CARNAL NATION

Tess Danesi
photograph by Brian Moss

It was the 2003 comedy Calendar Girls which first mainstreamed the concept of "charitable nudity"—telling the true-life tale of a bunch of stuffy, middle-aged British women who shocked the nation by stripping in the name of Leukemia Research. Their controversial nude calendar not only raised eyebrows, it also raised thousands of pounds and is commonly credited for opening people's eyes to the philanthropic "power of the pin-up."

Since then, we've seen thousands of imitators—from firemen to football teams—but one especially noteworthy effort was made last year with the NYC Sex Bloggers Calendar.

The NYC Sex Bloggers Calendar was different from what had come before; instead of featuring wholesome amateur models one might never have expected to see naked, this calendar displayed "calendar girls" who had, in many respects, already "exposed" themselves. The portfolio of pinups consisted of some of the most noted and notorious sex writers and bloggers in the city—women who had bared their souls, if not their flesh, through frank, revealing and sometimes explicit sex writing.

It was one of these New York sex bloggers, Tess Danesi—known better to her fans as "Urban Gypsy"—who'd originally created the concept of the Sex Bloggers Calendar. With preparations for the 2010 NYC Sex Bloggers Calendar already well under way, I pinned Tess down to find out more about her brainchild:

"The Sex Bloggers Calendar began life as a community project to benefit Sex Work Awareness," Tess explains. "A charity that promotes the rights of sex workers."

"As a woman, self-determination is very important to me—and I don't see why anyone has the right to interfere when consenting adults have sex with one another, whether that interaction has a price attached to it or not. In New York, the rights of sex workers are sadly low priority."

Mia Martina
photograph by Alex Wright

Sex Work Awareness helps in a variety of ways. According to charity co-founder Audacia Ray, "The sex industry is deeply embedded in culture of New York City—but while our increasingly sexualized culture means that sex work is more visible, it doesn't mean it's more acceptable." Sex Work Awareness attempts to counter that through workshops which help the city's sex workers deal with the media, and through public service videos which give them a voice, a face and a means to tell their own side of the story. Ongoing projects like Sex Work 101 serve as resources for people to learn more about the real nature of sex work in New York. I asked Tess what convinced her and her fellow pinups that stripping down was the best way to raise awareness of the plight of sex workers.

"I came up with the concept last year, after a Seattle blogger mentioned posing for their own 'sexy blogger calendar.' I thought: 'Hell! Why don't we do that right here in NYC? But let's do it for a cause, not just to raise money for ourselves.'"

Despite once identifying herself as a 'matronly' suburban mom, Tess had no hesitation in posing provocatively for the camera. "I'd had a bit of a diversion into suburban Lalaland," Tess says, "but the essential me—the vibrant, alive woman who loves being on the edge—was never gone; so posing in a calendar with my boobs popping out was really more the norm for me than not. Since the calendar was something I'd dreamed up, it was never a question whether I'd be in it. More like; how much would I reveal?"

A promising concept soon became a tangible project: "I emailed a bunch of people I knew and asked them if they'd be interested in doing it—and everyone said, 'Hell yeah!'" Tess's enthusiasm is infectious, so it's unsurprising that her brainchild quickly evolved into an all-star cast of New York's most notable sex bloggers—all willing to pose provocatively for a worthy cause. The shoot itself took just one day—"one giant day," Tess clarifies—at the Slipper Room in New York's East Village. Shot by nightlife photographer Stacie Joy, a "burlesque" theme created continuity in a shoot that encompassed enormous physical and sexual variety.

"I believe all sex workers have a right to choose how to make a living and what to do with their bodies," Tess explains. "And that meant one of the aims of the calendar was to show similar concepts of 'sexual freedom' and to illustrate the joy and beauty of diversity."