Entries Tagged 'SWOP-NYC' ↓

On December 17, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers Marks One Year Since Bodies Discovered on Gilgo Beach

WHEN: Saturday, December 17, 2011 from 2 to 4 pm

WHERE: Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, 164 West 100^th Street near Amsterdam Avenue. 1, 2, or 3 train to 96^th Street.

WHO: Organized by sex worker support and advocacy groups the Red Umbrella Project and the Sex Workers Outreach Project New York. Attendees will be people currently or formerly involved in the sex trades and our friends, family, allies, and those concerned for our health and safety.

In December 2010, the bodies of four women, later identified as Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes were discovered on Gilgo Beach in Long Island, after the family of missing woman Shannan Gilbert insisted on a police investigation of her disappearance. The cases remain unsolved, and since December the remains of another six people have been discovered in the area. The Suffolk County Police Department, which is responsible for the investigation, believes that it is likely that there are multiple local killers who are preying on people who sell sexual services.

On December 17, 2011 people in the sex trade and the people who love and support us will gather at Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan from 2 to 4 pm to hold a vigil for the victims of the Long Island killers and the many other people killed every year because they trade sex and are vulnerable to violence. The event will feature community activist speakers, a candle lighting, and a reading of the names of people in the sex trade who have been murdered this year.

The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers was first organized nearly a decade ago by sex workers in San Francisco to memorialize the people murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. Ridgway captured the attitude that cultivates violence towards sex workers: “I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” At the event, we create a space that challenges this assumption by demonstrating that we have a caring community.

CO-SPONSORS
If you would like to become a co-sponsor, please email swank(at)riseup(dot)net.

• The Center for Constitutional Rights
• HOOK
• Latino Commission on AIDS
• NYC Anti-Violence Project
• Queering OWS (Occupy Wall Street)
• Paradigm Shift
• Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP)
• PONY (Prostitutes of New York)
• Positive Health Project (PHP)
• Sex Workers Project
• Trans Women’s Anti Violence Project
• Washington Heights CORNER Project
• VOCAL-NY

by Sarah Elspeth Patterson, Community Organizer, SWOP-NYC

This week, the public humiliation of Nafissatou Diallo that has been the “DSK Rape Case” has come to a close, as all charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn have been dropped. This motion marks the end to a case that has amounted to little more than a character assassination of a rape complainant who has endured a litany of shame-driven media accusations, including but by no means limited to the Post’s declaration that she “wasn’t just a girl working a hotel – she was a working girl.” This unsubstantiated claim of her sex worker status, in addition to problematic framings of her race, immigrant status and background, has been used in the media to reinforce the idea that she is not a credible witness and therefore unworthy of having her rape charges validated in a court of law.

It’s been a rough summer for rape cases going through the DA’s office in New York City, with no lack of victim-blaming happening all around. It’s been mere months since two NYC police officers were acquitted of raping a women in her East Village apartment after a call for their assistance at the same location. Since the victim was drunk, though, it wasn’t difficult to see how she would become the one on trial. In fact, there was enough victim-blaming to acquit two men who were caught entering the woman’s apartment on outside surveillance tapes not once, not twice, but three times. Enough victim-blaming to acquit a man who admitted to lying in bed with the victim while she was wearing only a bra and passed out drunk. Enough victim-blaming to have one of the officers, Officer Moreno, publicly declare post-acquittal that the results of the case “were a lesson and a win.” A lesson and a win, indeed.

How rape cases can play out in our criminal justice system, as seen this summer in NYC alone, is a lesson to every person that is socially vulnerable to the effects of a rape culture, and that’s a whole lot of people. If you have been raped, it does matter how you got there. It matters what your race is, what your immigration status is and how you’ve made a living. It matters a lot. For some rape victims, just being able to report the crime without shaming scrutiny is not a possibility. That is what one SWOP member experienced when she attempted to report a rape to the NYPD:

I was taken very seriously until it came out that I was involved in sex work, that this man was going to get me work, and that I showed him my body. At that point, the cops started acting as though I had been dishonest for not revealing this sooner and started basically interrogating me. It was incredibly upsetting. One of the police officers actually said to me, “What makes it okay Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but not Thursday?” I was not arrested, but I feared arrest, having heard of cops doing that. I was relieved just to leave the precinct, and needless to say nothing came of my complaint. And I was reminded of the treatment I had received when I discovered that he was later arrested in California as a sex offender. Presumably he raped someone with a little more social cachet.

Sadly, it is not just the acts of a few that affect how the system treats rape complainants. There are also policies in place that directly affect how a sex worker is treated in the eyes of the court in regard to sexual assault cases. For instance, in the New York City Rape Shield Law, a criminal procedure code that provides that “evidence of a victim’s sexual conduct shall not be admissible” in a rape case, there is a noted exception to the code. New York is one state that permits the victim’s status as a convicted prostitute to be admitted into evidence if the conviction occurred within three years of the sexual offense. In the past, this practice has been defended on the grounds that such information speaks to the credibility of the rape complainant “as a witness” and somehow suggests that the complainant, being a sex worker, may have consented. In many ways, this practice being upheld represents how prostitution (and indeed, sex work in general) is still considered an immoral act and treated in the eyes of the law as representative of a person’s defective character.

In the aftermath of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn dismissal and the recent acquittal of two police officers accused of rape, both cases which had a great deal to do with vilifying the complainant rather than the defendant, we must recognize that the rights of rape victims are tied up directly with how we frame rape victims in general, both in the media and in public policy. We must also be cognizant of the notion that there is a heirarchy of victimhood and that issues of race, class and status go into making up that heirarchy. Laws like NYC’s Rape Shield Law uphold the notion that our courts are the arbiters of sexual morality. Likewise, a court system whose decisions are in any way shaped by a rape victim being a sex worker (whether a valid claim or not) cannot be held to treat any complainant with a reasonable level of dignity. All in all, it’s a real wonder how any of us could withstand the scrutiny of such a system of judgment.

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Check out the full album from the International Day for Sex Workers’ Rights Community Potluck on our SWOP-NYC Facebook Page!

International Day for Sex Workers' Rights

Join us for a vigil and community speak out

When: Friday, December 17, 2010 at 7:30PM – 9:30PM

Where: Metropolitan Community Church of New York, Sanctuary (2nd floor), 446 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018 btw 9th & 10th Aves. < http://bit.ly/dUenDt >

Who: Current & former sex workers, our allies, friends, families, and communities. This event is free and open to the public.

Join us in observing the 7th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Join us in remembering those we’ve lost to violence, oppression and hate, whether perpetrated by clients, partners, police or the state.

We stand against the cycle of violence experienced by sex workers around the world. Recently in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council reviewed the human rights record of the United States during their Universal Periodic Review. Uruguay’s recommendation to the Obama Administration – to address “the special vulnerability of sexual workers to violence and human rights abuses” – is the moral leadership we have been waiting for!

Join us in solidarity to fight the criminalization, oppression, assault, rape and murder of sex workers – and of folks perceived as sex workers.

December 17, 2003 was our first annual day to honor the sex workers who were murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. In Ridgway’s own words, “I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew 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.” (BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3245301.stm)

We come together each year to show the world that the lives of marginalized people, including those of sex workers, are valuable.

• Speakers:
  • 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
• Readings
  • Reading of the names of sex workers we have lost this past year
  • Memorial for Catherine Lique by her daughter Stephanie Thompson and read by Sarah Jenny Bleviss
  • Speak out: Bring poetry, writings or just speak your truth.

Light snacks, beverages, and metrocards will be provided.

The red umbrella has become an important symbol for Sex Workers’ Rights and is increasingly used on December 17: “First adopted by Venetian sex workers for an anti-violence march in 2002, red umbrellas have come to symbolize resistance against discrimination for sex workers worldwide.”

This event is co-sponsored by: 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, SWANK (Sex Workers Action New yorK), SWOP-NYC (Sex Workers Outreach Project), the Space at Tompkins, and Third Wave Foundation.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110788105658599

For events outside of New York, visit: http://www.swop-usa.org/dec17

SWOP-NYC is pleased to announce a partnership in solidarity with Uganda-based Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA).

You can learn more about WONETHA here and here.

Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA) is a  Ugandan sex worker led organization established in August 2008 by 3 passionate and determined sexworkers who have faced harassment, insults, stigma, discrimination and arrest without trial by misinformed societies and who have been stirred into  responsive action concerning the plight of other sexworkers in the same working conditions.

Macklean Kyomya, Daisy Nakato, and Zamu Namagembe, the three young women who founded WONETHA in August 2008 have all had experiences working in the commercial sex industry.  Macklean, WONETHA’s Director, was struggling to pay her  school fees when she followed the advice of her peers and found regular ‘sugar daddies’as a source of income. After witnessing the violent rape of her friend, she began to search for  an organization that would guide and protect her. WONETHA’s programme coordinator  Daisy contracted HIV from one of her first clients when she started working in a bar. During her years as a sex worker, there were many threatening exchanges between Daisy and her clients. After a particularly violent client, Daisy also went in search of a  group that could help her manage her HIV and assist her in diversifying her income.

At different times, each of these women joined an organization that claimed to protect and empower commercial sexworkers, and assist them to find better sources  of income. Social stigma issues were not addressed, each of the women was given different opportunities to continue their education, attend conferences, build advocacy and writing skills, reach out to other commercial sexworkers, and stand in solidarity with women late at night in Kampala’s brothels and streets.

However, this organization was headed by a man, and over time these women found that they were continuing to be exploited and manipulated by the male-headed administration. The staff would work, but were never paid on time. International donations were given to the organization to pay for the different needs of the target group, but none of the members ever received what they were promised. International funding for projects and programs was sent, but often disappeared. Many innovative ideas and opportunities were presented to the Chairperson but they were repeatedly shut down. Attempts to reform the leadership and management were made, but were never successful.

Through this time, the three women were connected by their commitment to improving the self-esteem of women sex workers and breaking the stigma around sexworkers.

Through their experiences, and with the support of many colleagues in the civil society community, these women decided to form an organization that would genuinely represent their dreams and aspirations of providing “a home and hope for marginalized women”.

VISION

“To unite sex workers; to improve our living and working conditions and to fight for equal access to rights so that sex workers’ human rights are defended and protected.”

MISSION

“To work with adult sex workers, organize sex workers claim their rights, call fordecriminalization of adult sex work; promote access to health, legal, and social services; and promote safer sex practices and sex workers’ health and well being.”

Problem Statement: Why focus on rights of sexworkers?

Rights Not Rescue: Sex workers are facing a health and human rights crisis in Uganda, yet very little is being done to protect their rights. Research done across Africa shows that the criminalization of sex work leaves sex workers particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse from law enforcement officials and the general public.  Sex workers experience routine violence from police, including rape, physical assault, and having their genitals sprayed with pepper-spray.

In recent engagement of government by sex workers who are members of WONETHA to have sex work decriminalized, sex workers sought to claim their fundamental right to social and economic freedom, equality, dignity, and privacy.

Why decriminalization?

Firstly, decriminalization enables the sex industry to be regulated thereby reducing violence against sex workers and cases of human trafficking. It is the oppressors and those committing violence against women who want sex work to remain illegal. Secondly, where sex work is illegal HIV prevalence increases due to difficulties in accessing health care prevention initiatives.

In the New vision of 19^th 05 2009 Dr Kihumuro Apuli, Director of Uganda AIDS Commission stated that HIV prevalence among sex workers is 50% and 10% are male clients between  the age of (15-49).  As a sex worker Organization we are deeply concerned that this situation is alarming despite Uganda’s role model image in previous years in the fight of HIV & AIDS.

WONETHA therefore upholds that for sex workers to fully enjoy all their labour-related rights and fundamental freedoms, sex work in Uganda must be decriminalized. Decriminalization will involve the removal of outdated laws which specifically criminalize sex work, enable sexworkers to operate under the same conditions as other workers, and access the same human rights. The sex work industry will be subject to the same laws which apply to all other sectors in Uganda, including existing labour legislation. Other benefits will include;

• Allowing sex workers to practice their profession openly without fear.
• Easier access to health care facilities without stigma
• Reducing the health and life dangers involved in the profession of sex work
• Allowing sex workers the protection and benefits of the law.
• More comprehensive health care services for sex workers, including those that address rape, sexual violence, mental health, substance abuse, care of sexworkers who are HIV positive, adolescent health, nutrition and antenatal care/maternal mortality.
• Freedom to contribute to national tax payment system therefore raising the sex workers self esteem.

WONETHA emphasizes that the current sex worker situation in Uganda calls for immediate action and if the government does not come out to act then Uganda will lose the battle on HIV/AIDS.  As WONETHA we always say that if sexworkers are not safe then no woman is safe.

For more information contact:

Kyomya Macklean
Director
WONETHA-Uganda
P.O.Box 31762, Namirembe Rd, K’la
Tel: +256-414-667-730 / +256 -774-603-754.
Alt Email: wonetha@gmail.com/ kmacklean@yahoo.com
URL. www.wonetha.4t.com

Join the Silver SSW for a special event that is free and open to the public:

Best Clinical Practices and Policies for Sex Workers

Date:   Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Time:   7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Kimmel Center, Room 805
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=363773935307&index=1

Description:

The Spring 2010 Pride in Practice Identity/Expression Education Series
with The Office of LGBT Student Services and PROS Network

“Best Clinical Practices and Policies for Sex Workers”

-Learn About the “No Condoms As Evidence” Bill.

-How to be Competent, Sensitive Clinicians to a Population on the Margins.

-Find Out Which Providers, Resources, Organizations, and Agencies are Sex Worker-Friendly.

Moderator and Key Note Speaker:
Jo Rees, Adjunct Lecturer, NYU Silver School of Social Work

Guest Speakers:
Crystal DeBoise, Sex Workers Project, PROS Network;

Stephen Crowe, FROST’D, PROS Network;

Johannah Westmacott, Streetwork Project, PROS Network

May TBA for SWANK/SWOP-NYC members: Opioid Overdose Responder Training

Spring TBA for SWANK/SWOP-NYC members: Sustainable Self-Care Retreat (Tentative)

June 6th for everyone: Sex Worker Cabaret Show

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10150258219245001&ref=nf

Join SWOP, SWANK and PROS Network on Wednesday March 3rd to celebrate International Day for Sex Worker Rights with a community potluck dinner!
Judson Memorial Church, 239 Thompson Street, btw Washington Square South and West 3rd St., Manhattan, NY
Subway: A,B,C,D,E,F,V to West 4th St.
7-10pm

Food will be provided, but you are welcome to bring additional dishes.

Please email Bhavana at bhavana.nancherla@gmail.com to let us know what you are bringing in advance.

Open mic: Bring your ideas, stories, poems and songs to share.
Metrocards will be available for those who need them.

Community Potluck for International Sex Workers Rights Day
Tues. Mar. 3rd, 7-9 pm

Judson Memorial Church, Manhattan
239 Thompson St (south of Washington Square Park)

Free to enter, Meal by donation – no one turned away!

Join us (people in the sex trade and our allies) for a delicious meal! Learn about campaigns and programs in our communities! Win sexy prizes in our raffle! Network, share stories, and celebrate the struggle for
our rights!

Contact:
(347) 748-9163 or swank@riseup.net to volunteer, to bring
a dish or for more info!