Dominique Bressi to Compete in June 22 Ironman to Raise Funds for Stop Porn Culture

It is our pleasure to publicize this fundraising appeal from Dominique Bressi. She will compete in the 2008 Coeur D’Alene Ironman on June 22 to raise funds for Stop Porn Culture. Show your support and make your tax-deductible contribution by June 20.

I will be racing in the 2008 Coeur D’Alene Ironman, a distinguished athletic event – one day, one race: swim, bike, run, 140.6 miles. I will be racing in an effort to raise money for Stop Porn Culture, a pioneering non-profit organization of which I am a cofounder. Stop Porn Culture is dedicated to challenging the pornography industry and an increasingly pornographic pop culture by working to end sexual exploitation, sexism, and sexist portrayals of women and girls in the media. Stop Porn Culture coordinates and presents social research grounded in feminist analyses of sexist, racist, and economic oppression. Stop Porn Culture affirms a sexuality rooted in equality, free of exploitation, coercion, and violence, and brings attention to
the loss of the sacred in real life everywhere. Stop Porn Culture insists that we face this assault with courage, that we see it, feel it, and live it in such a way that creates transformation.

What I am asking:

Please go to my fundraising page, organized through the Ironman Janus Charity Challenge, and donate what you can:

http://januscharitychallenge.kintera.org/cda08/stoppornculture

My fundraising goal is $44,000 which will provide a salary for one half-time employee at Stop Porn Culture for two years. I am hoping to secure at least 100 individual sponsorships of $140 or $1 per mile, while seeking the balance in larger donations. I am grateful for any contribution made in this effort to stop the commodification of women and sexuality. Please forward this call to heart, generosity, and action to your community.

Who I am:

As a survivor…I will fight with my last breath to end the silence. As a woman…I will reclaim this objectified body as a whole, present and intimate. As a being…I will attest to the death of humanity: the loss of the sacred by the pornographic – corporate culture’s exploitative agenda. As a psychologist…I will witness the horror suffered in the wake of institutionalized misogyny and bear the heartbreak therein. As an activist…I will stand strong against sexual exploitation, enslavement, and dehumanization. As I am…I will do this race as an act of defiance, a political act: a testament to the life I was never meant to survive.

With Gratitude,
Dominique Bressi