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San Franciso Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival-May 18-26
Since 1999 the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival has provided a forum for sex worker film and video makers to screen works about sex workers and sex work, businesses, industries and trades around the world. The Festival has expanded to become a vibrant venue for performances, workshops, visual arts, political organizing, skills sharing and ever expanding events. The Sex Worker Festival recognizes and honors prostitutes, dancers, porn performers and other sex workers from diverse communities, who have been dynamic and integral members of arts communities since time immemorial.
Performance and Parties
TheWhoreCast LIVE! Siouxsie Q brings sex worker stories, art, and voices this time LIVE and in person to kick off the Fest at the Center for Sex & Culture featuring Cinnamon Maxxine, James Darling and Courtney Trouble.The WhoreCast Trivia game and lots of surprises in this interactive live show.
Back by popular demand, San Francisco's "Musical Comedy Cabaret Porn Star" and award-winning lyricist Tom Orr presents Love For $ale redux, "Hooker with a Heart of Gold" featuring music, burlesque, and performance art via hooker showtunes in this a benefit for the St. James Infirmary, the sex worker occupational health clinic in San Francisco.
Performance curator and international multi-media artist Mariko Passion brings her "Whorrific Popcorn Theater Bus and Cabaret," as storytellers and performers including Ckiara Rose, Scarlot Harlot and Femme 6 take riders on a magical adventure with a Happy Ending!
The 2013 Sex Worker Fest welcomes Amber Dawn (author of Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa) launching her new work "How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustlers Memoir" on Thursday, May 23rd at "Oral Sarvices," an evening of spoken word with Brontez Purnell, Juba Kalamka, Rhiannon Argo, Ckiara Rose, Lola Sunshine, Jacques La Femme, editors of Dear Dawn: Aileen Wuornos in Her Own Words and participants from an MNRC workshop w/ POOR Magazine.
Special Events
The Sex Worker Festival again presents "Whores Bath," a spa and magical healing event for sex workers in San Francisco, "reclaiming our roles as healers." "Whores Bath," was created by Festival co-producer, Erica Fabulous, who also launched "Roaming Hookerfest" "Privilege, Opression and Intersextionality" workshops and much more. Her long-time collaborations with San Francisco's diverse queer/trans/sex worker underground has inspired yearly sex worker performance extravaganzas. "Whores Bath" contributes to the 21st century lexicon with a new entry in the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whores%20bath)
Workshops
In 2013 the Festival launches a 4 day series of workshops, "Privilege, Oppression, and InterseXionality," for sex workers and allies in conjunction with Rhizome Consulting Project. Join us for this transformative, heart and mind opening workshop series as we deepen our awareness of class/race/gender and how they overlap and intersect.
Amber Dawn will be among those offering workshops on Friday on May 24th at the Center for Sex & Culture. Amber Dawn's workshop"Tough Language and Tender Wisdoms" is "sex workers only" but most including Mariko Passion, The Incredible Edible Akynos, Charlie Fredericks "Housing Justice & Sex Work" and more are open to all. Please check the schedule TBA re: admission for each workshop.
The Festival is proud to welcome activist and artist Emi Koyama. Focusing on the carceral state, Koyama's recent zine, "State Violence, Sex Trade, and the Failure of Anti-Trafficking Policies," is based on extensive research, documenting of false premises within the U.S. domestic anti-sex trafficking movement and the alignment with the fundamentalist Christian right. The evening also includes a selection of video clips from "Collateral Damage: Sex Workers and the Anti-Trafficking Campaigns," "Normal- Real Stories from The Sex Industry" and more.
Screenings
Films and videos for the Festival focus on sex workers lives and rights; diverse voices including youth, sex workers of color, migrant sex workers; sex worker right organizations around the world; impact of trafficking policy and discourse on sex workers; new work from Asia Pacific Network of Sex Worker; sex work as a labor issue on the international agenda; sex workers as artists; queer and trans sex workers; sex worker saints, heros and sheros; sex work and gender identities; sex education, sex art, porn, fetish culture and erotica; portraits of strippers, prostitutes, doms, and madams, and much more.
The 2013 films show news turn in 'sex worker sinema.' Influenced by the contemporary genre of gritty and intensley personal reality shows, "Lot Lizard" and "American Courtesans" represent the best examples of self-revelation. In "Lot Lizard" (aka truck stop sex workers) hitchhiker, now filmmaker, Alexander Perlman presents intimate and unusually respectful portraits that invokves a broader story about how America deals with its outcasts. In "American Courtesans," long time escort and filmmaker Kristen DiAngelo courageously wrestles with taboo revelations about sex workers, violence and stigma. Remarkably candid and sometimes self-critical, the women in this movie invite the viewers into the circles of a suportive sisterhood to share in their trauma, catharsis and ultimately their empowerment. Scarlet Road documents the specialized work of Rachel Wotton, as she works with clients who are disabled, campaigning for both sex worker rights and to increase awareness and access to sexual expression for people with disability. In "Pay it no Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson," the woman who thew "the shotglass that was heard around the world" is memorialzied in this tribute to sex worker and LGBT history, screening with "Remembering The Living: Monica Forrester on Sister in Spirit and Indigenous Sex Workers." An array of brilliant shorts include "A Kiss for Gabriela" by Laura Murray, "Whore Logic" by PJ Starr featuring The Incredible Edible Akynos, "Stripper Damage" by Gina Gold, "Transitioning Through Sex Work" by Jay Very, "Nada" by Nada Felini and Christian Vega,Creative Trafficking" by Operation Snatch and many more.
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Festival founder, Carol Leigh AKA Scarlot Harlot says, "Sex workers have an excellent vantage point from which to view social hypocrisy, expressed in many contexts--by the lawmakers who use their services, then sponsor policies which further criminalize them, to the wanna-be saviors who claim to 'rescue' but only increase our vulnerability. This whores-eye-view of society is reflected in this body of work by sex workers."
Website: http://www.sexworkerfest.com/
 
"The Scarlet Road" Documentary Film Screening- Saturday, April 6
SWOP-Chicago and SexFest2013 are proud to host a FREE screening of the award-winning documentary “The Scarlet Road” on Saturday, April 6 at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum. Screening begins at 7pm and will be followed by a panel discussion.
“Scarlet Road” follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele – people with disabilities.
Following the screening, we will have a discussion about the film and how sex workers can better work with people with disabilities.
Date- Saturday, April 6, 2013
Time- 7pm
Location- Jane Addams Hull House Museum (dining hall)
800 S. Halsted st.
Chicago, IL
snacks and beverages available
Website: http://www.scarletroad.com.au
Tax and Money Management Worksop- Saturday, January 26
Working in the Adult Entertainment Biz and want to get 2013 off to a good financial start?
Join SWOP-Chicago for a tax and money management workshop this January 26!
When-
Saturday, January 26, 2013
2-4:30 p.m.
Where-
Rogers Park (near Loyola redline)
RSVP for address
What-
William Enmark, a CPA with an investment/finance background and over 17 years of experience as a tax professional, will lead the workshop. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences.
Workshop will cover topics including:
* The benefits of filing taxes
* Tax deductions sex workers can claim
* Budgeting your income and managing your money for the year
* How to stay legal and who can help
* Dealing with a “cash-only” income and how much to set aside for taxes
After the workshop, we will be hosting a coffee/tea/social hour for networking and to share information.
This event is free to attend!
RSVP: via email (meg@swop-chicago.org) or phone (312) 252-3880
Website: http://redlightchicago.wordpress.com/2012/12/
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers- December 17
Every December 17, sex workers all over the world come together to honor the lives of the individuals who were victims of violence while working in the sex trade. Originally conceptualized by Annie Sprinkle and initiated by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington, the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers has empowered workers from cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence. During the week of December 17th, sex worker rights organizations and their allies stage actions and vigils to raise awareness about violence that is commonly committed against sex workers. This event is now in its 10th year of existence.
Here is a listing of some of the events happening this year. If your city is not listed, consider starting an event in your town.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Canada, ON, Ottawa:
5PM @ Human Rights Monument (Elgin & Lisgar). Facebook event here.
Canada, BC, Vancouver:
Prophouse Cafe, 1636 Venables Stree, 8PM-10PM. Candle Light Vigil Followed by a Series of Performances and Entertainment. $5 cover charge, more info @ www.nakedtruth.ca Donations of Coats, Gloves & Umbrellas will be accepted for the Mobile Access Project Van, to distribute to street-based sex workers.
Canada, ON, Toronto:
Featuring Spirit Wind Women’s Hand Drum Group.
Where: 519 Community Centre (519 Church St)
Time: 7 pmMore info.
Illinois, Chicago:
7:30-9:30PM ARTango Center Chicago (4203 Ravenswood Ave, Chicago)
California, Los Angeles:
Plummer Park (Look for Red Umbrellas) 7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046. 4-6PM There is a Southwest Convergence December 15th and 16th more info @ http://ilovelasexworkers.wix.com/i-love-la
California, San Francsico:
The Center for Sex and Culture, at 1349 Mission St, from 5pm to 7pm.
Colorado, Denver:
2132 Market Street, Denver, CO 7PM. Facebook event here.
New Mexico, Albuquerque:
Dec 17th, 530pm: Convene at the PEP Office in Albuquerque at 149 Jackson NE. From there, we will do a Slut Walk through Upper Nob Hill. We’ll then do the reading of the names and candle lighting ceremony, after which we’ll open the floor for comments, stories, and sharing. Contact seramiles@gmail.com for more info. This event is organized through PEP (www.peplove.com).
New York, New York City:
Trinity Lutheran Church, 164 West 100th Street New York, NY 10025. 7PM. More info.
Ohio, Cleveland:
In Cleveland, we will have a vigil and speak out on Monday, 12/17/12 6-9PM at Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 2592 W. 14th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113. For more information, please contact Vanessa at vforro79@gmail.com.
Oregon, Portland:
Dec. 17th, 7-9pm
@ Red & Black Cafe 400 SE 12th Ave, Portland, OR
Join SWOC (http://pdxswoc.net/) and SWOP PDX for a community gathering to honor sex workers lost to violence in the past year and unite in solidarity to end violence and stigma against sex workers in Portland and beyond. There will be a candlelight vigil, spoken word readings by community members, open mic/speak out, and hygiene drive. We welcome pieces and performances by current and former industry workers.
Website: http://www.december17.org/event-locations/
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