Entries Tagged 'press-releases' ↓
July 5th, 2011 — press-releases
This week, The Village Voice published an article entitled “Real Men Get Their Facts Straight,” directed at Ashton Kutcher’s recent efforts concerning the trafficking of youth in the sex industry and his project, the DNA Foundation. The Voice criticized Kutcher for falsely stating that 100,000 to 300,000 youth in the United States are at risk for being “enslaved and sold for sex” every year. The Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP-NYC) would like to distinguish that there are three overlapping issues here: the trafficking of youth into the sex industry, the service needs of youth with experience trading sex for survival and the rights of consenting adult sex workers.
The statistic of 100,000 to 300,000 youth refers only to youth who would hypothetically be at risk for prostitution, not youth who are already engaged in it: youth such as “runaways, thrownaways, victims of physical or sexual abuse, users of psychotropic drugs, members of sexual minority groups, illegally trafficked children, children who cross international borders in search of cheap drugs and sex, and other illicit fare.” This is an extremely broad hypothetical, not compiled data based on field research. It also does not refer exclusively to those trafficked into the sex industry; rather it sees all forms of sex work, both coerced and consensual, as the same. It is therefore only what might be, not what is.
“In order to truly help a population, you must first understand what it looks like. It’s very sad to think that already shaky research is being used to make the American public believe that all sex work is trafficking and that so many youth are already involved in it. Knowing the reality of these situations is key to providing services and promoting freedoms for all persons in the sex industry,” said Sarah Elspeth Patterson, M.Ed., SWOP-NYC member and researcher.
After a Twitter battle that escalated when Kutcher successfully encouraged companies like American Airlines to pull ad revenue from the Village Voice, Kutcher released a blog response on his site in which he acknowledged the overall lack of sufficient data on trafficking and conceded that he was misusing the statistic in question. This acknowledgement is an important part of separating the three aspects of the sex industry in discussion, which have long been conflated into one overused inaccurate analysis .
As community organizers that advocate for the rights of all persons in the sex industry, SWOP-NYC applauds efforts to call out the use of junk science as solid research. The recognition of such a widely used statistic as false and potentially harmful is one step towards a more informed discussion of trafficking issues and their role in the sex industry. It is a step towards separating consensual sex work from the language of human trafficking and coerced prostitution. This step might also serve as a call for academic researchers to pursue more rigorously studies on youth in the sex industry.
Sadly, much of what is missing in this conversation is an understanding of why youth enter the sex trade, whether by choice or through coercion. Poverty, lack of support for LGBTQ youth who may become runaways, and other issues often draw sex workers of all ages, including youth, to the sex trade. There is also a lack of substantial services for youth of all genders in the sex industry. Here in New York City, service organizations likeStreetwise and Safe and Safe Horizon are providing social services for youth and families on a voluntary basis, empowering people to make decisions on their own terms. However, they remain critically underfunded. It is imperative that such organizations be supported in order to continue the important work of empowering youth to make their own decisions about their lives.
We also encourage media outlets to contact SWOP-NYC for further questions and commentary on this matter: swank@riseup.net
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April 8th, 2011 — press-releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Friday, April 8, 2011
Contact: Dylan Wolf, SWANK, 347-748-9163, swank@riseup.net
Sarah Jenny Bleviss, swop.nyc@gmail.com
New York – Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK) and Sex Workers Outreach Project NYC (SWOP-NYC) are dismayed that four more bodies were discovered on Long Island earlier this week. Police believe that a serial killer is responsible for murdering at least eight people found on a remote Suffolk County beach since December. Reports indicate the murder victims were in the sex trade. As sex workers and allies, SWANK and SWOP-NYC mourn the lives of these individuals and extend our sympathies to their families and communities.
“Sex workers are targeted for violence because of the stigma against what we do,” Dylan Wolf, a SWANK member said, “People think they can do whatever they want to us and they won’t get caught. And because of bad laws, social isolation and discrimination, they get away with it all the time. But like those murdered, we’re not disposable, bad people – we have lives that matter and people that love us. No matter who we are or what we do to make ends meet, we don’t deserve to die – we deserve good lives.”
A recent New York Times article suggested that dozens, if not hundreds, of people in the sex industry have been murdered in New York State since 1990. “Stories like what’s happened on Long Island make us fear for our safety,” said SWANK member Michael Bottoms, “As sex workers, we already know that stigma puts us at risk for being targeted, and so we take as many precautions as we can. But if we do experience violence, most of us can’t go to the cops, because we could get arrested, they might not take us seriously, or they could have been the ones who were violent to us in the first place.”
“When we ignore violence against sex workers, we support a culture where a serial killer can murder eight, twelve, or even dozens of sex workers without the media, the police or the general public being outraged or even thinking twice,” said Maryse Mitchell-Brody, a SWOP-NYC organizer, “We won’t end this violence by keeping the sex trade illegal, because it isn’t going anywhere – this just drives people further underground and makes them more vulnerable to violence. Murders like these show that we must use new strategies to create safety and dignity that don’t reinforce stigma or discrimination.”
To learn more about what you can do to support the rights of current and former sex workers and those with experience in the sex trade to safety and well-being, visit www.swop-nyc.org.
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December 13th, 2010 — press-releases
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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November 1st, 2010 — press-releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Liz Coplen, SWOP-USA
1-877-776-2004, http://www.swop-usa.org
Robin Dunn, SWOP-NYC
347-748-9163, swank@riseup. net, http://www.swop-nyc.org
Sex Workers Outreach Project
Strongly Opposes Campaign Against Backpage.com:
The closure of another Adult Services section will result in heightened violence and diminished ability to find victims of trafficking
New York City, NY, October 28, 2010 – SWOP-NYC in collaboration with SWOP-USA strongly opposes the misguided campaign against Backpage.com. This campaign is part of a trend of actions against adult services sections online including a recent action against Craigslist.
The campaign against Backpage.com has been framed as a way to “protect innocent women and children” (as per State Attorneys General, Letter to Attorneys for Backpage.com, September 21, 2010, available at: http://ago.mo.gov/pdf/Backpage.pdf). However, the forced closure of this site will not diminish the prevalence of trafficking and, worse, will substantially harm victims of trafficking and people in consensual sex work.
“This campaign purports to protect people, but it actually has the opposite effect,” explained Liz Coplen, Board Chair of SWOP-USA. “Criminalization and repression of consensual sex work drives sex workers underground, creating the conditions which lead to the exploitation and abuses of trafficking.” The models that have been internationally accepted as best practice for addressing sex trafficking center around working with sex workers to end exploitation and abuse, not further criminalizing and marginalizing the work.
SWOP-NYC, a group of sex workers and allies, adamantly opposes all forms of coerced and forced labor. We strongly support effective efforts to end abuses in the the sex industry. “Unfortunately,” states sex workers’ rights activist and attorney Melissa Broudo, “the current discussion seems to perpetuate the false notion that prostitution and trafficking are the same thing. All forms of sex work are perceived as violence against women, which does not reflect the different realities of individuals who advertise on these sites. Heightened criminalization, which stems from this conflation, causes significant harm to sex workers and survivors of trafficking.”
“The Internet provides a venue for communication and commerce for a range of industries,” says Sarah Jenny Bleviss, a new media professional and SWOP-NYC organizer. “These repressive campaigns, forcing the closure of adult venues and communications, undermine first amendment rights and freedom of communication on the Internet as well as the safety of sex workers. Sex workers are in the forefront as targets in a repressive campaign which challenges basic concepts of free speech on the Internet.”
Sex workers are united in their analysis that the closure of adult services pages undermines their safety. “Most people who advertise on these sites are engaged in consensual adult activities,” said Dylan Wolfe of SWOP NYC “But these campaigns assume that all sex workers need to be rescued. They say they are doing us a favor by closing down our advertising options, by removing our freedoms in order to protect us from exploitation. However, the Internet offers a venue in which we can find and screen clients so that we can protect ourselves. These closures undermine our safety.”
“First they complain when they see us on the street, then when we are off the street they try to shut our work down by closing the advertising venues. And they claim it’s to protect us! It’s hypocritical, discriminatory and ultimately makes sex workers more vulnerable to the violence they are supposedly so concerned about,” said Michael Bottoms.
Sex worker activist, Jill Brenneman agrees. “This will result in moving it someplace else or out onto the street, where it can be more dangerous. I noticed this firsthand. If the money’s not coming from one stream, it’s going to come from another. The street for me was always where I would end up working if somebody had shut down the main form of advertising.”
“When these websites close it means more potential for violence, more exploitation, less money to feed and house ourselves, and life circumstances that are less safe for consensual sex workers. Trafficked/exploited people are also placed at greater risk,“ says Robin Dunn of SWOP-NYC and SWOP-CO. “Sites such as Craigslist and Backpage are well-positioned to do more for trafficking victims, by providing training for their employees to help them act appropriately when contacted by someone who has been exploited using their website. Such training (as well as effective and appropriate training for police) would be far more helpful for exploited and trafficked people than shutting down an advertising service and forcing sex workers and trafficking victims into situations that are even less safe.”
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SWOP-NYC is part of the grassroots national network SWOP-USA and both are dedicated to improving the lives of current and former sex workers/those with experience in the sex trade, on and off of the job.
May 13th, 2009 — politics, press-releases
Contact:
Dylan Wolfe – Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK),
swank(at)riseup(dot)net
Will Rockwell – $pread Magazine,
Audacia Ray – Sex Work Awareness (SWA),
Susan Blake –
Prostitutes of New York (PONY),
Michael Bottoms – Sex Workers Outreach Project – New York City (SWOP-NYC),
info(at)swop-nyc(dot)org
“Erotic Services” Denied: Craigslist and Attorneys General Are Putting Sex Workers At Risk
With Craigslist’s recent announcement that its Erotic Services category will be discontinued within the week, hundreds of thousands of erotic service providers will become more vulnerable to dangerous predators. Eliminating erotic listings as Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and others propose will only drive us further underground.
Policing the masseuses, phone workers, pro-dominants, and escorts using Craigslist fails to protect those of us who are coerced into the sex industry. Preventing the use of Craigslist advertisements also eliminates the advantage of screening clients online, which makes for a safer work experience by filtering out potentially dangerous individuals. Furthermore, keeping us offline hinders police investigations of violent crime. In the Boston murder of Julissa Brisman, it was online tracking that enabled the police to identify the suspect. One has to wonder: are the Attorneys General examining the evidence or simply enforcing their moral values?
“Removing the erotic services category from Craigslist does not help prevent violence against escorts and other sex workers. It only pushes me and people like me out of the places where advertising is available,” said Jessica Bloom, a sex worker from Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK). In the face of increasing criminalization, we insist upon respect. As mothers, daughters, brothers, and members of your community, we claim that sex work is real work, work that we are entitled to conduct in safety. As such, we must be accorded the human right of full protection under the law.
May 13th, 2008 — press-releases
PRESS RELEASE
Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), swank@riseup.net
Sex Workers Outreach Project – New York City (SWOP-NYC), swop.nyc@gmail.com
Prostitutes of New York (PONY), pony@panix.com
Desiree Alliance, info@DesireeAlliance.org
The Pink Scare: Ms. Palfrey and Sex Panic
New York, NY – The activists at Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), Sex Workers Outreach Project New York (SWOP-NYC), Prostitutes of New York (PONY) and the nationally-based Desiree Alliance are saddened that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the D.C. Madam, passed away on May 1st in an apparent suicide. We – prostitutes, strippers, pro-dommes, porn stars, sex experts, and allies – extend our sympathies to all of those hurt by this most recent chapter of the “Pink Scare,” in which oppressive legislation and social stigma partner to generate hysteria around what, for us, can prove to be simply a decent way to make a living.
The circumstances surrounding Ms. Palfrey’s death suggest that Americans reconsider the current state and federal policies that govern sex work, as well as the stigmatization and sensational treatment of those who participate in this industry. Continue reading →
April 27th, 2008 — media, politics, press-releases
Thursday, March 13, 2008
New York, NY – In the last few days, Governor Eliot Spitzer has publicly admitted to being associated with an escort agency and is considering resignation. As sex worker advocates, we are concerned about the representation and fate of “Kristen” and sex workers who are being thrust into the spotlight because of the investigation into the Governor. We also share the widespread concern for Governor Spitzer’s family.
Sex worker organizations urge the press and the public to focus on the violation of sex workers rights and the need to change these laws and policies, rather than simply on the story of one individual who has purchased sexual services. Continue reading →
