Tag: Sex workers | CATIE Blog

From advocacy to celebration: A day to honour sex workers

September 9, 2024 • By Michael Burtch

Anarcho-feminist icon Emma Goldman famously didn’t say “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” However, the misquote persists. Perhaps it’s because the sentiment resonates with so many of us in social justice work. No doubt it was on the Global Network of Sex Work Projects’ minds in 2019 when they launched an annual international sex worker rights day called Sex Worker Pride. Taking place on September 14, this day differs from other days that call attention to sex workers’ labour rights, access to justice and violence against sex workers by focusing on celebration. It...

Sex, scandal and scapegoats: Canada’s blood donation policy for sex workers

December 5, 2022 • By Andrew Sorfleet

On May 27, 2022, Canadian Blood Services—the non-profit that manages Canada’s blood supply outside of Quebec—announced that the lifetime ban on blood donation for those who have traded sex for money would be reduced to one year pending approval from Health Canada. Their questionnaire has recently been updated to reflect this decision. They claim current evidence and available testing technology do not support the lifetime ban policy. This policy review came on the heels of outrage and criticism on Twitter in late 2021 by sex workers who had faced discrimination when trying to donate blood. Addressing discrimination on the basis...

Conversations That Matter – Sex Workers and PrEP at CAHR 2017

May 16, 2017 • By Andrew Sorfleet

The possible unintended consequences of the introduction of PrEP to the sex industry is something that has been discussed in international sex work advocacy since at least 2012. So, when I saw that new PrEP prescription guidelines for Canada were being drafted, stating that “sex-trade workers” were a “significant risk of having transmissible HIV,” I was troubled that there had been no community consultation whatsoever. National guidelines required a national convening.

Travail du sexe des hommes et des personnes trans : décriminaliser et défaire les préjugés

February 7, 2017 • By Jonathan Bacon

Je me vois souvent contraint de commencer mes billets sur le travail du sexe en parlant du Grand Prix de F1 de Montréal. Chaque année, dans la foulée du Grand Prix – et particulièrement l’année dernière, en juin – les médias se font un plaisir, sinon un devoir, de prendre d’assaut ce qu’ils perçoivent comme une violente augmentation de l’exploitation sexuelle et de la traite des femmes dans le cadre de ces évènements sportifs. Cette médiatisation s’inscrit dans une approche abolitionniste aux effets néfastes, ceux-ci incluant une surveillance accrue, des arrestations plus fréquentes et des risques de déportation plus élevés...

New Government, New Priorities: Let’s meet the needs of all people in Canada

November 11, 2015 • By Frédérique Chabot and Sarah Kennell

It’s been a long and winding campaign trail and like most of the country, we’re waiting in anticipation to see what this new government will do. In the lead up to the election, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights produced a series of policy briefs that outlined actions the Government of Canada could take on a range of sexual and reproductive rights-related issues. We’ve already seen movement on some of the proposals, but as a whole these briefs still offer a road map to the changes the country needs to make to meet its sexual and reproductive rights obligations.