Chicago Sex Worker Film Festival- August 11-13

For Full Film List, Visit SWOP-Chicago’s Website.

“Know Your Rights” Workshop in Chicago- Tuesday, May 31

NYC’s Second Annual Sex Worker Cabaret – June 12 2011

Join us for the Second Annual Sex Worker Cabaret on Sunday, June 12, 2011!
>>> Buy Tickets Now!

Sex workers take the stage to tell their diverse stories through performance, narrative, puppetry, burlesque, comedy and more. This event starts with a curated selection of video works about sex work around the globe, and then features an all-star lineup of eleven performers.

Producers Sarah Jenny and Damien Luxe are proud to present this Sunday evening cabaret showcasing some of the most vibrant creative talent in the sex worker community. The cabaret is in homage to Annie Oakley’s Sex Workers Art Show (1997-2009) and takes place during LGBTQ Pride month, a time to reflect on the importance of community. Come listen to tales of self-determination, and bear witness to survival and celebration as sex workers eloquently — and at times raunchily — speak their truths.

With MCs Sarah Jenny and Damien Luxe and DJ Sirlinda!

WHEN: Sunday, June 12, 2011
TIME: DOORS @ 7:30PM, VIDEOS @ 8PM SHOW @ 8:30PM
TICKETS: $12 in adv. or $15 at the door (Click here to purchase tickets online.) Goodie Bag from The Pleasure Chest for first 50 tickets sold online!
WHERE: Public Assembly, 70 N. 6th St., Brooklyn, NY

For more information, please visit www.sexworkercabaret.com

Panel Discussion on International Solidarity with India’s Sex Workers’ Rights Movement

Wednesday, April 13
5-7pm
The Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (West Side Highway), betw. Bank and Bethune, NEW YORK, NY
Click here for directions

Free and open to the public!

Dr. Smarajit Jana, one of the founders of the DMSC (Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee) in Calcutta, India, and his colleague, a member of DMSC’s organizing committee, are visiting the US in April, and will be speaking at the Brecht Forum on Wednesday, April 13, 5-7pm.

The DMSC is a collective forum of 65,000 sex workers and serves as a model of labor organizing within the sex worker rights community.  DMSC has been extremely successful in securing support for their work from the communist-led government of the Indian state of West Bengal, making the organization unique in the kinds of allies it has made in the course of doing its work.  However, opportunities for sex workers from the Global South to meet with fellow activists, like-minded scholars and allies in the Global North are few and far between, unlike the opportunities for networking among anti-human-trafficking activists, which abound, due to governmental support for the abolition of prostitution.  This exciting event will bring together sex workers’ and labor rights activists in New York with activists from India in a rich discussion on what’s happening, and what the way forward might be.

This event is sponsored by: the Sex Workers’ Outreach Project (SWOP)-NYC, The Brecht Forum, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, the Barnard Center for Research on Women, the Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a coalition of sex workers’ rights advocates in New York City.

Human Trafficking Program in Chicago

One of my regular readers in the Chicago area forwarded this to me.  SWOP Chicago is involved, and some points we often make are on the agenda so those who will be in Chicago in two weeks may be interested.

THURSDAY April 14
6:30-8:30pm
Human Trafficking: Strategies and Solutions
*Featuring our own Serpent Libertine!

http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/_programsevents/_upcomingevents/_2011/_human%20Trafficking/apr14.html

Human trafficking, for sex, for other forms of labor, or any purpose of involuntary servitude, is an exploitative practice that is prevalent in countries all around the globe, including the United States.

Activists and scholars fervently debate the definition of trafficking, moral distinctions that are often made between labor and sex work, various understandings of victimhood, and questions about the intent and success rate of “rescue operations.” In addition, there are complexities of migration to consider and debates about the relationship between forced labor and the global economy.

Join us for an evening of discussion and education. Scholars and activists working to end trafficking will discuss their strategies and positions. Hull-House history and Jane Addams’ relationship with the movement to end “white slavery” will be highlighted.

Panelists represent the following organizations:
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
The International Organization for Adolescents
National Immigrant Justice Center at the Heartland Alliance
Sex Workers Outreach Project Chicago

CALL FOR PERFORMERS & VIDEOS: Sex Worker Cabaret in NYC – Sunday, June 12, 2011

Share Your Sex Worker Pride this June at the Sex Worker Cabaret on June 12th at Public Assembly in Brooklyn!

 

APPLY TODAY >>> http://www.sexworkercabaret.com/

** Please Forward Widely! **

We are looking for cabaret acts of 3-7 minutes each for an early evening (7pm -11pm) event: burlesque, performance art, literary readings, comedy, video art, musical acts, etc. are all welcomed.

 

Diversity encouraged! All genders, bodies, ages, and talents welcome to apply. We are currently looking for proposals that would be, on some level, about sex work: whether it be a story about your favorite/least favorite client, a burlesque number to She Works Hard For the Money, or a more abstract interpretation. Preference is given to current/former sex workers (self-defined) but we will also consider topical submissions from allies, partners of workers, etc.

 

Please submit a short proposal by April 7, 2011 about the act you are interested in doing. If we don’t know one another, please send a link to your website, facebook, etc. or a link to a video.

 

Compensation: This is a benefit for…you! Some overhead costs need to be covered but after that, all money received from the door will be pooled and split among the performers. (Each act is a share in the pool; each video is a half-share) We ask that you help promote as the more people we bring in, the more money for the performers. We can help out of town performers find housing, but are unable to provide travel stipends. We are also looking for go-go dancers who would be compensated with part of the pooled funds — but also receive tips. Go-go dancing is 7pm-8pm and during intermission. You may apply to both perform and go-go. Please forward to anyone you think might like to be a part of this very special evening.

 

Deadline: Please submit your proposal by April 7th.

 

Questions? Contact: Sarah Jenny & Damien at producers@sexworkercabaret.com

http://www.sexworkercabaret.com/

 

This venue is wheelchair accessible.

 

 

7th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

7th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Join us for a vigil and community speak out

When: Friday, December 17, 2010 at 7:30PM – 9:30PM

Where: Metropolitan Community Church of New York, Sanctuary (2nd floor), 446 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018 btw 9th & 10th Aves. < http://bit.ly/dUenDt >

Who: Current & former sex workers, our allies, friends, families, and communities. This event is free and open to the public.

Join us in observing the 7th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Join us in remembering those we’ve lost to violence, oppression and hate, whether perpetrated by clients, partners, police or the state.

We stand against the cycle of violence experienced by sex workers around the world. Recently in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council reviewed the human rights record of the United States during their Universal Periodic Review. Uruguay’s recommendation to the Obama Administration – to address “the special vulnerability of sexual workers to violence and human rights abuses” – is the moral leadership we have been waiting for!

Join us in solidarity to fight the criminalization, oppression, assault, rape and murder of sex workers – and of folks perceived as sex workers.

December 17, 2003 was our first annual day to honor the sex workers who were murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. In Ridgway’s own words, “I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” (BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3245301.stm)

We come together each year to show the world that the lives of marginalized people, including those of sex workers, are valuable.

• Speakers:
  • Audacia Ray, Red Umbrella Project & Sex Work Awareness
  • Chelsea Johnson-Long, Safe OUTside the System Collective of the Audre Lorde Project
  • Michael J. Miller, The Counterpublic Collective and PROS Network
  • Andrea Ritchie, Peter Cicchino Youth Project and Streetwise & Safe (SAS)
• Readings
  • Reading of the names of sex workers we have lost this past year
  • Memorial for Catherine Lique by her daughter Stephanie Thompson and read by Sarah Jenny Bleviss
  • Speak out: Bring poetry, writings or just speak your truth.

Light snacks, beverages, and metrocards will be provided.

The red umbrella has become an important symbol for Sex Workers’ Rights and is increasingly used on December 17: “First adopted by Venetian sex workers for an anti-violence march in 2002, red umbrellas have come to symbolize resistance against discrimination for sex workers worldwide.”

This event is co-sponsored by: Audre Lorde Project, Counterpublic Collective, FIERCE, MADRE, Peter Cicchino Youth Project, The Queer Commons,  PONY (Prostitutes of New York), PROS Network, Red Umbrella Project, SAFER, Sex Work Awareness, Sex Workers Project, SWANK (Sex Workers Action New yorK), SWOP-NYC (Sex Workers Outreach Project), the Space at Tompkins, and Third Wave Foundation.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110788105658599

For events outside of New York, visit: http://www.swop-usa.org/dec17

CALL TO ACTION: UGANDA: Government should break the chains of injustices against sexual minorities and lift decision to ban Sex Workers Human Rights workshop.

20 November 2010

On the 17th of November 2010 the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity Hon Nsaba Buturo called off a conference organized by Akina Mama wa Afrika a Pan African Women’s Non Governmental Organisation based in Kampala, Uganda. He did so by sending a strong worded letter to the Hotel General Manager giving “directives not to host a Prostitutes Conference run by Akina Mama wa Afrika and if they do so, will be abetting illegality in Uganda”. It should be noted that Akina Mama sent a letter to the Minister informing him about the details of the conference. He never responded to it, but instead, sent a threatening letter to the hotel management with the objective to suspend the meeting.

The Minister’s actions are in open contradiction to the constitution of Uganda which guarantees the Freedom of Assembly, Speech and non discrimination said Kasha Jacqueline Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda. Commercial sex workers constitute a minority group that has the right to assemble, share ideas and forge ways on how to protect themselves against violence, abuse and HIV/AIDS as well as empower themselves, as any other Ugandan citizen.

Stopping this conference repeats a known pattern, as in 2008 the same Minister also cancelled a scheduled conference organized by the same group and host organization. While many other groups can meet freely in Uganda without being stopped or harassed, commercial sex workers, who experience high levels of vulnerability, inequality and discrimination can not exercise their right to freedom of assembly and speech” “ This is an injustice, a violation of their political and civil rights as well as of the right to work of these young women” lamented FARUG Communications Manager.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health, as it is well known, has acknowledged that Commercial Sex Workers are among Most At Risk Populations (MARPs) and has included them as main partners of the National HIV/AIDS program, which is guided among others by the UNGASS guidelines. Therefore the actions preformed by Mr Buturo are at odds with the national policy guidelines and will evidently undermine the investments made by the Ministry of Health to prevent and treat groups and persons affected by HIV/AIDS.

It should also be noted that, since 2003, Uganda has received eight grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. As its known worldwide the Global Funds guidelines are also very clear to state that the various populations affected by HIV/AIDS should be part of the efforts to prevent and treat the pandemic and, not as it is happening in Uganda, be systematically brutalized by criminalization. As it has been analyzed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Mr. Anand Grover in his report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2010:

“Criminalization represents a barrier to participation and collective action, through the suppression of activities of civil society and individual advocates. The participation of sex workers in interventions has been shown to have significant benefits. Organizations representing sex workers took an early lead in attempting to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS, through the promotion of condom use, the development of AIDS education programs and inclusive research studies”

Stopping the conference being organized by Akina Mama was Afrika openly contradicts these recommendations and guidelines to fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

We call on the Minister and Government of Uganda to apologies for the trouble his intervention has caused and reverse his absurd decision.

For more details contact:

Solome Nakaweesi on Email: snkimbugwe@gmail.com or call +256772463154
Kasha Jacqueline on Email: kasha@faruganda.org or call +256772463161

To support our call, send letters to:

Min of Ethics and Integrity. Hon Nsaba butruo
Email: info@dei.go.ug
Min of Internal Affairs.Hon Kirunda Kivejinja
Email: info@mia.go.ug or Tel +256 41 231 059
Min of Gender & Equal opportunity Commission. Hon Opio Gabriel
Email: ps@mglsd.go.ug or Tel +256-41-347854 Phone 2: +256-41-347855
Min of Health. Hon Stephen Malinga
Email: info@health.go.ug or Tel: +256 41340884
Uganda Human Rights Commission
Email:uhrc@uhcr.org or Tel +25641 34800718 or +256 41233757

You are not FREE until everyone is FREE
“BREAK THE CHAINS”

Today (September 10th) is Suicide Prevention Day.

My first friend that committed suicide was when I was in my early teens. He was an amazing person, and at the time I knew nothing of suicide prevention, I didn’t know how rough of a time he was going through; he was a few years older than I was, and he had family issues like so many of us do.  His dad went out that night to get beer for them, he laid down one of those blue tarps in the living room, put a shotgun in his mouth and waited for his dad to come home.  Dad walks in the door says”Fuck you, dad” and pulls the trigger, never to be heard from again.

Since then more of my friends and loved ones have gone the short route in their lives, and it hurts worse every time.

My first friend that committed suicide wasn’t a sex worker, but we probably all know a sex worker that has at least thought about it.  I know several, some very near and dear to my heart.  Sometimes all it takes to prevent someone is LISTEN, more on how to listen here. You don’t even have to hear to listen.  Sometimes a HUG, an I love you, or a phone call can make all the difference in the world.

If you are interested in learning more about suicide, and how you may be able to prevent it both in yourself and in others, TALK ABOUT IT!  Don’t be afraid to talk loudly and proudly about suicide.  Whenever an opportunity comes up. Be not afraid!  Learn about some of the warning signs to suicide, and things you can do to help.

Resources:

• 5 minutes how to help.
• WHO stats
• Suicide hotline: 1-800-273-8255 (USA)

If you’ve been through a suicide in your life, I recommend the Survivors of Suicide Project in Second life.

Also of course,  you can call one of the many sex worker hotlines, such as SWOP-USA’s at 877-776-2004, they are not trained suicide prevention operators but can help direct you to suicide prevention resources.

Desiree Alliance 2.0

Since this year’s conference is going to be a week-long event, I know that many sex workers/conference attendees will be Tweeting/blogging/whatevering about their time in Las Vegas. For those who want to follow what’s going on from their own computer, I encourage everyone who is attending DA and publicizing it to add their names and links in the Comments section below.

4th Desiree Alliance Conference Working Sex: Power, Practice, and Politics

July 25-30, 2010
Las Vegas, NV

Conference to Unify and Educate in the areas of: Academics & Policy; Activism;
Arts, Entertainment & Media; Business Development; and Harm Reduction &
Outreach!

REGISTER NOW!
Space is limited and WE WANT YOU!
No on-site registration will be permitted so ACT NOW!
Don’t forget to book your hotel…conference participants pay $25!!

Who is Desiree Alliance?
The Desiree Alliance is a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of
organizations, communities and individuals across the US working in harm
reduction, direct services, political advocacy and health services for sex
workers.

How do I fit in?
Desiree Alliance is a forum for people who have experience of sex work (this
could mean working as an escort, sex worker, prostitute, street worker, massage
worker, exotic dancer, hustler, living with the support of a sugar-daddy or a
sugar-mama, having sex for housing / food / clothing, drugs, or having sex to
get the money needed to survive) and allies of sex workers. Desiree Alliance is
committed to support for representation and inclusiveness of people from varied
backgrounds including different cultural, racial, economic, age, size/figure,
sexual orientation and gender identities.

How do I sign up?
You are required to send an introductory email to
desiree2010@desireealliance.org with “Introduction for Registration” as the
subject. Please include the following:
• Name, email address and contact phone number (including best time to call);

o You may use any name or pronoun that you identify with when applying for
the conference and while attending.
• How you found out about the conference;
• Why you would like to come;
• If you are a student (you will be required to provide 2009-2010 student ID)

What are the conference fees?
NOW – July 15, 2010
Registration Fee: $250
Student Fee**: $200
Group Fee*: -$10

*Group fee: When 10 or more registrations are made and paid for from the same
source
**Student fee: Must provide proof of enrollment for school (student ID)

Registration fees for the conference include: Attendance at any or all of the
workshops, presentations and sessions; name badge and registration packet;
Welcome Reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (July 25, 6pm); Continental
breakfast (July 26-29); Lunch (July 27 & 29); Farewell Brunch with keynote
speaker (July 30); and a significant discount on lodging (please note that this
location will not be disclosed until registration is complete);

Registration fees do NOT include (though we wish it could): Transportation;
lodging; lunch on July 26 and 28, dinner; Fundraiser After Party (you will have
the option of purchasing a ticket during registration); dinners, souvenirs,
extra-curricular activities or personal expenses

Who can I contact for…?
Program Advertising / Tabling / Vending (click link for details):
http://www.desireealliance.org/conference/tabling.htm#Program_Advertising

Media: Please direct all inquiries to serpentlibertine@gmail.com

General Inquiries: info@desireealliance.org or 866-525-7967 (Toll Free)

On June 6th in NYC, Sex Workers Take the Stage for the Sex Worker Cabaret

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Doors: 7pm

Performances: 7:30pm to 10pm

Tickets at the door: $10 – $20 sliding scale (Ages: 21+)

Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street, New York, N

http://www.sexworkercabaret.com

Lorelei Lee

New York, NY – Sex workers take the stage to tell their diverse stories through burlesque, comedy, narrative, contortion, aerial performance, and more. Producers Sarah Jenny and Rachel Grinstein are proud to present an evening cabaret showcasing some of the most vibrant creative talent in the sex worker community. The cabaret is in homage to Annie Oakley’s Sex Workers Art Show (1997-2009) and will take place during LGBTQ Pride month, a time to reflect on the importance of community. Come bare witness as sex workers eloquently, and at times raunchily, speak their truths.

The Sex Worker Cabaret will take place on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 7pm at the Slipper Room located at 167

Orchard Street, New York, NY. The event will be MCed by Go Magazine‘s 2010 Readers Choice Award “Best MC” winner Sarah Jenny and DJed by DJ Sirlinda (Hey Queen!, Rumours, Gayface)

. Go-go dancers Calvin Clamdigger, Essence Revealed, and Violet Noxx will grace the stage during intermission.

Matthew Lawrence

Performers:

ANNABELLE XAAH

Annabelle Xaah is a Renaissance whore, who likes swinging from ropes, naked, singing and playing the mandolin. Her performance entails rope-swinging burlesque with original badass beats.

DAVID HENRY STERRY

David Henry Ste rry was a boy ho, has written 12 books, and performed with everyone from Michael Caine to Will Smith to Zippy the Chimp. He will perform his minute piece from the New York Times lauded anthology,  Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: “Can You Imagine, 82-Year-Old Pussy Tastes Great!”

ESSENCE REVEALED

Essence is a dual degreed, former lap dance engineer of the upscale gentlemen’s club scene, from NY to Vegas and sweet, sticky places in between. Essence innovates a dance form she calls “stripperlesque” in an excerpt from the finale of her solo show, Essence Revealed.”

GERRY VISCO

Gerry Visco is an illegally blonde writer, performer, photographer, and fashionista, who regularly covers events and the arts for New York Press.

INBRED HYBRID COLLECTIVE WITH LOGAN STEVENS

Inbred Hybrid Collective’s mandate is to stimulate a consciousness of the external factors affecting our human existence. Inbred Hybrid Collective will perform a musical conversation between hustlers in Times Square.

JODI SH. DOFF

How did a nice Jewish girl wind up spending a decade naked in Times Square? Writer Jodi Sh. Doff presents a peek from her one woman show.

LORELEI LEE

Lorelei Lee is a student, writer, and porn performer based in Brooklyn. She will read a work of autobiographical fiction.

LYDIA LOVE

Lydia Love mixes movement and spoken-word into performances of sincerity and sensuality. With candidness and complexity, Lydia will perform dance and spoken-word.

MATTHEW LAWRENCE

Matthew Lawrence is a writer and curator from Providence, Rhode Island. He will tell tales of why he wasn’t a very good escort.

NICOLETTE DIXON

Nicolette is a theatrical know-it-all, muse, and barstool philosopher with a feminist bent. She will perform a series of monologues and a burlesque routine about lap dancing.

Desiree Conference 2010!!

Desiree Alliance

In conjunction with BAYSWAN, Best Practices Policy Project (BPPP), Center for Sex and Culture (CSC), International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education (ISWFACE), St. James Infirmary, SWOP USA, SWOP Tucson, SWOP LV, SWOP Chicago, SWOP NorCal, SWOP Santa Cruz, Harm Reduction Coalition, Sex Work Awareness, and $pread Magazine

Presents

Working Sex: Power, Practice, and Politics

July 25 thru 30, 2010 in Sunny Las Vegas, NV!!

Join us for the Academic and Policy track. Network with established and developing scholars who are engaged with research, theory, and methods that impact the formation of policy and applied practices concerning sex work and sex workers. Academics have the opportunity to give back to the communities they study and create careers upon by participating in this dynamic space of diverse sex work scholar colleagues and diverse sex workers. Sex workers will have opportunities to interact with scholars who concern themselves with our issues while also sharing your own—and needed—perspective regarding where sex work scholarship has been and where it should be going.

We understand that within the Activism and Advocacy of Sex Work, there is such a huge range, from organizing national marches, decriminalization propositions, to organizing you and one other Sex Worker to come together and talk about your rights and safety. All are forms of activism. Coming out to a friend, meeting a fellow Sex Worker and being able to talk about your work can be a HUGE form of activism for some that have been hiding in the closet so long! Join other activists in a safe space to discuss and learn about activism and activist leadership in the sex work community!

Arts, Entertainment, and Media: From beautiful burlesque, to majestic music, to powerful poetry, various art forms have been important parts of sex worker justice advocacy, and art is also a great way to highlight the diversity of talents so many sex workers have. Sex worker artists have in fact had a vibrant face on this movement and have been a unifying element in resistance campaigns across the globe. Join us at the Desiree Alliance 2010 Conference to explore, learn about, experience, and create sex worker art, media, and entertainment!

Business Development: Increase your confidence and your bottom line by attending workshops taught by people who excel in their fields! Learn new techniques for increasing your earnings, using the tools of your trade, and improving your business model. You will find valuable tips to improve your business regardless of the area you work! From workshops on web design, advertising, and networking to health and safety, and tax-saving tips especially relevant to cash-based earners just like you, this conference will be an opportunity for you to improve your business and your cash flow!

Harm Reduction and Outreach: Whether your expertise is the street corner, the classroom, or the clinic we are looking for you to show us what’s wrong, what’s right, and what can come to be the future of Harm Reduction and Outreach Services for Sex Workers. Come share your innovative ideas or learn how to provide outreach services. Be a part of an event that will inspire and pioneer a fresh perspective on how harm reduction and outreach services can be fine tuned to the ones that need it the most. Enjoy workshops and presentations from the best and brightest giving their unique take on harm reduction and outreach services to sex workers.

Registration is open!
We are accepting Proposals for Presentations! Hurry- deadline for submissions is March 1st.

To get involved, go to http://www.DesireeAlliance.org/conference.htm or email: Desiree2010@desireealliance.org

We’ll See You in Sin City!!

Rights, Not Rescue: Dutch Org Mama Cash Hosts Conversation about Sex Work

This post was written by Dutch feminist Marije Janssen and originally published on the International Women’s Health Coalition blog Akimbo.

On November 10th, international women’s social change fund Mama Cash packed the house at the culture and politics center De Balie in Amsterdam for Rights, Not Rescue. The evening-long event about sex workers rights had an interesting selection of international guests. Although I follow the work of Mama Cash closely, it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn that they so actively take a stand in the current debates surrounding sex workers and their position in society.

The second pleasant surprise was to see how many people and experts showed up from the Netherlands and beyond to take part in the discussion. My guess is that about 100 people were there, filling all the chairs and stairs.

While entering the hall a short film played on the screen. It was ‘I am a sex worker’ a short piece which came out of the first Speak Up media training, a unique training for sex workers on how to deal with the media, organized by Sex Work Awareness in New York.

After a powerful introduction by Nikki McIntyre, the executive director of Mama Cash, Mama Cash founder Marjan Sax introduced the guests of the evening: Ruth Morgan Thomas (Scotland), Pye Jakobsson (Sweden), Marianne Jonker (The Netherlands) and Macklean Kyomya (Uganda). Each woman is an expert on sex worker issues in her own country, and each is dealing with both similar and different problems when speaking up about sex worker rights.

Something that became very clear during the discussion was the ways in which the Swedish model, which criminalizes the client, and treats the sex worker as a victim, dominated European political discourse in the past decade. While protests in Sweden against the law are getting louder and louder, it seems like its ghost finally entered the Netherlands this past year with the new law proposed by Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin: a law that criminalizes clients and forces sex workers to register with the government to do their work legally.

While this proposal is designed to fight trafficking, panellists agreed that this wasn’t the best approach. Traffickers will be the first to register their women; if they can force them to work, it isn’t difficult to force them to register as well. And by criminalizing clients and asking them to check the registration of the sex worker they are visiting, you might take away the only lifeline these women have to the outside world, as Ruth Morgan Thomas stated. If you take that away, you are hurting the most vulnerable group of sex workers there is.

To make a difference and speak out, sex workers need to organize. Macklean Kyomya talked about the problems she dealt with and is still dealing with as she set up the Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA) in Uganda. She needed to gain confidence with the sex workers in her country and learn how to run a good organisation without proper funding. Although the United States is a major source of funding for HIV prevention work, it restricts funding to rights-based sex worker support organizations in two different ways, via the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Although PEPFAR supposedly promotes a balanced approach, until recently it required that one third of funding to an organizationbe spent promoting abstinence. Now, with the reauthorization of PEPFAR, if funding for abtinence-only education is less than 50% of prevention of sexual transmission funds, then a report justifying why is needed. PEPFAR also contains an Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath (APLO), which requires organizations receiving US HIV/AIDS assistance to formally pledge their opposition to prostitution and sex trafficking. The APLO also prohibits organizational activities that promote or support the legalization or practice of prostitution (“promote” and “support” are broadly defined), with no distinction between privately and publicly funded programs.

In Europe people are very active. Forming trade unions is a possibility; there are eight countries in Europe that accept sex workers trade unions branches in pre-existing unions. But it’s difficult to establish human rights also because the stigmatization that sex workers deal with, even when being organized in a trade union. When in a trade union, sex workers still face different (and mostly unequal) treatment due to the nature of their work.

I was shocked to hear that Dutch government provided 50 million euros for a program to get women out of sex work, but took away funding for almost all the organizations that are providing guidance, help and information for sex workers in the field. Despite the financial challenges faced by organizations represented on the panel (and many of the experts in the audience), the energy in the room was inspiring. There was no bitterness, but the will to move forward and connect was palpable. steer cultures and governments away from the idea that sex workers are always victims of traffickers, of their conditions, of society. As Ruth Morgan Thomas stated in her concluding words: ‘Give us the right to say yes. This automatically gives us the right to say no as well’.

Marije Janssen is a feminist with a key interest in sexual rights and diversity. This interest is reflected in all of her work, if it’s writing for feminist magazine Lover or organizing an event about countermovements in sexuality. Learn more about Marije on her website (mostly in Dutch)

See more photos of the event on Mama Cash’s Facebook Fan page.

Open Invitation to the Int’l Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

In 2009, sex workers from around the globe met gruesome deaths and endured unspeakable violence. Some died at the hands of a solitary perpetrator; others were victims of serial “prostitute killers.” While some of these horrific stories received international media attention (Boston, Grand Rapids,  Tijuana, Cape Town, Sussex, Moscow, New Zealand and Hong Kong, just to name a few), other cases received little more than a perfunctory investigation. Many cases remain unresolved, sometimes forever. In fact, most violent crimes against sex workers remain unreported. Stigma and criminalization facilitate this violence; when sex work is criminalized, prostitutes can’t turn to the police for protection without risking prosecution themselves.

Each year, December 17th marks the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Last year’s event in Washington, D.C. was a big success and this year, sex workers and their allies from across the U.S. will gather together in Arizona to remember and honor sex workers who, by virtue of their profession, have been victimized  – including rape, assault and murder.

You are invited to join us on December 17-18, 2009 in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona to honor their memory.  This year is especially poignant for us in Arizona because in May, 2009, Marcia Powell, an inmate at the Perryville women’s prison outside of Phoenix who was serving 27 months for prostitution, died when she was left outside in a holding cage in 107 degree heat without shade, food or water. Marcia Powell’s death is not only a travesty of justice and a failure of the prison system, but bring into sharp focus the unjust nature of current anti-prostitution laws which continue to oppress sex workers everywhere. We are outraged and saddened, and we ask for your participation in putting an end to the violence.

To learn more about the IDEVASW events in Arizona, please click here or visit SWOP-Tucson.  If silence is the voice of complicity, then your presence in Arizona this December will be a powerful message for justice to be heard across the world.

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IDEVASW Event Schedule – Arizona

December 17, 2009 – Tucson

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. “No Human Involved” Event

El Presidio Park, 160 West Alameda Street, Tucson, AZ.

Performance art/art installation with the theme, “No Human Involved.” The central image will be a physical representation of the Perryville Prison which will honor Marcia Powell and sex workers everywhere who have been victims of violence; a performance piece/die-in and live music.

6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. “Remembrance Memorial”

El Tiradito Shrine, 354 South Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ.

Join us in remembering and honoring sex worker who have been victims of violence. Live music, performance poetry, ritual, candlelight vigil and refreshments. El Tiradito is a national historic shrine dedicated to the “castaway sinner” and holds a special place in the hearts of Tucson sex workers.

December 18, 2009 – Phoenix

Political Rally at the downtown Phoenix offices of the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections to protest current anti-prostitution laws and prison conditions. Did you know that in Arizona, a fourth conviction is a mandatory Class 5 felony with 180 days of prison for consensual sex between a client and a sex worker? Please visit http://swop-tucson.org for more details. Volunteers are needed to organize this day!

For more information or to volunteer, please email info@swop-tucson.org

Sex Worker Literati Reading Series Launching August 6th in NYC

Photo by Sinead McCarthy, design by Sinclair Sexsmith

Best-selling author David Henry Sterry and sexuality rights activist Audacia Ray, both former workers in the sex industry, are proud to announce Sex Worker Literati, a new free monthly reading series that features sex workers, former sex workers, and people with stories about the sex industry who will read, monologue, perform, and shimmy their ways into your hearts, minds, and naughty bits. The series kicks off at 8 pm on Thursday, August 6 at the Lower East Side staple Happy Ending (302 Broome Street), which fittingly enough was once an erotic massage parlor. On the first Thursday of every month, Sterry and Ray will showcase a diverse set of performers who have stories to tell about the business of sex.

The reading series is inspired by a new anthology edited by David Henry Sterry and RJ Martin, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Work & Money published in July 2009 by Soft Skull. After Sterry asked Ray to contribute a piece to the anthology, they began to discuss collaboration possibilities. The results are the Sex Worker Literati reading series and the website hoshookercallgirlsrentboys.com, which features writings by sex workers, sneak peeks at the book, and videos featuring anthology contributors.

The Sex Worker Literati inaugural reading on August 6 features six performers from all corners of the sex business. Blues diva and pinup girl Candye Kane, Times Square wild girl Jodi Sh. Doff, Scandinavian/African rent boy Damien Decker, and ex-teenage ho/ award-winning filmmaker Juliana Piccillo are all contributors to the anthology. They will be joined by renowned artist and former nude model Molly Crabapple, who is the illustrator and co-author of the graphic novel Scarlett Takes Manhattan and former go-go dancer and porn producer Sam Benjamin, author of Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer.

Those in far-away lands who are unable to attend the reading series in New York will be able to enjoy some of the performances online: videos, photos, and stories will be published on hoshookerscallgirlsrentboys.com. We are also planning events for the anthology around the country, so check the website or become a fan on Facebook to find out more.

August 6th Inaugural Reading Line Up

Molly Crabapple is an artist, author, and the founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, a 90 city chain of alt. drawing clubs. Called a “Downtown phenomenon” by the New York Times and “THE artist of our time” by Margaret Cho, Molly has drawn for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Marvel Comics. During college, she was a professional naked girl. Her first graphic novel, Scarlett Takes Manhattan, is out now from Fugu Press.

Candye Kane may still be a well-kept mainstream secret but in most underground circles, her diva status is legendary. She has been making music professionally for over two decades and toured worldwide since 1992, performing for amazingly diverse audiences. She played at the French Embassy in Rome for the President of Italy, headlined the Rhythm Riot, a rockabilly and R&B festival in the UK, and belted it out alongside Ray Charles at the Cognac Blues Festival. She slayed em’ at the Cannes Film Festival, kept them enthralled at New York Gay Pride and most recently, helped organize a thirteen city tour of the Netherlands for special needs kids. Learn more and hear her sing on her website.

Jodi Sh. Doff, writing as Scarlett Fever. Scarlett Fever was born with the first issue of BUST and has gone on to publish in Penthouse, Playgirl , Bust, Tear (Italy), Olive Tree Literary Review, Cosmopolitan, Stim.com and CommonTies.com; been anthologized in Best American Erotica ’95, Bearing Life (Feminist Press – as Jodi Sh. Doff), Between the Sheets (Penthouse Anthology), and The Bust Guide to a New Girl Order . She has been active in prostitutes rights, harm reduction and outreach. Scarlett has been working on a memoirs of her ten years in the pre-Disney Times Square topless business for what seems like forever. She is proud to have been a chapter of “historical reference” in Lily Burana’s Strip City. There is also a serial killer love story, with some rather disturbing parallels to her own life, in the works. That said, Ms. Doff grew up in the suburbs as someone else entirely.

Sam Benjamin is a graduate of Brown University (1999), a former go-go dancer, and the director of over one thousand Los Angeles-based interracial gangbangs, gay and straight. His book, “Confessions of An Ivy League Pornographer,” is a memoir of a youth well spent.

Damien Decker‘s writing has appeared in $pread magazine and the anthology Unhoused Voices. He has been featured on The Daily Beast and is currently working on a memoir. Damien was born in Zambia but moved as a young child to Scandinavia to become one of the first black people in northern Europe. He recived his degree in USA and is a former college, semi-pro, and national team athlete. Damien is a multilingual jack-of-all-trades who speaks fluent Swedish, Norwegian, English, plus enough French to not starve when in Paris and enough Swahili to know when mother was angry. He currently resides in New York.

Juliana Piccillo is a soccer mom, filmmaker, writer and sex worker’s rights activist. She has an MFA in Creative Writing.

Join us at San Francisco Pride

Sex Workers will be representing at San Francisco Pride tomorrow!! If you are in the area, definitely fight the crowds and come meet up with us!! Also a bunch of Sex Workers have their own contingent in the Dyke March! Sex Workers Outreach Project will be hosting 2 booths, a Beer Booth and an Information Booth (with totally hot Whore and U.S. Out Of My Underwear Shirts!)

Sex Workers Dyke March contingent will meet at 6:45pm Sat the 27th on the corner of 18th and Dolores, directly to the side of the Dolores Park Cafe. Bring any signs, fabulousness, lovers and allies.

Our Beer Booth will be at the corner of Hyde on McAllister.

Our Information Booth will be around the corner on Larkin between Golden Gate and McAllister, across from the State Building.

We’ll have lots of GREAT information both for Workers and Allies, and ways for you to get involved! Come stop by, we’d LOVE to meet you!

Whore Lover: Sex Workers Queering Love

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 18th, 2009 – 8PM. Stories of romance in spite of social stigma, as told from both sides of the bed. Turns out it’s not actually true that sex workers are incapable of feeling love; or too generous, greedy, humiliated or gold-hearted to pursue it. Likewise, the city hosts hordes of humans who love whores. In fact, many of those who have turned a trick or courted a courtesan are luminaries of queer arts and performance.

<p>Whore Lover is a multimedia showcase of the art of balancing between erotic work and play; and establishing long-term intimacy with those of us who charge by the hour. Tales of love, lust and lucre, straight (but not narrow!) from the talented mouths of porn stars, hookers, rent boys, strippers, Dominatrices, and the lovely folks who love them. Featuring art, films,  and performances by: Sadie Lune, Kirk Read, Mariko Passion, Ed Wolf, Lorelei Lee, Ginger Virago, Seeley Quest, and Madsen Minax. Curated by Sadie Lune, and presented by the National Queer Arts Festival with support from the Creating Queer Community program.

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Whore Lover: Sex Workers Queering Love
The Garage Theater
975 Howard St. @ 6th
June 18, 2009 @ 8:00
Tickets: $12-$20
Buy Tickets on-line:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/66151
415-885-4006

For more information please visit: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/QFest09/WhrLvr.html

Heat Index: Erotic Photography Exhibit

Heat Index: an exhibition of erotic photography

HEAT INDEX

featuring

Eric Kroll

Richard Steele

Cherrie Stabs

Matthew Yates

Rick Soloway

Opening night, features a live art/bondage static performance.

Rocket Gallery

270 E Congress

Opening reception

June 6th 2009, 7pm

come on down!

Runs through June.

Mariko Passion sings “Decriminalize Me” in PSA for Sex Worker Fest

It plays when you come to the site, http://www.sexworkerfest.com/

You can download it here! http://www.sexworkerfest.com/PSASexWorkerFest2009.mp3