Well, this isn’t exactly about performance, but… the Museum of Sex will be hosting a series of panels on sex and politics which are interesting. The first one is with Barbara Nitke who is “an internationally known photographer whose work has been exhibited and collected for over 20 years. Praised by the Village Voice for her quest “to find humanity in marginal sex,” Nitke has gained worldwide attention for her powerful and affecting photographs chronicling physical relationships between consenting adults.”

Nitke also has taken John Ashcroft to court (now Alberto Gonzales) over the definition of “indecency” on the internet and to fight for free speech and expression. This is particularly interesting now since Gonzales recently demanded, on behalf of the Bush Administration, that several major internet search engines turn over data on user searches, ostensibly to analyze the ubiquity of pornography. While AOL, Yahoo and MSN have all complied with the government, Google stands alone in defying the administration and attempting to protect privacy on the internet.

This is a MAJOR issue since compliance on behalf of Yahoo and MSN with Chinese Government requests for data has already resulted in people being arrested and sent to jail for “political” crimes – i.e. speaking out against the Chinese Government. There’s a pretty good over of all this by John Shinal over at MarketWatch.

Anyway, with Gonzales and the Bush administration trying to defend its domestic eavesdropping program and increase its egregious violations of personal privacy, using sex and terror as justification, it is a good time to be discussing these matters in public.

More info on the MoSe[x] lectures after the jump.

Tuesday, January 24, 8-10pm:
Barbara Nitke will present an erotic slide show followed by a panel
discussion of her landmark lawsuit challenging the Communications Decency
Act, Nitke and The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom vs. John Ashcroft.

On the panel with her are John Wirenius, pro bono attorney for the lawsuit,
and Susan Wright, spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual
Freedom. They will discuss the status of this lawsuit, recently filed with
the US Supreme Court, and why it’s vitally important to anyone interested
in sexual rights in America. Nitke is best known for her compelling images
of SM lovers. Kiss of Fire: A Romantic View of Sadomasochism was published
in 2003. Her second book, American Ecstacy: Memoirs of a Porn Photographer
will be published this year by ReganBooks.

Thursday, January 26, 7-9pm:
Sex And Uncle Sam: The Politics of Lust in America
Vancouver-based author John Ince is the leader of The Sex Party, North
America’;s first registered sex-positive political party. Ince’s view
on American sexual culture is shaped by a vantage point of living in
Vancouver, Canada where gays marry, prostitutes work without police
interference, erotic artists produce live sex shows, and kids learn about
condoms in schools.

He contends that sexual policies are highly important and controversial
because of their impact beyond the erotic sphere of life. He argues that
sexual attitudes shape the deep tissue of our culture≠s political
structure. Specifically, the more any culture (or family, church, or
government) is uncomfortable with sex, the more hierarchical it will
become.

[Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students/members and may be
reserved by calling our ticket hotline at 212.689.6337 x115.]