Sex Workers' Rights Movement

The Sex Workers' Rights Movement began the 1970s and in many countries, works to improve working conditions, increase benefits and eliminate discrimination on behalf of individuals working within the sex industry, whether legal or criminalized.[1][2] The International Committee for Prostitutes’ Rights gained human rights coverage in 1985 when they obtained the World Charter for Prostitutes Rights creating a world wide community.[3] This movement continued to grow globally as members banded together to fight the AIDS/HIV crisis.[2] The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) was created in 1992 at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam.[3] This network had a large part in the international response and education of people during the AIDS/HIV crisis in regards to the sex work industry.[4] The majority of the Sex workers' Rights Movements' progress pertains to developed countries, currently the organizations involved are working to extend their knowledge and activism to developing countries.[5]

North America

United States

Carol Leigh coined the expression sex workers in 1978.[6] COYOTE is an American advocacy group for prostitutes.[7]BAYSWAN is a non-profit organization for sex workers in the San Francisco Bay Area.[8]

Canada

The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR) is an organization that works from Montreal, and connects with sex workers and similar organizations nationally. CASWLR works to challenge and inform governments to impact laws and policies regarding sex work.[9]

Caribbean

In 1888, a group of Havana sex workers founded a newspaper, La Cebolla,[10] and called for the establishment of a political party led by sex workers. Today there are sex worker rights organisations in Caribbean countries and two regional networks - Red de Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (Network of Women Sex Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean—RedTraSex) and Plataforma Latinoamericana de Personas que Ejercen el Trabajo Sexual (Latin American Platform of People Who Exercise Sex Work—PLAPERTS).[11]

South America

Ecuador

In 1982, the Association of Autonomous Female Workers (AAFW) was established. It is operated by healthcare workers, feminists and sex workers. In 1988 sex workers protested the conditions in which they working in the sex industry. AAFW is known as one of the oldest sex workers organizations in South America.[12]  

Australia/Oceania

The national organisation in Australia is named Scarlet Alliance.[13]

Europe

United Kingdom

The English Collective of Prostitutes was founded in 1975.[14] The Network for Sex Work Projects (NSWP) was founded in the 1990s and is an organization based around sex worker advocacy. Based in London, United Kingdom, the organization serves as an information exchange for 40 projects and operations across the world. The goal of the NSWP is to bring attention to the well-being of sex workers, as well as provide news and resources regarding sex work.[15][16]

France

In Lyon 1975 100 sex workers occupied Saint-Nizier church to protest against working conditions.[17] Today there is the Syndicat du travail sexuel (STRASS).[18]

Germany

One of the first projects in Germany was Hydra formed in Berlin 1979.[19] The Bundesverband erotische und sexuelle Dienstleistungen (BESD) was founded in 2013.[20]

Ireland

The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI)[21] was established in 2009.

Africa

South Africa

In Cape Town, 1994, the organization Sex Workers Advocacy and Education Taskforce (SWEAT) was created. This organization kept the fight against AIDS at the forefront by supplying sex workers with education, condoms and financial stability.[22]

Asia

Japan

The sex workers organization Sex Work And Sexual Health (SWASH) was established in 1999. It opposes slavery and exploitation, researches the climate of the sex work industry and also works to empower sex workers.[23] Most recently, sex workers have fought for inclusion in the governments handouts for the unemployed due to COVID-19.[24]

India

The Mahila Samanwaya Committee which translates to Unstoppable Women's Coordination Committee, is one of the world's largest sex workers organizations, was founded in Kolkata in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, the number of those associated with the committee grew to around 30,000, mainly consisting of sex workers from West Bengal. In Sonagachi, the Mahila Samanwaya Committee held rallies against yearly police raids aimed at sex workers.[25] This committee also participates in being a link between the Indian sex working industry and the world wide movement.[26]

See also

References
  1. Bindel, Julie (2019). "The 'Sex Workers' Rights' Movement". The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth. Springer. pp. 35–61. ISBN 978-1-349-95947-1.
  2. Mgbako, Chi Adanna (2020). "The Mainstreaming of Sex Workers' Rights as Human Rights". p. 93.
  3. Mgbako, Chi Adanna. "The Mainstreaming of Sex Workers' Rights as Human Rights". p. 98.
  4. Mgbako, Chi Adanna. "The Mainstreaming of Sex Workers' Rights as Human Rights". p. 101.
  5. Mgbako, Chi Adanna (2020). "The Mainstreaming of Sex Workers' Rights as Human Rights". p. 102.
  6. "Inaugural Hong Kong sex workers' film festival offers nuanced, diverse portrait of trade". Malaysia Star. AP. August 14, 2006. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  7. Jenness, Valerie (August 1990). "From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem". Social Problems. 37 (3): 403–420. doi:10.2307/800751. JSTOR 800751.
  8. Mickle, Bryn. (July 13, 2003). "Sex marks the spot — Lax enforcement draws hookers, johns to Flint." Flint Journal. Retrieved through Newsbank.com (subscription required) on June 4, 2007. Carol Leigh, identified as a spokeswoman for BAYSWAN, was a media source sought for comment in a newspaper story about prostitution in Flint, Michigan. BAYSWAN was described as "A San Francisco sex worker advocacy group argues that prostitution should be decriminalized and regulated like other industries."
  9. "The rights of sex workers are being ignored in the COVID-19 response: In conversation with Jenn Clamen of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform". Amnesty International Canada. April 23, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  10. Fraunhar, Alison (2018). Mulata Nation: Visualizing Race and Gender in Cuba. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-4968-1446-3.
  11. Cabezas, Amalia L. (April 29, 2019). "Latin American and Caribbean Sex Workers: Gains and challenges in the movement". Anti-Trafficking Review (12): 37–56. doi:10.14197/atr.201219123. ISSN 2287-0113.
  12. Kempadoo, Kamala; Doezema, Jo (1998). Global Sex workers Rights, Resistance and Redefinition. New York: Routledge. p. 167. ISBN 9781315865768.
  13. Kate DeMaere (October 16, 2008). "Sex @ work: the ordinary, extraordinary lives of sex workers" (PDF). The HIV Consortium for Social and Policy Research on HIV, Hepatitis C and Related Diseases. p. 3. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  14. "Profile of our first spokeswoman, Selma James". English Collective of Prostitutes. June 8, 2012.
  15. "Sex workers in poor countries have no voice on UN consultation, activists say". the Guardian. September 21, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  16. Kamala, Kempadoo; Doezema, Jo (1998). Global Sex Workers Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition. New York: Routledge. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9781315865768.
  17. "Internationaler Hurentag – Kirche soll Prostituierte nicht ausgrenzen (International Whores' Day: The church shouldn't exclude the prostitutes)". Die Welt (in German). Die Welt – Online. June 7, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  18. "Les prostitués fondent leur syndicat et défilent pour la "Pute pride"". L'Obs (in French). March 22, 2009.
  19. "Die meisten sind eben keine Opfer". Jungle-world.com. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  20. Waldenberger, Almuth (2016). Die Hurenbewegung (in German). LIT Verlag Münster. p. 134. ISBN 978-3-643-50597-2.
  21. "Sex Workers Alliance Ireland". Sexworkersallianceireland.org. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  22. Wojcicki, Janet M. (2003). "The Movement to Decriminalize Sex Work in Gauteng Province, South Africa, 1994–2002". African Studies Review. 46 (3): 95–96. doi:10.2307/1515043. ISSN 0002-0206.
  23. NSWP (May 27, 2015). "Sex Work And Sexual Health (SWASH) established Japan". Global Network of Sex Work Projects. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  24. Jessie Yeung, Junko Ogura and Will Ripley. "Japan is offering sex workers financial aid to survive the pandemic". CNN. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  25. Dasgupta, Simanti (April 29, 2019). "Of Raids and Returns: Sex work movement, police oppression, and the politics of the ordinary in Sonagachi, India". Anti-Trafficking Review. 0 (12): 127–139. doi:10.14197/atr.201219128. ISSN 2286-7511.
  26. Dasgupta, Shruti. "EXPERIENCES OF VIOLENCE AND SEX WORK AMONG WOMEN SEX WORKERS IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA: A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS". p. 25.
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