We’re so grateful to everyone who showed up in love, solidarity and grief this past week to honor International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. You were part of countless sex working and trading people around the world who organized, gathered, raised their voices and demands for a better world for whores. Thank you; the work continues!
Our collective wrote the following statement to commemorate the day:
Dearest comrades, fellow whores,
Support Ho(s)e is sending you and yours big love and rage tonight. However you need to feel or be, we’ve got you.
There are so many names, too many names again this year: people, workers, hustlers, friends, family. Whether you sign, whisper, speak or shout their names, please know you’re heard, loved, and that they are uplifted tonight and always.
Much of the violence people experience while selling or trading sex is at the hands of the carceral state; the sexual and physical violence experienced at the hands of clients, abusive intimate partners and neighborhood vigilantes is a direct result of the state’s permissiveness of all forms of violence toward those stigmatized, marginalized and criminalized in society. The criminal codes, the cops and the courts (all of which are manifestations of white supremacy) sanction gender and sexual violence every day. Even our loved one’s decisions to no longer share this earthly plane often have direct ties to the exhaustion and anguish from surviving systemic violence and chronic pain.
Truly this world makes it hard, and often impossible, for whores to keep living. And yet, we are here. Right now. We are alive, and breathing, sharing space and remembering. We are still here. Even though the state and its violent agents have done their best to see otherwise. What do we do with this time? These memories? The horrors? This grief? Can we sit them alongside the joys, the resistance, the hope too? This night is a night to mourn, and our collective also believes it’s a night to recommit ourselves to the struggle for a world that loves and protects whores. A world where we may even dare to eradicate all work, and live, fully, unapologetically, realizing all of our wild hopes and dreams.
When you feel alone on your stroll, at your in-call, on that (fucking) date, remember, we’re with you in struggle.
[Collective moment of rage outside to close out, on three we scream.]
From one of the Chicago organizers, “The Chicago event was heavy and beautiful. So many people uplifted [Mistress] Velvet. Lots of tears cried. Snacks had. Laughs laughed. Haymarket [House] was a great venue and the allies showed the fuck up with helping facilitate the event. So many workers felt seen and got to share what they needed to say.”
Our comrade, Red, was invited to be the guest writer for Buttons of the Left‘s December 17th post which uplifted COYOTE! You can follow that amazing project here, and read the post here!
Upcoming Austin, Tx events for SWers we want to amplify:
Please join us for Dinner, Movement practice (with Kayla) and Authentic Relating (T-group with Diana Prince).
🗓 Saturday, December 27th | 1:45 – 5PM
📍 Where: Private residence near 183 & MLK RSVP for exact address here.
Next virtual Authentic Relating (T- group) for Erotic Professionals:
📆: Thursday, January 8 | 3–5 PM CST
🔗: RSVP here to get zoom link.
Learn about me and the practices I love to share.
In NYC, our former political organizing home, Bluestockings Cooperative, is having a sunset blowout sale TODAY (and next Saturday 12/27), please go show them some love and help them settle tremendous debts the worker-owners are left with! The sale will be from 12 – 5 PM at 116 Suffolk St (see flyer for details), and feature furniture, books, merchandise, art, appliances and more! The worker-owners are also working with a dear comrade to split proceeds amongst a few prisoner support and abolitionist organizations. Even amidst the tumult, Raquel and Merlin are showing up for community. We send them love and respect!
A few comrade organizations in the U.S. we want to highlight during this giving season:
Whose Corner is it Anyway (Western MA)
Aileen’s (PNW)
The Outlaw Project (Tucson, AZ)
Bay Area Workers Support (The Bay, California)
SWOP Minneapolis (MN)
Erotic Laborers Solidarity Alliance aka ELSA (El Paso, TX)
Red Canary Song (Queens, NY)