Link
October 27, 2011
15 notes
Why are sex workers and their allies occupying Wall Street?

“Occupations are at the heart of sex workers’ rights movements. Think back to the Lyon occupation in France in the1970′s. Taking Times Square last Saturday was a full circle moment, given the history of sex work in Times Square, and the joined forces of corporate and political interests that have displaced sex workers from not just Times Square but any public space. For sex workers, occupying public space is about economics as much as it is free speech.” 

-Melissa Gira Grant, writer and former sex worker

Tags: Lyon Melissa Gira Grant OWS Occupy Wall Street SWOP Sex Workers Outreach Project Times Square economics sex work sex workers sex workers rights NYC New York human rights

Quote
October 12, 2011
6 notes
"The problem is, real people buy sex, and real people sell sex. The numbers on how many people are involved in the sex trade are notoriously hard to gather, or trust, but there is one constant: buyers are not buying people. When politicians, social service providers and celebrity philanthropists insist that sex workers are selling ourselves, they engage in the same kind of dehumanisation that they claim johns do to us. When they claim that men can buy us, they rob us of our power and our choices."

—

Melissa Gira Grant on Alternet: What’s Wrong with Ashton Kutcher’s Campaign Against Sex Work? Plenty.

(via harmreduction)

Tags: sex work Ashton Kutcher trafficking celebrity sex workers prostitution DNA Foundation Melissa Gira Grant Alternet