Presented During:
08/15/2024: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Hilton Chicago and Livestreamed
Conference:
ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2024
Session Type:
Panel Discussion
Session Chair:
Co-Presenter(s):
Mel Leverich
The Leather Archives & Museum - Archivist & Collections Librarian
MJ Tom
N/A - Cultural activist and memory worker
Moderator:
Proposal Abstract:
This session will focus on sexuality in archives and specifically on ethical challenges posed to archivists collecting and processing sexual materials. The panelists will discuss topics related to sustainable community building, post-custodial models of stewardship, and best practices for description and metadata of sex, sexuality, and marginalized sexual identities. The panel provides much-needed perspectives from sex workers through discussions about ethics and privacy, collection development, and best practices archivists can employ when working with sexually marginalized communities. 'Sex in the Archives' attempts to add to the growing scholarship at the intersection of sex work, sex, and the archival profession, where sex workers themselves are often left out of collections and conversations around historical/cultural preservation.
This session speaks to core values of SAA: respecting diversity found in humanity and collaborating with creators and potential archival users to plot the future of archival work. We offer diverse perspectives on sexuality while providing concrete examples of how attendees can foster an archive that is welcoming, respectful, and supportive to sex workers, Queer people, and those whose lives are defined in some way by their sexualities.
Session Abstract:
"Porn's appeal lies partly in its lack of respectability, whereas archives are nothing if not respectable…If porn is juicy, then the archive is dry as dust," writes Tim Dean in Porn Archives. If archives are boring and sexless, then how should archivists contend with sexually explicit materials in the archives? Hear community archives and sex worker perspectives on the particular ethical considerations that processing, describing, and accessing materials about sexuality and sex work pose in the
Educational Objectives:
Conversations around sexuality are often left out of archival scholarship. Additionally, there are hardly any works that deal with the intersection of archival stewardship and sex work, and those that exist lack a sex worker perspective. Panelists will share practical examples on how they work with collections related to sex, on topics like processing, metadata, donor relations, participatory appraisal and description, community building with sexually marginalized groups, privacy, and access.
Target Audience:
This session is geared towards archivists at a variety of memory work institutions that collect sexual histories, including both community and academic archives. Additionally, the target audience will be archivists interested in sex worker presence within their collections and ethical description of sex and sexuality.
Target audiences:
Archivists who deal with appraisal: Should we even include this? If so, how do we provide access? What are the privacy considerations?
Archivists who deal with processing: Okay, now how do I describe this? How do I process the sometimes uncomfortable emotions that come from handling sexually explicit materials in the workplace?
Curators who deal with donors and collection development: How do I ask about acquiring records reflecting donor's personal sexualities? How do I acquire collections that represent marginalized sexual expressions? How can I craft a collection development policy that includes sexual histories?
By providing case studies on how we processed collections related to sex, the target audience will come away with case studies and their solutions. We hope that this panel will provide the audience with concrete examples on how to de-stigmatize sexuality in their collections while employing privacy safeguards to protect donors.
DEIA Statement:
All the panelists listed are either sex workers or have marginalized sexualities. Furthermore, all the panelists can speak from their work at community archives, an underrepresented perspective at SAA.
The panelists are all multiply marginalized by gender, sex, class, and race; their combined presence creates an interdisciplinary approach to this conversation informed by their unique lived experiences. Though differing in their day-to-day work, all panelists are steeped in critiques of power and hegemony within the archives. Their combined work acknowledges archival silences of sexual histories, especially pornographic or “taboo” histories, and uplifts narratives of sexually marginalized and underrepresented groups, especially queer people, sex workers, people of color, and kinky communities.
OPTIONAL: Please indicate how your proposed session provides a diverse, equitable, and inclusive roster of presenters
The panel includes presenters representing multiple types of institutions (e.g., academic, corporate, government, religious etc.).
The panel includes presenters representing multiple geographic regions (e.g., Northeast, Midwest, South, etc.)
The panel includes presenters representing multiple career points (e.g., mid-career, student, retired, paraprofessional, temporary, etc.)
The panel includes presenters representing people with disabilities.
The panel includes presenters representing multiple gender identities.
The panel includes presenters representing multiple sexual orientations.
The panel includes presenters representing multiple racial/ethnic identities or nationalities.
Please indicate the intended length of your session. Note that all sessions should plan for 15 minutes of Q&A.
60 minutes
Please select all that apply.
We prefer to present in-person in Anaheim. (Require all speakers to be present in Anaheim.)