Sex Worker Pride Day

Rory Rumble -

We all know the red umbrella, right? It’s become a ubiquitous symbol of the sex workers rights movement, but do you know where it came from?

The Prostitutes Pavillion was part art installation, part sex worker pride march. During the Code: Red (September 14th, 2001) event, many sex workers took to the streets of Venice as a part of the 49th Art Biennale (La Biennale d'Arte di Venezia), forming a sea of red umbrellas throughout the city. Led by activist Daniela Mannu and organised by the CDCP (Civil Rights of Prostitutes), the red umbrella was chosen to symbolise our communities' continued resilience in the face of constant and continued discrimination. 

From this point forward the red umbrella has become inseparable from the sex workers rights movement and our continued fight for recognition, our human rights and freedom from discrimination. We must protect ourselves and each other while others will not.

So today, September 14th, we continue to honour this historic moment and acknowledge the continued fight for our rights, some 23 years on. Sex Worker Pride Day joins other historic events among the sex working calendar, like 3rd March (International Sex Worker Rights Day), 17th May (IDAHOBIT), 1st-31st July (Disability Pride Month) 2nd June (International Whores Day) and 17th December (International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers), amongst many others.

We’d like to celebrate this day with you by sharing some of the fantastic sex worker writing already here on the blog, as well as invite you to share your own stories of Doing The Work with us. We’d love to hear from you, our brilliant, funny and talented community!

Navigating Identity and Finding a Home in Domination
As a disabled person having a traditional job can be more than challenging. Being a sex worker/Dominatrix has given me the possibility and access to make accommodations for myself while also being able to make money.
Tryst.link BlogKam
Shutting Down Whorephobia in Your Social Group
The more you learn about sex work, the harder it is to ignore other people who get it wrong. But what do you do when those folks are your friends and acquaintances?
Tryst.link BlogGeorgie Wolf
How to Support our Queer Sex Working Siblings
For queer people and sex workers alike, a huge part of the way we survive and eventually thrive is through access to communities full of people like us who can offer support. Queer sex workers have more trouble than most when it comes to finding spaces where we are welcome.
Tryst.link BlogJack Parker
Interview: Holly Bates and House of Whoreship
House of Whoreship was born out of an earnest, deeply personal ambition to shift the current narratives surrounding on-screen sex worker portrayals.
Tryst.link BlogMia Walsch
Sex Work is Work… and Work is not the Answer
Sex work is what I chose to do for a living, because out of all the jobs accessible to me, it was one that worked for me – but I work out of necessity, not desire.
Tryst.link BlogSunny B
The Importance of Pleasure for Sex Workers
We’re in the business of pleasure; it’s what we do. Our role as sex workers is to create a comfortable, safe, and above all, intimate space for our clients. And whether clients recognise it or not, we’ve started that process long before we’ve met them!
Tryst.link BlogTulsi Tamora
Hoe’s Odes: If You’re a Sex Worker, I Love You
If You’re a Sex Worker, I Love You. If you’re a street walker, a slick talker, a trickster, a harlot, a whore, slut, hooker, prostitute, a straight up charlatan, I love you.
Tryst.link BlogMistress Mei
Wanting to Submit: Kink and Feminist Theory
It’s your right to choose, without being shamed or treated as lesser, than the men in our society. So, if you choose to come to me and submit for a spanking because that’s what you want? That’s your right to choose for yourself!
Tryst.link BlogKitty Obsidian
Fired Up Stilettos Are Still Kicking Up A FUS
The stripper revolution is here! You know shit is getting real when Aoteaora/New Zealand are partaking, and the Wellington based strippers movement Fired Up Stilettos is here to #KickUpaFUS.
Tryst.link BlogVixen Temple
Motherhood, Autonomy, and Selfishness
I am always and forever a mom. My baby uses my body as food and I as mother have sacrificed my body for such a purpose. As a pro-Domme who also plays as a mommy Domme, where breastfeeding clients is common, I think about how I can give myself without it being as intimate as it is with my own child.
Tryst.link BlogHoney de Vil
Sex Workers and the Left: Pass The Mic
Leftists and non profits want sex workers on their boards to be seen not heard, to speak only when spoken to.
Tryst.link BlogMistress Mei
Porn Didn’t Hurt You, Patriarchy Did
What is the issue with partnered men watching porn? Raquel Savage explores porn addiction through a sex work lens.
Tryst.link BlogRaquel Savage
How To Talk About Us (And Not Over Us!)
If I can’t speak on this panel about the way that policing impacts my life and the lives of my sex-working comrades without incriminating myself to people who have the authority to arrest me, I am effectively silenced.
Tryst.link BlogJessie Sage
Whore & Tell: with Tulsi Tamora
“When sex workers out ourselves to a new person, there’s typically a pause. While we wait for the pause to fill – with something, anything – we can be rattling off lists of worst possible scenarios in our heads.”
Tryst.link BlogTulsi Tamora
RuPaul’s Bigotry is a Drag
A noteworthy portion of drag queens are sex workers and trans people, often being both. Drag Race has a history of refusing to allow trans contestants to participate and of whorephobic commentary.
Tryst.link BlogJack Parker
Historic Whores with Old Pros: Carol Leigh a.k.a. The Scarlot Harlot
In 1979 Carol Leigh coined the term “sex work” to push back against prohibitionist feminists who were using the derogatory and disempowering phrase “prostituted women”.
Tryst.link BlogKaytlin Bailey

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