an articulate and forceful reframing of the real threat to children: our social neglect of the poverty in which too many live. Excellent.” “Tells the truth about a problem society likes to be hysterical about rather than solve.”
“The Great Porn Misunderstanding,” Michael Bader, Alternet
Judges said: “Porn is almost never written about intelligently and/or without polemics. This piece does both and I learned a lot.” “A bold challenge to the progressive community to rethink its own sexual dogma. Agree or disagree, Bader pushes his readers' boundaries and offers a strong, articulate position that seeks to free sexual pleasure from sexual ideologies.”
Tie for Second Place:
"Beyond Good and Evil," Judith Levine, 7 Days
Judges said: “A deft articulation of the real root of America's panicking rigidity around sex-the false comfort of binary rules governing morality. Wonderfully situates the sexual discussion inside a broader critique of American culture.”
“In Partial Defense of Eliot Spitzer,” Tristan Taormino, Village Voice
Judges said: “Taormino rightly calls complete fidelity a 'fairy-tale notion' and seeks to explore why a high-powered, highly-public man like Spitzer might stray, with a prostitute. She doesn't just speak for herself, but interviews actual sex workers about why we shouldn't only feel pity for the woman then known as 'Kristen.' At the same time, she doesn't let Spitzer off the hook for lying to his wife, but questions the entire paradigm of monogamy as something everyone should strive for.”
“The Hymen Mystique,” Carole Roye, Alternet/Women's eNews
Judges said: “Hugely informative about an odd body part that 50 percent humanity has (for awhile anyway). Told me things I didn't know.”
Sex-Themed Publications
After careful consideration by our judges, we have decided not to give awards in this category this year. The judges felt the quality of the submissions did not measure up to the work submitted last year.
We started the Sexies primarily to give mainstream journalists encouragement and support for covering sexual topics in unsensationalistic honest fashion. We added this category to give some recognition to folks in the trenches who are writing for publications that devote themselves to this topic. We are immensely grateful to those writers and those publications, and yet we feel that when writing about sex is expected and not an achievement in itself, to be award-winning, a story must really push our boundaries and be risky and challenge even the assumptions of the sex-positive community.
We look forward to receiving more pieces in that vein in the future. We know they're out there!
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(*News publications include daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly newspapers or news magazines, college newspapers, and exclusively online edited news publications. Blogs or other publications/websites with no firsthand reporting or editorial oversight, while crucial parts of the information landscape, do not qualify as news publications for the purposes of this award.)
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