SAN FRANCISCO — Sex workers will be marching outside Amy Schumer’s performance tomorrow at Clusterfest in protest of the comedian’s use of sex workers as punchlines.
The ESPLER Project told XBIZ that the protest against Schumer extends past punchlines. Schumer also has offered vocal support of SESTA/FOSTA, a law that has resulted in violence against sex workers and censorship of sex worker voices.
ESPLER Project — officially known as the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project — said the protest will start at 4 p.m. outside the Bill Graham Auditorium on 99 Grove St. in San Francisco.
Clusterfest celebrates comedy and music over three days this weekend. Tomorrow, coincidentally, is International Whore’s Day, a day of protest for sex workers’ rights.
“We want the audience to know that Amy’s jokes have some real-life effects on our already marginalized work,” said Maxine Doogan, a sex worker activist and founder of ESPLER Project.
“SESTA/FOSTA, which makes it a crime for a third-party platform to enable or facilitate sex work, has resulted in our advertising platforms being shut-down, and forced us out of relatively safe online spaces into riskier streetwork. Thanks to the law, many resource and advocacy organizations have also shuttered. Amy supported the law and even made a PSA in support of it.”
The protest will seek to educate the public about the law, while also drawing Schumer’s attention.
“It would make for a great opportunity to educate her about effects of the law that she lobbied for has had on our lives and our families lives,” according to Jane, a longtime sex worker who plans on attending the protest because she would like Schumer to come out and address the protesters on International Whore’s Day.”
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