Lolita Wolf's Predictions & Predilections

Friends of sex-positive journalism everywhere hailed
the launch of the first ever Sex-Positive Journalism
Awards last fall. Now, as the March 23rd deadline for
entries approaches, the Sexies board would like to
remind all you wonderful sex-positive readers and
writers that we can't do it alone. The awards need
to raise another $5,000 to cover their budget and
properly award the winners, and we need more entries
from mainstream sources (www.sexies.org/submit.php:
it's free to submit entries, and readers can submit
as well as writers). 

"The entries, the encouragement, and the enthusiasm
we've received tells me that the time was ripe for
this award," says co-founder journalist Miriam
Axel-Lute. "But the fact that sex-positive journalism
is so rare means we need the help of all of you
readers out there to help us turn up those gems of
good, objective, sex-positive reporting--especially
in mainstream sources--and then to help us be able
to afford to get the word out about them." 

The Sexies were launched by the National Coalition
for Sexual Freedom, the Center for Sex and Culture,
Babeland, and Miriam Axel-Lute to promote fair,
accurate, and non-sensationalized coverage of sexual
topics. The awards are currently accepting entries
that meet both high journalistic standards and the
Sexies awards criteria (www.sexies.org/criteria.html). 

Here are 10 ways to support sex-positive journalism
and the Sexies: 

1. Give money! The Sexies are a labor of love. But
love doesn't pay the bills. If you can give $100,
$50, or $25, it will help us promote the awards,
cover our expenses, and honor our winners properly.
Donate at www.sexies.org/support.html. 

2. Become a corporate sponsor of the Sexies or
connect us with your favorite sex-friendly
business that might want to become one. E-mail
info@sexies.org for more information. 

3. Submit entries. Yes, readers as well as writers
can submit to the Sexies. Articles have to
have been published in 2007 and meet high
journalistic standards as well as our
sex-positive criteria. Full guidelines, criteria,
and a submission form are on our website:
www.sexies.org. We especially need submissionsb -
even ones that were merely sex-neutral when everyone
else was  sex-negativeb from mainstream daily
newspapers! 

4. Mention the Sexies as a resource in a letter to
the editor, especially our sex-positive journalism
criteria (www.sexies.org/criteria.html) and
resources for journalists
(www.sexies.org/resources.html). If you've always
been meaning to write in to your local paper about
their sex-related coverage, good or bad, now's a
great time to do it! (And while you're at it,
write a thank you letter to your favorite sex-pos
writer - they're a lonely bunch!) 

5. Ask your favorite sex-positive publications,
and your favorite mainstream ones as well, to
cover the Sexies. We think we're pretty unusual
and would make a good story! 

6. Tell everyone you know. Blog about the awards,
bring us up at opportune (or inopportune) times
with family and friends and your local newspaper editor.

7. Make us popular. Join our LiveJournal community
(sexposjawards), friend us on Myspace
(www.myspace.com/sexposjournalism), post our site
on Del.icio.us, Digg us. 

8. Sign up for our announcement list. If you don't
do LiveJournal or Myspace, sign up for our update
mailing list, sexies_update@yahoogroups.com, to
stay up to speed. 

9. Link to us. Even if you don't want to make a
big fanfare, a link helps us in search-engine
rankings. 

10. Donate airline or Amtrak miles to get our
winners to an awards ceremony, or to be raffled
off for fundraising. You must have enough to
redeem for a whole ticket. E-mail info@sexies.org
if you've got a chunk to offer. 

And whatever else you do, read skeptically,
support sex-positive writers wherever they write,
and stick up for your right to a sex-positive
world! 

xoxo 
--The Sexies Board 

-- 
Support sex-positive journalism!
www.sexies.org/support.html