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.
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.
ESPU Press Release
Presidential candidates clarify your position! espu-press-release-June-27-2019
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.
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.
Whores Day Weekend NYC
NYC #IWD2019 TWO EVENTS Fri 5/31 FRIDAY PM @mehanata #mehanatabulgarianbar SUNDAY DAY Lorimer and Diggs #McCarrenPark is a public park in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located in both Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Greenpoint, Brooklyn and is bordered by Nassau Avenue, Bayard Street, Lorimer Street and North 12th Street. #decrimnow #makeallwomensafe #strongertogether #sexworkersagainstsextrafficking #sexworker #sexworkers … Continue reading Whores Day Weekend NYC
NEW: Pennsylvania Project
Torturing Sex Workers, with Melanie Dante: Ken’s guest is Melanie Dante, a self-identified active consensual adult sex worker, discussing various issues surrounding the sex trades, badly needed decriminalization, and holes in the law that create “viminals”, i.e., making criminals out of victims of sexual abuse.
The ESPLER Project Legislative Update
Save The Date: Saturday June 1st Noon-3:00pm International Whore’s Day Rally Observed At the California State Democratic Party’s Convention in San Francisco
Support: Amending PA SB 337 To Protect Sex Workers
Support: Amending PA SB 337 To Protect Sex Workers & Survivors
Support: The ESPLER Project CALI
ESPLERP Update for April 2019
Sex Workers Are Human Resources
JAN 10 • Thank you so much for your fair and balanced coverage of the 15th Annual IDTEVASW. Since 2012 SWOP and SAFE have strived to stand up and speak out in Philly on issues specific to stigma and gratuitous violence against sex workers. Folks are always amazed at how hard and painful this event is to do, yet in the end how truly blessed we are to be able to come together to do it. Many households in most areas of Greater Philadelphia, if not all of PA, are touched somehow by this issue. Talking about sex work and prostitution is hard. Living in shame and silence is harder. D/17 is not fun, though it is full of love. Truly. We are here because we have been there, and we care. Our voice is their voice. Thank you for covering the memorial. Words cannot even express the gratitude I feel right now. Philly is proving we got LOVE!
NSWP On: Including Sex Workers In Diversity Protocol
NSWP has created an assessment tool for Including sex workers in your organization’s diversity protocol
Support Safety: Oppose SB 1204
Support Safety: Oppose Bill SB 1204 that criminalizes sex workers associating with each other or with supporters for safety, information and support.
Why Sex Workers are Fighting the Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill
Guest post by collaborators: M. Dante, Lola Li, and Heather Berg. On March 12th, the Senate votes on SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act. SESTA would criminalize the online advertising, information sharing, and support networks that sex workers use to do their jobs safely. Readers can support the #LetUsSurvive campaign by calling their Senators. WE ARE: #SurvivorsAgainstSESTA
3/12 EMPOWER Collective Visiting Philadelphia
3/12/2018: EMPOWER Thailand in Philly: MORNING - U Penn event Mon March 12 from 8-9am sponsored by the Nursing school, with co-sponsorship from School of Social Policy and Practice thanks to Dorothy Roberts and TJ Ghose. EVENING - Crossroads Women's Center Mon March 12 at 6pm
Stop SESTA/FOSTA
Hybrid FOSTA/SESTA Hinders Law Enforcement, Hurts Victims and Speakers | Center for Democracy & Technology
Fuck the Sabbatical
Trump Campaign Co-Chair Sentenced to 20 Years for Trafficking Minors and Sexual Abuse Some of his criminal behavior occurred during the campaign. ByTom Boggioni / Raw Story
ESP LERP v. Gascon (9th Cir. – Jan. 17, 2018) California Appellate
Re/Post of Professor Shaun Martin at the University of San Diego School of Law, and his thoughts on recent Ninth Circuit and California appellate case ESPLERP v Gascon.
Today we trade fear for sanctuary
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner Inauguration: Today we start the long road towards empowering and protecting some of our most vulnerable witnesses and survivors: immigrants that lack legal status so that they like other vulnerable groups - young people, elderly people, sex workers - can participate in the criminal justice system that is
there to protect them. Today we trade fear for sanctuary.
2018 Las Vegas Women’s March Includes Sex Workers
Thanks to Cris Sardina from Desiree Alliance for speaking for ALL sex workers at the National Women's March in Las Vegas: “This is my truth as I live it. I no longer give anyone permission to see me as less than. Don’t dismiss my womanhood. I am a sex worker. I am allowed to be here.”
2018 Women’s March Rhode Island Includes Sex Workers
2018Women March Rhode Island Includes Sex Workers. COYOTE had a 60 people sign up for our email list, and over 100 people stopped at our table. Bella shared that, "We had strippers from Westerly, and we had students from 3 universities and several communities members asking how they can volunteer with Coyote RI. Most importantly we got to educate our community and explain how Uncle Sam is the biggest pimp in the USA."
Re/Visiting The Invisible John Interview About Jane
The Invisible John Interview About Jane
ORIGINAL POST ON SWOP PHL SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 Journalists ask the darndest questions then don’t publish the answers sex workers give them or purposely don’t share all viewpoints if the views don’t fit in with the desired angle of an expose. So – we’ve decided to publish an unpublished and unquoted requested dialog by a journalist who interviewed SWOP Philly’s M. Dante.
E v G 9 Covered On Fox News
The legal challenge was brought by three ex-prostitutes, a would-be client, and ESPLER (Erotic Service Providers Legal, Educational and Research Project). They received good news Thursday after the 9th Circuit judges hinted that some scrutiny of the law was needed. “Why should it be illegal to sell something that it’s legal to give away?” asked, as the Chronicle reported.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White rejected the challenge last year, saying the 2003 Supreme Court ruling was concerning intimate personal relationship and did not apply to commercial sex, adding that California justified the law against prostitution as a deterrence to violence against women, sexually transmitted diseases and human trafficking, according to the Chronicle.
M Dante: I Support ESPLERP v Gascon
M. Dante explains why she supports ESPLERP v Gascon.
E v G In The 9th Circuit
After nearly 30 months working through the US Federal Court system, we finally get to stand up before a panel of judges and argue that California Penal Code 647(b) unfairly deprives consenting adults of the right to private activity, criminalizes the discussion of such activity, and unconstitutionally places prohibitions on our rights to freely associate.
