New French sex worker union founded

Just to make sure people know about last week’s events in Paris, which included the founding of a new sex worker union. It’s easiest for me to post links to the abundant media coverage, many of which have photos. I hope this is okay. Original press release Slate France: strong leadership of men in the [...]

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Did you know women were involved in technology in the 1800′s? Ada Lovelace passed away in 1852, and was very instrumental in Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. Most of us here on BnG and within the Sex Worker community in general are Female Identified, so I think it’s important that we recognize our amazingness! As part [...]

Cool Blocked Call Software

I know many of us automatically reject blocked calls, but there are some situations when we want to know who is calling us from a blocked number, right?  Some of my escort friends have started using a free program called TrapCall that supposedly works with any cell phone. And, you can also block specific phone [...]

African Sex Workers Speak Up

At the beginning of Februrary, I blogged here about the first sex worker-organized conference happening in Africa. The conference was attended by more than 150 sex workers, who produced a press statement and declaration about the status of sex workers and human rights in Africa. Here’s a the beginning of the press release:  When our [...]

Houston Prostitution Bust

(CNN) — Police in Houston, Texas, say they have busted a prostitution ring that may involve more than 1,500 clients, including professional athletes, doctors and lawyers. Investigators were scouring computers files and credit card records on Monday, trying to verify a large client list that could ignite scandals throughout the city, CNN affiliate station KHOU [...]

Third-Gendering

Posted on Behalf of Robin from SWOP-NYC To my fellow cis sex workers rights activists: Men, women, and transgendered people.  Male, female, and trans.  I’m sure most of you recognize these phrases as they are used widely across the sex workers rights movement.  I was at the December 17th march in D.C., and I heard [...]

It’s wrong to pay for sex–NYC Debate April 21

http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/Event.aspx?Event=41 Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Moderator: John Donvan Speaking for the motion: Melissa Farley, Catharine A. MacKinnon and Wendy Shalit Speaking against the motion: Sydney Barrows, Tyler Cowen and Lionel Tiger Caspary Auditorium Rockefeller University 1230 York Avenue New York City, NY 10065 (66th Street & York Avenue) tickets $40 There’s also an online poll [...]

Social Justice and Peace Conference/Exhibition May 1

Below is information I received about a social justice and peace conference/exhibition.  Since we promote justice and peace for sex workers,  it would be great if sex workers’ rights activists could attend and participate.  One of the suggested topics is sex trafficking, so perhaps somebody could put together a presentation about sex workers’ rights approaches [...]

Chicagoans Offer Their Opinions On The Tom Dart Craigslist Lawsuit

Prostitution scandal? In Chicago? We’re on top of it. The RedLightDistrictChicago crew hit the streets to talk to Chicagoans about what they really think about Tom Dart’s lawsuit against Craigslist.

Upcoming “Sex Slavery” Conference in Macon

Amber Rhea alerted me to this upcoming conference which does not include sex worker voices. She wondered if SWOP-East had anything planned. We do not. Her post about the conference and related issues highlights a problem I often feel — that one can end up drowing in a wave of ignorance from the public. Sex [...]

Sheriff sues Craigslist as ‘largest source’ of prostitution

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced today that his office has sued Craigslist and has asked a federal judge to ban the Internet company from posting its “erotic services” section, which the sheriff said is a clearing house for prostitution. Dart also asked the judge to force the online classifieds company to reimburse the sheriff’s [...]

Sex Traffic at Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London

SEX TRAFFIC at London’s ICA – Institute of Contemporary Arts 11 March 2009 – 1900 / 7pm The media and NGOs have raised awareness of sex trafficking in recent years, but does it serve the interests of migrant sex workers to suggest they have been trafficked, or does it collude in their criminalisation and deportation? [...]

Media Advisory San Francisco Premiere Film Screening of ³H a p p y E n d i n g s?²

Media Advisory For Immediate Release: March 3, 2009 Maxine Doogan c-ph 415-265-3302 San Francisco Premiere Film Screening of ³H a p p y E n d i n g s?² Stop the war on the massage parlors workers! Watch the drama unfold in Asian massage parlors as out and proud gay Mayor David Cicilline of [...]

Indian Sex Workers Fight Penalization

Yesterday I launched a new blog, Akimbo, for the International Women’s Health Coalition, where I’m now working as their program officer for online campaigns. We’ve got a post today from Meena Seshu of India-based sex worker organization SANGRAM. After months of speculation and stress, sex workers rights advocates have reason to celebrate this International Sex Workers [...]

John Schools, Farley, Actions vs. words

Melissa Farley recently posted her thoughts on an LA Times article about John School. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2009/02/sex-school.html I have posted on the john school topic in the LA Times Blog but am not sure I will clear moderation with thoughts on Farley.  So I am bringing them here. Melissa Farley writes in italics  “ “Thank you for [...]

Sex industry cultures: Photos on facebook

I finally joined facebook and have started a photo album called Sex Industry. This is a public link, you don’t have to be a member of facebook to see the photos. Sometimes I worry that cultural interests, rather than overtly, campaigning, political ones are not so interesting to people here, but then I think that I [...]