Upcoming Virtual Program: Your Silence Will Not Protect You: A Conversation about Sexuality, Ageism, and Activism

As an homage to the late lesbian poet warrior Audre Lorde, two long-time activists, Dr. Imani Woody and Dr. Jane Fleishman, who have been fighting against ageism and other phobias for decades, will tackle the issues and highlight the collective resilience of LGBTQ elders in the face of the current crises. Click here to register for the event. To access the Facebook event, click here.

Sex Workers Sick of OnlyFans Are Building Their Own Websites (VICE) 

Lauren Crosby Medlicott describes how recent scares over bans on adult content have motivated some sex workers to build their own online platforms: “Given the instability of large and small platforms for adult content, the conversation about how to move forward is gaining momentum amongst sex workers—including making platforms of their own. ‘Many sex workers I know personally are building their own websites, making sure their content is available on multiple platforms, and focusing on securing their income in case one platform disappears,’ Lena, an adult content maker, told Motherboard. ‘It would be a freeing and fantastic feeling to have a spot on the internet that was my own—where I could curate an audience, create my own content, and not have to worry about it being removed due to puritanical belief.’ While the idea of setting up a website sounds ideal, the practicalities are difficult to navigate.” Read more.

What Six Weeks Pregnant Actually Means (Teen Vogue) 

Nona Willis Aronowitz breaks down what six weeks pregnant actually means: “Weeks of pregnancy are measured by the first day of your last period—not from the day of your missed period. That means that you’re considered about four weeks pregnant by the time you miss your period. Texas governor Greg Abbott was being wildly misleading (or just showing his ignorance) when he said that the new law allows ‘at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.’ An abortion cutoff at six weeks pregnant as defined by law means that even if someone notices they’re pregnant right away (which many people, especially teens, do not), they have only two weeks to confirm the pregnancy; schedule and perhaps travel for their abortion; fulfill the state-mandated counseling, 24-hour waiting period, and ultrasound; and then have their procedure.” Read more.

30 Years After the ADA, We're Still Fighting for Disability Justice (In These Times) 

A.A. Vincent reflects on the fight for disability justice 30 years after the ADA: “Many nondisabled people think they get to decide who sits in the disabled section on public transit, when and how to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and how and if disabled people receive support. They believe they can tell a disabled person what to do or how their disability ​‘really’ affects them. It makes sense in a country where free speech is so fetishized that it’s often interpreted as license to act however a person wants (unless it breaks a law), even if that opinion or behavior is harmful or ableist. But what about my freedom to use public space? What use is ​‘freedom’ without inclusivity, when around 25 percent of people in this country are disabled? I am thankful for the ADA, but I am disappointed that so few disability laws have been passed since its 1990 launch. We deserve more.” Read more.

Desire in Our Times: A Conversation With Amia Srinivasan (The Nation) 

Nawal Arjini interviews Amia Srinivasan on her new book, The Right to Sex. Srinivasan says: “To be clear, I’m not advocating for a ‘right to sex.’ We do have the right to have sex with ourselves, and with consenting adults, and that latter right is one that queer people continue to agitate for. But the particular ‘right to sex’ that I’m talking about [in the titular essay] is the right that incels claim, which is the right to have sex even when nobody wants to have sex with you: the right to be sexually desired. Obviously I don’t think they have that right, which would imply that somebody has a duty to have sex with them, and it’s axiomatic within feminism that you don’t have to have sex with anyone you don’t want to. But that has to sit side by side with a recognition that who is, and is not, considered sexually or romantically desirable is shaped in part by systems of oppression—heteronormativity, racism, ableism, and so on.” Read more.

Long-Acting PrEP Could Be Here as Early as 2022 (them.) 

James Factora shares information on a new form of PrEP: “A long-acting HIV prevention medication that’s even easier than daily PrEP could be available as early as next year. [On September 23], as industry publication Fierce Pharma reported, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted priority review status to cabotegravir, a long-acting version of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) made by the pharmaceutical company ViiV Healthcare, which is majority-owned by GlaxoSmithKline. The drug will now undergo a shortened six-month review period rather than the standard 10-month period. The FDA could issue its decision on the drug, commercially known as Cabenuva, as early as January of next year, as Fierce Pharma noted. If cabotegravir passes priority review, it would become the first available medication of its kind.” Read more.