LOS ANGELES — The Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Collective — in collaboration with SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project, PASS Certified, Kink Out Events, Strippers United, The Museum of Contemporary Art and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health — will celebrate International Whores Day by hosting a comprehensive health fair at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on Friday, June 2.
The event will take place between noon and 5 p.m.
The theme of this year’s event will be “Sex Workers’ Health: From Surviving to Thriving,” a twist on the usual protest-meets-celebration.
The health-and-safety-focused wellness and resource fair expands access to racially concordant, trauma-informed, sex work- and LGBTQ+ inclusive holistic practitioners, medical providers and mental health care.
BIPOC Collective founder and Director Sinnamon Love explained that over the past year the organization has provided crisis management and direct service referrals to community members with the most pressing needs.
“We stay committed to doing this work through partnerships with organizations like SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project and PASS,” Love said. “I’m thrilled this year’s IWD event serves as a ‘party with a purpose’ to get sex workers tested, insured, connected with resources and vaccinated against MPox just as Pride season begins.”
The program will include information sharing, mental health referrals, Medicaid enrollment navigation and mobile health clinics, interspersed with wellness activities such as yoga led by Thick Girl Yoga LA, a self-defense class with Vanessa Carlisle of Hooker’s Army and a sound bath with Erotic Medusa.
The afternoon will also feature pole-dancing organized by Strippers United and DJ sets from EthicalDrvgs, Star Ah-Mer-Ah-Su, Succubus Tony, Ly Tran and Eva Myra May.
The Sidewalk Project representative Soma Snakeoil said, "Sex workers are among the most marginalized people in the world, and criminalization leaves them vulnerable to predators. We are committed to empowering sex workers with resources, public health access and education. We believe in support, not salvation."
Over 30 vendors will be present at this year’s event, including St. John’s Transgender Health Program, Avril Heals, East LA Women’s Center, Fire & Flow Therapy, Total Testing Solutions, MPower, Trans Migrant Support CA, The Cupcake Girls, Sunday Faire, Templerotica, Pansey Esthetics, SWAID, evan mccrary, Stripper’s Co-op, East LA Women’s Center and CAST-LA.
The 2023 IWD Health and Resource Fair is supported by donations, grants and sponsorships from Third Wave Fund, Emergent Fund, CAST-LA and The Black Erotica Archive.
To obtain free in-person and online tickets for the sound bath, yoga and self-defense classes, click here.
