Stigmas

PRESS RELEASE
Dylan Wolfe - Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), swank [at] riseup [dot] net
Michael Bottoms - Sex Workers Outreach Project - New York City (SWOP-NYC),
swop.nyc [at] gmail [dot] com
Susan Blake - Prostitutes of New York (PONY), pony [at] panix [dot] com
Desiree Alliance, info [at] DesireeAlliance [dot] org

The Pink Scare: Of Ms. Palfrey and Sex Panic

New York, NY - The activists at Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), Sex
Workers Outreach Project New York (SWOP-NYC), Prostitutes of New York
(PONY) and the nationally-based Desiree Alliance are saddened that Deborah
Jeane Palfrey, also known as the D.C. Madam, passed away on May 1st in an
apparent suicide. We - prostitutes, strippers, pro-dommes, porn stars, sex
experts, and allies - extend our sympathies to all of those hurt by this
most recent chapter of the "Pink Scare," in which oppressive legislation
and social stigma partner to generate hysteria around what, for us, can
prove to be simply a decent way to make a living.

The circumstances surrounding Ms. Palfrey's death suggest that Americans
reconsider the current state and federal policies that govern sex worki, as