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Support Our Blog, Or Sex, or Both, Really!A flash-mob dance-team and marching band infiltrated the Westin St. Francis, in San Francisco this past weekend. Organized by Pride at Work, One Struggle One Fight, and the Brass Liberation Orchestra, queers and activists call for the support of hotel Boycotts.
As sex workers, we need to tell our clients to also boycott these hotels. Spread the word!
Filed under: Sex Worker Rights | Tagged: 'caught in a bad hotel' 'hotel boycott' 'san francisco pride' | 6 Comments »
It is clear that the major argument against Prop K is the idea that the decriminalization of Sex Work would facilitate human trafficking. I have been in Belgrade, Serbia for the past week and a half, where I have met interviewed a couple of different groups dealing with issues of human trafficking and sex work. Their experiences showed that decriminalization of sex work would potentially help minimize human trafficking. They had some very interesting things to say.
Here are some important highlights:
(from an interview with Jelena Dordeveic, of the Anti Trafficking Center in Belgrade, Serbia)
“We stopped working with trafficking, because we saw that trafficking became an excuse for NGO’s and police to restrain women,” said Jelena Dordevic, the Deputy Director of the Anti Trafficking Center, “The whole idea of trafficking turned against us and the people we were trying to support.”
“There is this perception that there are the right victims and the wrong victims,” said Dordevic, “Sex Workers did not agree to get raped, to not be paid.”
According to Dordevic, many NGO’s do not see individuals who choose to do sex work as qualifying for their services. The Anti Trafficking center sees this as a major problem, thus their focus has turned more towards those who are excluded from trafficking arguments, but are still at risk for rape and other forms of violence.
Filed under: Sex Worker Rights | Tagged: decriminalization of sex work, human trafficking, Prop K | 5 Comments »
(This is an excerpt from a longer article. See link at bottom for full article)
An empowered sex worker is a sexual educator, a cultural advocate, and a healer. An empowered sex worker educates their clients on safer sex practices, thereby preventing disease transmission. They also facilitates safe sexual play, be it in the realm of BDSM or beyond, educating their clients in safe, consensual enactments of their fantasies. An empowered sex worker heals by providing safe physical, emotional and spiritual exploration. By making the space for education and healing, an empowered sex worker advocates for societal change for the better. An empowered sex worker brings great gifts not just to their own communities, but to the greater society.
We must support this.
Sex work has been around since the beginning of human history. It has existed regardless of what governmental system has been in place, and it has existed in many forms. Historically, regardless of whether, sex workers were honored and given a place in the spiritual temples, or if they were banished to the streets or outskirts of town, they have existed. When they were honored and respected, their work happened safely – and safety was therefore secured for the the worker and for the client, and for the client and for the community. When they were banished, and stigmatized, everyone was endangered. Without safe physical and emotional space, they operated at higher risks of all sorts.
An oppressed and disempowered sex worker, though strong, and fighting, is put at great risk. This risk extends to the clients, and to the entire community. When a sex worker has to hide, or live in fear, risky behavior happens. When a sex worker is not respected, violence against them is permitted. This harms the sex worker, the client, and the community at large.
We must prevent this.
This is a very black and white way of examining the circumstances around sex work, and we do not live in black and white world. The sex work experience is not easily lumped into one place along this spectrum of empowerment. Many forces fail to recognize this, many forces refuse to recognize this. Some sex work is tolerated when convenient, and most sex work is not tolerated as is convenient. This means that sex work happens on some sort of complicated spectrum between the empowered sex worker and the disempowered sex worker.
This is definitely the case in the United States.
Check out the full article here:
http://wendyvinaigrette.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/the-empowered-sex-worker/
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