A few weeks ago, I attended and helped co-ordinate the biggest sex worker gathering in Australia. It's held in a different Australian state every year, to draw attention to local sex worker issues and to enable the greatest number of sex workers to attend. The three days of the forum are sex-worker only, a pre-requisite that is very strictly adhered to. All speakers, presenters, attendees... everyone... is a current or former sex worker.
It was... amazing. It's taken me until now to manage to write about the experience on my personal LJ, and as I don't really want to go through all of that again, I'm posting an edited version here.DAY ONE:So the first bit was pretty inevitable: I was late to the airport and nearly missed the plane. I imagine that would not have gone down well with Whore Central, but I do kind of excel at being late to shit. I scuttled on with moments to spare and we flew out of Sydney... and into some pretty dramatic turbulence and shitty weather in Brisbane. Seriously, I have new respect for anyone who performs "goth", "high femme" or any other makeup-heavy identity in that humidity. It's hideous!
First night basically involved making sure people were in the correct rooms and nothing had gone horribly wrong, chattering excitedly with fellow Sydney-arrivals, and trying to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Then it was up and in to the venue to set up and make with the delegating. I do like being able to tell people what to do with a reasonable expectation that they will follow my instructions!
We had a basic orientation and explanation of things like sex-worker-only space, then got into the reports from our Member Organisations about all the things they've been doing over the past year. Some of those stories were amazing and inspiring... there's some damn good work being done by and for sex workers in various chunks of this country, and some of those organisations are doing some incredible shit with very finite resources.
Later in the day, we had a round table discussion on the use of the net and social networking sites as a means of sex worker organisation and activism, which I of course got a little over-excited about. The discussion naturally featured a lot of rather scary sounding warnings on keeping your identity, information and text/image content reasonably safe, but a few of us also emphasised how useful blogging, the net, and online sex worker rights based interactions have been for us. I was asked by quite a few people if they could contact me via email for some further tips and links. I'm looking forward to spreading my favourite reading material and discussion sites to some people who are hoping to overcome their hesitance regarding the internet!
Day one concluded with a really overwhelming presentation by the
Touching Base people on all the phenomenal work they've been doing recently on sexuality and disability. I'm not 100% certain how much of their presentation was expected to remain confidential, so I'll (reluctantly!) stay on the safe side and simply say you should all check out their website. You'll almost certainly be hearing more about what they're achieving and pushing for in the near future.
There was a later session on Sex Worker Control of Sex Worker Organisations, but I sat it out. I had dinner, and a great evening of chats and giggles with an amazing bunch of energised, excited sex workers. Something I've noticed is that, with a few notable and beloved exceptions, those of my friends who are keen on hearing about my work seem to be divided into those who care about the politics and activism but don't want the icky or disturbing details about what I actually do at work, and those more voyeuristic friends who love hearing about the oddities of daily Dungeon life but start glazing over a little when I launch into diatribes about the politics. Being surrounded by such a huge quotient of people who are passionate about the politics and the global sex workers rights movement AND who can swap sex work stories with me about actual clients and actual activities was a really powerful and encouraging experience.
DAY TWOI crawled out of bed at eight AM on day two, which may well be the first time I've ever done so after an evening that involved wine and ranting. We got the hall set up quickly, everyone who showed up was on time, and we launched straight into the first workshop... which unexpectedly turned out to be the one that would produce the over-riding theme to the entire forum. The workshop was entitled Peers in Sex Worker Services: Pros and Cons of peers vs non-peers in various role, and good god it stirred up some emotions. Unsurprisingly (to most of us there, at least) the overwhelming preference of the room full of sex workers was to have sex worker organisations and services staffed entirely by sex workers. The fun happened when the presenter started down a Devil's Advocate path and began to oh-so-innocently enquire why this would be so.
The discussion prompted by that went on for a while, until it was firmly sat on it's ass by someone turning it around and asking why the hell we WOULDN'T staff those orgs with sex workers. The conversation prompted by that query (including a few people being quickly and effectively corrected as to their misconceptions regarding the skills possessed by the "average sex worker") went down a path I found much more satisfying, and the discussion ended on a firm, united note of pro-peer control of sex worker orgs and services by almost everyone present. Woven throughout this discussion was a second thread of dissatisfaction with certain services ostensibly presented as "for sex workers", particularly those driven by those with an anti-sex-work agenda who don't want the involvement of happy, healthy, not-fitting-that-agenda sex workers. Of the entire three days, this was the bit I found myself wishing was public!
Anyway! We carried the invigoration of that session into the next, which was a fun and informal "interactive discussion". Basically, it was a group of sex workers doing what a group of sex workers do best: informal peer education, skill sharing, demonstrations and tricks of the trade. People shared their various safe sex tips (including me demonstrating "glove dam", which I really must put online), workers posed questions and made suggestions. It was, as always, hilarious, informative and immensely valuable.
After we broke for morning tea, we were treated to a presentation on some of the most important work the Whoreganisation has done in the past year.
The National Needs Assessment of Sex Workers Living with HIV (PDF) is the culmination of a year long project driven by HIV positive sex workers in an attempt to update the body of information that currently exists about this dually-marginalised group, and to ultimately inform policy and legislation that affects them. The project officer who steered the needs assessment gave us a presentation on the process and on the report, and as usual got people thinking and discussing something that's a bit of a taboo in both sex worker circles and HIV positive support circles. I cannot even begin to describe how much admiration I have for this man. His passion and his determination to change the motherfucking world is AMAZING... more on that later.
Anyone who's even remotely interested in sex worker rights or sex worker issues in Australia should read that report, incidentally. ;)
After the needs analysis presentation wrapped up, we left the forum hall and headed to the second venue for the National Symposium, which is the segment of the National Forum that's open to the public. Two panels had been put together, one focussing on domestic sex worker issues with an emphasis on those affecting Queensland sex workers, and the other focussing on international sex worker issues and featuring speakers discussing migrant sex workers from Asia and the Pacific as well as a guest speaker from the USA who managed to fit an impressively thorough summary of recent events in the US sex workers rights movement into her ten minute speech! Both panels presented to a mixed audience that contained representatives of everything from HIV/AIDS organisations to the Australian Federal Police.
The evening "social" event was fucking hilarious. We had various attendees put on fantastic performances, ranging from comedy to a particularly sexy bellydance routine. Finally, a lad visiting from San Francisco whom I'd met the previous day stood up to present some monologues. The first was interesting, especially when he began to get his kit off. The second was... familiar. He got about two paragraphs in and it hit me: I'd heard it before. Turns out I'd been reading this lads blog on and off for a few months now. The internet is a TINY place sometimes!
The highlight of the evening was the WOTYs. The "Whore Of The Year" award was started at last year's national forum, and is presented according to a vote carried out in the preceding months. For something supposed to be an exercise in fun and flamboyance, it got quite emotional when the winner was declared to be the aforementioned project officer on the HIV positive sex worker needs analysis. The gaudy trophy and sash suddenly seemed to mean a whole lot more when that guy stood up and received them, along with the riotous applause and appreciation for his work, activism and general awesome-ness. I had to hide behind my wine glass myself to preserve the impression of my generally gruff exterior.
DAY THREEThe AGM was held first thing the next morning. It was naturally the driest part of the forum, and I was quite happy to be sitting on the door, hiding behind my sunglasses and observing. By which I mean trying to ignore my most unprofessional glimmers of hangover and fatigue.
That fortunately cleared up after morning tea, and we went into a workshop on the Whoreganisation's Strategic Plan. This is specifically assessed at the AGM, as it gives our membership their best opportunity to voice the direction they want the Whoreganisation to take in the upcoming years. The announcement that we've met 80% of the goals set in the Strategic Plan three years ago drew impressed applause, and seemed to motivate people into contributing to the following discussion quite enthusiastically.
We broke for lunch, and I have to admit I was pleased to wave goodbye to our caterer for the last time. He was a nice enough fellow, but not so good with the organisational skills. I'd spent precious patience spoons explaining just why it wasn't appropriate for him to show up and cook there, but "sex worker only safe space" seemed to go over his head.
After lunch we had a presentation on sex trafficking and migrant sex work, which has been the really big media issue over the past year. The presentation and discussion was interesting, focussing on visa accessibility, the nature and reality of work contracts, and the impact on migrant sex workers of the Federal sex slavery/trafficking legislation. Having attended the Globali$ed Sex Work forum earlier in the year and worked on several resources and publications on migrant sex work throughout my time with the Whoreganisation, there was little in the actual presentation that I hadn't heard before, but the discussion afterwards raised some interesting issues that weren't so familiar. The differences between the Australian states as migrant sex work destinations was raised, and I found the following discussion fascinating.
The next workshop was one of fun and impracticality: what we want to do for the Whoreganisation's 20th birthday next year! A lot of the suggestions tied into next year's forum, and were duly noted by long-suffering, very ready to stop thinking about the damn forum Me. Amongst the others, however, were the fabulous suggestion of a documentary and some online video content! The National Symposium this year was recorded and webcast this year for the first time, so we have a convenient launching point for any future web broadcasting we choose to do. People were throwing ideas thick and fast at that one, from new worker training and sex work skill sharing to vlogging on relevant issues, to converting some of the stacks and stacks of historical sex worker activist material in our archives and putting it online. I can't wait to see what comes out of that particular suggestion!
Finally, we broke into some small groups with the aim of having a variety of discussions. The skill share group, however, proved to be immensely popular, and slowly absorbed the other groups into it. We ended up having a big new worker training session, aimed at being useful not only to workers relatively new to the industry, but to those sex workers involved in peer education and support roles in sex worker organisations. It was fantastic! We had a couple of people who hadn't really drawn attention to themselves during the previous days feel quite comfortable getting up and demonstrating a useful position, giving a "cheat" tip, or chiming in on a discussion about preferred safe sex methods and products.
The evaluation discussion flew past, and suddenly it was over! People were helping me pack up the hall and networking amongst themselves, then sorting out rides to the airport, and the place was all of a sudden bizarrely empty. I made sure everything was packed up, and that all packages needing to go back to Sydney had been allocated to someone heading in that direction, then grabbed a lift back to the hotel.
Where I promptly fell on a bed and didn't move for a while.
It was a really epic, emotional, inspiring three days. I was blown away by all the shit being achieved on a state and local level by the sex workers around the country who the Whoreganisation advocates for on a national level. The passion with which sex workers argued for peer involvement and control in their organisations (and they are, ultimately, OURS) made a powerful statement of its own, as did the general disgust with which everyone spoke of Sheila Fucking Jeffreys and the various Australian non-peer orgs who seek to make our decisions for us, usually whilst flatly rejecting our input and ignoring the fact that they aren't offering what sex workers want. It made me feel really warm inside to see sex workers from all over the country sharing skills and stories, and listening to reports of stuff going on in this country and abroad that they may not otherwise have heard... and to realise both that I played a big part in getting this happening this year, and that that made me part of an awe-inspiring history of sex worker activism, and work by the Whoreganisation specifically.
Wow! Epic post!
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