Thank you Crossroads Womens Center for your dedication to human rights.
10/17/2019 DC Bill 23-0318
10/17/2019 Council of the District of Columbia Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety Hearing on Bill 23-0318: Community Safety and Health Amendment Act 2019
SWOP Behind Bars IG
Want a fast way to peruse the news without the lengthy article read? Check out out SWOP Behind Bars Instagram! Two years in and we have almost 7500 followers super passionate about sex work safety! Check out: swopbehindbars on Instagram
Petition: Protect Section 230
Protect Section 230 Sign The Petition
Thank you Goddard College
So grateful for a successful presentation and a beautiful day! #together4goddard #thinkdeep @sexxinteractive #theesplerproject
Funding sex worker activism is no longer taboo.
Sex workers are criminalised for their means of making a living in all but a handful of countries and jurisdictions. Addressing stigma and violence are key priorities of sex worker groups everywhere. For most sex workers, police are not there to protect them but perpetrate most of the violence against them. Harassment, confiscation of condoms, extortion, arbitrary arrest, and rape are common examples of police violence. Nadia van der Linde is the Coordinator of the Red Umbrella Fund, the first global grant making organisation for and by sex workers based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Previously she lived in Thailand, where she organised the first Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation on HIV and Sex Work. Nadia would like to thank Chantelle de Nobrega at Mama Cash for her valuable feedback on earlier versions of this article.
UJC Crowdrise
The Sex Workers Project (SWP) at the Urban Justice Center (UJC) is seeking community support to help transition 60 clients from receiving our services who are people working in the sex trades and/or are survivors of human trafficking. https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/support-sex-workers-and-survivors-of-human-trafficking-today We recently lost a major government grant that funded trauma-informed therapy, case management, assistance with … Continue reading UJC Crowdrise
#IHTSJC2019
Congratulations Dr. Jill McCracken and SWOP Behind Bars for achieving an influential scholar award at the University of Toledo 16th Annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo, Ohio.
Counter Punch: Sex Work and the 2020 Presidential Campaign
Sex Work and the 2020 Presidential Campaign: The next Democratic presidential-candidates debate is scheduled for mid-September and it would be interesting if a network moderator asks the candidates whether they were in favor of decriminalizing consensual, adult sex work? - David Rosen Counter Punch
Woodhull, HRC Anti-FOSTA Lawsuit to Hit Appeals Court Sept. 20
WASHINGTON, D.C.—It's been almost exactly one year since the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Human Rights Watch, the Internet Archive and two individuals filed suit in federal court to overturn the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) which was signed into law in 2017, and a bit less than one year since U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon threw the case out of court, ruling that none of the plaintiffs had standing to bring the action in the first place. But Woodhull recently announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had set September 20 as the date to hear arguments appealing Judge Leon's dismissal of the case and asking for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law. (AVN)
Institute for Justice & Change At #SFS19
The Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP-USA) also hosted an institute, “Justice and Change: A Sex Worker Institute,” focused on the building blocks of social justice organizing: facilitation, organizing across differences and confronting privilege, political advocacy, decriminalization and decarceration, and coalition building.
#SFS19
August 15, we kicked off our 10th Annual Sexual Freedom Summit. The Summit features human rights activists, sexuality educators and researchers, professionals from the legal and medical fields, authors, sexual freedom movement leaders, and organizational partners all working toward the time when sexual freedom is fully recognized as a fundamental human right. The Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP-USA) also hosted an institute, “Justice and Change: A Sex Worker Institute,” focused on the building blocks of social justice organizing: facilitation, organizing across differences and confronting privilege, political advocacy, decriminalization and decarceration, and coalition building. As one attendee posted on social media: “A big thank you to @KateDAdamo for leading one of the most useful seminars on sex worker political organizing that I’ve ever attended. So concrete! So clear and direct!”
The movement to decriminalize sex work, explained by Anna North
Sex workers have been fighting for decriminalization for generations. Now politicians are starting to listen. Anna North John Locher/AP
Wayne Rooney prostitute Helen Wood says ‘the only men that have been nice to me have been the ones that were paying’
Helen told MEN: "The only men that have been nice to me are the ones that were paying me. “I would say one of the top five questions I am asked is do you regret being an escort. Well no - I have some great memories. Could I say that about my family or those who I have called my boyfriend? No. That speaks volumes. “I’m not saying that I didn’t have options and I’d be lying if I said I chose the easy way out. Some days I was repulsed by it. “But when you can pick your child up from school and pay your bills on time and be comfortable, it felt like the right thing to do at the time.”
ESPU Press Release
Presidential candidates clarify your position! espu-press-release-June-27-2019
Lancaster County? Really!
THE ISSUE: Three prostitution investigations in Lancaster County since 2018 involved law enforcement receiving sexual services. Shea Rhodes to LNP: I firmly believe a police officer should not engage in sexual activity to facilitate an arrest,” Rhodes told LNP. She said the sex act the Lancaster County detective paid for in the New Holland case is, by definition, illegal. “He committed the crime to create evidence,” Rhodes said.
“Radio Waves Antimony” by Fred Hatt
For Mind to know the Real, it must enter a body. Therein it will revel in pleasure, and strive, and suffer, and die. Here you are, piloting a doomed craft on a river of glory RADIO WAVES fredhatt2019-07-09
It’s On Us PA
It’s On Us PA is a statewide campaign that invites everyone to play a role in ending sexual assault. Building off the momentum of the national It’s On Us movement, It’s On Us PA brings together college and university presidents, superintendents, administrators, teachers, students, families, and community members to reframe the conversation around sexual violence and pledge to be part of the solution.
California legislature passes bill to protect sex workers’ rights | TheHill
The Hill: California’s state legislature this week sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) desk that would protect sex workers who report violent crimes from arrest. The measure, Senate Bill 233, passed the state Senate, 28-10, in May (2019) and passed the state Assembly, 30-9, on Monday (7/8/2019). The legislation would grant immunity from arrest to sex workers reporting crimes such as rape, either as victims or witnesses. It would also remove a provision in existing law that allows police to use possession of condoms as probable cause for the arrests of sex work in certain cases. Staff Writer @BudrykZack
Fear Is Contagious
Everything for sale. I am. You are. Our stories are. Our feelings are. Our genitals are. Our values are. Our dreams are. Our futures are. Deep within the darkness behind that closed, locked door lays what we fabricate into scapegoats and martyrs. Corrupted. Contained. Compartmentalized. A sound bite or hashtag created to achieve some shared societal explanation; when really we simply are too afraid to accept evil at face value.
Meet The Face Behind PA Workers Survivors
Updated 7/8/2019 HELLO! Thank you for your interest in my discussions on survival sex, sex work and sex trafficking. This post contains strong content not appropriate for all environments.
We Commend Hawaii
Hawaii on Tuesday became the first state in the U.S. to remove a requirement that a person be a victim of sex trafficking to have a prostitution conviction erased.
How Decriminalizing Sex Work Became a 2020 Campaign Issue – Mother Jones
How Decriminalizing Sex Work Became a 2020 Campaign Issue – Mother Jones — Read on http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/how-decriminalizing-sex-work-became-a-2020-campaign-issue/ Behind the grassroots movement that is turning decriminalization into a mainstream fight for the left. Erik Mcgregor/Zuma When Julia Salazar, the 28-year-old Democratic Socialist state senator for New York’s 18th district, was campaigning last year, one of her most … Continue reading How Decriminalizing Sex Work Became a 2020 Campaign Issue – Mother Jones
California Passes SB233
Sex Workers Applaud Vote By California Assembly For Passing SB233: SB 233 prohibits the arrest for prostitution of people who witness or are a victim of specified violent and serious crimes, and prohibits the use of condoms as evidence of sex work.
NSWP Briefing Note: outlines the problems with the conflation of the term 'sexual exploitation' with sex work, and how this exacerbates harms to sex workers.
