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Melbourne Leather Pride Fair Day PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by ASP Staff   
Monday, 21 September 2009 21:16


sarah and michelle at leather prideWe were recently honoured to be part of the inaugural Melbourne Leather Pride Fair. Our fabulous team of Sarah and Michelle were some of the first women to grace the hallowed halls of the Laird Hotel in quite a few years. They said that it was a bit of a novelty to begin with but after a while they blended in like they were old regulars. Thank you to the other fab volunteers Mickey, Amy, and Greg.

The day was well organised and we had a very bright, fun-filled stand and our little giveaways proved quite popular (they were men’s accoutrements and they vibrated!). The crowd was particularly well educated in the forked tongue nature of politics and they gave us some good feedback. I think we picked up a few more voters and a couple of people even joined the Sex Party on melbourne leather pridethe spot.

We ran a ‘leather quiz’ which seemed to interest and educate even the most proud ‘leatherites’. Do you know how long it takes for leather to bio-degrade or what ‘leathering’ is? Well those that attended the Leather Pride Fair do now and one lucky leather expert won a framed, limited edition, Julian Murphy B&D; print.

I wonder if any other political parties have ever had a stand at a Leather Pride fairs? Let me know if you’ve have heard of one. Fiona

winner of leather quiz

 
vic tourism ad accused of proselytising PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by Elton Craig   
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 11:36

woman sleeping at start of ad A TV ad promoting the Hepburn Shire has been causing controversy in Dalesford over the ways it depicts it's residents - as miserable peasants. But the controversy that has been generated here in the Sex Party office has been over it's overtly religious tone.

Some of our staff and members think that the churches, baptism scene and the good ol' boy Southern Baptist song "Down by the River to Pray" are highly suspicious and that the ad should be blasted as having no place in a secular society.

Others think it is highlighting the hypocrisy of religion - by night she is the saucy epicurean minx, by day she cleanses her sins away (with the knowing look at the end that she is going to do it all over again). Is it the Christians that should be upset by this ad. What do you think?

Eros Association writer Elton Craig reckons its a shocker!

If we are not careful there could develop an insidious, perhaps unconscious threat to subliminally deliver Gospel messages to the Australian populace! Let’s not be too laid back about this people. First let’s consider the VTC campaign for Daylesford using a Southern Gospel song .
Not only it is an assault on our secular senses but also our cultural heritage !! Why do we need to import music from some Baptist bayou instead of finding some local, Australian tune ?
Far from trying to create a satire on religion I am sure the agency hack who put this together theorised that the pleasures of Daylesford, could supplant re-born Christianity, which is what is promised in the song. It is a very powerful message, delivered by very powerful lyrics and music.
That being so Daylesford will be long forgotten as the unsuspecting public who sees this ad keeps humming its incessant tune.
Like many Gospel songs its rhythm is the mother of all brain worms.
One might think picking on this ad is a little petty. Let’s consider a perhaps not too unbelievable extension. Gospel music is a great inspiration for advertising people for many reasons, not the least being that they are ready-made, off-the-shelf advertisements (albeit for religion).
And the power of the message! How can even the hardened Athiest not be moved (just a little) when Elvis dives into a rendition of “How Great Thou Art”?
Without vigilance and we could have the Daylesford campaign pumping out alongside “Ave Maria” pushing Cunard cruises and “Amazing Grace” selling weight loss programs. Imagine being assailed by a Johnny Cash number selling breakfast cereal ! They can’t get Gospel on the Charts but the more it sneaks into our daily lives the more it threatens to corrupt our youth !
Take this (perhaps already ridiculously stretched) notion and add to that a state sponsored Gospel radio programme ? How much are we going to take people ?
Gospel is the heroin of the re-born Christian. It is the hook upon which susceptible youths are disarmed and wake up in the clutches of the Baptists !
People may be unconcerned about the use of one Gospel song, but it is the thin edge of the wedge !
Trust me (said the priest to the widow)

 
Da Vinci Code Politics Alive and Well in NSW PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by Robbie Swan   
Wednesday, 02 September 2009 16:22

John Della Bosca’s affair with a 26-year-old woman has caused him to resign as a Minister of the state of NSW. Both the morality and probity of this issue would be much easier to ascertain if the general public knew the real extent of extra marital affairs in all the parliaments and even local governments in Australia. But this will never happen because of the stranglehold that Irish Catholicism – and to an increasing extent, US style evangelism and ‘High’ Anglicanism - have on the governance of this country.

Politics in Australia is incredibly compromised by the fact that MPs cannot be honest about their sexuality. There are about 20 gay and lesbian politicians in the federal parliament and probably another 20 who have been or are bi sexual. How many of these people are ‘out’ – which means they are being honest? Bob Brown, Penny Wong…..OK, that’s two. Who are the rest? They don’t have to shout it from the roof tops of even declare it formally but because a heck of a lot of legislation is affected by sex and gender, people have a right to know whether their local member is being compromised on an issue because he or she cannot be honest about their sexuality.

How many state MPs have had affairs or have seen sex workers? That figure is likely to be at least 50% for men and women on the first count and as high as 80% for men on the second.

Della Bosca’s actions in resigning over his affair are ludicrous and undemocratic. There was much more reason for him to resign over his and his wife’s behaviour during the Iguana gate affair. That involved allegations of brutish behaviour, disrespect for service staff and an inflated opinion of one’s rights due to being an MP. Journalists are complicit in this because they fail to discriminate between bad behaviour and what is natural sexual behaviour. Most adults will have an affair in their lifetime but how many of us will abuse and belittle restaurant staff because we think the service doesn’t meet our station in life. Not many. If John Della Bosca had had his affair in France or Italy, most people would have shrugged it off without even thinking about it. And while many media outlets led with the story that Della Bosca had an affair with a woman half his age, would it have been more acceptable if she was older than him. Probably.

And how many of those who are lining up to point the finger at him have had affairs themselves? Most of them. It’s tempting to get all biblical about this and let those who are ‘casting the stones’ write their own disclaimers before they comment or go to print. However, none of them would do this. Can you imagine a crusty old Liberal backbencher or a moralising Labor Minister saying, “First of all, I have had three affairs in my life that I’d like to own up to but notwithstanding that I think Della Bosca is a shameful excuse for a decent, upstanding member”! Not likely. They just blew themselves away. But that’s the effect of honesty in these sorts of debates. It cuts through the politics, the irrelevant comment and the lies, so the people of the state can see exactly what is up for debate.

State opposition leader Barry O'Farrell told reporters outside NSW Parliament that the Della Bosca affair was like an "X-rated soap opera". He should be very careful. The NSW Liberal Party has hundreds of unwritten manuscripts that make Della Bosca’s affair look like Home and Away. In September 2005, Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Paola Totaro wrote an extraordinary story about an attempt to frame O’Farrell from within the right wing of his own party using ‘pornography’ that had allegedly been found in his bottom drawer some 12 years earlier! (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ofarrell-a-target-of-whisper-campaign/2005/09/02/1125302746405.html). The story involved senior Liberal Party MPs, staffers and even the moralizing crusader in the federal arena, Bill Heffernan. Although O’Farrell denied that the allegations were responsible for him pulling out of the NSW Liberal leadership race in 2005, not many people believed him. Most people thought Brogden had been pushed by the same shadowy figures that were trying to frame O’Farrell. It was clear that the fingerprints of certain Da Vinci Code figures in the Liberal Party were all over the smear campaign on O’Farrell and rather than fight the allegations, he decided to wait for another day. In the same way that the people of NSW have been dudded by the hype over the Della Bosca affair, they were dudded by the fact that O’Farrell did not run for the Premiership in 2005. Again, because sexual material is so demonized by politics to the point that NSW parliamentarians send people to jail for selling it, it becomes the bête noir of moral crimes. And like adultery, it has become the weapon of choice for religious parliamentarians and their staff when character assassinations are needed.

This sad episode is enough reason for the Australian Sex Party to convene a NSW branch and to run candidates in the next NSW election. In exposing the scandal of scandal-making in the NSW parliament, both Labor and the Liberals will have a lot to look forward to. Not.

Few comments from our Facebook page:

The worst one can say for the allegations, is that he breached security protocols -and maybe put the office cleaners at risk of 'biohazard' exposure! :) In the neo-conservativism of corporate/industrial life; you know -"No entry on site without dust mask, goggles, hard hat, dayglo vest..." Yawn!- breaching security is absolutely a sackable offence... Read More. Interesting that the ABC2 "Breakfast" news programme commentators this morning questioned the need for private indiscretions to be cause for dismissal, there is yet hope!


"It's beyond tall-poppies. It's crass envy (or revenge) dressed up as moral outrage. And it condemns the hounds far more than the quarry. Another (I think better way) of referencing the hounds and the quarry is the old saying "When ya point the finger at someone, there's three of your own pointing back at ya!""


"When are we going to get over the 19th century and stop publicly punishing people for private shortcomings?
Men (and women) will stray, and society needs to stop tearing itself apart over that. Think of the public cost involved in firing him for starters! If somebody can present intelligent non-moralistic reasons to me for his dismissal, we're all ears here on ASP

 
Bec's Boxing Blog PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by rebecca lanning   
Monday, 31 August 2009 14:35
I'm not really into boxing very much (I'm a lover not a fighter,) so it came as a bit of a surprise to learn that less than 12 months ago it was illegal for women to box each other in NSW. Obviously this has now been overturned and the ladies can take their pugilism all the way to the London Olympic games. But it did make me stop and wonder why we had previously been prevented from doing so. My answer came from an unlikely source - Arthur Tunstall. Yes it is possible that poor ol' Arty has received one too many blows to the head, but his statement: "I am totally opposed to women’s boxing. A woman is a petite person, not to be knocked about", demonstrates that even today your gender is supposed to be the prodominat indicator of appearance, skill set and attitude.

Just ask Caster Semenya, the South African runner who has to prove to the International Association of Athletics Federations that she actually is a woman. Never mind that not only has she already undergone previous tests to prove her gender but also that her school photographs reveal she has looked different from a very early age. Physically she doesn't look, and athletically she doesn't act like a girl is 'supposed to' and therefore she must verify her gender. And it is in fact these tests that demonstrate gender is a very complex thing, taking three weeks or more to pinpoint Caster's girliness (or lack of) systemically.

It's not a matter of lifting your skirt / dropping your strides and checking if you have an innie or an outtie. Attitudes toward the sexes need to be changed to think of gender as a spectrum, much like sexuality (but that's a rant for another day), rather than a binary system in which you can only exist in one state or the other. Lets embrace our manly sisters and sissy bothers.

I look forward to a time when comments left on the youtube video where Lady Gaga's penis is allegedly visible read 'that's hot' rather than 'dude, that's sick!'
 
what a month PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by fiona patten   
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 15:39

This month I have attended a fabulous variety of events.

The month kicked off with a long 'Alpha-Girl' Friday fundraising lunch for the Australian Sex Party. It was a great afternoon that of course continued into the evening. There was a great and wide variety of women lawyers, academics, town planners and business women. All sex positive women ranging in age from 25 to 65 who realise that so many government positions are out of step with themselves, their families and their customers. While lunching in Kings Cross and raffling sequined feather whips and silk-tasseled pasties, it seemed incredible that the local adult shops were banned from selling adult films. One woman who was there recalled how her father made some of the first adult sex books in the Cross back in the 60's. If those pictures were on a film they would be illegal to sell now in Australia except of course in the ACT and parts of NT.

While we sipped away in the sun we discussed politics and sex, the economy and sex and the importance of sex in our lives.

On Saturday morning we donned our yellow t shirts and sun screen and headed to theTown Hall to take part in the Day of Action for same sex marriage. It was a wonderful and joyous day as any wedding day should be. The mood was positive and for the most part, people were pretty happy. For me the day was not so much about weddings but discrimination. I mean I don’t want to get married but I strongly believe that Australian laws should not discriminate against people on the grounds of their sexuality. I do have to mention one unhappy camper at the day of action. He approached me and asked me to "move on". At first I thought I was in the way of a photo but then he said words to the effect, “We don’t want your sort around here! You are just here to promote porn and smut". Well I told him that we had moved on from that. I said I was there to show my support for an end to discrimination. He replied that the Sex Party was all about sex and smut. I replied that I thought sex was a very important part of all of our lives and maybe he didn’t realize but the sex party was a political party. This didn’t improve his demeanour so I thoughtfully offered him a brochure. This caused him to nearly spit and walk off! Oh well...you can't keep everyone happy.

To mix it up I joined the mob from Atomicmpc.com.au for a few beers and computer talk. These guys are hardcore, avid gamers so of course we discussed why Australian adults cannot buy adult games in Australia. Of course they can buy any of these games on line at sites such as Amazon. I had to stick to censorship as I know very little about the computer games people play. I got addicted to Tetris 15 years ago and that was the end of computer games for me.

SA Attorney General Michael Atkinson ear’s must have been on fire. It was great to meet such a diverse range of intelligent people with a strong common interest and again just highlighted the madness of laws in Australia. Sure you can play live strip poker - just not on your computer!

The other week I drove to a distant and lovely place called Ringwood to attend A Sex and Disability forum featuring two of my favourite sex activists Dr George Taleporos and Christian Vega. The forum was attended by a couple of hundred disability sector workers, carers and people with disablities. The first time I attended a similar forum less than 20 people attended
Read more...
 
It's a Hermaphrodite! PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by robbie   
Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:54
Finally, we are born. Well in electoral terms anyway. It’s a bit hard to say exactly when we took our first breath. Apparently the last signature went onto our application form at the Australian Electoral Commission at about 4pm on August 5th but it was not until 11:48am the next morning that we were officially acknowledged as having arrived.

The world looks different now that the umbilical chord linking us to the Eros Association has been cut. Unlike the Liberal and Labor parties who went straight onto formula, we’ll be breast-feeding for a couple of years. And we’re happy to be on the tit in public as well, even though there are many in the community (and even a few members) who think that’s offensive. It’s natural for an infant to want its mother until it can stand on its own two feet. And we’re a very natural political party that believes in natural tendencies and behaviours.

To all those people who have sent blue booties or pink dresses….thanks but we’re sending them back. This baby is both male and female. The Labor Party was born a bullyboy with a chip on its shoulder from that old gum tree and the Liberals were also born as a boy but with a silver spoon stuck in their mouth and a monogrammed blazer for a blanket. The Greens were born as a really nice little girl from a hospital that was earmarked for demolition by hungry developers. The National Party was born male but quickly developed hair in the wrong spots and webbed feet. The jury is still out on whether they are actually human or not.

The Sex Party is the first political hermaphrodite born in Australia. So we’re ready for the catcalls and the marginalisation that any kid who looks a bit different attracts from the older kids on the block.
 
Why I’ll be at the National Day of Action PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by ASP Staff   
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 16:11

I have a very beautiful niece called Bonnie, whose parents just happen to be my sister and her girlfriend. When she was born about 18 months ago, the birth mother, Linda, was deemed a single parent and qualified for a pension. This was despite the fact that she lived with my sister, Kirsty, and had done so for many years. They had reported this to Centrelink and were told that it was ‘irrelevant’ as Centrelink did not recognise same sex relationships.

bonnie boat largeFast forward to July 1 this year, and now Centrelink has decided to recognise their relationship and LInda is no longer seen as a single parent and expect Kirsty to support Linda and Bonnie. But at the same time they will not recognize Kirsty, as Bonnie’s other parent. So how does that work in the minds of Julia Guillard’s policy advisors? How does Kevin Rudd justify this slap in the face to love and commitment?

The government believes that Kirsty should support her daughter and partner financially but then refuses to fully recognise her relationship with them. It’s a joke. Its inconsistent and illogical from just about any viewpoint you choose to take. Except maybe a rigid biblical one that maintains a 2,000 year old morality clause that says marriage must be between a man and a woman.

As Kevin Rudd said today “We support the removal of discrimination from same-sex couples and from de facto heterosexual couples when it comes to basic arrangements in terms of tax, superannuation and the rest, and also a nationally consistent relationships register. But when it comes to civil unions, as it is described, civil unions mean the effective amendment of the Marriage Act, and that is something we don't support.”

So Rudd wants them to be equal before the law for tax purposes but not for love.

His position ignores the majority of Australians who support equality under the law regardless of sexuality. This fact was recently demonstrated by a Galaxy poll, which showed 71 per cent of Australians believed same-sex de facto couples should be entitled to the same legal rights as heterosexual de facto couples.

Instead of acknowledging this majority view Rudd has decided to accept the views of the minority Religious Right again. Jim Wallace head of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said today, “Christians drew confidence at the time of the 2007 election commitment by Labor that Kevin Rudd’s personal faith position would guarantee this as an enduring policy and given Labor’s appropriate action to remove discrimination in other areas, ACL expects that commitment to remain,” said Mr Wallace.

Rudd continues to be the pin up boy of this evangelical lobby group and has announced that he will be their keynote speaker at the ACL’s national conference later this year. Meanwhile, Kirsty and Linda, both intelligent and caring adults who probably voted Labor for most of their lives are now looking around for an intelligent and caring political party to vote for.

I’ll be marching in Sydney this Saturday at the national day of action and hope millions of others will too. More info about the rallies can be found at www.equallove.info

Sex Party has t-shirts for anyone who wants to wear one at the rally. Email us at the office This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 
Hey Conroy, they’ve got the internet on computers these days. PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by rebecca lanning   
Thursday, 23 July 2009 09:39

After reading the government’s report Australia’s Digital Economy: Future Directions it really seems to me that Conroy & his Department of Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy really don’t have much of a clue about the internet. A lot of people came to this same conclusion months ago – but hey, I’m a slow learner.

What really stood out for me in the report is the fact that while the internet is a communication medium, the likes of which we have never previously experienced, the government continues to apply regulatory frameworks to it that were established for less or non interactive media forms.

First Conroy’s proposed internet filter. Despite enormous evidence demonstrating this will not work, the government continues its trial of this ridiculous money waster. The filter is supposed to protect children from child pornography but when organizations such as Save the Children are urging the government to rethink the filter we have to think “this is nuts!”… right?

And now Conroy is entertaining the idea of a ‘3 strikes’ system to combat unauthorised file sharing. Intellectual property rights in this digital age are a very tricky thing to regulate but by simply allowing copyright owners to wantonly accuse users of violating IP rights, eventually leading to their removal from the internet seems rather hit and miss. In his report ‘Crime, Copyright and the Digital Age’ Stephen Penney notes that detecting file sharers and other non-commercial copyright infringers is technically difficult, expensive, vulnerable to technological countermeasures, and invasive of privacy. And then we are going to top this process off with a lack of judicial oversight? Fantastic!

Instead of being frightened of digitisation and its differences from previous media forms, why cant we learn to appreciate and use these differences? Why not regulate the internet in a way that plays on its strengths rather than simply setting new challenges for Tom Wood and his mates? Let’s start thinking of new ideas instead of rehashing old ones, which may or may not have worked in the past.




 
Pompeii – A City with a Sex Party PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by fiona patten   
Monday, 20 July 2009 14:58

Pompeii

On the weekend I visited the Melbourne museum to see the " Day in Pompeii" exhibition.

I was struck by the obvious sophistication of a society that existed nearly 2000 years ago. Their art and day-to-day utensils were beautiful and surprisingly modern. They even had running water in private homes.

The city’s most revered goddess was Venus. Bacchus was another favourite as was the goddess Minerva who had a very impressive CV. She was the "virgin for the troops" and goddess for poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, and the inventor of music. As far as religion goes that seems like a pretty good mix.

Of course what interested me most was their attitude to sex and sexuality. The Pomepians seemed, in the main, to have a very relaxed and healthy attitude to sex and even censorship. The idea of obscenity did not seem to exist in Pompeii and going by the mosaics in private homes and public buildings, sex was a very important part of their lives.

It is estimated that there were about 25 brothels in Pompeii catering for a population of 20,000. There is evidence that some even catered for women. This is found in the price lists that were written on walls outside. For example “Maritimus licks your vulva for 4 As”(about the cost of 2 loaves of bread)

The mosaics in the public bathhouses and private homes featured men and women enjoying sex. Threesomes, oral sex and even the cowgirl position were explicitly detailed. These images would actually be illegal in Queensland today! There is some dispute about why public bathhouses had such explicit imagery on the walls. Some say it was so you would remember where you left your clothes but others suggest that they were just “joyful scenes” to enhance the pleasure of bathing.

It seems incredible that what was acceptable 2000 years ago in Italy is now illegal in parts of Australia!

It was extraordinary to read about 2000 year old graffiti. The Pompeii graffiti was modern day. Some of it called on citizens to vote for a particular person, others said things like Brutus was here or Rufus Loves Corneilia. There was a lot of sexually explicit graffiti as well written by obviously proud fellows such “Apelles Mus and his brother Dexter each pleasurably had sex with two girls twice here.”

Pompeii certainly makes us look uptight and sexually boring. When did we, as a society, lose this joy of sex and why?

Let’s hope the Australian Sex Party can help bring it back.
 
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