Stepping Up and Speaking Out
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — April 5, 2011 — Washington, DC
Today is a big day for Woodhull as we put aside the name we’ve had since 2003 and adopt our new name – a name that better reflects who and what we are at Woodhull and the work that we do.
It is with great pride and excitement that we introduce you to the “new” Woodhull – the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance!
Our mission remains the same – to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right. And now our new name says it loud and clear!
Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance reflects our core values and our belief that embracing sexuality and sexual expression is a fundamental part of being human.
Woodhull has a strong record of bringing like-minded voices together to demonstrate and show how to integrate sexual freedom into their work and also in promoting contact with each other, thus bringing strength to the movement. We take on a very important role of facilitator of that work, a role for which Woodhull is uniquely suited. As a valued ally and supporter yourself, you are already aware of this aspect of Woodhull – bringing together allies to give all involved the best possible arguments, reasons and research to integrate and help lead the work of sexual freedom into broader movements and advocacy efforts.
As the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance we take the next step to further establish ourselves as the people who know this issue and know how to advance it. The new name is a natural evolution in identifying our work and our core mission.
As the conservative forces in this country and abroad have become more emboldened, we find state legislatures and Congress much more in the grip of conservatives (social, political and religious), activists and office holders who have chosen to roll back and trample many of the gains that have been made in sexual health and well-being over the last several decades.
Public attacks on, and legislative punishment of, organizations like Planned Parenthood; US Senator (and Majority Leader) Harry Reid calling for making prostitution illegal in his home state of Nevada, where acceptance of sex work has a long and successful history are only two of the latest examples of this current sex panic in the United States.
In terms of fundamentalist attacks here or abroad it’s important that Woodhull step up and take the voice in favor of sexual freedom, so it’s only natural that we would put sexuality, and its defense, up front in what we call ourselves and in the work that we do.
There are many organizations and movements that endorse the idea of sexual freedom and, in many cases, don’t just support it but are actively engaged in insuring it. While that belief informs their work, their missions and advocacy are directed by goals that are inclusive of a sex-positive commitment but are directed toward achieving other specific policy or educational outcomes; they’re doing other things.
It’s vital to have an organization with a central guiding ethic and solitary focus of sexual freedom and that organization is the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance!
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