Audacia Ray (born April 25, 1980) is an American
human sexuality and culture
author, who focuses on the influences of modern technology. She is a
sex worker rights advocate and leads media skills
workshops intended to train
sex workers to deal with interviews.[1]
Ray's company, Waking Vixen Productions, which began as a personal blog in 2004, produces multi-media content in an effort to raise sexuality awareness taking advantage of
social media technologies.
In 2010, Ray was named New York's Best Sex Blogger of the year by Village Voice.[2]
In 2007, she authored Naked on the Internet in order "to make people less afraid of the internet and what's going on, especially with women's sexuality",[14] described as "a survey of what women are up to online" on the
Internet television show Geek Entertainment TV hosted by
Violet Blue.[15]
Since 2008, Ray has served as the Program Officer for the Online Communications and Campaigns division of the
International Women's Health Coalition.[16] She was interviewed on
CNN's Prime News regarding the sex scandal that resulted in Governor
Eliot Spitzer's resignation from public office[17] as well as being sourced for an article by Elizabeth Landau[18] on the same issue. In 2010, she appeared on
Fox News discussing the controversy over New York City
schoolteacher and former
sex worker Melissa Petro.[19]
In 2010, Ray founded the
Red Umbrella Project (RedUP), a
New York City company that aims to give public voices to sex workers.[13][22][23] It has a
podcast and hosts a monthly storytelling series in New York City, The Red Umbrella Diaries, where sex workers tell their personal stories[citation needed]. The Red Umbrella Project, which merged with Sex Work Awareness in 2011, also runs Speak Up! Workshops that train sex workers in media literacy and advocacy.
In 2010, Ray was involved with the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).[24]
Selected works
Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration, 2007,
ISBN1-58005-209-6
$pread : The Best of the Magazine that Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, 2015,
ISBN978-1558618725[25]