Being Amber Rhea

More thoughts on the conference idea…

My working title: Sex 2.0. I realized a bunch of people have already been calling it that, so why not just use that as the name? It’s short, catchy, and plays off Web 2.0 in a way that’s slightly ironic. I like it.

Subtitle? It should be something more descriptive, but also catchy. I thought of, “Log on. Get off.” It’s cute, but I don’t know if it’s descriptive enough. I might be willing to make that sacrifice, though. After all, it’s damn near impossible to describe in one sentence a conference that covers so many intersecting topics.

If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. So far I haven’t gotten any! I’ll probably set up a wiki or something soon, to make this kind of thing easier.

Onto logistics…

Viviane brought up a good point:

One thing to consider. A bunch of us felt comfortable presenting at Dark Odyssey because there were no cameras or recording equipment.

Although I will be at Blogher, there will be no official events for the sex bloggers, because I personally am unwilling to out myself. I plan on organizing a private event for the sex bloggers.

Many sex bloggers have very valid reasons for not wanting to be outed - especially bloggers who work in the sex industry. I intend to respect these boundaries. Sex workers absolutely must be included in this conference. Sure, as a social media Kool-Aid drinker, I value transparency. But I also recognize that being able to take such a position is a privilege that many people do not have. I refuse to contribute, in the name of transparency, to the continued marginalization of sex workers. This will not be a conference where non-sex workers sit around talking for and about sex workers.

So how do we negotiate the balance between being transparent, and being respectful of the boundaries of people who wish to remain anonymous or pseudonymous? If it comes down to it, I will opt in favor of inclusion of sex workers and others who wish to protect their identities. Ideally, though, I would like it not to be a “one or the other” situation.

Rusty and I discussed a few possibilities last night. The first idea was, if this event is held in a venue similar to that of PodCamp Atlanta, where there’s a large discussion hall and several smaller break-out rooms, maybe we could make it clear ahead of time that the sessions in the main room will be recorded, and the others will be left up to the discretion of the session leader. However, I don’t think this is a realistic solution, because I want to follow the unconference model of discussion, and if the sessions in the main room are being recorded, some sex workers may not feel comfortable joining the conversation. I do not want their voices to be excluded, so that idea was scrapped.

The second idea was, instead of purely following the unconference model, maybe we could have some sessions which are discussion style, and some which are presentation style. The ones that are presentation style could be recorded. However, this is still not an ideal solution, because what if the presenter wants to leave time for questions and answers at the end? And what if the presenter is someone who does not want to be recorded?

Furthermore, neither of these ideas address issues of live-blogging and photos. To be honest, audio and video recording are not a ‘must,’ and we should probably address this more fundamental unconference behavior first. If people don’t feel free to live-blog, take photos, etc., then I really feel like, why have this conference at all? But again, I want to balance these things that I’ve come to value at unconferences with respect for people whose voices are typically not included at all.

I want to hear any input and suggestions y’all may have.

Also, the venue is still a major question. A big part of figuring that out will be determining how many people we think we’ll have. Maybe 200? I don’t want to over-estimate. I also don’t want to sacrifice intimacy for sheer numbers.

Many thanks to Viviane, Dacia, Sherry, Melissa Gira, Miss Beth, and everyone else who has expressed interest in this idea and is willing to help make it happen! I’ll probably set up a separate blog and/or a wiki soon. Stay tuned!