Category: D.C. event

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey attended the 10th annual Woodhull’s Sexual Freedom Summit hosted in Washington, DC. She connected to sex worker rights activists and sexual freedom advocates from all over the country. Attending panels, presentations, and performances, Kaytlin was able to get a broad perspective on the issues plaguing sex workers and their allies in different states.

Kaytlin was especially moved by DC’s Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) and the transgendered women willing to speak to the systemic issues that bar them from fully participating in some advocacy organizations. She connected with criminalized sex workers in Nevada, got to hang out with living legend Carol Leigh, participated in an incredibly informative discussion about using a human rights framework to advocate for sex workers’ health and safety led by Dr. Jill McCracken, and had many conversations about strategy and pushing for a better future for all of us.

Sex workers are not a homogenous group. We come in all colors and creeds, we come to this work for different reasons, and we have wildly different experiences—but allies from across the political spectrum can work together toward a future where our lawmakers listen to sex workers and stop the arrests.

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey and Melissa Broudo attended this year’s Law and Society Association Conference in Washington, D.C. Bailey attended an incredible meeting hosted by National Ugly Mugs, a peer-based group in the United Kingdom that helps sex workers exchange information about dangerous clients, and Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), a peer-based community support organization in Washington, D.C.

Bailey presented an abbreviated history of the criminalization and censorship of sex workers on a panel about the impact of FOSTA and SESTA. Her co-presenters demonstrated the empirical evidence they have collected demonstrating the widespread detrimental impact this law has had on people both in and adjacent to the sex industry.

Broudo spoke on another panel, elaborating on the many interconnected strategies working towards decriminalization. Her co-presenters spoke to the competing frameworks, obstacles, and growing momentum behind the international movement to end the prohibition of prostitution.