“Respectability politics” has been a recurring phrase coming up lately in conversations within the sex workers’ rights movement. In discussions on and off the site we’ve had about drug using sex workers, sex workers with disabilities, survival sex workers, etc., we’ve been bumping up against this idea constantly. The Tits and Sass editorial staff decided… Continue reading Who Gets Left Out: Respectability Politics Round Table, Part One
Category: Activism
Activist Spotlight Interview: Sarah Patterson on Health, Access, and Risk
In January 2012, Sarah Elspeth Patterson and a group of other sex worker activists in NYC went to work offering health care and social services to sex workers. The much needed outcome, Persist Health Project, is the 2nd sex worker only health clinic in the United States, after Saint James Infirmary in San Francisco. While… Continue reading Activist Spotlight Interview: Sarah Patterson on Health, Access, and Risk
Activist Spotlight: Melissa Ditmore on Responsible Advocacy and No-BS Research
Dr. Melissa Ditmore is one of the sex workers’ rights movement’s most cherished academics. For twelve years, she has worked as a freelance research consultant, with an impressive list of clients that includes AIDS Fonds Netherland, UNAIDS, The Sex Workers’ Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center, and The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Melissa Ditmore on Responsible Advocacy and No-BS Research
Activist Spotlight: Deon Haywood on Justice and the Movement in New Orleans
In May of this year, I talked to Deon Haywood, Executive Director of Women With A Vision in New Orleans about her approach to organizing. WWAV scored a significant grassroots legal and political victory in the last year with the NO Justice campaign, which removed hundreds of cis and trans women from Louisiana’s registered felony… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Deon Haywood on Justice and the Movement in New Orleans
Whore’s Bath—More Than Washing Your Pussy For The Next Client
[The next Whore’s Bath/Solace Spa Suite event will be held at the Desiree Alliance conference on Weds, July 17th, between 11 AM and 6:30 PM. At the time of posting, we believe you can still register for the Desiree Alliance conference, though you will no longer receive a room discount.—ed.] Whore’s Bath is a day… Continue reading Whore’s Bath—More Than Washing Your Pussy For The Next Client