The Seed Community Blog

Change, Compassion & Community

2009-05-11T16:56:29+00:00

When the Seed Network started and we began reading into what's going on in terms of people trafficking and prostitution, we realised how hard it was to see how we could 'solve the problem' as ordinary everyday people. When we realised how pervasive the existence of what went on was, and how difficult it was to talk about the topic. It's easy to get discouraged, you can't control the hearts and minds of people and as long as people are people this sort of stuff will go on in some form or another. We can't deny that and I'm not sure you could 'educate' people to be different.

We're still against it, we're against the social statements which commodify, package and box sex and our sexual identitys as consumers and the consumed. For us it's very much about taking it upon ourselves to live a life which embodies the alternative day by day. We want to see prostitution and people trafficking end but we believe in order to do so we've first got to address the conditions which lead to those things in the first place. In that sense, to see an end of prostitution and people trafficking will be an effect rather than an end in and of itself. The end really is just about being connected and in touch with the people around us and society as a whole. To comment on our identity in a positive sense as individuals who are at the same time united by common values, honesty and respect. You don't have to sign up anywhere to start exploring this sort of thing, it just starts with small steps concerning the people around us. You might be involved with people in the Seed in a big way or you might have just stumbled on this, it doesn't matter because this is something we can all start exploring in our own time and on our own level. It's not something which can be forced, but has to grown out of whats already out there, something creative and I guess redemptive.

It's been great to hear people have been reading these posts and engaging with whats going on. I guess I just want to challenge the people who read this stuff to think more about how you can challenge the idea that sex is a commodity, and instead recognise uniqueness, creativity and the fact that you can make a difference to the people around you. In a positive way. I just want to encourage that and if you find yourself stumped or simply just don't get it.. that's part of why the Seed exists, to simply support and empower you to make a change in the environments you find yourself in. We try and sum the seed up with three words, change, compassion and community.

Keep it up!

Sex as commodity & sexual identity

2009-05-04T09:30:44+00:00

Hey everyone, we've got flyers in print now so you might see them appearing in and around Bournemouth over the next few days. We've also got a few events coming up! On the 14th of May The Seed Network has been asked to contribute to a Anti-trafficking awareness day at the University. This on one hand involves getting some more material printed up but we're also hoping to get a showing of the film Echoes by local director Rob Brown. I should be meeting him tomorrow to sort it out but we hope it'd be a good way to draw a crowd.

I've also just started reading this book entitled "Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the rise of raunch culture" which is talking about how contrary to men making women sex objects (though this goes on), how women are making themselves into sex objects as forms of empowerment and the effects this has had on how women view themselves and how men view women. It's an American book, but the examples from the media are nowadays almost universally applicable. I'm only a few chapters in but so far the author Ariel Levy has talked of her experience in hanging out with the "Girls Gone Wild" crew on shoots and interviewing the Hugh Hefner's daughter Christie Hefner, the CEO of the Playboy enterprise on her perspective on Playboy as a means of empowerment. Levy concluded the chapter arguing how sexuality is something often a lot more complicated than we're willing to admit, how the belief that what is going on in society is form a liberation is depressing when sexuality is seen as something divorced from the person. It's instead boxed, sold and replaces people with economic assets of flesh.

That's as far as I've gotten so far. It's essence.. or at least my take or understanding of it is that our sexual identity is one at the core of who we are... to turn it into a commodity not only creates some sort of neurosis in our identity as sexual beings, but also creates standards to which individuals should aspire to and in one sense, anyone who physically doesn't meet the standard or does and chooses not to engage in such behaviour is viewed as 'uptight' and is in fact frowned upon now in society. Unless you plan on a career in law or politics that is. Sexual commodification is the cultural norm in our society and a direct manifestation of this is a demand for sex traffic and commercial sex itself. Jenna Jameson is this book is quoted as saying how nude photography is a really good way to ease into making porn, I couldn't help but then think what was the difference between hardcore porn and prostitution? Both are for commercial gain and sexual gratification and both involve the commodification of the sexual identity of both the suppler and those making the demand. Maybe it's too simplistic, maybe it's too 'uptight' but your sex, how it's used and the context in which is given I reckon is part of who you are, I reckon you could even go further and say it doesn't even really belong to you exclusively, but your partner too.

Maybe you think differently?

i-heart revolution : we’re all in this together

2009-05-02T14:52:02+00:00

Just saw this video posted on a blog I regularly follow. It's pretty powerful stuff I think.

Flyers, friends and future events

2009-04-22T08:09:42+00:00

So it's been awhile since the last post, we've been busy trying to work on an event we can use to promote the initiative. What's been on the table so far was that we were thinking about something a 60 million postcards but we're wondering how sufficiently we might be able to engage with people on that and how to draw a crowd, sponsorship etc. we're still talking about it but are open to ideas from anyone else out there. There's an event called not for sale sunday coming up which people at the University are involved in, the Seed Network has been asked if we'd contribute something alongside the purple teardrop campaign, an organisation trying to cut down on trafficking along the south coast. The event itself I think will be taking place sometime around the 24th of May but that's a TBC so watch this space!

Later today we're hopefully going to be printing up a series of general use flyers to give out to people at events. Later on in the week I'll hopefully be speaking at another OTT event, which I mentioned a few posts ago, and will be able to distribute material for people to look at and chase up some contacts. I've talked to people who want to make a documentary out of whats going on which will be amazing if it did and this whole OTT thing seems to be a really good source of people who are interested and passionate about issues like the Seed Network.

I've also, through finding the Seed on twitter, got in touch with a group of 'abolitionists' in the US called project-exodus. Me and the founder Mike Mastern have just started exchanging e-mails on our experiences, the differences, and the similarities we've got going on. It's cool to think the Seed Network has somehow reached the eyes/ears of people half-way across the world purely through the net. I'll perhaps do a proper blog entry on them in the next few days based on what me and Mike have talked about. It's a really good thing to hear from people in a similar position and just build each other up. On that note, thanks for reading and stay in touch!

Keith

The Drive

2009-03-30T14:12:38+00:00

I was thinking the other day, how stuff like this site and all the interviews done (which will be up in the next week so) add a different dimension to whats been going on for the last year. The site's been talked about a lot but now it's actually here we really want to take this forward. We want to see what we can do in terms of reaching out to people and connecting with them. The obvious question is though, what do we do exactly?

The first thing we felt to do is to recognise prostitution and people trafficking exists. I was shocked to find out, last month, that I live less than 15 minutes walk away from a local brothel. The thing is too often we see anyone involved in what goes on as simply 'bad', now we're not denying the messed up stuff. These things all have roots, and we feel that the thing we've got to start asking is what sort of conditions create the existence of prostitution and people trafficking? Whether you live in Boscombe, Southborne, Town, Winton, Charminster, etc. or anywhere else this stuff is occuring, not on the TV, but down your road. We're trying to get footage up of us engage with people right in the nitty gritty of this, but in the mean time try searching 'bournemouth echo, prostitution' or likewise with people trafficking.

I once came across an analogy used for reported crime when studying sociology, it was called the iceburg analogy. The Iceburg suggested that the tip of the iceburg is reported and processed crime, at the waterline you have reported crime which remains unprocessed, you then have the vast majority of crime which occurs under the waterline, invisible. I think this is true and from what I've heard certainly fits the story of prostitution and people trafficking in Bournemouth/Poole. We're doing our bit via the site and other means to show what goes on below the waterline, and while society views this as a crime, we're not concerned about arrests but really challenging the conditions and silence which lead to this.

Ultimately though it's still early days, it's hard to pick up people and place them in environments to directly engage whats going on. But we need people to raise the profile of whats going on, to take the initiative and look around them for ways to explore and challenge what leads to the existence of this stuff in the first place. We hope what you witness and experience will inspire you to tackle the root issues of this stuff in the ways you know best, we want one another to talk about this, engage, relate and work together to make a difference ultimately.

We think community and creativity are at the heart of the Seed Network, because we believe it's a fundamental breakdown in these things which leads us to turning our bodies and desires into commodities. Through art, conversation, talents, passion, time and tongues we hope in the end that stuff will change.

Before Easter

2009-03-24T17:18:08+00:00

So it's been awhile since I've last written on whats going on with the Seed. As far as the site goes, things are going pretty well at the moment. Still on the move as far production goes but, it's all set to have things finished by the end of the Easter holidays (for those who have them)!

In terms of work we've been talking to a few people already doing stuff in Boscombe, with conversation going on over making a film for the local area concerning the sort of things which go on. Things perhaps won't probably pick up in earnest until after the start of May though... on that note a friend of mine who graduated a few years ago passed me a link for his final major project which was going up for an award. It's a short film is entitled 'Echoes' and stars 'BAFTA-nominated actress Joanne Froggatt' for those who know her.

Check out an cut from the film below..

Echoes - Clip from Rob Brown on Vimeo.

I didn't find out about this till recently but it fits in quite nicely with whats kicked up in Bournemouth. We're hoping to get a copy of the full thing to use as a talking point at events or just when mates get together. What do other people think of it?

How much are you worth?

2009-03-04T11:13:29+00:00

Hey again, It's Keith. Today the functionality of the site is pretty much done. We're still sorting out some graphics but other than that the site is still good to go and start with promotion.

The other day me and my mate somehow ended up watching the film the 'boy in the striped pajamas', it's a film set during the Second World War and shows the Holocaust portrayed from the perspective of a eight year old German boy called Bruno. Bruno's father is in charge of a concentration camp and in an effort to escape the claustrophobic environment of the home Bruno ends up befriending a jewish boy of the same age. The film shows how dehumanising the Nazi's treatment of the Jews' really was, and it's so convincing that (spoiler) when Bruno sneaks into the camp and with Schmaul (The Jewish Boy) go looking for Schmaul's father and end up in a Nazi gas chamber, my immediate reaction was that it would somehow be a happier ending if Bruno was rescued, ignorant of the fact that hundreds of Jews still died in that chamber. I realised that I had in that moment, as had the Nazi's failed to see those 'other' people as people in the same light as I saw myself or those I did relate to. They legitimised they're behavior by refusing to recognise the Jews (and everyone else they killed) as other people.

I think the content of the film ties into what the Seed Network is trying to get people thinking about in a lot of ways. All this occurs or is enabled when we fail to see others as people in the same light as we see ourselves, I think we're all guilty of this to an extent. I guess the question is then, how much do you think your worth?

Over the top

2009-02-23T14:42:42+00:00

Hey! My names Keith and I've been involved in producing the website and media for the seed network so far.

Just thought I'd write a quick something about what I've been up to recently. Yesterday I was in Cafe Number 4 in Southborne, there I met up with several dozen other people at a monthly meeting called Over the Top which is for various individuals who are 'doing things'. It's run by a number of Christians involved in various groups although it's open to anyone, the evening was just a chance to talk to people. It ranged from a couple who make skateboards and work with kids who hang around the skateparks, Steve who does an event in town once every other month called Church for the Night, and another couple who are involved in a Christian community working with prostitutes and drug addicts in Boscombe. I was the last one to talk that evening and used the opportunity to talk about the Seed Network and the response and feedback has been great and really supportive. It really feels with all that's going on things are really beginning to take off. I managed to exchange contact details with the couple from Boscombe and I'm hoping to meet up and interview them and few of the people in their community, their was even a flash in the pan moment when we talked about a short documentary with a producer they know.

Good times!