Audacia Ray

Stage name: Audacia Ray[1]
Born (1980-04-25) April 25, 1980
Occupation Sex worker rights activist, blogger, author, media pundit
Known for Founder of Red Umbrella Project

Audacia Ray (born April 25, 1980) is the stage name[1] of an American human sexuality and culture author, who focuses on the influences of modern technology. She is a sex worker rights advocate and leads media skills workshops intended to train sex workers to deal with interviews.[2]

Ray's company, Waking Vixen Productions, which began as a personal blog in 2004, produces multi-media content in an effort to raise sexuality awareness taking advantage of social media technologies.

In 2010, Ray was named New York's Best Sex Blogger of the year by Village Voice.[3]

Early life and education

Ray has a bachelor's degree in Cultural Studies from the Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts of New School University (2002) and a master's degree in American Studies from Columbia University (2007).[1][4]

Career

After graduating from college, Ray chose to be a sex worker and would find clients through Craigslist.[4][5][6] She says she retired from sex work in about 2006.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Ray founded a sex worker magazine, $pread Magazine, in 2004.[13] She was an assistant curator for the Museum of Sex in 2002.

In 2007, she authored Naked on the Internet in order "to make people less afraid of the internet and what's going on, especially with women's sexuality",[14] described as "a survey of what women are up to online" on the Internet television show Geek Entertainment TV hosted by Violet Blue.[15]

Since 2008, Ray has served as the Program Officer for the Online Communications and Campaigns division of the International Women's Health Coalition.[16] She was interviewed on CNN's Prime News regarding the sex scandal that resulted in Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation from public office[17] as well as being sourced for an article by Elizabeth Landau[18] on the same issue. In 2010, she appeared on Fox News discussing the controversy over New York City schoolteacher and former sex worker Melissa Petro.[19]

In 2009, Ray was a professor of sexuality at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.[20][21]

In 2010, Ray founded the Red Umbrella Project (RedUP), a New York City company that aims to give public voices to sex workers.[13][22][23] It has a podcast and hosts a monthly storytelling series in New York City, The Red Umbrella Diaries, where sex workers tell their personal stories. The Red Umbrella Project, which merged with Sex Work Awareness in 2011, also runs Speak Up! Workshops that train sex workers in media literacy and advocacy.

In 2010, Ray was involved with the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).[24]

In 2014 a participant of Rays memoir writing workshop Nahshon Anderson, who for eight weeks in 2013 work-shopped a nonfiction manuscript won them a 2014 Bronx Recognizes its own award (BRIO), given by the Bronx Council on the Arts.[25]

Books

Ray is author of:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Audacia Ray, Writer, Sex Worker Rights Advocate". Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  2. ↑ "Speak Up! » About Sex Work Awareness". Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  3. ↑ "New York Best Sex Blogger – Audacia Ray – Best Of New York – Village Voice". Village Voice. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  4. 1 2 "official site". Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Sex Workers Tell Tricks of the Trade". ABC News. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  6. ↑ Fernandez, Manny (April 7, 2011). "Prostitutes’ Disappearances Were Noticed Only When the First Bodies Were Found". New york Times. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  7. ↑ FERNANDEZ, MANNY (April 7, 2011). "Prostitutes’ Disappearances Were Noticed Only When the First Bodies Were Found". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  8. ↑ "profile". Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  9. ↑ "Prostitution Advances In A Wired World". CBS News. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  10. ↑ "Gilgo Beach murders: ‘Prostitutes don’t trust the police’". Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  11. ↑ "Guest Blogger Introduction: Audacia Ray". Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  12. ↑ Merlan, Anna. "Sex Workers Pissed Off, Frightened by Acquittal of a San Antonio Man Who Killed an Escort". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  13. 1 2 "Sex Workers Tell Tricks of the Trade in Memoir Class - ABC News". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  14. ↑ Regina Lynn (1958-01-31). "Getting Naked on the Internet Is Risky, but Rewarding—Interview with Regina Lynn on". Wired.com. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  15. ↑ "Sex Blogger Audacia Ray Gets Naked –". Geekentertainment.tv. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  16. ↑ "Audacia Ray, Program Officer, Online Communications and Campaigns". Iwhc.org. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  17. ↑ "Audacia Ray on CNN". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  18. ↑ Elizabeth Landau CNN (January 22, 2009). "What is virginity worth today? by Elizabeth Landau". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  19. ↑ "Sex Worker Teacher and Tenure". Fox News. September 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  20. ↑ "Love, Sex, and Governor Sanford - The Takeaway". thetakeaway.org. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  21. ↑ "Best Sex Blogger New York 2010 - Audacia Ray - Village Voice". villagevoice.com. 2010-10-16. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  22. ↑ Fernandez, Manny (April 7, 2011). "The New York Times". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  23. ↑ "Red Umbrella Project | New York Women's Foundation". Nywf.org. 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  24. ↑ "Denying Sex Workers HIV Funds | Mother Jones". motherjones.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  25. ↑ "Nahshon D. Ratcliff | NEA". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  26. ↑ "Audacia Ray Books". audaciaray.com. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
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