Response to The Daily Telegraph Media Article 22.12.10 reporting in Liberals intent to set up a licensing authority

Feb 082011

Two media articles were published in The Daily Telegraph on the 22.12.10 reporting the liberals will set up a licensing authority when elected in the NSW State Election of 2011. We have put links to the articles below:

http://nothing-about-us-without-us.com/nsw-coalition-vows-to-clean-up-brothels-the-daily-telegraph-22-12-10/

http://nothing-about-us-without-us.com/liberal-brothel-police-to-take-sleaze-out-of-sex-the-daily-telegraph-31-01-11/

Scarlet Alliance put out a media release about this issue and NAUWU in partnership with NAUWU publicly released the submission below. NAUWU recognises Scarlet Alliance and members of NAUWU quick response on such an important issue; we would also like to acknowledge the willingness and ability of NAUWU and Scarlet Alliance to work together as sex workers for sex workers.

Scarlet Alliance Media Release – in response to media articles above

Submission on Sex Industry Regulation in NSW
September, 2010 - NAUWU and Scarlet Alliance joint submission

Scarlet Alliance Website NSW Laws

See You at NAUWU’s December Meeting!

NAUWU, NAUWU and our Peers No Responses » Tagged with: NAUWU, NAUWU meetings, NAUWU Peers, Nothing About Us Without Us, NSW

Dec 102010

NAUWU General Meeting FREE AND SEX WORKER ONLY
This is a no-media and no-general-public sex worker only space.

The next NAUWU meeting will be held on Tuesday 14th December from 5pm

Please contact NAUWU at:

nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com

if you would like to attend so we can give you the address of where the meeting will be held. We don’t publish our meeting venue because sex worker discretion is important to us.

We can also make SKYPE and phone hook ups available if you live out of Sydney or find it hard to physically get to a meeting.

You can see the dates of when our next few meetings will be held on our meetings page we can be found here:

NAUWU Meetings

Note: NAUWU makes every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website. Before relying on the information on this site, however, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. NAUWU cannot guarantee and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information.

Disclaimer: Images used on this site have been used with the permission of all parties pictured. If you happen to find an image of yourself and do not wish for it to appear on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com , please let the webperson of this site know by contacting nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com .

Contributions on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com have been made by NSW sex workers and other concerned parties of the NSW sex industry; site design and maintenance by nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com ; Copyright Nothing About Us Without Us 2009 – 2011

Challenging SILK & the Sex Workers Handbook – Male Edition

ACON/SWOP Campaigns, Campaigns No Responses » Tagged with: campaigns, NAUWU, Nothing About Us Without Us, NSW, SWOP/ACON

Dec 032010

Challenging SILK & the Sex Workers Handbook – Male Edition

Sex workers are challenging the accuracy of information about the laws in the recently released SILK resource (Sex Industry and the Law) and the way the information is presented. We certainly challenge the attitudes towards anal sex expressed in the Sex Workers Handbook – Male Edition and we also note that the poor referencing of approximately 15% of it’s content coming from outdated online information for Canadian male sex workers - surely this verges into plagiarism? __

Workers Hand Book – Male Edition
The following feedback was received from sex workers on the 30th November 2010, the day SWOP launched the resource:

“As a few people noted at the Scarlet Alliance National Forum last week, the new and long awaited Male Handbook from SWOP contains the rather strange advice on p29 that male workers should “Try to negotiate out of anal sex, if possible”. .. In the context of protected sex it should have no relevance.

Also advice is copied directly from a Hook Resource available at www.hookonline.org/downloads/MALEESCORTHANDBOOK.pdf

SWOP acknowledges on the inside front cover that “‘Some handy hints” in this resource are based on a publication by Hook Online.” About 15% of the information contained in the SWOP publication is verbatim from Hook Online. Hook is not an Australian resource and is definitely not a current resource.” Male worker

“My feeling is the original idea of avoiding anal sex might have been based on the same thing we’d say to any sex worker…. minimise wear and tear on the condom and your body by reducing the time you spend doing penetrative sex…. so spend ages doing hot body contact massage, etc so the client doesn’t take forever to come later…. reduces risk of condom breakage, and you getting too tired during busy shift at work (also use lots of lube) however, without the message being framed within that context, it sounds really strange, sex negative and possibly homophobic, and totally ignores potential impact on sex workers’ earnings by making that kind of suggestion. And I wonder how much of those kinds of problems with the resource is about stealing text rather than doing the hard work of concept development and community consultation to hear about what local male sex workers info needs are. *sigh*” Serena

_
“ACON Board and members of the faceless SWOP ‘Advisory Committee’ are surely ultimately responsible for ACON/SWOP publications and the statements within them? Releasing badly flawed resources is no way to try and rebuild the demolished bridges to the sex worker community – ACON/SWOP fuck up yet again and it is such a shame because SWOP used to be respected in the community once. Sex workers obviously need to govern SWOP for themselves; and they sure couldn’t do any worse than ACON.” Debbie Did-I-Really

Sex Industry Legal Kit
The following feedback was received from sex workers on the 30th November 2010, the day SWOP launched the resource:

I truly believe that many of our peers are simply not well informed or even mis-informed about the impact of the law and even today, many peers that I have spoken with are totally confused about the different laws around Australia. Overall, our local org’s have not been effective with getting this information across and it’s also very disappointing to hear that SILK is not helping in this. If our own local org’s cannot provide us with the correct information on the laws of that State or Territory through peer education, are moving away from employing peers and placing peers in decision-making roles within sex worker organisations, and simply won’t listen to our expertise then it’s understandable why so many sex workers remain confused, particularly when they work and travel throughout Australia. It just all really pisses me off and concerns me at the same time.” Khyiah

“Not only are there inaccuracies (in the legal kit) which makes it confusing, it speaks at us and about us in ways that are offensive with information and in a language we could easily get ourselves from dropping into any legal aid centre – sex worker voices again stymied”. Darlo Debby

“ACON is incapable and flatly refuses to respond to the bad media coverage its sex work client base has been experiencing daily and will continue to leading up to the election. Similarly it’s incapable of putting out a decent resource as evidenced by their ridiculous attempt at a male resource and legal resource. If they can’t do anything right, they should employ sex workers who can, or give the money to Scarlet Alliance who ALWAYS do amazing work and have the full support of the peer community.“ GF

“The SILK legal resource is an absolute disgrace. ACON has a team of lawyers who will not represent me when I follow the inaccurate legal advice set out in this ACON resource and get myself arrested. What use is ACON? Well they’re useful if you’re their client and want to get arrested!” Angela

Combined Response for both SILK and The Workers Handbook – Male edition
“Feedback such as from those attached to “Nothing About Us Without Us” is an important part of the discussion about the usefulness of distributing information hat is not 100% written and controlled by sex workers. I recognise that the concepts of the resources are a result of years of work by sex workers, notably including Kenn Robinson and Maria McMahon, two tireless and inspiration previous SWOP staff.

Unfortunately in the last section of the process sex workers did not have control, and the outcome is that crucial parts of both the SILK legal kit and the Mens Handbook will confuse, stigmatise and possible dis-engage sex workers from the messages the resources intended to deliver (and in some stand alone sections does).

When looked at in totality, the negatives of the sections of dodgy content in the resources overide the potential positives of having new information available to sex workers. It is incredibly disappointing because of the thousands of hours, years of work, funding and investment that sex workers, SWOP, ACON and the funding bodies put into getting the resources finished and available online and in hardcopy.

The resources can be seen here:

http://www.swop.org.au/download-resources

Regarding the Male Handbook, I too don’t support the “avoid anal-sex” content of the resource. I believe that in our anal-phobic society it doesn’t help to reinforce moral judgements about stigmatised sex acts being harmful to individuals who engage in them. And I don’t agree that less anal sex = less risk. In a sex setting ANYTHING can become increased risk if done incorrectly, but by engaging in anal sex that is negotiated and done well, the risk is NOT increased. I agree with the technical argument of “wear and tear” but if we are going fight anal-phobia, queer-phobia, whorephobia, then we have to be particularly careful with the way we write work resources, and in this case present “Facts” about who is at risk of HIV and who is not.

It is NOT the case that having MORE anal sex puts you at MORE risk.
Its actually the opposite,,,

If you are not having much anal sex and you are not confident/experienced at it, you are MORE likely to put yourself at risk for not really knowing how to use condoms when you need to.

A person who is skilled, able to negotiate, confident in condom use, (skills you would get from being experienced at anal sex, doing it more than a person who is not experienced) then you are at lower risk because you know what the hell you are doing to protect yourself.

Without this kind of disclaimer statements like avoiding anal sex = lower risk unfortunately stigmatises potential resource readers who DO do anal sex and who DON”T avoid it.

After interrogating what is bad about the new resources, I would like to reflect on something good.

It was important that the funded state based sex worker organisation has managed to launch a new website after what has been years of inaction and mis-management. The SWOP staff of swop must recognised for all their hard work in delivering services to sex workers WITHOUT a functioning website for YEARS. The sex workers (past and present) in that organisation are congratulated for the peer education that they deliver day and night in the contacts they have with sex workers.

And sex workers all over NSW were should be rightly recognised for the long term contribution they have made to their state based sex workers organisation

The best current resource on the SWOP website is the street sex work and the law booklet.

http://www.swop.org.au/sites/default/files/SWOP-Street-Sex-Work-Law.pdf

Many many sex workers were involved in community development to write this document and it is really fabulous – they were not involved in the picture design however which resulted in a lost opportunity for graphics that could have enhanced the text. The booklet looked at the law from a sex worker point of view – and reads very differently to the SILK handbook. Queer ‘Bromeliad Bites’ RT Choke

What can you do?
When a resource is funded (like SILK, The Workers Handbook – Male Edition and the SWOP website), part of the funding agreement almost always contains a condition that an evaluation is done. This is to make sure that the right information is getting to the right target group, so your feedback is really important and is what puts pressure on SWOP/ACON to develop resources in a responsible, meaningful way.

NSW sex workers call upon SWOP/ACON to develop peer resources; this means they should be supporting NSW sex workers to make resources for NSW sex workers. They shouldn’t be written by lawyers or other non sex workers; they shouldn’t take material written by NSW sex workers, cut it up and change the langauge, tone and content of the material so it is unrecognisable as a peer resource; and certainly the information in them shouldn’t be taken from overseas websites.

To help NAUWU give ACON/SWOP this message, please send us an email nothing-about-us-without-us@gmail.comwith your comment/feedback/evaluation or place it in the comments section of this page. Your comment doesn’t have to be very long, it can be just a few sentences if you don’t want to write anything more detailed. Alternatively you can give Lance (Manager) at SWOP a call on 02 9319 4866 and let him know what you think of SWOPs resources.

It would be really helpful if you were able to supply NAUWU with your feedback because it means it is recorded and won’t get lost or forgotten if directly reported to SWOP/ACON.

Without constant pressure being put on SWOP/ACON, unless they hear our voice, resources and the other services they are suppose to be supporting NSW sex workers with, will continue to be done the wrong way. We need your help!

Disclaimer: Images used on this site have been used with the permission of all parties pictured. If you happen to find an image of yourself and do not wish for it to appear on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.complease let the webperson of this site know by contacting nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com .

contributions on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com have been made by NSW Sex Workers and other concerned parties of NSW Sex Industry; site design and maintenance by nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com ; Copyright Nothing About Us Without Us 2009 – 2011

NAUWU at the National Forum 2010

NAUWU, NAUWU and our Peers No Responses » Tagged with: NAUWU Peers, Nothing About Us Without Us, Scarlet Alliance

Nov 232010

The National Forum was BRILLIANT!

Many NAUWU members attended the National Forum at the end of November 2010 in Sydney. NAUWU was given time to speak to everyone about why we decided to form NAUWU, what we do and how people can get involved.

To help us do this and get the word out on the current issues sex workers are facing, we developed posters, business cards and information sheets to hand out to sex workers at the forum. Members of NAUWU came together on the email list, bounced around some ideas and developed the following materials….

National-Forum-Info Sheet_print pdf

Here are our new posters…

NAUWU posters_printable pdf

and here are our new business cards

Side 1

Side 2

Quotes from NAUWU members go here…

“I was really suprised to find that many people at the National Forum had already heard about NAUWU and were already members! I learnt a lot of stuff about how to respond to media and lobbying skills which really helps with the things we are doing at NAUWU. I don’t always understand the media and lobbying aspects of what NAUWU does, but since attending the forum, I understand why the lobbyists associated with the group do things the way they do. For example, they never tell people to f*** off like I would, they quote statistics and research and other official material. Being able to do media and lobbying is an even more important skill than I initially thought and something best learnt by watching experts at work. In fact there is no other way to learn lobbying and media work really. I’ve been looking for someone who can teach these skills for over 10 years and besides the work shops Scarlet Alliance is sometimes able to put on, there’ss just NO-ONE to teach you.I felt extra lucky and extra clever that I had the sense to be working with NAUWU because it will be possible to develop these skills. Now in any straight job I get, or any shitty boss I have in the sex industry, I’ll know exactly how to deal with them because I’ll learn how to play like a lobbyist. I also realised how lucky we are at NAUWU to have not one or two lobbyists, we have MANY professional lobbyists with amazing skills. Makes me feel smug really because I honestly believe we can make happen what NSW sex workers need.

I can’t tell you how amazing it was to spend time with like minded sex workers. I thought it was going to be full of militant sex workers, but everyone was … well just like me really. It made me realise how much I miss hanging out with my own people because I’m always locked away in my unit waiting for the next job to come in. I do my best not to get involved with anyone elses business and be invisible as much as I can. Now I think maybe I don’t have to be like that … well not all of the time anyway lol.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to facilitate a workshop and I incorporated information on NAUWU into it. The workshop gave us all an opportunity to talk about what sex workers needed. It helped me, other NAUWU members in consultation with our peers, to come up with quite a few ideas of things NAUWU could be doing that I’ll take to the next NAUWU meeting.

Thanks to Scarlet Alliance for putting on the National Forum and for giving activist groups like NAUWU the opportunity to present information and let people know who we are. I also LOVED hearing from the other sex worker organising groups doing things in NSW and other States. It really was unbelievable – I absolutely loved it!” Angela Anachonda

2009 International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Campaigns, Protests No Responses » Tagged with: campaigns, Janelle Fawks, Media Release, NAUWU, Nothing About Us Without Us, NSW, Protest

Nov 162010

Flyer and Advert Inviting Workers to Attend
We placed this information on online Australian forums, sent it around via email and Facebook, and we asked some services to hand out the info in flyers we made. We wanted as many people to know as possible we would be coming together to mark the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and to raise the awareness of issues sex workers face when it comes to Violence and discrimmination.

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers 2009_printable pdf

Solidarity Event in association with hundreds of other actions across the world!

Meet at 10.45am next Thursday, Dec 17th, at front of Downing Centre (court), 143-147 Liverpool Street, Sydney, wearing red.

Sex workers and supporters welcome.

THIS EVENT WILL INCLUDE A MINUTES NOISE FOR SEX WORKER RIGHTS

Sex workers face all kinds of violence; sexism, transphobia and racism, especially as a result of criminalisation. In NSW sex work is decriminalised. Many sex worker communities around the world are commemorating Dec 17th, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Violence against sex workers comes from the laws, from persecution for our work, and from a society that sees sex workers as the “natural” victims of violence for these other systemic oppressions. This discrimination has been blatant in a recent court case in NSW, sex workers and supporters will protest this next Thursday. Please come along.

ASSAULT IS AGAINST THE LAW – VIOLENCE AGAINST SEX WORKERS IS ILLEGAL.

We’ll be protesting the discrimination apparent in the recent NSW court case. The accused was charged with assault with intent to have sexual intercourse and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. They admitted to using a “lock down manoeuvre” to pin the woman to the bed and putting a hand across the victims mouth, but was still found “not guilty.” This is an injustice and is discriminatory against sex workers – Would it be acceptable if this happened to a worker in hospitality or other industries? This is not justice.

The protest outside Downing Centre will be followed by lunch on Oxford Street. Sex workers and supporters welcome. Come and protest for sex worker rights, spread the message. See you on Thursday!

To see news articles of the court case that we are protesting on International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, please see the links below:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/14/2390124.htm
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/us-sailor-not-guilty-of-rape-in-sydney-20091123-iu5o.html

To see what sex workers all over the world are doing to mark International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers 2009, please check the SWOPUSA link below:
http://www.swopusa.org

Press Release
This is the media release that was sent letting the media know where we’d be so we’d get coverage for the event. Thank you to Scarlet Alliance for partnering us and being the spokes people for the day and helping with the media release

MEDIA RELEASE Internationl Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers_printable pdf

******* MEDIA RELEASE, 17 DECEMBER, 2009**********

SEX WORKER OUTCRY OVER COURT NOT GUILTY DECISION

Sydney sex workers make one minute’s noise outside Downing Centre Courts to protest recent “not guilty” verdict in assault case on the 7th International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, Dec 17 2009.[i]

DATE: Thursday, 17 December 2009
TIME: 11am
PLACE: Downing Centre (court), 143-147 Liverpool Street, Sydney
SPOKESPERSON:Janelle Fawkes, CEO, Scarlet Alliance Sex Workers Association 0411 985 135

There is outcry today from Australian sex workers after the accused attacker walked free from a recent New South Wales case. The accused admitted to using a “lock-down manoeuvre” to pin the woman, a sex worker, down to the bed when she said she wanted to stop. The evidence included the accused admitting to placing a hand over her mouth to silence her when she refused to give his money back when the booking time was up.[ii]

“On December 17, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers[iii], sex workers are calling for justice outside the NSW courts. The outrage is a result of this case and the systemic inequity experienced by sex workers at the hands of police and the courts throughout Australia.” said Janelle Fawkes, CEO.

The International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers is inspiring many events including in Sydney, Northern Territory, Melbourne,[iv] and the world.

“There are systemic discrimination problems in Australia, said Janelle Fawkes, CEO, Scarlet Alliance.“There is no incentive for sex workers to report crime, particularly in states and territories where sex work is criminalised, as complaints to police are not being followed up or taken seriously. When sex workers do report crimes the cases are not treated fairly by the courts and rarely result in a guilty charge.”

Nina Funnell of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre said today: “there is still a pervasive cultural belief that- because of their profession- it is acceptable to afford sex workers less human rights than everyone else. This is absolutely disgraceful and to fix this problem we need fair treatment in the courts for all sex workers as well as massive attitudinal change”

“Whilst sex work is not inherently dangerous, policies and laws in place in Australia put sex workers in dangerous environments.[v] This combined with the unacceptably high levels of stigma and discrimination against sex workers results in systemic social exclusion and a lack of access to justice.” said Janelle Fawkes, Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association.

For media comment call:

Janelle Fawkes, Scarlet Alliance Sex Workers Assoc, 0411 985 135

Nina Funnell, NSW Rape Crisis Centre, 0438 479 831

——————————————————————————–

[i]http://www.anniesprinkle.org/html/writings/dtevasw.html

[ii]http://www.smh.com.au/world/sailor-says-he-put-sex-worker-in-lock-down-20091119-int7.html

[iii]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_to_End_Violence_Against_Sex_Workers

[iv]http://www.scarletalliance.org.au/events

[v]Queensland laws prevent private sex workers from working in pairs. Western Australian street based sex work criminal laws have resulted in sex workers changing work practices to avoid police detection. Rather than the historic practice of talking through the car window to assess the client and negotiate price and agreed service sex workers now jump straight into any vehicle that stops (to avoid police detection) and then must negotiate in a moving vehicle.

http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com

http://www.sexworkeurope.org/

http://www.swopusa.org

Media Coverage on the Day
We had great success with the media on the day with articles in News Papers as well as a video on the Front Page of the Sydney Morning Herald. The images were strong and our speakers did an expert job.

Pictures from the day…
Here are some pictures we took while making noise standing out the front of Downing Centre Court in Sydney. One of the reasons we wear red is so we stand out loud and proud for when those photo opportunities happen – I think you’ll agree the images make a big impact!

Disclaimer: Images used on this site have been used with the permission of all parties pictured. If you happen to find an image of yourself and do not wish for it to appear on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com please let the webperson of this site know by contacting nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com .

Sex Workers are the Experts NAUWU Protest November 2009

Campaigns, Protests No Responses » Tagged with: Media Release, NAUWU, Nothing About Us Without Us, NSW, Scarlet Alliance

Nov 162010

A protest was organised by NAUWU for November 2009 to highlight the fact that Sex Workers are the Experts and must be consulted on all issues that affects us and the sex industry. We aimed to highlight that we have had 13 successful years of decriminalised sex work in NSW and that decriminalisation has created equitable Occupational Health and Safety standards, the best health outcomes for sex workers and the general public, increased access to human rights and justice, and allows police to work on protection, rather than prosecution, of sex workers.

Please follow our journey below from the beginning to the end including:

•the flyer we created inviting other workers to come along and join us
•the press release we gave to the media
•the Degrees we presented (and tried to present)
•some pictures from the day

It really was a special day for all of us and as one protestor who walked with us said…

Really enjoyed yesterday – it was a visual symphony!!!

Flyer inviting sex workers to attend

NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US PUBLIC FLYER NOV 09

Press Release

Press Release Protest November 2009_pdf printable

*** media alert for immediate use ***

Sex workers are the experts

NSW Decriminalisation Best, Victorian Licensing Worst

When: 12noon Friday 13th November

Where: The Domain, Sydney CBD

What: Sex Workers Graduation Ceremony

Following the ceremony Sex Work Class of 2009 will parade to the Planning Ministers’ office to award Minister Kristina Keneally an honourary degree in “Decriminalisation of Sex Work.”

Sex workers, supporters and Government endorse the success of 13 years of decriminalised sex work in NSW.

Decriminalisation has created equitable Occupational Health and Safety standards, the best health outcomes for sex workers and the general public, increased access to human rights and justice, and allows
police to work on protection, rather than prosecution, of sex workers.

The sex workers of NSW will present Minister Keneally an Honorary Degree for in Decriminalisation of sex work!

Media statements:
Janelle Fawkes, Scarlet Alliance: “Recent events make it clear that the NSW Government is suffering from corporate memory loss on this issue and is being badly advised. The decriminalised model of sex
industry regulation is a highly successful and appropriate model for NSW. However, the failure of local government councilors to do their part in this model has created problems. The NSW Government is today celebrated for continuing to support this model. Councilors wanting to shirk their responsibility to practice equal consideration of development applications are not a good reason to change a model of
regulation that has been highly effective in providing strong Occupational Health and Safety outcomes for sex workers.”

Saul Isbister, NSW Sex Worker: Decriminalisation of sex work is the best model for sex worker health and safety, sex worker human rights and public health. NSW celebrates a history that recognises sex work
as a legitimate work, and sex workers as the experts! We call upon Minister Keneally to endorse the decriminalisation model for sex work.”

Dr Lynda Dayan, Sexual Health Physician, Sydney: “Christina Keneally should take heed of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon who urges: “We can remove punitive laws, policies, practices, stigma and discrimination that block effective responses to AIDS.” Decriminalisation is the best approach to support both the human rights and health of sex workers.”

Dr Christine Harcourt, Researcher, Sydney: “Extensive research over more than 20 years in NSW has shown that decriminalisation together with other health and sex worker community support measures have resulted in excellent sexual health outcomes for sex workers and improved access by community outreach and support agencies.
Decriminalisation is the best approach to advance the human rights of sex workers and improve occupational health and safety in the sex industry. International and Australian research has shown that where sex work is regulated by licensing many sex workers are left out of the system, become relatively inaccessible by outreach and health workers because of their ‘non-licensed’ status and consequently suffer
worse health and welfare outcomes than those in the system. By contrast decriminalisation potentially provides a level playing field for all sex workers to improve their conditions.”

Melanie Robinson, Sex Workers Union: “Workplace conditions are best improved by strengthening workers ability to address O H & S issues through industrial processes – not by licensing or by giving brothel owners more power over sex workers. Sex workers have maintained good work conditions in NSW because of decriminalisation, which allows us a range of workplaces to choose from, whether it is brothel work, private work, escort work, street based work or internet sex work.”

Media Contacts:

media.nauwu@gmail.com

NAUWU Master Degree
Handed out to sex workers on the march to each other. Aimed to remind everyone sex workers are the experts and must be consulted.

NAUWU Honorary Masters Degree
We wanted to award it to the Planning Minister, Minister Kristina Keneally to remind her Sex Workers are the Experts and her role as a Minister re: advocacy, law reform and recognising sex workers rights.

Pictures from the Day
Includes pictures of protestor’s in the domain, walking to Minister Kristina Keneally’s Office, awarding and reading out Masters and Honorary Masters in Sex Work out the front of the Planning Office.

Acknowledging people who helped out
We just want to acknowledge the people who contributed to the event whether they made it there in the flesh or not. There were many people behind the scenes who did things like:

•make the Masters Certificates
•sourced the material and sewing the red gowns
•acted as media coordinators
•registered email addresses
•put the press release together
•handed out flyers to sex workers at sex worker events
•lobbied within agencies to allow NAUWU to be allowed to hand out flyers at events
•met with the media and Ministers at Parliament to let them know about the event and our message prior to the event
•attended the NAUWU meetings to help brain storm and plan the event
•contributed funding to buy resources we needed for the event (both individual sex workers and agencies)

… there were lot’s of people helping before, during and after the event. Thank you to everyone who made the protest possible

Disclaimer: Images used on this site have been used with the permission of all parties pictured. If you happen to find an image of yourself and do not wish for it to appear on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com please let the webperson of this site know by contacting nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com .

NAUWU Submission Response to Council Compliance Flowchart 18th December 2009

Campaigns, NSW Government Campaigns No Responses » Tagged with: campaigns, NAUWU, Nothing About Us Without Us, NSW

Nov 162010

In NSW the Government has been asked by the Independent Commission Against Corruption to consider improved prevention of corruption among council compliance officers in relation to sex work. Our group has drafted some suggestions of our own for the Government to consider on this issue, read below:

submission response council compliance flowchart

_
Note: NAUWU makes every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website. Before relying on the information on this site, however, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. NAUWU cannot guarantee and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information.

Disclaimer: Images used on this site have been used with the permission of all parties pictured. If you happen to find an image of yourself and do not wish for it to appear on http://www.nothing-about-us-without-us.com please let the webperson of this site know by contacting nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com .

Welcome to Nothing About Us Without Us for the Sex Industry!

NAUWU No Responses » Tagged with: Home, NAUWU, Nothing About Us Without Us

Oct 282010

Be wise, decriminalise!

The NSW sex industry is currently “decriminalised” which means the sex industry is regarded in the same way as any other business. There are no special laws to regulate the industry as there are in States such as Victoria where the industry is “legalised”. The basis for decriminalisation is equality (1)! In NSW at the moment the sex industry is facing the very real threat of becoming legalised with the threat of stringent regulation being put in place.

NSW sex workers are not taking this threat lightly and we are thrilled to see that the NSW sex industry has allies beyond the sex working community. Many people are writing letters of support to politicians including the latest one we have received from Glyde Health. To see their letter and other letters of support, to find out what you can do and ask others to do, to read more about legalisation versus decriminalisation please check this page….

Be wise decriminalise!

(1) Wotton, Rachel (2006) Getting on Top of Decriminalisation for the NSW Sex Industry, Presentation by Rachel Wotton, International Spokesperson, Scarlet Alliance, The Australian Sex Worker Association

WELCOME to the online home of NAUWU!

This campaign website was initiated by a dedicated group of New South Wales (NSW) sex workers in October 2009.

Our campaign is designed to address the emerging issues related to the NSW sex industry, especially the lack of consultation at all levels of government, with sex workers and peer sex worker organisations.

Sex workers must be consulted and be included in EVERY meeting, panel, taskforce and roundtable that is formed to discuss the sex industry. No implementation policy, procedure, legal reform or directive should occur without detailed and in depth consultation with sex workers at all stages.

Things are changing without sex workers being involved

Things are changing without sex workers knowing what’s happening

Sex workers are the experts on sex work so must be consulted

Sex workers must not be left in the dark….

NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US!

NOTE: the term Nothing About Us Without Us has been utlisied around the world in numerous forums, community groups, campaigns, organisations and movements. This includes such sectors as: the disability rights movement (1, 2, 3), youth-led health promotion initiatives (4), mental health (5), drug users (6, 7), sex workers (8, 9, 10), The Institute for Inclusive Security (which includes The Women Waging Peace Network) (11), and even Anglicare Tasmania (12)

The rationale for using this common mantra is the need for INCLUSIVENESS.

As the definition held within Wikipedia states “Nothing About Us Without Us! is… used to communicate the idea that no policy should be decided by an essay writers from writing services; representative without the full and direct participation of members of the group(s) affected by that policy. This involves ethic, ability-based or other groups that are often thought to be marginalised from political, social and economic opportunities” (13).

(1) http://www.hrc.co.nz/home/hrc/newsandissues/internationalhumanrightstreatycomesintobeing.php

(2) http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/iddp2004.htm

(3) http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20090517/NEWS/905179985/1055/rss

(4) http://www.ohpe.ca/node/3994

(5) http://www.m-power.org/

(6) http://www.champnetwork.org/media/sp07No.5.pdf

(7) http://www.aidslaw.ca/publications/publicationsdocEN.php?ref=85

(8) http://www.scarletalliance.org.au/library/ihra_08/

(9) http://swannet.org/en/node/954

(10) http://stepscentre-thecrossing.blogspot.com/2008/08/international-aids-conference-mexico.html

(11) http://www.huntalternatives.org/pages/82_women_waging_peace_network.cfm

(12) http://www.anglicare-tas.org.au/