Hey fans! We’re presenting a workshop as part of UMSU Queer & Wom*n’s Departments’ Rad Sex & Consent Week 2012. When I say workshop it’s just gonna be a casual chat, so come hang out, get your flag on, share hilarious hook-up stories, maybe meet someone nice, or nicely nasty. Here’s the write up:
How to pick up without the Internet: flagging in conversation
In the era of Grindr, OK Cupid and Fetlife our ways of communicating seem to be growing exponentially. But having immediate access to someone’s pictures, dimensions and sexual interests doesn’t necessarily make for the best interactions. Not so long ago queers got around with winks and looks and – of course – hankies.
Flagging hints. It invites conversations about sex acts, bodies, identities and relationships in a way that provides a radical resistance to the kind of “hands on” harassment and abuse many of us endure, as well as assumptions about our desires based on how we look or dress. Flagging conveys an acknowledgement of the need for explicit (and specific) consent. In the absence of well-tread narratives and social scripts, queer and feminist thinkers (as well as kinksters and poly folks) need to be creative in our approaches.
Join Gauche Sinister to chat about flagging, picking up, courtship and consent. Gauche writes for Flagging Opinicus Rampant, a Melbourne blog that celebrates, interrogates and reinvents traditional hanky code from a feminist and pangender perspective. All genders, sexualities, and levels of familiarity with flagging welcome.
It’s Monday 30 April, 4pm – 5pm in Room Joe Napolitano A, Level 2 of Union House at Melbourne University. See you there!
x Gauche
