Sex Workers To Gather In West Village To Demand Decriminalization

WEST VILLAGE, NY – Sex workers and their supporters are planning to rally in the West Village this weekend in a campaign to decriminalize their work.

The gathering, organized by a sex workers' collective called Survivors Against SESTA, will mark International Whores' Day and will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Christopher Park, across from the Stonewall Inn.

Organizers and participants will demand the removal of FOSTA/SESTA laws, which criminalize online platforms that organize sex work. They are also asking for an end to random raids of massage parlors and strip clubs, as well as “John Stings” raids, where police pose as prostitutes to ultimately arrest the clients they coerce.

The activists said that they do not stand for sex trafficking, which is forced sexual labor that they believe should remain illegal. They differentiate that consenting sex work is and always has been a valid occupation, using the slogan “sex work is work,” and that their efforts are in no way associated with non consensual global sex trafficking, child sex labor, or sex slavery.

But opponents to decriminalization argue that it would do more harm than good. Devon Rittler, editor of the University of Iowa Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, writes that it would only benefit those who engage in the industry purely by choice. He says it would diminish the wellbeing of those who are forced or threatened into sex work by further empowering their managers.

Activists in favor of sex work decriminalization also emphasize that legal workers would benefit from the right to unionize, secure benefits and protections and standardize safe sex practices with their clients.

The movement to decriminalize sex work is not new, nor is the International Whores’ Day itself. The first IWD was in 1975 when sex workers occupied Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France to protest police harassment and request the re-opening of hotels that they operated from. Since then, countries including New Zealand and Germany have legalized the industry.

In order to maximize turnout and inclusivity, organizers have offered to pay for attendee’s metro cards and have told participants they may wear disguises in order to avoid revealing their true identity to press and police. They have also encouraged participants to bring a red umbrella, a historical symbol that sex workers used to identify themselves to potential clients. Organizers said they have not applied for an official permit for the event.

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