wiki your sexuality - write a haiku!

Tired of being told what is sexy and desirable?
Write your own definition of sexuality!
Populate digital spaces with your own understanding and meanings.
Start with a haiku

It is no surprise to hear that pornography is big business on the internet. A commercial research company estimates pornography as a USD57 billion industry worldwide, with 12% of total websites being dedicated to pornography. The lucrative pornography industry makes it one of the main players in impacting how most of us use media. From things like VHR, digital video disks (DVD), video online streaming, to 3G mobile telephone technology and iPods, the porn industry has dabbled and pushed in money to see which kinds of platform can reach masses of consumers. And their preferences usually count.

The funny thing is, the reason they are so powerful is because they have the power of consumers behind them -- people who have the capacity to access and use technology, to purchase content, or at least, have a say in what is wanted.

The classic consumer imagined in this situation is male. So the understanding and definition of sexuality and desire for the purchase of this 'classic consumer' is imagined within the same old, main/male-stream heterosexual framework: women are seen as sexually passive objects, while men are seen as sexually active subjects.

This is one of the problems with pornography. What women want is dictated within the viewpoint of what men want women to want.

A quick check on global statistics shows that there are at least as many women as there are men in the world, and a majority of them has a higher percentage of women in employment as compared to men. What happens to our consumer power? What happens to our capacity to define what sexualities mean from our diverse experiences? Why must we leave this in the hands of men?

You have the ability to decide on which technological platform or developer you would like to support. Don't like porn? Find out if your telecommunications provider is making deals with porn producers. Or use your access to technology - however 'low' or 'high' tech - to write your own ideas of female sexual agency.

Populate digital spaces with your own understanding
and meaning of sexualities.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that usually has a pattern of 5-7-5 sound units, like syllables. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven syllables, and the third goes back to five syllables.

Example:

Suppressing a yawn
Another pair of long legs
I switch off the porn

You can also write a Renga, which is a collaborative form of haiku.

If this is just plain complicated, or not something you're into, write anything you like! Collaboratively write a piece of prose, limerick, rant, dialogue… etc.

No rhyming or actual/pretence of talent needed. Just have fun :)

If you don't have regular internet connection, you can write yours offline and email it to us at ideas AT takebackthetech DOT net, and we'll put it up for you.

Or if you prefer, add them directly to the comments section on this website.

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