On International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, December 17th, sex workers around the world gather in grief and memory of those of our community who passed that year.
Since 2003, this day brings people together to acknowledge the violence in the sex industry and to organize against discrimination that keeps the target on sex worker’s backs.
Through our grief, our community has learned how to take care of each other. Our micro ecosystem of sex workers within a larger, discriminatory ecosystem of state violence had depended on the skills learned through resistance to keep ourselves alive. We would not have had to develop these life-saving behaviors without the constant threat of state and misogynistic violence. The wisdom gained, cultivated, and shared throughout our ancestral history is revolutionary and unstoppable.
The time to keep sex workers alive has always and will forever be yesterday and today. The failure of the government’s responsibility to protect the rights of sex working people must be acknowledged and efforts to restore rights must be prioritized.
The State of Minnesota deprives workers of their rights of a safe working environment, fair treatment from the justice system, and collective liberty – therefore, positioning themselves in alignment with exploitative behavior towards people engaged in the sex industry that leads to our premature deaths.
We want to live to tell our stories.
We want to live long enough to share our wisdom with the next generation.
Canaries in the Coal Mine
A simple online search that includes “sex work” and “canary in the coal mine” will give plenty of evidence of why we chose this phrase for our campaign.
Here are a few of our favorite finds:
“As a result of our criminalization and the concurrent stigma that makes our work “illicit,” sex workers often refer to ourselves as the “canaries in the coal mine” when it comes to matters of state violence. It’s a chilling analogy; the metaphorical miner’s survival depends not only on the canary’s death, but also on the miner’s perception of the canary’s death. The metaphor ultimately fails, for unlike miners taking heed of the canary’s abrupt silence, the general population treats sex workers with indifference at best. We’re more like the low-battery beep of a carbon monoxide detector, a sound somehow more irritating than the poison.” – Oliva Stone https://www.wired.com/story/roe-abortion-sex-worker-policy/
“It is often said that sex workers are the canaries in the coal mine; in other words, what happens to everyone happens to sex workers first.” – Jessie Sage https://www.pghcitypaper.com/columns/exclusive-interview-stormy-daniels-says-shes-screaming-into-the-void-i-might-know-why-27307682
“While currently the impact of FOSTA/SESTA is felt most acutely by those of us participating in the commercial sex trade, this bill affects everyone—sex workers are just the canaries in the coal mine trying to make our warning call before it’s too late.” – https://merryjane.com/culture/against-fostasesta-one-canarys-cry-from-inside-the-coal-mine/
Podcast | A Stripper’s Guide: Sex Workers: Canaries in the Coal Mine – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUJgG9hCy84
Video | Woodhull Freedom Foundation: Canaries in the Coal Mine: Sex Workers are Fighting Censorship on the Front Lines – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK1hh6DUSLk
Zine | Digital Realities: Sex Work // Internet // Governance: Sex workers are often the canary in the coal mine for things that affect all of us. Learn about what sex workers want, why we want it, and how important it is to support us – https://assemblyfour.com/zine
Petition Language
“We, the undersigned, demand full decriminalization of sex work and recognition of the rights of adults who engage in consensual sexual activity.
The state has a responsibility to protect the rights and lives of people who call Minnesota home, regardless of their consensual sexual activity.”
Stay tuned to learn how to sign this petition and other ways to get involved with the movement.
SWIM: Sex Workers in Minneapolis 