Decoding Stigma at Parsons Design & Technology Cloud Salon!
Watch the recording of our conversation with OnlyBans + next event feat. VEIL MACHINE next Tuesday, Nov 2nd
This fall marks the beginning of Decoding Stigma year two(!!) — a year ago we started simply as a convergence, in hopes of creating a space to dream of what technology could look like if sex workers were celebrated, elevated, and paid for their invaluable contributions to technoscience. The community response was overwhelming, as members of our working group were invited to talks, academic workshops, and publications, validating our belief that so many people have been dying to have this conversation.
We are eternally grateful for all of the support that we have received, and humbled by the opportunities we’ve been presented in just one year of existence. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Gabriella (Co-Founder, Decoding Stigma)
Next Event: VEIL MACHINE at Parsons Design & Technology Cloud Salon Tuesday Nov 2nd 2021, 7p EST
Join us next Tuesday for a presentation of Veil Machine, the project of sex worker artists, Sybil Fury, Cléo Ouyang, and Empress Wu.
At its core, sex work, like artwork, works through the interplay between fantasy and reality, intimacy and lies. Veil Machine, like the sex worker and artist, manipulates through masks and connects through commodification. To explore these dynamics, they have developed a practice that is relational, intimate, and ambivalent towards the authentic. Their recent projects include E-Viction (2020), Low Art / High Standards (2021), and Personas (2019).
Watch: Cloud Salon conversation with OnlyBans creators Lena Chen and Maggie Oates
Our first of two Cloud Salon events featured the story behind OnlyBans, an interactive game that critically examines the policing of marginalized bodies and sexual labor to empathetically teach people about discrimination faced by sex workers online. “Featuring real images and stories from sex workers themselves, OnlyBans offers a speculative vision of how marginalized communities can unite to protest these unjust policies and create better alternatives.”
OnlyBans creators Lena Chen and Maggie Oates discuss the R&D behind the game, how to collaborate ethically as a technologist, the collapsing of digital and physical spaces in terms of surveillance and carcerality, and dreams of stomping into the Google boardroom clad in stripper shoes to demand better design ethics in tech.
Watch the full conversation below!
[Image description: a screenshot from the recording of the Cloud Salon conversation, featuring Zoom video screens of OnlyBans creators Lena Chen & Maggie Oates, and Decoding Stigma co-founders Livia Foldes and Gabriella Garcia. Video of the recording will play if clicked]
Thank you to all who attended!
In Beta: Decoding Stigma Slack Community
In addition to our private cohort meetings, we opened a Slack to connect with each other about collaborations, opportunities, celebrating accomplishments, and straight-up venting. Historically this Slack has only been open to those who participate in our regular meetings. Now we are considering opening it up, so that we can cultivate a community around the Decoding Stigma mission.
We will send out a more formal announcement soon! In the meantime, if you are interested in helping us figure out what our Slack community could look like, and more importantly how to do it right, please give us a shout at decodingstigma@protonmail.com!