My first few weeks in Seattle have been incredibly hectic; in addition to normal difficulties of relocation and moving in with another adult person, I have business issues, divorce-related issues, blog writing, activism, increased social interaction, my return to active sex work, practical concerns and the extra time investment that always comes with a new relationship. Given all this, I’m thoroughly amazed that I have managed to keep up with most of it on something resembling a timely basis. Now that the computer and phone issues are (mostly) resolved, the banking details are in process, the space issues are mostly resolved and Sex Worker Rights Day week over, perhaps I can finish dealing with taxes, deal with my advertising and figure out our travel for next month. At least, that’s the plan! If you’d like to reduce my stress level with a donation or booking, I would greatly appreciate it! And I promise I’ll get back to work on The Essential Maggie McNeill as soon as I’ve managed to bring my days back down to about the 16-hour level. In the meantime, please enjoy this drawing by reader François, in which a fantasy avatar of yours truly lays low the dragon of disinformation.
Diary #245
March 10, 2015 by Maggie McNeill
Posted in Diary | Tagged activism, blogging | 11 Comments
11 Responses
Leave a Reply to krulacCancel reply
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All original content on this website (i.e. all of my columns, pages and anything else which I write myself) is protected under international copyright law as of the time it is posted; though you may link to it as you please or quote passages (as long as you attribute the quote to me), please do not reproduce whole columns without my express written permission. In other words, you have to say “pretty please with sugar on top” first, and then wait for me to say “okey-dokey”.
Booking? Will you be advertising in Backpages, TNA or AHB. Putting up suggestive pictures, menus and rates?. Or just working from a well established reputation?
The latter. I have no intention of advertising, nor of taking on patrons without very solid references; to do otherwise would be to court disaster. The ideal might be a generous sugar daddy, but we’ll see if one appears.
Maggie McNeil needs a “sugar daddy” and I am not a rich rock / movie star yet. 🙁
Fuck me … always a day late …
Gimme five years and let’s revisit this?
Deal. 😉
Once you are settled in your new castle, your next quest will be to storm the Frigid Temple of the Swedish cult.
I wish you luck in getting things together, and by the way, what did you think of Stefan Molyneux’s “Truth About Sex” presentation that I posted days ago? (Nothing against him, but I question some of the statistics he cites.)
The presentation is mis-labelled. The real name of it should be … “The Truth About Human Nature”. Fact is … most humans are irresponsible and stupid. This not only applies to sex – but to just about everything else in the human universe. You could say … “People who have used illegal drugs are more likely to go to prison.” That may be true but – is it the drugs that cause them to go to prison, or the fact that those individuals just make bad choices? I submit the latter.
Can you have sex with a 1,000 people and not get pregnant – at all? Sure, a smart woman could – she could use TWO or more forms of birth control and almost be guaranteed not to get pregnant – not have to have an abortion – and not have a child out of wedlock.
But that’s not the majority of people – because people are stupid. So what you’re seeing in the survey is a reflection of this fact.
Something else here – most parents really don’t educate their kids about safe sex. Let’s say we lived in a culture where everyone had sex by the age of 15. In such a culture – you would probably see parents getting much more engaged, perhaps even facilitating their child’s safe transition into sexual adulthood.
But not in the U.S.A. – not today. Any parent that even tries to do that would run afoul of the various child protective services. Don’t believe me? Just try to explain EVERYTHING about sex to your kid starting at the age of FIVE. That kid will slip up and say something at school – which is what kids do – and the next thing you know CPS is knocking at your door to take your kid away.
They want you to believe that the Church has the best track record for safe and happy sex. Maybe – but they’re the only game in town and, by the way – their record is not perfect. They don’t really allow any competition. They try to keep sex education out of the schools and insist that abstinence is the only sure-fire way. Well sure – it’s 100 percent for those who follow it … the problem is – not everyone, not even everyone in the Church can follow it.
Think Mississippi has one of the highest out-of-wedlock birthrates … and it’s a pretty religious state.
The MAJOR THING I got from this – that IS true … is the fact that GOVERNMENT (and by extension – that means ALL of us who pay taxes) has become “Daddy” to all the children born out of wedlock.
But not all you see … because in my family one of by brother’s girls got pregnant when she was 17. She didn’t need government assistance … she had her Dad – and he had three brothers. And one of those three brothers had a 30 year old step-daughter who made a good living – AND ALL OF US chipped in to support that girl and her baby. That Mom is now a career woman (we put her through school) – making a good living. The little girl she had – will likely be President one day at the rate she’s going.
Soooo … I don’t give a shit what anyone says … STABLE FAMILIES trump government assistance any day – all day. And the larger they are – the more they’re able to “absorb” difficulties that come along.
My advice to young people … don’t have one or two kids – get married and HAVE FIVE.
Or more.
It’s the way people survived in the old days … back before government assistance. It’ll be the way they survive in the future – after all the government assistance has been “paid out” and there is no more.
This is a long enough response – but I could write a lot more.
There’s a clear correlation between states with abstinence-only sex ed and out of wedlock pregnancy and STI. 80% of teens who take virginity pledge fail their vows, so abstinence is by far the less efficient method.
The mistake religious people seem to make is to believe that youths will not become interested in sex if they don’t hear about it. We’re born with it and we’re born with the drive and instinct to use it. I think it’s Bill Maher who said that teaching abstinence is like making sure kids don’t learn to use umbrellas so that it won’t rain.
The mistake that we as a culture have made is expecting physical “adult” bodies to wait until they are 18 or older to have sex. It’s just not realistic. Was a time in US history on the frontier where you were considered a man at 13 or 14, expected to take a wife and start your own farm. Life was hard and often very short. We have so coddled our children in this world that mentally they have regressed over the last 200 or so years. But not physically.
How’re you finding the early Spring here this year? Glad to hear you’re here; this city needs some serious kicks in the ass in terms of being more supportive of sex workers’ rights.
Artwork: saved.
If I had the talent, I’d’ve done one of Vertilya a long time ago.