The Sexies

Dan Savage will be one of the judges for a new award given to sex-positive journalism. Here's his brief description. 

NOW FOR A LITTLE SEX-POSITIVE JOURNALISM: Recently, the sex-negative journalism of Kandiss Crone of WLBT News in Jackson, Mississippi, annoyed me so much that I urged readers to send Crone angry e-mails and, er, used sex toys. Perhaps I went a little overboard. Crone isn't the only "journalist" out there doing idiotic, sex-negative work. Fact is, most of what gets written and published about sex is negative and sensationalistic.

This sad state of affairs inspired the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, the Center for Sex & Culture, Babeland, and journalist Miriam Axel-Lute to launch the Sex-Positive Journalism Awards. By drawing attention to good, sex-positive reporting, the "Sexies" hope to promote fair, accurate, and nonsensationalized coverage of sexual topics.

"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," says Axel-Lute. "Especially in mainstream sources." I'm proud to have been asked to serve as a judge for the first annual Sex-Positive Journalism Awards. The deadline for submissions for the first annual "Sexies" is March 23, 2008. (The piece must have been published during 2007.) Anyone can submit a piece for consideration at the "Sexies" website: www.sexies.org.