Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Church of St. Nizier occupation in Lyon, France. In 1975, a couple hundred radicalized sex working mothers, queer cis and trans women, migrants, and survivors of police rape forcibly took political sanctuary for 8 days to demand an end to the punitive laws and practices of the police and government that closed their safer work spaces, stigmatized their labor, extorted them, stole their children, repeatedly assaulted them, and in some cases led to their deaths. Their occupation, which led an immediate decrease in client and police violence, public support campaigns and a media narrative shift, marked the first International Whores’ Day. Since then, radical sex workers have been honoring the day by engaging in protests, sex strikes, community events and more.
Our Chicago crew organized a community picnic and resource distro–full of food, laughs, hugs, and shop talk. We passed around a copy of Prostitutes Our Life and read passages from it to each other, bringing the voices of the whores of Lyon into our space.
We’re sending love, rage, respect and care to all of the sex working, trading, hustling, surviving comrades of the world. We’re with you in struggle! We hope yesterday was restorative and invigorating–50 years on, and whores around the world are still showing what collective power looks like!
Stay tuned for more Chicago SWer community events that are centered around harm reduction trainings, political education, zine making, social gatherings and current events! Want to get involved? Send us a message via our Contact Form!
Chicago / Where to find us next?
- Chicago Zine Fest: Saturday, July 19th from 11AM to 4PM at the Harold Washington Library’s Winter Garden on the 9th Floor
- (The inaugural) Southside Zine Fest: Hosted by Zine Club Chicago, it will take place Saturday, July 26th from 11AM – 4PM at the Richard J. Daley Branch of the Chicago Public Library, 3400 S. Halsted St. in Bridgeport
Austin / What are we up to?
- Monkeywrench Books mutual aid / resource drive: This is a call to action during a moment of both discrete disaster due to climate change and the continuous disaster that is capitalism and fascism, which affect millions of our most marginalized neighbors with rapid intensification every day. Mutual aid should extend beyond these discrete moments of disaster and reactivity to create lasting and continuous networks of collective resource that can sustain us as circumstances unfold. All donations will be shared with Street Forum ATX– an abolitionist group whose efforts focus on the unmet needs of our unhoused neighbors through building relationships and centering the most marginalized folks in their community. Their work is invaluable to us and to many communities around Austin. And don’t forget that we have mutual aid shelves that are open all year long!
- SWEET ATX: MELT is back on Thursday, June 13 — and it’s movie night! For this Pride edition of MELT, we’re screening five short films by and about queer and trans sex workers. We’ll open the evening with a peer support circle on resilience to share strategies for staying grounded when times are tough. Then we’ll serve dinner from Peace Bakery and settle in for a lineup of stunning short films made by and for our community. Pride wouldn’t exist without trans sex workers — and we’ll never forget it! Sex workers only. RSVP required.
NYC / What are we up to?
- Have you read Red Canary Song’s latest digi-zine? Bodies Not Borders: On the Social Cleansing Crises in Queens, NY is a zine collaboration by Centro Corona & Red Canary Song. You can read it here.
- Decrim NY is calling on ALL New Yorkers to support #CeciliasAct — which would decriminalize consensual sex work in New York and help protect our people from violence, arrest, and stigma. But we need more co-sponsors before the session ends on June 12. Call and email your reps. Tell them to support S2513 / A3251!
