You can't call that Art, you Whore

"Sex Workers’ Art Show" is the topic on the DAMage Report today at 2:30pm PST

"In a cabaret-style mix of music, drag, spoken word and multimedia performance art, The Sex Worker’ Art Show hopes to reinforce the notion of sex workers as artists. Performances will provide a variety of perspectives on sex work. Ideas range from prostitutes’ rights to “views from the darker sides of the industry. The Sex Worker’s Art Show aims to extend past the taboo to comment on class, race, gender, labor and sexuality." -   http://www.sexworkersartshow.com/

You can't call that Art, you Whore

Hookers, strippers and drag queens performing in a traveling show that discusses the adult entertainment industry? 

That's not art! 

That's just ...well... nasty. 

What would they know about art? 

Okay, so the complaints aren't about whether or not the show is art - it doesn't even make it that far out of the discussion bag. 

The fact that **gasp** porn stars and prostitutes would DARE show their faces to the good, decent people and TALK and SING about their experiences seems to be all it takes to cause an uproar. 

Actually.... the uproar seems to be more of a bored whimper. When you look at who ACTUALLY showed up at the public forum to "debate" the show's viability, there were only 30-40 people in attendance and most of those faculty (hall monitors.)

There was quite alot of  coverage in the various media on the "controversy" of strippers putting on a show, but very little (read nothing) on the show's content. 

It seems the focus was entirely on the artists and not the art. At all.

To add insult to injury there was whining about it not being controversial enough. 

No, really: "Most agree that the controversy this year has been less charged, both because the controversial Century Project has taken attention away from the show." 

So this is a case of "Wahhh, who stole my controversy?" 

The sad thing is that if the "controversy" of the show was spin, then it deflected from the potential message of the show and turned the whining around it into nothing more than a bored, half-assed pissing contest.  

One woman wrote to the newspaper and asked "Doesn’t presenting such a show trivialize and possibly even encourage the degradation and exploitation of women inherent in “sex work?” How does presenting a show like this encourage the search for truth and knowledge that universities claim to advance?"

Ohhh - let me answer that one! It opens the topic for discussion and provides access to info and viewpoints you couldn't easily get ... unless you wanted to start interviewing "ladies of the night." 

Instead of walking around with victorian era protests of morale outrage at the audacity of them 'hos, wouldn't it be great if people would open their minds a little and try to walk a few inches in someone else's FMPs? 

Is the show great art? Oh, hell if i know. I couldn't find out anything about it beyond those obligatory gasps of "How dare they!" and  "It's so controversial!" and "It's not controversial enough, damn that Century Project for stealing our thunder." 

But a peek at the bios of the performers leads me to think that these professional artists and art school graduates have themselves a showman's angle for the performance and probably make for more of an entertaining evening than an educational one. But y'all - whether they are performers or ladies of ill repute (heehee - i love that phrase - so damn funny) it is art and they are trying to convey a message. 

Resources:

• Sex Worker's Art Show - the controversy: http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/weird_news/article/college_of_william_and_mary_hosts_controversial_sex_show/22554/

• low attendance at forum: http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-local_sexworkers_0324mar24,0,2389583.story

• fourth showing at the college: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDQyYzY5OTY2Zjg3ZmYzZGYxNzQyMDlkOGNjMzVjYzg=

• general info:   http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1630511

• The Show returns days after The Century Project closes on campus: http://flathatnews.com/content/70376/speaking-sex-work-and-art

their site: http://www.sexworkersartshow.com/about_03152009.html