Woodhull Freedom Foundation
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
No issues specified. Please specify issues, or remove this template. |
| Founded | February, 2003 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Mary Frances Berry, Melinda Chateauvert, Richard O. Cunningham, Judy Guerin-Cunningham and Ricci J. Levy |
| Type | 501(c)(3) for the Foundation and 501(c)(4) for the Federation |
| Focus | human rights, sexual expression, sexuality and civil rights issues, freedom of speech and sexual expression, social and political change |
| Location | |
Area served | United States |
| Method | research, advocacy, public education, social change |
Key people | Executive Director, Ricci J. Levy |
| Website | www.WoodhullFederation.org |
| Named after suffragist Victoria Woodhull | |
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation & Federation (WFF), is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC named in honor of early American suffragist Victoria Woodhull.[1] WFF works through research, advocacy, and public education campaigns to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.
WFF believes that people’s sexuality has positive personal, social and moral value. WFF envisions a world where all individuals enjoy personal liberty, freedom of expression, and societal acceptance, and where compassion for others and the right to privacy are embodied in our policies and attitudes toward sexual practices, orientation and expression, a as confirmed in the recent Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas.[2]
Over the past several decades, conservative forces have advanced an agenda that criminalizes abortion services, adult entertainment, consensual sexual expression, including swinging, polyamory, bdsm, etc., attacks LGBT people and their families, and fosters shame and sexual ignorance. They have succeeded by developing a powerful master narrative that includes a values vocabulary and imagery that reinforces their narrow- minded view of good vs. evil in a forceful and articulate way. It is time that advocates for sexual freedom get off the defensive and develop a compelling counter-narrative. Woodhull seeks to shift the focus of this debate to principles that the majority of Americans hold dear in both their political and their religious traditions: individual liberty, freedom of expression, privacy, and compassion.
A multiplicity of groups exist today whose interests include some aspect of the sexual freedom struggle. However, these organizations tend to be fragmented and narrowly focused, unlike the right wing’s well-defined and coordinated agenda on sexual matters. While Woodhull believes that it is important for various communities to lobby and work for their individual rights, there is danger in allowing the emphasis to be placed on specific forms of sexual expression that our opponents can demonize. Instead, Woodhull believes that the focus should be on the fundamental right of individuals to make personal choices, whatever they may be, without undue interference from the government and society.
"The only time the minority can control the majority is when the majority are silent."[3] Those who believe in sexual freedom as a fundamental human right ARE the majority, and Woodhull is working with allies and individuals across the country to give that majority both a voice and the words to use to be able to speak about sex and sexuality in a positive, healthy way.
Woodhull’s primary strategies for building and fostering a sexual freedom movement are to:
- Be the resolute national voice that consistently raises the interconnections between various identities, communities, and the issue of sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.
- Act as the movement’s primary convener and coalition builder, working with activists, organizations and coalitions both within and outside of the human rights/sexual freedom framework.
Believing in each individual’s unique sexuality as a positive personal, social and moral value, Woodhull envisions a world where all individuals are free to engage in consensual sexual expression without external intervention. There should be no barriers to inclusion and no excuses for exclusion of anyone based on the choices they make about their personal sexual expression. Woodhull works in partnership with activists, advocacy organizations and coalitions across the United States fighting the political, social and economic forces driving and expanding sexual repression
Mission Statement
To affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right by creating a world where all individuals are free to engage in consensual sexual expression without societal or government intervention
Vision
Woodhull envisions a world which recognizes sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.
Goals
- To build a sexual freedom movement
- To reshape the national dialog around sex and sexuality
- To effect social change
- To be the resolute national voice that consistently raises the interconnections between various identities, communities, and the issue of sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.
Working as a convener and coalition builder, Woodhull addresses laws, government policies, and corporate practices that restrict sexual freedom and discriminate against people on the basis of their consensual sexual expression.
The Foundation addresses these issues through research and public education, while the Federation conducts strategic advocacy campaigns.
The global perspective of the Foundation and Federation relies on research and analysis of laws, judicial decisions and enforcement practices.
Through education, we seek to mobilize diverse communities, write model legislation, build alliances, and change public attitudes to advocate for the sexual rights and responsibilities of all.
Specifically, Woodhull works to:
- educate the public on the importance and value of sexual freedom and counter the arguments of groups seeking to restrict sexual rights;
- advocate for decriminalization and social acceptance of consensual sexual expression;
- seek to change antiquated, repressive and discriminatory sex laws and enforcement practices;
- advocate for freedom of speech and artistic expression on sexual themes;
- promote the empowerment of people to take control of their bodies and their sexuality;
- support legal action to overturn court decisions adverse to sexual freedom and privacy rights, and we work to affirm and expand decisions, like Lawrence v. Texas, that support sexual freedom and privacy;
- oppose abstinence-only sex "education" and endorse an age-appropriate, comprehensive approach to sex education; and
- seek to protect and foster scientific research on sexuality.
Organizational structure
WFF is comprised of two separate corporate entities, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation and the Woodhull Freedom Federation. Both the Foundation and the Federation are part of the same overall organization, but it is necessary to have two separate organizations in order for Woodhull to do a broad range of work in affirming sexual freedom as a fundamental human right. Its website collectively refers to the two organizations under the name "WFF". There is some overlap in the work done by each organization, but lobbying can only be done by the Federation, not the Foundation. Federal law limits the extent to which the Foundation, as a 501(c)(3), may engage in lobbying activities and so most of the lobbying activity is done by the Federation, a 501(c)(4). The work of the Foundation is research, education, legal advocacy and public speaking, activities that are essential to achieving the goal of sexual freedom for all.
The organization is governed by a Board of Directors[4] and is run by its founding Executive Director, Ricci J. Levy.[5]
Executive Director
Ricci J. Levy has been engaged in sexual freedom activism for more than a decade. After a successful career in business consulting, serving as Senior VP, Director of Operations of CAP Index, Inc. and as President of R. J. Levy Consulting Inc., Ms. Levy formally entered the world of non-profit advocacy work. In 2002, she helped found The Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Federation. As the Executive Director and President of both the Foundation and the Federation, she has been instrumental in Woodhull's growing leadership in the sexual freedom movement. In partnership with The Task Force,[6] Levy was a driving force in establishing a sexual freedom track at Creating Change,[7] the largest annual LGBT political conference in the world. In 2006, under Levy's direction, the first Sexual Freedom Institute was offered at the conference and is now an annual event. Levy serves on the Steering Committee of the Free Expression Network,[8] and is on the Advocacy Advisory Committee of AASECT.[9]
Partners, allies and coalitions
Among WFF's partners, allies and coalitions are:
- Alternatives to Marriage
- American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State
- Freedom to Marry
- Free Expression Network
- Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance
- National Coalition for LGBT Health
- Leather Leadership Conference
- National Black Justice Coalition
- National Sexuality Research Center at San Francisco University
- National Youth Advocacy Coaltion
- SisterSong: Women of Color for Reproductive Choice
- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
- United ENDA Coalition
See also
- ACLU American Civil Liberties Union
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/personal_autonomy
- ^ http://www.waronsex.com
- ^ http://www.woodhullfoundation.org/about/directory.aspx
- ^ http://www.woodhullfoundation.org/about/bio.aspx?staffid=2
- ^ http://www.thetaskforce.org
- ^ http://www.creatingchange.org
- ^ http://www.freeexpression.org
- ^ http://www.aasect.org