Alleviate photography revealed

A stream of customers and artistic admirers wandered amid vibrators, porn and Alleviate, Jes Sachse’s erotic photography series, which hung inside Come as You Are (CAYA) on May 7, as part of Toronto’s CONTACT photography festival.

In a jean vest, with a blonde fringed faux hawk and a silver lightning bolt dangling from her ear, Sachse publicly addressed the negative reactions her debut Contact show received during its initial week of exposure. “If work is self- representative we often take the hit,” she said to the crowd on opening night.

Her collection will be featured at CAYA until June 15th, and focuses on visible disability and self portraiture through the lens of the subject, in an attempt to transcend the stereotypical gaze of disability. From freak shows to the medical text narrative, Sachse uses her own body to juxtapose clichéd imagery in playful and provocative ways.

She plays with gender ambiguity in a series entitled “Hair.” Standing at the foot of a basement with her breasts covered in tin foil and a surgical mask over her face or a pylon grasped between her legs, wearing a moustache.

Sachse was born with a rare condition known as Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome and has scoliosis which curves the spine.

Sarah-Forbes Roberts, one of the co-owners of CAYA said that last spring she invited Sachse to participate in CONTACT 2009 at their venue because she feels there needs to be a place to showcase diverse artistic images of bodies that aren’t mainstream.

“It’s sort of this moment that throws open the door to what is beautiful,” said Roberts, who feels Sachse’s work ties in with the store’s mandate of accessible sexuality.

Her eclectic hodgepodge of photography dates from 2006 up until this past December when she decided to invite viewers into the private space of the bathroom, as opposed to the “yes we can” public image of the wheelchair roving individual. One photograph in particular has generated quite a response.

Sachse stands nude in the shower, grasping the edge of a white plastic curtain as hair dye runs in between her breasts, over her short torso and in between her long legs. A heart reading “crooked” is etched on her chest as tattooed squid tentacles wrap around her arm. Her head is tilted, mouth open, eyes challenging the camera.

“It makes you uncomfortable because I’m naked but I’m also not looking at you in this very renaissance-woman-naked-on-a-couch kind of passive stare, I’m engaging you,” she said.
Audience reactions ranged from “Is that attractive?” to “Why would anyone want to see that?” Sachse worked with Cory Silverberg, part co-owner of CAYA to print an educational Q&A response to be posted in the store with copies available for visitors to take.

She realizes that feedback has less to do with her and more to do with the viewers. “You kind of plant a seed. In that act I’ve done my job.”

But backlash has erupted from more than one source. After submitting a blurb about her show to CONTACT organizers in December, which was published on the webpage and printed in distributed magazines, Sachse noticed it was altered without her notification.

The updated version indicated that observers of Alleviate would be extended an invitation to take a “fresh look” at physical disabilities.

“I felt like it really fucked with everything else I wrote because the whole point is to replicate the most tired archetypes that are associated with disability and to self represent and make new ones,” said Sachse, who felt the word “fresh” was a huge contradiction.

“Here I am trying to sell disability. Disability like you’ve never seen it before kind of deal,” she said in a mocking tone. “I was so mad.”

Last year during the Erotic Blender Art Exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel an Eye Weekly reporter who interviewed her commented on how articulate she was before remarking that “disability is so en vogue,” said Sachse.

This is the type of vibe she has received from the Toronto art scene. “Any media attention has had to do with the fact that disability is, I don’t now, the new black or something.”

But Sachse plans to incorporate these experiences into her art in a variety of different media. Currently in the works, a collaborative documentary will follow the responses her work has received over the years and include other politically like-minded artists. She will continue exploring ways to photograph the medical narrative, infantalization, iconography and censorship associated with disability.

“My method of dealing with stuff is tongue and cheek kind of humour. I’ve come to realize doing the work itself is enough in terms of addressing it. Adding to the dialogue is enough.”

*Published in the June issue of The Ryerson Free Press

The Closeline Project shares laundry

“I couldn’t say the word ‘rape’ for a long time,” said Larisa Storisteanu, a volunteer with the Clothesline Project (CLP) at Ryerson, which took place from May 1 to 4.

Hosted by the V-Day group at Ryerson, the project allowed women who have experienced abuse to share their stories, emotions and messages of hope on donated t-shirts. The t-shirts were then displayed publicly. According to the CLP, making and hanging that laundry can be part of the healing process.

Storisteanu, a former part-time visual arts student at Ryerson, first heard about CLP a few years ago. She was raped by a former employer and wanted to participate in an event she felt was a positive way of reconciling her experience with violence. Storisteanu is also assistant director of Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault, a student group that has raised funds for the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre by auctioning artwork created by women who have survived violence.

“It’s definitely hard opening up about it but its harder keeping silent,” she said, sitting beside the growing clothesline, her mint colour eyes emphasized by wavy auburn hair.

Decorated t-shirts were strung between four trees alongside Kerr Hall South as women sat at tables and sketched out stories with markers. Traffic on the sidewalk stopped to converse with volunteers about the workshop and across the street more shirts swung in the breeze beside Lake Devo.

The first CLP event took place in 1990 as part of the “Take Back the Night” march and rally in Massachusetts. The founding group felt that hanging laundry, long seen as women’s work, would be a natural medium to express provocative, educational and constructive art. The project has now spread worldwide.

Virginia and Ashley Tran, who started V-Day at Ryerson, chose to organize CLP as a way of providing a supportive, artistic and activist workshop for the Ryerson community. In partnership with Ryerson’s Women’s Centre, they started collecting donated shirts for the clothesline in December.

Virginia, a freelance artist better known as “V”, sat beside the growing clothesline in a billowy white shirt and silver hoop earrings. She said that many women who participated or approached the tables of t-shirts had stories to tell, and V-Day volunteers were there to listen.One woman’s story stood out for Tran: “A lot of times women don’t know it’s abuse until it’s too late.”

For many women, name-calling by partners can seem like a silly or insignificant reaction. “It’s about noticing and identifying the early stages of it, and how it escalates into an abusive situation,” said Tran, who has experienced violence with men in the past.

“Not only are we acknowledging the victims, but we’re building them up as well,” said project coordinator Rehana Hirjee, in grey tights and jean shorts, who sat alongside the clothesline with Tran.
She feels that women lack the outlets to express their experiences with violence and can remain silent out of fear that an abusive significant other will discover their disclosure. The Clothesline provides a safe place to tell those stories.

“It’s a silent protest, I think. Once you read it, it has such an impact,” said Hirjee, with long dark curls framing her face.

Each shirt was colour-coded to symbolize the form of abuse and whether the victim survived.
“He spat on my face and he hit me…he called me a bitch and he kicked me…one black eye and a bleeding head…I vow never to go back and not to listen to what he says,” read a lime green shirt, representing a survivor of incest and sexual abuse, which hung near Lake Devo.

But women aren’t the only survivors of violence. Earlier in the afternoon a man who had been abused by two of his former wives asked Hirjee if there was room for men who were victims. “Why not?” replied Hirjee.

“I want men to know, ‘listen we’re in this together,’” said Tran, her hair pulled back in a low ponytail. “V-day isn’t a pro-woman, anti-men group. We’re pro-human.”

Jeff Perera, a social work student currently organizing Ryerson’s White Ribbon Campaign (RWRC), came out to support the CLP workshop on Saturday, and hopes to work with V-Day in the future. The RWRC is an organization of students, staff and faculty dedicated to ending men’s violence against women through awareness and education.

Perera’s aim is to create a space for Ryerson’s male population to discuss its role in violence without blaming. “It’s not the ‘oppressor, you are the enemy’ discussion. Let’s find how we can be part of the solution,” says Perera.

Perera’s mother was a victim of violence. He believes that remaining silent about the issue allows it to fester and grow. “You’re part of the problem or part of the solution,” he says.

V-Day also sold “I (heart) vagina” t-shirts and buttons and received donations for future campaigns, as well as for the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children, an organization that provides community education, justice and safety programs.None of the stories that were written on shirts will be lost, said Tran.

V-day intends to hold another CLP on campus in September and will reuse shirts created during their first workshop. She wants to spread the message that anyone can start a CLP, and hopes to collaborate with other projects across Toronto.

“We essentially want the CLP to be a Toronto collective that started here at Ryerson, and that’s beautiful. So we’re calling out to people,” says Tran.

Wearing a long, patchwork skirt, with a feather tied in her hair, Storisteanu sat beside the red t-shirt that she decorated the previous day, which symbolized rape.

“It is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy,” the shirt read, which came from the poem “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, surrounded by a circular design that branched off into curls. Underneath were the words, “I’m working on forgiving you…slowly…taking it day by day.”

Although she feels that many things have contributed to her healing process, Storisteanu says that witnessing the messages of other women was empowering for her. She knows that voicing what she went through potentially helped someone else.

“It doesn’t make you feel so anonymous, sharing your story.”

*Published in the June issue of The Ryerson Free Press

How To Get a Con Girlfriend: A lesson in overcoming B.O. and desperation

Step one: Come prepared for the heat.

Make sure to bring an assortment of heavy duty, extra strength deodorants in bar or spray form. Keep them at hand in case of increased heat or physical activity, like group hugs, spontaneous pokemon tournaments or intense glomping. Remember, posing for photos can be strenuous, especially when your prop is as tall as you are.
You are bound to sweat so wearing another layer underneath your costume will conveniently soak up excess moisture. Donning a thin undershirt will prevent drenching your homemade duds as you compete in LARP tournaments, battle fellow fans to reach a rare anime series on sale in the Dealers Room, or flail your limbs wildly at the outdoor rave.

Step two: Become one with the costume.

You didn’t spend countless late nights stitching by the glow of your Wii console to look like a schmuck at the convention, so make sure you can rock your threads. Details are everything. Take the time to double check your costume for any missing elements because you’re only as valuable as the authenticity of your footwear, gear and make-up. Bring extra supplies along in the devastating event that a face smearing mishap occurs or your key sword is damaged in an overenthusiastic run in with the heartless.

Getting hot in that mask? Removing it will spell your failure. If one con girl spies you looking more like you than your character then you can wave goodbye to epic, fantasy themed sex. No girl will bestow those memorized lines of undying love from your favourite series if you aren’t 100% legit.
Step three: Try to have some class. This time.

If you see a sexy Kairi or Riku walk by with their tits popping out of their tops, avoid openly staring and stalking them for the remainder of the weekend. If you get excited, try to hide it and momentarily distract yourself by looking at the guy in the skin tight team rocket costume. If you do happen to get in close proximity with a hottie aim your sights on her face instead of her rack and prevent a nasty reaction.
In reality a woman can still go Love Hina on your ass and slug you into the parking lot if she thinks you’re a jerk. There is still time to seduce her into your hotel room and play out scenes from your cherished final episodes, but you’re never going to get there if you’re too obvious. You may look like a sex-starved Otaku, but try not to act like one.

Back to Reality.

If these tips seem likely to guarantee nabbing a con girlfriend then there is something seriously wrong with today’s anime obsessed youth. At my first Anime North convention on May 23rd I sat in on the latter half of a panel discussion literally called “How To Get a Con Girlfriend.” With the exception of step three (which I had to throw in) this was a sample of the types of suggestions doled out by a panel to a group of guys. It was a very strange and enlightening lesson in male cosplaying culture.

A guy dressed as Master Roshi from Dragon Ball Z actually enquired about how to avoid odours offensive to the opposite sex while travelling around with a giant turtle shell strapped to his back. Despite the fact that B.O. was as thick as smog in high traffic areas of the convention body odour should be the least of a guy’s worries. How about….oh I don’t know….just act naturally and talk to women?

Another guy wanted to know how to not appear desperate when meeting women at the convention and relayed that con women he meets tend to be more desperate than he is, proven by the fact that he was able to “miraculously” have sex with one. This line of thought just made me sorry for the entire room…especially when this story was met with wild applause, cheering and one excited male who rushed over and high-fived the guy for his apparent achievement. He wasn’t even bad looking, but obviously thought that he wasn’t worth much, if a girl fucking a guy who writes fan fiction is miraculous.
What I got out of this discussion was a glimpse into the insecurities men may feel because their interests don’t adhere to mainstream male gender constructed pastimes of competitive sports, per se.

Men who enjoy anime culture are not hideous mutants that repel every woman they see. The fact that some guys who are so absorbed in anime can feel that way indicates to me that they struggle with their self esteem. The panel resembled a grade three classroom where boys assumed girls were foreign creatures and unattainable due to their strange taste for cartoons.

A hobby is a hobby. Essentially the guy underneath all the gear and props is what a woman will be getting to know. Finding a girl who is interesting to talk to at a cosplay event is the same as meeting a girl at a party or a bar. He may not be wearing a pokemon trainer outfit and she may not be dressed as bulbasaur but that's obviously beside the point. And wearing deodorant may help, but it definitely won't guarantee capture.

Feisty feminist porn on the big screen

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Feminist Porn Awards- Lady love all round

“I absolutely love fucking you!” exclaims Madison Young on stage to her co-actress, Ryan Dylan, as she clutches the first butt plug awarded this evening in Berkeley Church. The porn director and actress has just won the award for hottest kink movie, with her film “Perversions of Lesbian Lust, Vol. 1”, at Good for Her’s 4th annual Feminist Porn Awards.

Tonight feminist porn creators, actors and enthusiasts have gathered in everything from gowns to jeans to celebrate the achievements of the feminist porn community. On stage Young resembles a modern Aphrodite with her golden, open chest gown, matching pasties and tumbling strawberry blonde curls.

“We’re making waves in feminism one orgasm at a time,’ she says, wrapping up her acceptance speech.

Onlookers occupy the U-shaped second story of the church-turned-theatre, supported by white columns. On the ground level the audience occupies two rows of chairs in front of a giant screen on stage, which projects short erotic scenes from winning film makers as they accept their anal plug shaped awards.

In a brief clip from the Crash Pad Series 2 – Unlocked, winner of the steamiest trans scene, we see a woman in a black bra and panties whimpering as the tattooed woman on top of her bites her neck, pushes her down into the bed sheets and smacks her ass. The once rambunctious church is silent, save the occasional randy yell of approval. When the scene ends the audience erupts into cheering. The temperature has definitely raised a few notches.

Ryerson student and documentary film maker Joanne Loton graces the stage in a purple, layered number to announce the winner of the golden beaver award for Canadian content and most sensual softcore. Mimi Balfour nabs both for her flick “Man of my Dreams,” which involves the stereotypical studs, a cop and a blue collar repairman who both find a woman ready and willing to make love in their apartments. We catch a short glimpse of some sultry lighting and defined abdominal muscles which seem more at home in your typical City TV porno night.

The diverse male posse, Boylesque, delivers the awards on stage tonight, donning old school ties, suspenders, collared shirts and hats. “The more clips we present the more naked they get,” announces Deb Pearce, our host of the evening, with a blonde mullet and a flashy belt buckle.
Next, Coco La Crème takes the stage for her burlesque performance in a whirlwind of glowing, voluptuous mocha skin, turquoise feathers and glittering sequins. She turns her exposed cheeks to the audience, shaking them as she turns her head to give us a ruby lipped grin. Playing with her feathered skirt, she slips it off to expose a curvy stomach and thighs before yanking at her bra straps playfully with her thumbs. The bra goes flying, revealing golden nipple tassles adorning her generous breasts which rotate in wide arches as she winks with an aqua painted eye lid.

Throughout the evening Pearce reprimands the talkative bar crowd at the rear of the theatre. She wanders through the throng grasping her microphone, an image which is tattooed on her wrist, and interrupts chatting couples. “I’m the asshole trying to shush you tonight,” she says, beer in hand. With a white rose amidst a bob of curls framing her heart-shaped face, Courtney Trouble, owner of nofauxxx.com, gets a little teary eyed when accepting the award for most deliciously diverse cast. A preview of her winning film, “Roulette”, features two boys with Mohawks, jeans down around their bare, pale asses, stroking each other’s cocks on a rooftop.

Next the male and female heart throbs of the year are announced. Tyler Knight, an actor whose chocolate brown member is stroked two-handedly on screen is not present, but the spiky haired brunette, Dylan Ryan, gasps wide eyed with her hands clasped over her lips at the announcement. She accepts the awards after we glimpse a clip of her climaxing. “I’m completely honored,” she says and pauses, biting her lip. “This is an incredible business to be in, I’m very lucky and I’m very happy that you like the work that I do.” Alison Lee, the head organizer of the awards files on stage alongside the entire Good for Her crew to recognize their efforts. “Isn’t it fun showing porn in a church?” says Carlyle Jansen, in a corset and black shirt, while handing bouquets to the sex shop employees.
By now the butt plug delivery boys have stripped down to their briefs and Young gets on her hands and knees to hunt among the boy’s prominent packages for her second award of the night, indie porn pioneer of the year. She wanks off a man in yellow who’s bent forward, holding the prize above his ass, out of her sight. The audience is cracking up and someone yells, “I don’t think you’re going to find it in there.” “This is who I am. This is part of my art, of breathing,” says Young, after finally securing her award. We watch a clip of her being led with a chain around her neck by her then blonde-haired master, Ryan, who wears black platform stilettos. “I am so sick of seeing BDSM compared to torture. I’m really trying to destroy those stigmas,” Young says in a rush, her voice rising.

After a risqué lip-synching performance by Daddy K and the Rhythm Method troupe the evening wraps up with the movie of the year. “I was actually supposed to be in Ottawa getting banged right now,” says the Sasha Van Bon Bon, a member of The Scandelles burlesque troupe and Eye Weekly's sex columnist. She purses her lips, eyes scanning the audience and continues to say that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give the award for a film that got her so riled up she had to take three people home to deal with the situation in her panties. “There was no safe word that night,” she says.

Director Syd Blakovich wins for her women boxing themed film “Champion.” Wearing a vest with holsters and a sleeve of tattoos on her arm, she announces on stage, “I get nervous when I’m wearing clothes,” and proceeds to pull down her white trousers, revealing brief-style panties. She gives her acceptance speech rather quickly, blushing and laughing as Young kneels, placing her face in her director’s crotch for some public end of the night lip service.

*As published in mutedmag.com, with photo credits to Lana Paiement

Feminist porn gala teaser

There will be more extensive coverage of the fourth annual Feminist Porn Awards, hosted by Good for Her, coming soon. For now, warm up with this sneak peak from Xtra, Toronto’s printed source of queer news and culture. You will meet the rowdy host of the evening, Deb, “Dirk” Pearce, the queen bee organizer/manager herself, Alison Lee, and a slough of amazing directors and actors up for butt plug trophies.

A review of Feisty Feminist Porn on the Big Screen, the second night of the event is also coming your way, complete with commentary from the director panel discussion. Get ready for an extensive look at Toronto’s growing festival that celebrates the sexy, powerful, independent ladies taking control of the camera.