Sex workers see red

The fabulous and motley procession, sporting red umbrellas and carrying a wreath, strolled from Café Hernandez down Riley St to nearby Norman St, a gritty laneway in Darlinghurst, to mourn the murder of a sex worker on Christmas Eve 2004.

On the way, one of the group found a brilliant set of scarlet angel’s wings in a rubbish skip and donned them.

It was 17 December, the sixth anniversary of the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers and the event was held by The Scarlet Alliance, the Association of Australian sex workers.

‘Sex workers still need to fight for human and civil rights and combat the discrimination and stigma sex workers still face,’ said Scarlet Alliance president Elena Jeffreys.

‘Many sex workers and workplaces operate in relative fear of discrimination and closure due to illogical approaches by many local councils.

‘The sex industry can and does exist peacefully alongside all other industries and home-based businesses,’ she said.

The group’s red umbrellas, first used during the 2002 Biennale in Venice, are an international symbol of sex workers’ resistance to attacks from the sky and from humans.

Members of the group object to the stereotypical view that sex workers are victims forced into a degrading lifestyle, a view these days also pushed by some feminist campaigners. On the contrary they say, most consciously choose the work and are empowered by it, often enjoying it.

The term ‘sex worker’ is adopted to equate the profession with others and to detangle it from moralistic stereotyping which perpetuates stigma associated with the words ‘prostitute’ or ‘whore’. Workers say they face stigmatisation from elements of society on the one hand while on the other, demand for their services from the same society is booming. They see this as good old-fashioned hypocrisy.

Moreover many describe their work as a social service. A new emerging group, Touching Base, will represent sex workers who bring pleasure to disabled people who otherwise would not experience sex. Their motto is ‘Sex workers and disabled people coming together’.

Another Scarlet campaign deals with the rights of sex workers who are HIV positive, triggered by the arrest and prosecution of one such worker even though no unsafe sex or virus transmission had occurred. The group sees no difference between an HIV-positive person having sex and one who is getting paid for it. There is no known case in Australia of a sex worker transmitting HIV.

More at scarletalliance.org.au