The Week In Links—October 4th

We covered NYC’s new prostitution courts last week.  This week, Robin Richardson of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center sent a great letter to the editor in the New York Times discussing the courts and challenging the criminalization of prostitution. In even more exciting news, the Melissa Harris-Perry Show hosted a dialogue on… Continue reading The Week In Links—October 4th

Who Gets Left Out: Respectability Politics Round Table, Part Two

One of Melissa Gira Grant's Carceral Feminist Cat memes at carceralfeministcat.tumblr.com

You can read part one of this dialogue here. Emma Caterine: Red Umbrella Project has definitely encountered issues around pressure to conform to respectability politics from larger groups who fund or sponsor us in different ways. It is telling that I can’t mention many of the specifics for fear of re-opening old wounds. Particularly the… Continue reading Who Gets Left Out: Respectability Politics Round Table, Part Two

The Week In Links—August 2nd

A piece in Australian lit mag Overland republished in the Guardian declares that the author “feels uneasy about sex work” but has “changed her mind” about it because “it’s not about me.” Uh, nice start, we guess? It’s interesting how many times the article employs the personal pronoun after its declaration that sex work is… Continue reading The Week In Links—August 2nd

Both Transphobic and Whorephobic: The Murder of Dora Oezer

On July 2nd, 24-year-old trans sex worker Dora Oezer was murdered by one of her clients. On July 12th, there was a protest against transphobic violence Istanbul, while similar protests were held in Berlin and Eskisehir. Meanwhile, the Turkish sex workers’ rights organization Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association held a protest and… Continue reading Both Transphobic and Whorephobic: The Murder of Dora Oezer

An Excerpt from Prose and Lore, Issue #2 (2013)

Prose & Lore is the Red Umbrella Project’s literary journal, which collects memoir stories about sex work in two issues per year (Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer). The stories are original to Prose & Lore, and about 75% of the authors in each issue are previously unpublished. Many of the contributors participate in RedUP’s memoir workshops and drop-in writing… Continue reading An Excerpt from Prose and Lore, Issue #2 (2013)