It’s difficult to shut me up, so it’s only fair you got a whole page about my talk offering. I’ve been giving talks since before my PhD, focusing on topics from my different areas of work: from content moderation to pole dancing, from content creation to online harms and research. If you’re a university, a tech company, a pole studio or a brand wanting me to speak about any of my areas of expertise, this is the page for you.
I’ve been giving talks and keynotes and teaching seminars, lectures and webinars on issues such as online abuse, conspiracy theories, algorithm bias, social media censorship and online moderation for universities, brands, charities and other organisations.
Organisations I’ve delivered talks to include:
- Stanford University;
- The Oversight Board;
- Meta;
- SF Pole and Dance;
- Eroticon 2023
- The Hertie School for Digital Governance;
- John Cabot University;
- Università di Trento;
- The University of Amsterdam;
- John Cabot University;
- The Society for Computers and Law;
- Rankin Creative;
- The UK Pole Weekender;
- UAL’s Creative Computing Institute;
- The Refugee Journalism Project;
- The Goethe Institut etc.
Watch me in action in these examples below.
Talks examples
Pole dancing against the algorithm
In this talk (an hour, including 30mins of talk + Q&A), I discuss algorithmic bias against nudity, its relationship with the patriarchy and whorephobia and share some insights from my latest studies looking at mass reporting of sex positive activists and sex workers. You’ll leave this talk with new ideas about what pole dancing can teach tech companies about content governance as well as with tips, gossip and concerns about Big Tech’s power over our bodies.
Navigating your online sex-positive persona
When I started taking pole classes and blogged about it, initially my following grew – but then the problems started. Navigating posting naked pictures while retraining as an academic and working in PR was initially challenging – and that was even before the shadowban became a thing! In this talk, I will share my experience of navigating pole dancing, nakedness and censorship, spilling the tea on what I found out while researching on, speaking with and being censored by Instagram and TikTok. I will help you navigate being a pole dancer online whether you’re a hobbyist, an instructor, a performer, or a business, sharing techniques to navigate your online presence from family judgement to unfair platform moderation. You will leave with tips and techniques to fight censorship alone and as an industry, and to navigate presenting who you are (with all your #sundaybumdays) to the world.
Keeping content creators safe from online censorship
Content creators who post sexuality, and sexual expression are increasingly under threat of platform censorship via content deletion and outright de-platforming. Online spaces for our content are shrinking, and it’s increasingly tricky to reach new audiences and… you know… to even make a living. This session uses Dr Sophie Bishop’s notion of “algorithmic gossip” – the shared knowledge about platform processes – with findings from my own academic research to advise content creators on staying safe from censorship.
Get in touch
If you’d like to host me for a workshop, a seminar or a research talk, email me at bloggeronpole@gmail.com and my agent helena@lovermanagement.com to chat rates and expectations. For my pole teaching offering, check this page.
