“The Martha Stewart of Gay Sex Parties“–a Feb. 6, 2008, Weekly story by Rich Kane on a man named Mike and the “fabulously popular sex parties for gay men” he'd been hosting in Central Orange County for 14 years–was just honored for its refreshingly upbeat approach to reporting on sex.
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There was no explanation why a story from 2008 was a runner-up in the News/Features category of the 2009 Sex Positive Journalism Awards that were bestowed in 2010. Best guess: it takes a long, hot, wet time to judge what are also known as “The Sexies,” which aim to single out “good, informative journalism that spreads accurate sexual information,
stays fair in covering highly charged topics, and celebrates healthy
sexuality as a positive force in people's lives.”
Awwww yeah!
“Kane paints a sweet and genuine portrait of a sexual
scene so often depicted as depraved and disease-ridden,” wrote contest judges. “He turns the
popular image of gay sex parties (an image held even in the gay
community) on its head–rather than seeing a breeding ground for
disease, he describes a welcoming community attempting to enjoy sexual
freedom alongside the reality of AIDS. He writes not as a tourist or a
voyeur, but rather as a respectful chronicler.”
The other runner-up in that category also sprang from a Village Voice Media newspaper. “The Real Girlfriend Experience“ by Michael J. Mooney appeared in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Second place in the opinion category went to the Village Voice's Tristan Taormino for “In Partial Defense of Eliot Spitzer.”
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.