Sex Positive Social Work

smith

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:58:28 GMT

I declare to the commons that on this day I was accepted to the Smith School for Social Work's masters degree program in clinical social work with the promise of a hefty grant and a field placement in the geographic area of my choice.

woot, woot.

cross-posted to socialwork and swk_students

anarchist social work

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 03:22:19 GMT

I am looking to write a paper that offers a broad sketch outline of what anarchist theory has to offer social work practitioners -- i primarily focus around issues of community organizing, development, structural racism, etc so i would love to bring some perspectives on board of what radical micro-level practice looks like. There is an incredible dearth of information out there on radical social work in general, and what is out there is often from a strictly neo-Marxist view, so I would like to get another perspective out there. If you are interested in helping to write this paper, or simply have thoughts to share, please be in touch! - estiens at gmail

MSW Questions

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:07:35 GMT

I’m sure this all has been said before but I’m really in need of some advice.

I’m applying to MSW programs and am interested in focusing in gender/sexuality and youth. (Specifically, trans youth.) My whole application process has been complicated because my partner is also applying to grad schools so we need to coordinate cities.

Right now my list includes Hunter, Columbia, NYU, University at Buffalo, Simmons, Boston University, U Penn, Howard, and University of Maryland Baltimore. Anybody have experiences with these schools? I’m not sure if I should apply to NYU and Columbia because I really like Hunter. Also, what have people heard about Boston University? Any other schools you would recommend?

Obviously, I am a bit over my head right now.

Thanks!!!!
Amie

(x-posted around)

Trans Sex Worker Community

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 23:56:41 GMT

Hello.

I found it necessary to create a community for Trans Sex Workers. You see, we don't have a lot of support, either from the culture at large, or from Sex Worker communities, where there are either transphobia/access issues, or simply not enough information specialized in regards to our practices. This leaves Trans Sex Workers between a rock and a hard place, which places them at far higher risks for Police Busts, Violence and Poverty.

What this community is based upon, loosely, is the modern "Sex Workers' Movement" and "Feminist Sex Work" ethics. Briefly stated, this is a manner by which Sex Workers (Escorts, Phone Sex Operators, Porn Models, Dancers) are encouraged to operate as independants (rather than for pimps and agencies), to be aware of thier rights, and to have access to information which empowers them. There is a lot of emphasis on being Smart and Savvy, and developing co-op entities for work and safety. I've noticed that within this new ethic, Trans-Persons have been largely left out, despite the large percentile of (mostly M2F) trans-persons who become Sex Workers for one reason or another. Overall, the solution is D.I.Y. No one else is going to create this form of community for us, so if you need it, help build it! This is a MAJOR effort to empower Trans-Persons, as so many of us find ourselves in Sex Work, whether by choice or force (usually a combination of the two.)

If you are just such a person (or considering becoming one), or are a knowledgable ally (as in, non-trans), please talk to me about joining this community (preferably by e-mail: demi777@gmail.com)

Please! If this has been posted to your community, it has been as a effort to bring this demographic together! This may be a life-line to many of us, if you do not agree with our way of life, or do not care for the subject, please just leave this be! There will always be Sex Workers, and plenty of them will be Trans. I'm not looking to begin discussions here (that would be for the Trans Sex Work group), just looking for those of us who are in need! (Nor am I inferring, by posting to your community page, that the members of the community are all Sex Workers. This is outreach.)

This will be cross-posted into [info]mtf_lesbians, [info]mtf_undressed, [info]protips, [info]sexpositive_sw, [info]tranny_please, [info]transfeminism, [info]womens_studies, [info]trans_poc, [info]rainbowsupport, [info]sexworkpartners

If you know a Trans Sex Worker, please let them know! Spread the word! Post in other communities!

For more specific info, I'm posting the "Mission Statement" (also available on the community's info page) below this LJ cut. Its really quite an essay, so don't read unless you're really interested. (It is rather educational.)

This is a community for and by Trans Sex Workers.

This is a space to discuss Sex Work, whether you wish to ask questions about problems, share work experiences, knowledge of resources, knowledge of geographic opportunity, post pics of yourself (behind an lj-cut, please), rant, muse, offer co-operative opportunities, or just meet other Trans Sex Workers to network with/friend.

Who is Welcome: This is a Moderated Community. Any Trans-Person who is a Sex Worker, or who has been and would like to share thier experiences/give advice. Though the predominant face of the Trans Sex Worker is a Trans-Woman, Trans-Men and any other Sex/Gender variant is welcome. If you are Trans and are CONSIDERING Sex Work, I may choose to let you on as a "lurker," a member who can read but not post, for a short time.

I would also like to welcome Trans-Ally Sex Workers, such as cisFemale Sex Workers, or Gay Male Sex Workers, as an indispensable resource, though at my discretion. Trans Sex Workers' experiences are a bit different, ESPECIALLY around marketing practices, thus, Trans Sex Workers' advice should hold heavier weight here.

All in all, I want this to be a Safe Discussion Space for Trans Sex Workers. What I will censor: Hate/Bigotry language, extremely non-production comments, "trolling," EXTREMELY negative/cynical "advice." What I WON'T censor: Nude/Sexual Imagery (but it MUST be behind an lj-cut), descriptions of your work and experiences (though I do advice lj-cut for explicit writing, with some leniency), differing opinions (just stay friendly.)

SAFETY ISSUES: Much of what falls under the category of "Sex Work" is ILLEGAL. I WILL NOT CENSOR INFORMATION BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL, but because of this, you are expected to follow certain safety protocol. I'd advice against making either your REAL NAME or REAL WORK NAME available here (though the work name is up to you, if you feel safe with that.) NEVER give a client's real name, or the names of other Sex Workers (unless you KNOW that they are okay with it.) Use pseudonyms, or nondescript pronouns. Also, this is NOT a place to pick up Clients or to Advertise your services, as this would require it to be public access community, thus inhibiting our discussions. You MAY however, share links to your sites/ads to ask advice about them, or to offer examples to others' questions (i.e.,"what does web-design in the sex industry look like right now?" or, "What do I think it should look like?", ect.) Though this is a Moderated Private Community, and I will do my best to make sure every inside is legit, try to protect yourself! (Which should be a priority one discussion topic!)

Why This Community Has Been Made:

There is currently a strong movement (with certain areas of the West Coast being strong epicenters) to promote Sex Work as a legitimate, safe and healthy career path. The term "Sex Work" is an attempt to unify Prostitutes/Escorts, Pornography Models (of all sorts), Phone Sex/Cam Sex Operators, Erotic Dancers/Strippers, and basically anyone who makes a living by offering sexual service. The logic states, that divided we fall, together we have a chance, and the greatest proponents call for "Sex Workers' Unions" (or one unified union), standards of pay, care and practice, respect from clientèle (as in, you don't play by our rules, you don't get service) and legalization including protection from hostile forces ENFORCED BY the police.

This movement, sometimes called the "New Whore Culture," has created a new manner of Sex Worker, one who presents as Smart, Business Savvy, Tasteful, Professional, Classy, High Valued, Safe, Clean and above all, A SKILLED PROFESSIONAL WHO IS A HUMAN BEING, THUS DEMANDING RESPECT.

The predominant face of this New Girl, is, unfortunately for those who do not fit this, a Young cisFemale who comes from a Middle Class background (and, I think this also usually means White.)

This new kind of Call Girl operates as an Independent Business Woman, eschewing Pimps and Madams, most Cat Houses and "Services for Sex Workers" (as these are usually scams to make money off of and degrade the Worker), choosing to create a professional support network of other Independent Sex Workers for Advice, Work Ops, Trade Secrets and Resource Tips, as well as very practical occurrences, like setting up Multi-Girl InCall Spaces and Co-Operative Agencies (at best).

The problem here? Trans-Girls (and trans-persons at large) are rarely, if ever, welcome in these circles, and if they are, tend to be held at arms length, so to speak. This is EXTREMELY unfair, EXTREMELY bigoted, and EXTREMELY dangerous, as there are FAR more Sex-Workers in ratio to the size of the population of Trans-Girls than there are in cisFemale demographics, and we are kept from the support we so need. This is further compounded because of the issue that, within the Choice/Force discussion ("were you Forced to become a Sex Worker, or did you Choose to?"), the story with Trans-Women is predominantly one including heavy measures of Force (as in, couldn't find any other form of Right livelihood.) This is FURTHER compounded by the KNOWN FACT that Trans-Sex Workers are more often targeted (as a percentile) by Police Forces than cisFemales. (The other demographic is Sex Workers of Color, suggesting that Trans Sex Workers of Color are EVEN MORE at risk.)

Your average Trans Sex Worker, from my personal encounters, is Paranoid, Distrustful and Desperate, rarely seeking to network with other Trans Sex Workers. THIS IS A TRAVESTY, AS BECOMING A HEALTHY SOCIAL NETWORK IS THE ONLY THING WHICH WILL EMPOWER US TO BECOME STRONG AS A DEMOGRAPHIC. This is also a Trans-Person issue at large, for there are MANY trans persons (still mostly the girls) who, when faced with the towering cost of transition (often involving "cosmetic" effects which will rarely, if ever, be touched by insurance), and the very real issue of reduced work opportunities, become Sex Workers, selling the very bodies they seek to change IN ORDER TO AFFORD IT. There are MANY Trans-Women (and Trans-Men, usually pre-transition) who sell thier bodies in this way for this purpose. For the Trans Community to ignore the need of Positive Centers of Support for this phenomenon would be short sighted, to say the least.

Now, of course, I would say that this "New Whore Culture" has a DUTY to bring us into the fold, but I have little faith that ANYONE BUT US IS GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN! So, thus, this community has been created! Perhaps this will grow into a larger phenomenon, and I hope it does, but for now, let us declare this a FEAR-FREE ZONE FOR TRANS-SEX WORKERS! (Yay!)

Denver Social Worker

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 00:28:29 GMT

Hi All,

I just learned about Live Journal and this site. I was listening to NPR's Diane Reim pod-cast about on-line social networks. I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this and possibly use it for a course in the fall.

I am a first year PhD student attending the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work. I earned my MSW from Boston College. I did my undergrad work at Fort Lewis College where I majored in Psychology with a double minor in sociology and philosophy. I just finished my educaion plan and found that both psychological and sociological social psychology inform my social work practice.

Currently I am working on a research project that explores resilience among Latino GLBT. We are looking at personal resources available to Latinos who manage oppression and rejection from their cultural community for beign GLBT and racism from the GLBT community because they are Latino/a. I've been doing interviews and so it would be great to talk with someone about attitude change, social influcence, the formation and maintenance of self knowledge, stigma and the regulation of behavior as well as the nexus of race, class, gender and sexual orientation.

Timo

Please, need a good free online guide on training in Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 19:51:34 GMT

Hello, everyone!

I'm conducting educational summer camp on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive HEatlth
in my home country Turkmenistan (Central Asia). Here is a lack of good resources on
that topic. It is dangerous and hard to bring materials into country, so i'm trying
find comprehensive and accurate guides online to download for free.

Please, if you know good online resources, help me.

I'm really nervious, because it is the first time i'm doing a project of such range.
I was doing seminars on sexuality and reproductive health before, but not covering Gender
so deeply(?), even though i'm more or less well aware and trained in Gender issues, but
not in teaching.

I would really appreciate any advice, recommendations and resources.

Thank you alot in advance!!!

Selbi

honest pregnancy options materials

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 23:08:51 GMT

I volunteer as a health educator at a teen health clinic. We often see young women seeking pregnancy tests, and while they wait for their results, we discuss pregnancy options. Once upon a time, I have been told, we had a brochure that outlined the 3 basic options (parenting, adoption, and abortion). Now, as I search for such a material, I cannot find one! Have ETR Associates and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology been taken over, too? Neither of them seem to have honest materials that look at the risks and benefits of all 3 options. ACOG has a brochure that outlines a lot of medical information on abortion but doesn't appear to include the risks of continuing a pregnancy. ETR has materials that present adoption and parenting but not abortion.

What is going on here? When did these standard producers of educational materials get taken over? And do you have any recommendations for a good source of such a brochure for our clinic?

On the behalf of a kink aware professional friend

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 15:58:06 GMT

After a discussion this morning about kink friendly services that we have access to (or lack of!) I asked my friend if she would allow me to share who she is with the community. Knowing there are people within that are in need of such understanding within a conversation. She is not a member of LiveJournal which is why I've taken it upon myself to post for her. Her profile is under the cut.

I am confident someone will find the information useful, or can pass it on to another that would.

If the moderator feels this is not a proper post for the community, please delete (and accept my sincerest apologies). Thank you!

Everyone please meet Alena...

I am a Toronto psychotherapist with a Master's degree in Counselling Psychology from OISE/UT. I am a student member of the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists. My specific research areas are sadomasochism and trauma, but I work with any adult relationship-based issues as well. I do not work with children or adolescents. I am kink-aware and queer-positive.

The foundation of my work is person-based therapy, but I rely heavily on the feminist psycho-educational models as well. Like many therapists, I am an eclectic practitioner--what is consistent is my refusal to pathologize my clients' experiences, as well as my attempts to explore with them the socio-cultural circumstances that may be impacting on their feelings. As to alternative lifestyles, I do not believe that sadomasochism is a "disorder;" nor is it necessarily something to be cured. My goal, instead, is to work with clients on those areas of their experience where they feel dissatisfied and to assist them in finding ways to navigate their lives--and relationships--more smoothly.

I have trained with Interpersonal Therapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy models as well and have found these shorter-term, formally structured therapies to be quite useful with certain clients. I sometimes use role playing and two-chair work as well as being open to exploring other creative modes with clients.

Finally, I also do corporate consulting, teaching communication skills and conflict resolution and so forth to managers and staff.

Contact Aléna Smith
Voicemail/Pager: 416-374-8482
Email: alena_psychotherapist@sympatico.ca

Community Promotion and Discussion: Grief

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:43:15 GMT

shakti_bear wrote:

grief_sw

* This community is open to any clinical practitioners who are specifically interested in the area of death and dying.
* This is a safe place to share your personal thoughts, experiences, and questions about bereavement, terminal illness, or anything else having to do with this very sensitive topic.
* We also can recommend books and other resources to help practitioners deal with those in the process of grieving.

The above community is not not directly related to sex positive issues, however it is important to all communities. So here's a few questions. How can social workers create a safe space for grieving sexual minorities? Are there different considerations a social worker should make for grieving individuals who are LGBT/kinky/poly/pagan/etc? (I throw in pagan, just because someone previously commented that there seem to be a lot of pagan folx in sexual minority communities, and ones spirituality tends to impact ideas of death/dying that might be different from the Judeo-Christian outlook that is pervasive in American society.)

Some brief thoughts that came to mind (for me to think about later)-

- Chosen family vs. biological family
- Support structures/systems
- Dealing with possibly confusing emotions if the loved one was someone they were estranged from (this is something that has hit me on a more personal level as of late)

Please post your thoughts, ideas, etc.

From the Maintainer: On Topic/Sized posts

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:02:32 GMT

Hey everyone! It's great to see how many people have joined this community, and I'm excited to see so many people interested in the topic of sex positive social work!

I just wanted to mention a couple things that are from the userinfo page (and try not to be a jerk about it):

If you have posts that are very long, or have pictures, please put them under an LJ-cut tag. If you are seeking to promote a community, please make sure it's on topic, and post a bit about how it relates to the community.

1. The lj-cut tag. This means that if you're going to post things that take up an inordinate amount of space (both vertically and horizontally, ie. big pictures/big text) please use the lj-cut tag. This will make it easier for people who have low bandwidth or don't feel like re-sizing their browser just to read their friends page.

2. On topic. The topic of this community is sex positivity in helping communities. While this doesn't exclude other topics important to social work, such as grief, domestic violence, drug abuse, family issues, it does mean that posts including those issues should refer to those topic's place in sexual minority communities. I will be making some changes to the userinfo to reflect that, in case there was some confusion about that, and to hopefully help people in the future.

Community/personal promotion is a-ok, but please tie it into sex positivity and how that community relates to sex positive social work, not just social work.

Keep the posts coming. Maybe I should pick a weekly discussion to get the ball rolling?

Welcome!

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:22:32 GMT

I made all of 2 announcements and in just a very short time so many people have joined this community! Welcome and thank you! Please invite other people in other relevant communities to join, tell your friends, etc.

Also, if you have any thing that you think should be included in the userinfo page, please let me know, especially if you'd like to see the interests list expanded.

Whee!

To start things off...

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 06:05:54 GMT

I just started this community to hopefully find people in the helping professions who are sex-positive that could share their thoughts and strengths with like-minded people.

I'll be trying to get the word out about the community in the days ahead. If you stumble upon this before then (or soon after) please encourage other sex-positive professionals that you know on LiveJournal to join in.

Also, in perhaps a radical move, I want to include sex-workers as those who are "helping professionals." I acknowledge that not all sex workers are necessarily "helping professionals," and I acknowledge that some, like in ANY industry, are working in coercive environments, are abused in that environment and/or are seeking to get out of the industry.

I open that as the first topic of discussion: Sex workers as a helping profession: What are your thoughts on this? Experiences? Feelings?