Trans Activist Outraged By “Insensitive” Prison-Themed Pride Party For Gay Men
Sebastian Young, Johnny Rapid, and Jack King in Men.com’s “Prison Shower” series
A prison-themed circuit party co-hosted by Masterbeat and porn conglomerate Kink.com is coming under fire by the PC Police ahead of San Francisco Pride this year, being labeled “insensitive” and “asinine” because it allegedly “celebrates” and “trivializes” the LGBT incarceration rate.
Feel free to roll your eyes.
The party, titled Prison of Love, is perhaps set to a prison theme because it’s being held in The Armory, a landmark in San Francisco’s Mission District that has become synonymous with kinky porn — the 200,000 square foot building houses the working sets and operational staff that run Kink.com, the world’s largest fetish pornography site portfolio.
Circuit queens love shit like this so much, they’ll be shelling out $75 to come dance, drink, and take selfies with mock prison cells on June 28, Pink Saturday:
Get incarcerated as The Armory Drill Court gets transformed into the world’s largest megaclub prison yard with thundering line array sound, full color lasers, hundreds of intelligent lights, moving truss, 3D-LED video walls, and the world famous production and performances of WE Party, KINK.com, Club Universe, Masterbeat, FRESH SF and XOXO … Grab your spot on the bunkbed and party in the prison yard with hot inmates, guards, bad boys, bitches, and muscle boys! General Admission tickets include access to the main event area and WE Party Prison of Love. Bring a cellmate, share the love!
This fun theme party marketed exclusively toward gay men, according to someone who composed a boycott letter on Twitter and a writer at Jezebel, the birthplace of misguided public outrage, is offensive.
One of them cared so deeply, she spent her Tuesday afternoon writing this:
Given the rates of incarceration amongst the LGBT+ community, specifically LGBT+ youth and LGBT+ individuals of color, this seems… well, like a really, really bad idea. Insensitive you might even say. Perhaps my favorite word of all: problematic.
Some opponents have even gone so far as to claim the party endorses “prison rape.” You can read their arguments in full here.
Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth, an extremely vocal supporter of sex workers and the sex industry, penned an eloquent response to the outrage. He makes a case for freedom of expression, notes the celebratory tone of the party, and agrees to tone down the prison language on future marketing materials:
I ask you to also consider the fact that sexual fantasy and BDSM have long been a tool used by those who have experienced real life trauma and oppression – including many members of the LGBTQ community – to reclaim the imagery and language of their experiences and alter the actual meanings of those words and images. Sexual fantasies may be catalyzed by real life events, but in no way do those fantasies represent or contain the same meaning as non-consensual, non-sexual real life power dynamics.
The party, as incorrectly indicated by Jezebel, is not sponsored by SF Pride. It is expected to go off without a hitch, despite threats of sabotage from protestors.
On Facebook, the party’s organizers said they’re ready to handle any type of outburst:
There is indeed a robust plan in place to assure our guests have a great time without interruption during this time of celebration.
Good thing there will be plenty of prison cells on hand.
Matthew Tharrett
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