Contacts: Sienna Baskin, Co-Director, Urban Justice Center’s Sex Workers Project
646-602-5695 | cell: 718-662-6086 | sbaskin@urbanjustice.org
Maryse Mitchell-Brody, Organizer, SWOP-NYC
646-705-4415 | reach.maryse@gmail.com
ON 7TH ANNUAL DAY TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST SEX WORKERS, NEW YORK ADVOCATES GATHER TO REMEMBER VICTIMS, BUILD COMMUNITY & SHARE STRATEGIES FOR ACTION
New York — On the 7th Annual International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers, current and former sex workers will join with advocates, families, and supporters to stand up against the persistent pattern of violence against sex workers.
The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers was founded in 2003 by sex worker activist Robin Few to commemorate sex workers murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. Ridgway captured the attitude that cultivates violence towards sex workers: he said he murdered his victims because “they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”
A Sex Workers Project report found that 80% of New York City street-based sex workers interviewed had experienced or been threatened with violence while working; 27% had been victimized by police. Recently, the Universal Periodic Review of the United States human rights record resulted in a recommendation that the U.S. address “the special vulnerability of sexual workers to violence and human rights abuses.”
Participants will read the names of sex workers lost to violence in 2010 and join in a community speak-out. The program also includes a memorial for Catherine Lique, a sex worker who was murdered in 2003, written by her daughter. Speakers will reflect on human rights issues faced by sex workers and share strategies to respond to, resist and eradicate violence against our communities.
WHEN: 7:30PM – 9:30PM, Friday, December 17, 2010
WHERE: Metropolitan Community Church of New York, Sanctuary (2nd floor)
446 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018 btw 9th & 10th Aves.
WHO: Audacia Ray, Red Umbrella Project & Sex Work Awareness;
Chelsea Johnson-Long, Safe OUTside the System Collective of the Audre Lorde Project;
Michael J. Miller, The Counterpublic Collective and PROS Network.
Event is co-sponsored by: The Anti-Violence Project, Audre Lorde Project, Babeland, Counterpublic Collective, FIERCE, MADRE, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Peter Cicchino Youth Project, The Queer Commons, PONY (Prostitutes of New York), PROS Network, Red Umbrella Project, SAFER, Sex Work Awareness, Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, SWANK (Sex Workers Action New yorK), SWOP-NYC (Sex Workers Outreach Project-NYC), the Space at Tompkins, and Third Wave Foundation.
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[...] the seventh annual Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, and NLIRH would like to invite you to a free event we have co-sponsored with the Sex Workers’ Outreach Project of New York City and other [...]
[...] are events around the country and the world to recognize this day. If you are in New York City, join the Sex Workers Project and co-sponsoring organizations at a free event to hear some awesome speakers and participate in a [...]
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