Oh, so jealous!

Melissa Gira — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:27:24 -0500

Susan, I wish I could be there to witness the brilliance. I hope you can reprise/recap at BlogHer, as well! Come crash my (and Susie, and Halley's) Sex ROYO. :)

Great topic, Susan

Mary Tsao — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:55:37 -0500

These are great points/questions. Sorry to miss this! Hope you'll do a recap of (at least) the salient points.

Have a great time at Gonmedex.

Mary
BlogHer Contributing Editor, Mommy & Family
Mom Writes

Sex & Longing & Web 2.0--My talk at Gnomedex

susan mernit — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:45:05 -0500

I'm going to be talking about sex and relationships at Gnomedex this year--specifically about the bloggers, vbloggers, podcasters and photographers who are using Web 2.0 tools to give voice to their longings and experiences with a vitality unmatched since the Victorian era and the communities forming around these topics.
This isn't a talk about porn, though much of this work is erotic; it's a talk about how digital identities (masked and cloaked in many cases) have enabled regular people--many of them geeks--to build a frank and authentic shadow world focused on free expression, sharing, and sexual celebration--and to connect with one another.
Some of the questions that interest me on a high level:
--How do we think about personal stories, erotica and porn in the framework of participatory media?
--Who is writing and creating in this realm and what motivates them?
--Given the huge business of porn online, where do these creators fit into the hierarchy?

On a personal level, and as a blogger, I also want to talk about this set of questions:
--How do we all interact with and experience bloggers whose sexually frank or personally honest blogs defy standard norms of *polite* society?
--What are we comfortable exposing about ourselves--and what do we keep back or cloak?
--Is authenticity different when sex is involved?
--Outing: Many sex-positive bloggers have been outed; hacked, attacked--what does this say about cyber standards and our digital communities?

This will be a discussion, not a lecture; I'm eager both to share thoughts and stories and to hear from conference attendees about their thoughts on authentic voice, personal sexuality online, privacy and toolsets that make it all possible.

Feel free to post comments/ideas/links here--looking forward to seeing you all at Gnomedex.

BlogHer - Sex & Longing & Web 2.0--My talk at Gnomedex - Comments

Oh, so jealous!

Great topic, Susan

Sex & Longing & Web 2.0--My talk at Gnomedex