SAN FRANCISCO — The Sacramento Universal Unitarian Society Church will host an expert panel to update the community on a planned sex trafficking study, efforts to decriminalize prostitution in California and more.
Set for November 7 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., the panel includes Rachel West of the U.S. Prostitutes Collective (US PROS); Kristen DiAngelo of SWOP Sacramento; Siouxsie Q James of the Adult Performers Advocacy Committee (APAC); Margaret Prescod from the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders; and the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP).
During the session, sex workers will talk about the difference between sex work and sex trafficking, and educate the community on the recent passing of SB233, a new law which will finally allow sex workers to report serious crimes and to carry condoms without the fear of arrest for prostitution.
Panelists will also raise concerns over the recent announcement of a $1.5 million study “to target sex trafficking,” using Sacramento as the focal point. Historically, such studies have been used as justification to criminalize sex workers and to gentrify neighborhoods and this is a substantial amount of state funding, but the community has been provided no information about the methodology and objectives of the study. Sex workers are demanding to know exactly what is being studied — and by whom, given the constant conflation of sex trafficking with sex work.
The Sacramento Universal Unitarian Society Church is located at 2425 Sierra Blvd., in Sacramento.
To contribute to ESPLERP, click here. Find SWOP Sacramento online and on Twitter. Follow APAC on Twitter here.
