MAY 2013

• Floating Legal Clinic: Do you have legal issues? Do you have trouble with the law? Make an appointment with our volunteer lawyer specialized in criminal law; he knows also basic family and immigration laws.

• Medical Clinic: Monday, May 6th and June 10th, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

• 5 to 7: Thursday, May 30th. Come join us for a dinner and chat at the drop-in!

Bedford v. Canada - As part of national marches in cities across Canada on June 8th, Montreal's sex worker and allied communities invite you to join us in Montreal's first ever Sex Worker Solidarity March!

NEW! INFOSHEETS ON LEGAL ADVOCACY AND DECRIMINALIZATION OF SEX WORK
Stella and its allies have published four infosheets around the Bedford case and mobilizing around decriminalization of sex work. One more will be published soon:
The basics: Decriminalization of Sex Work 101
Sex Work and the Charter
Challenging Prostitution Laws: Bedford v. Canada
Language matters: Talking About Sex Work
Coming soon: Ways to be a great Ally to Sex Workers. You'll also find these tools on our web page about Bedford v. Canada.

STELLA'S PENNY FUNDRAISING
On February 2013, the Royal Canadian Money stopped issuing new pennies. Stella is encouraging all of you to get your pennies together and donate them to us. Ask your friends and family to join you in this fundraising that will help Stella pursue its activities and services to sex workers. Next September, the theme of our monthly get together will be a Penny Rolling 5 to 7 in which every one is invited to help roll the pennies we will have accumulated! Infos: 514.285.8889.

STELLA-POSITIVE
Stella-Positive is a group of women living with HIV, sex workers or ex-sex workers, created in order to break the women’s loneliness, to provide a safe space and an opportunity to take care of themselves and to have goods moments in good company! You decide the activities! For example, an evening at the cinema or at the theatre, a visit to the museum, an evening of ice skating, an afternoon of collective cooking, an evening at the spa or a beauty metamorphosis! We meet approximately once a month, every third Thursday of the month, in the late afternoon or at the beginning of the evening. For more information, or if you would like to participate, contact Anna-Aude: 514.984.0966.

STELLA'S HUMAN RIGHTS AND ANTI-VIOLENCE WORK
Stella offers support, accompaniment and information to sex workers who have been victims of violence and to their loved ones. More infos here. New!: ConStellation Human Rights Issue and our Rights Guide!

MONTÉRÉGIE'S SEX WORKER PROJECT
At ÉMISS-ÈRE: Hepatitis A and B Vaccination • Blood and Vaginal screening • Pregnancy test • Emergency birth control • References • Self-Defense classes. Call Diane for more infos.

A DAILY NEWSPAPER ABOUT SEX WORK
To stay up to date about sex worker issues, see the newspaper Travail du sexe/Sex Work maintained by the Feminist Alliance in Solidarity for Sex Workers' Rights!

AGENDA 2013
• Montréal: Méta d’âme's Calendar
• May 1st to June 1st - Montréal: Festival of Anarchy
• May 19th : World Hepatitis Day
• May 21st and 22nd - Montréal: International Anarchist Theatre Festival
• May 21st - Toronto: Sex Workers Will Be Heard - Support Decrim, Support Sex Workers!!!
• May 23rd - Montréal: Launch of VIHsiblité DVD + Sex Work DVD
• May 25th and 26th - Montréal: Anarchist Bookfair
• June 8th - Vancouver: Sex Worker Rights Rally and March
• June 13th - Ottawa: Bedford v. Canada - RALLY AT THE SUPREME COURT: Sex Workers we support you!
• June 13th and 14th - Toronto: 5th Symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights
• July 21st: First International Sex Worker Appreciation Day

RESEARCHERS HIGHLIGHT SEX INDUSTRY "THIRD PARTIES" AND SEX WORKER SAFETY

Researchers from the University of Ottawa have released the findings of Beyond Pimps, Procurers and Parasites: Mapping Third Parties in Incall/Outcall Sex Industry, a three-year study on “third parties” in the adult and sex industries, including their role in sex worker safety. Findings confirm that the current prostitution laws, often presented as protecting sex workers, work against their interests and increase sex workers’ vulnerability to violence, by targeting these third parties. Read more. There is also Managing Sex Work: Information for Third Parties and Sex Workers in the Incall/Outcall Sex Industry, a community booklet that reflects what our community advisory committee told us was important and useful for the sex workers and third parties in the sex industry. These documents come out of a three year innovative research project entitled Rethinking Management in the Adult and Sex Industry.

GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY!
Stella is currently looking for volunteers: fundraising (priority number one!), filing, translation, copy editing, graphic design, illustration. Sex workers and close allies welcome.

Volunteer opportunities specifically for sex workers or ex-sex workers: welcoming people to community dinners or contributions to Stella’s publications. Don’t hesitate to tell us about other skills you would like to share with Stella!

Aboriginal Advisor Committee: Are you an Aboriginal (First Nation, Inuit or Métis) Woman (including Trans Woman) who trades or has traded sex for money, drugs or other things? We are looking for your expertise!

Infos: Pauline at 514.984.2212.

SCARLET ROAD

Scarlet Road follows Rachel Wotton in her work with clients with disability. The film can be seen online here.

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: STRIP SEARCHES IN QUEBEC PRISONS
Trudel and Johnson are bringing a class action suit against the government alleging that submitting people who received a release order to strip searches should be illegal. This case concerns anyone who was strip-searched in a detention facility in Quebec since July 2006 despite having received a release order. Infos: Trudel & Johnston Avocats, Geneviève Douville at 514.871.8385 poste 2206.

SUPREME COURT RULING ON CRIMINALIZATION OF HIV: MAJOR STEP BACKWARDS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS
As a coalition of interveners, we are shocked and dismayed at the ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that says that even the responsible use of a condom does not protect a person living with HIV from rampant prosecution. Read more.

CRIMINALIZATION OF HIV NON-DISCLOSURE
Are you accused of HIV exposure or transmission? Do you want to appeal a conviction? The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network wants to know your story and to help you. They can provide background material to assist you and your lawyer for the court. Please send relevant information and inquiries to criminallaw@aidslaw.ca.

DECRIMINALISATION REMAINS WORLD'S BEST PRACTICE, SEX WORK FORUM TOLD

A convention held in Sydney (Australia) on November 2012 looking at the gains made in New South Wales (NSW) since decriminalisation of sex work was introduced in 1995 saw unanimous agreement by delegates present that the NSW Government is wrong to consider re-introducing a stringent licensing system with strict penalties to govern the sex work industry. Hosted by the Open Society Foundations, Scarlet Alliance and Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP), the conference attracted nearly 50 sex workers, community leaders, human rights activists, advocates and politicians from a dozen countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Read more.

SISTERS (AND BROTHERS) DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES: REPORT FROM KOLKATA
Robyn Maynard reports on representing Stella at the Sex Worker Freedom Festival in Kolkata, which took place from July 21-26 as a satellite to the 19th Annual HIV/AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. "The HIV/AIDS epidemic has never been purely a neutral public health issue," she writes, explaining how infection rates have manifest along the lines of structural inequalities within societies, on a global scale. Read more.

THE GLOBAL COMMISSION ON HIV AND THE LAW RECOMMENDS END TO LAWS AGAINST SEX WORKERS
A report of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law - applauded by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network - recommends the repeal of laws that prohibit consenting adults from buying or selling sex, including those laws that have the effect of prohibiting commercial sex such as laws against “immoral” earnings, “living off the earnings” of prostitution, and brothel-keeping. It calls for an end to police harassment and violence against sex workers and a prohibition of mandatory HIV and STI testing of sex workers. It also recommends withdrawal of the PEPFAR anti-prostitution pledge, put in place by the Bush Administration and continued by the Obama Administration. This marks a significant advance for sex workers’ struggle for sex work to be decriminalised and recognised as an occupation. Read more.

10 REASONS TO FIGHT FOR THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF SEX WORK

This document by Maria Nengeh Mensah and Chris Bruckert is available on Slideshare or in PDF.

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR INSTITUTE'S STATEMENT - A FEMINIST POSITION ON SEX WORK
The Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University supports the recent decision by Ontario Superior Court judge Susan Himel. They are committed to the decriminalization of sex work in Canada, protesting against laws that cause harm to women, supporting women’s agency to define their working conditions, including sex workers, acknowledging the expertise of sex trade workers in their reflections on these issues; and working with women to end violence. This commitment includes genuine collaboration with sex trade workers to identify and implement the strategies they identify as relevant for countering violence against them as women and as workers. Read more.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE SEX TRADE - SPEAKING FOR OURSELVES
We as Indigenous peoples who have current and/or former life experience in the sex trade and sex industries met on unceeded Coast Salish Territory in Vancouver on Monday, April 11th, 2011. In a talking circle organized by the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, we wish to share the following points about our collective discussion so that we may speak FOR ourselves and life experiences.

DANGEROUS AND UNDER THE RADAR
Sex work is unprotected, increasingly dangerous and needs to be decriminalized, according to a report published in the Canadian Review of Sociology. Co-authored by Concordia University and University of Windsor researchers, the study calls for sweeping changes to sex work performed on and off the streets. Read more.

DECRIMINALISATION OF SEX INDUSTRY POSITIVE MOVE
Decriminalisation of New Zealand’s sex industry has resulted in safer, healthier sex workers, a new book shows. Since decriminalisation seven years ago sex workers are more empowered to insist on safe sex, Gillian Abel’s book Taking the crime out of sex work – New Zealand sex workers’ fight for decriminalisation shows. Abel edited the book with Lisa Fitzgerald and Catherine Healy. They interviewed 772 sex workers. Read more.

THE SWEDISH SEX PURCHASE ACT: CLAIMED SUCCESS AND DOCUMENTED EFFECTS
Published on March 2011, The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success and Documented Effects is probably the most important English language source on the Swedish sex purchase law to date. Petra Östergren and Susanne Dodillet have systematically interrogated the official report on the effect of the law after ten years, and compared it to the actual evidence, and found nothing to support its claims, and often the direct evidence completely contradicts the official claims.

CONSIDERING PROBLEMS WITH THE NORDIC MODEL
In Sex Work Law Reform in Canada: Considering problems with the Nordic model, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network considers the impact of the "Swedish" or "Nordic" model on sex workers and, in light of its harmful effects, argues that this approach would not withstand constitutional scrutiny in Canada.

WE WANT TO SAVE YOU! AND IF YOU DONT APPRECIATE IT, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!

An interview with Pye Jacobsson, a sex worker activist from Sweden, about the legislation around prostitution and its impact on sex workers’ lives in Sweden. An HCLU-SWAN film. Read the transcript here. See also Making Sex Work. This video sums up the radical feminist position that denies women rights if they do not adhere to an ideological hatred of the sex industry. There's also a good follow-up video: Making Sex Sell.

HOW ABOLITIONIST FEMINISTS HURT SEX WORKERS
Millions of women, men, and trans people around the world sell sex, while the topic of sex work is one that sharply divides feminists and women’s rights activists. When we paint all sex workers with the same broad brush and declare them all exploited victims, we ignore their reality, and their demands, and we put very real roadblocks in their path to progress, and ultimately, we endanger their lives. “What we do need is rights and dignity. We want that and we want feminists to help us get it.” Read more.

SEX AT THE MARGINS
Laura Agustín tells to the Spiked review of books that feminists, NGOs and government bodies dedicated to combating the sex industry have ended up criminalising migrant workers. Her provocative book, Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labor Markets and the Rescue Industry, really does what it says on the back cover: ‘[It] explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims, and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest.’ Read also this great interview of Laura by Susie Bright.

JUST SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE: THE ANTI PROSTITUTION LOYALTY OATH
This video presents a history of a policy regulating provision of foreign aid. The policy requires that recipients of USAID funds sign an oath that they will not support sex workers' rights. This policy is a telling example of how the U.S. exports repressive ideologies through conditions set for foreign aid recipients. Compiled for all those interested in sex workers issues and human rights, this video timeline and accompanying resources provide a comprehensive course in the history of, and resistance to "The Pledge."

LAST RESCUE IN SIAM
This is the first film ever made by sex workers in Thailand. It is a short black and white movie inspired by the tradition of the old silent movies. The film accompanies the Empower research report Hit & Run. Sex Worker’s Research on Anti trafficking in Thailand exposing the impact of law and law enforcement, raids and rescues used against sex workers in Thailand and around the world. "We have now reached a point in history where there are more women in the Thai sex industry who are being abused by anti-trafficking practices than there are women being exploited by traffickers."