Tag: swop

The Week in Links—November 14th

image courtesy Amanda Brooks

Amanda Brooks published this post about the ordeal a client put her and Jill Brenneman through over the past two years. It’s a horrifying and compelling must-read. Scarlet Road, a documentary about an Australian escort and her disabled clients, is showing at the Columbus International Film Fest. An Irish sex work abolitionist group is making… Continue reading The Week in Links—November 14th

So These Sex Workers Walk Into A Human Trafficking Conference: Red Umbrella Project at the Toledo International Human Trafficking Conference

The RedUP gang at yet another conference (Photo courtesy of Red Umbrella Project)

When I accepted the chance to go the International Human Trafficking, Prostitution, and Sex Work Conference in Toledo, Ohio, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The organization I work for, Red Umbrella Project, attended the conference to present our report on New York’s new Human Trafficking Intervention Courts. Just the fact that they accepted us—a… Continue reading So These Sex Workers Walk Into A Human Trafficking Conference: Red Umbrella Project at the Toledo International Human Trafficking Conference

Labor of Love

(Image via Melissa Gira Grant's twitter account)

You might recognize this sentiment: the sex workers’ rights movement is funded by “the industry.” We are “the pimp lobby,” whether we’ve ever been in any sort of management role ourselves or not, let alone whether we’ve abused or exploited other workers. You might think it’s pretty easy to laugh at that sort of thing,… Continue reading Labor of Love

The Week In Links—December 20

Behold that jubilant smile, and that everpresent, oh-so-stylin' riding crop. Terri Jean Bedford is a woman who knew she was going to win. Along with the two other sex worker plaintiffs of Bedford v. Canada, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott, Bedford won the day today when the Canadian Supreme Court struck down Canada's anti-prostitution laws. Looks like Canadian sex workers have a lot of decriminalized whipping to do. (Photo by Jack Boland/QMI Agency Files, via northumberlandtoday.com)

What a triumphant end to this week of International Day to End Violence Against Sex Work: today, the Canadian Supreme Court struck down the country’s prostitution related laws in a unanimous decision on Bedford vs. Canada, calling all three statutes—prohibiting brothels, living on the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public with clients—over-broad and “grossly disproportionate.”… Continue reading The Week In Links—December 20

Quote of the Week

By viewing sex workers as both victims and perpetrators, End Demand promoters get to pick and choose whatever is most convenient for their arguments and ignore the demands of a community against which violence is being perpetrated. This ignores and dehumanizes those impacted in the sex trade, turning very real and complex experiences and needs… Continue reading Quote of the Week