arrest
Often when a sex worker gets arrested, s/he loses contact with his/her friends and support network. This is often because of the misguided notion that if one person is in trouble, hisThis is simply not true when dealing with state-level misdemeanors. This is part of our Know Your Rights Workshops that SWOP-Chicago puts on both locally, and nationwide. Please read through the Don't Panic Plan document, and then Fill out the Emergency Response Worksheet. Both are PDF files, you may need a PDF reader which you can get here.
Know Your Rights Pamphlet Emergency Response Worksheet
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
My dad use to veto my thoughts and feelings with these words: “I make the money around here and when you start supporting this family you can have a say in how things are run. Until then, keep your mouth shut and do what you are told.”
As a teenager, I often dreamed about making money so I could have an opinion.
I got married in my early 30’s and my income rose dramatically from a level which barely kept the lights on to a very healthy six figure income. It wasn’t my job that changed. I had been an escort for a couple years before I got married. But once I said “I do,” I did do my best to be a financial knight in shining armor. Whatever my husband and stepchildren wanted or needed, I went out of my way to make the money to purchase it. It felt like a self-sacrificing role but of course it was more of a manipulative maneuver given my training around money and power.
