FEBRUARY 2010

• Monday, February 8th and 22nd, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.: Medical Clinic.
• 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.

• Thursday, February 25th, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.: Girls' Night. What do you think about decorating cupcakes at Stella? Chocolate, vanilla, espresso? Candy, chocolate, sprinkles? Pick your favourite flavours & colours and then get creative! Bring your creations home.

• You are a sex worker and you want to get involved at Stella? Don’t be shy to contact us!

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS... A 2 NIGHT STAND
At Café Cleopâtre (1230 St. Laurent Blvd), Friday February 12th & Saturday February 13th. Tickets $12 at the door, $10 with non-perishable food item donation. Doors at 8:30 pm; show at 9:30 pm. After-show party with DJ Cry Betty. Funds raised will be donated to Stella. Non-perishable contributions will benefit St. James Centre.

Glam Gam Productions presents a Burlesque Valentines celebration at
Montreal’s legendary Café Cleopâtre. Get your heart out and your hard on with Glam Gam Production's lusty Valentines Day Show. Everyone enjoys a friend with benefits who is always eager to lend a helping hand, letting you have your cake and eat it too. Throughout the evening Friends With Benefits will offer a little more than traditional friendship. The audience will have the opportunity to participate in many lewd activities, including a kissing/spanking booth, bake sale and other raunchy interactive fundraising events. After the performances, DJ Cry Betty will take over for a late-night dance party. So come get your photo taken with carnal cupid, pass a valentine to your secret crush and lock your lips with one of our promiscuous performers. Be sure not to miss a wanton and wild evening of classic burlesque, comic reinterpretation and just plain debauchery, because the best friends are Friends with Benefits! For more information, please contact Sarah, Michael or Julie glamgamproductions@gmail.com.

FREE MASSAGES
Do you need to treat your body to some relaxation? Are your muscles craving the professional touch of a masseuse? Stella is offering free massages. Join Rosalind, our experienced massage therapist, as she offers you 1 ½ hours of deep relaxation and body work. Come treat yourself and your body to a heavenly experience. During your session, we will take the necessary time to offer you a professional massage in a relaxing ambiance where you will transcend space and time and allow all of your senses to rejuvenate and spring to life. Massage sessions are between 1 to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 4:30 p.m. The next sessions are on February 5th and 19th. By appointment only.

ART WORKSHOP AT STELLA
Multidisciplinary artist Jessica MacCormack and musician/sound-artist Rae Spoon are offering a 3 to 4 days workshop at Stella, with the support of the Crossing Communities Art Project (a Winnipeg art project for
marginalized women and youth) and the National Film Board. Depending
on the participants' interests and experiences, the project could take the form of a video/stop-motion/performance and song/sound/storytelling or possibly other forms, such as a postcard project. The content of the
work created will reflect the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Stephanie, a Stella team member, will participate to the
workshop. For more information or to subscribe, call us.

AGENDA 2010
• Agenda Haïti/Québec
• February 3rd - CKUT radio: AUDIO SMUT!
• February 11th and 14th - Montréal: Panel Discussion and Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• February 14th - Vancouver: Women's Memorial March
• April 9th to 11th - New York: Speak Up 2010
• From July 18th to 23rd - Vienna, Austria: 18th International AIDS Conference
• From July 25th to 30th - Las Vegas: Working Sex: Power, Practice, and Politics

FROM ÉMILIE LALIBERTÉ, OUR NEW GENERAL COORDINATOR
It is with pleasure, energy and devotion to the cause, that I have accepted the position of Stella's General Coordinator. I wish to thank the board of directors of the organization and the team for the trust they have shown by offering me these responsibilities. It is an honour for me to serve the mission of Stella, a mission which I hold close to my heart and for which I am ready to face new challenges. Read more.

STELLA 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
Whether it be for information, a listening ear or someone to accompany you in taking steps to heal from violence, to stay safe or to pursue justice, Stella is there for sex workers. You can reach us at 514.285.8889. All calls are confidential.

Whether or not you want to officially report the incident, you can call our support line to make an appointment and meeting with an outreach worker at Stella, your place or elsewhere. For those who wish, Stella can support you in your steps to get medical care, housing resources or victims’ compensation.

We accompany sex workers who wish to file formal charges against their agressor to ensure that you are served respectfully and attentively. We can also offer support over the course of your trial.

• List of Aggressors and Bad Clients
For the past 15 years, we have published a monthly list of aggressors and bad clients reported by sex workers in Stella’s bulletin. You can report an assault to the list at any time or contact us to receive the bulletin by email or mail.

• Advocacy Against Laws and Policies that Fuel Violence
Violence is not inherent to sex work, be it porn, escorting, street work or stripping. Violence is not part of our job!

Through our actions, we denounce violence against sex workers and the laws and policies that fuel it. We stand up against discriminatory treatment and blame directed at sex workers face when they are victims of physical or sexual assault.

We demand the decriminalization of sex work to end the climate of impunity against violence against sex workers and so that sex workers can work in health and safety.

• New Projects at Stella Dealing with Violence and Human Rights
Mobile Legal Clinic: we have a new lawyer volunteering at Stella. He is specialized in criminal rights, but also knows about family and immigration rights. If you need juridical advices, just call our support line and an outreach worker will put you in contact with him.

Support Group: for sex workers who have experienced physical or sexual violence. (Currently in French but if you speak English and are interested, please contact us anyways.)

Human Rights Project: information to come soon.

HIV IN CANADA: HOW DO YOU SEE IT?
HIV is invisible, but is a part of your world, whether you see it or not. During the early days of the HIV epidemic, you might have been able to recognize a person with HIV, but treatment has advanced significantly, making HIV more manageable and less visible. Still, costs of medication are high, both financially and in terms of health. There is still no cure, but HIV is entirely preventable. In 2009, people living with HIV still experience stigma and discrimination. At this very moment, you may be sitting next to someone who is HIV positive and not know it. Or, you may be one of the approximately 30% of 62,000 Canadians living with HIV who doesn't know they're HIV-positive. How would you see HIV then? Why would you see it differently if it weren't you? To learn more about HIV/AIDS in Canada and how you can help, read the information sheets of the Canadian AIDS Society.

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.

A CONSTELLATION SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS
Stella concocted for you ladies, transvestites, transsexuals sex workers a working tool that covers every aspects to considerate, for all types of work in the business, to work in health, safely and with dignity. This tool, a precious reference guide, is given for free to sex workers and sold 15$ to the curious! Drop by to say hi and get your copy!

TRANS HEALTH NETWORK
The Trans Health Network works to promote health, well-being and social justice for trans people in Québec. For more information and resources related to trans health, or to request a training for medical and social service providers, contact one of the following members: Project 10, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, Stella or ASTT(e)Q (at 514.847.0067 x207).

A STUDIO OF ONE'S OWN
Studio XX is a feminist digital art centre for technological exploration, creation and critique. It is committed to establishing women's access to technology by providing training and instruction. By facilitating the creation and promotion of digital art, the Studio works to ensure that women are a defining presence in cyberspace. Studio XX currently offers workshops such as website conception, digital audio, digital ludology, and much more.

COMING BACK TO THE JOB MARKET?
Need help finding work? Interested in returning to the job market? You may benefit from the Centre des femmes de Montréal’s Employability Services Optionelle. Optionelle helps women to take the necessary steps to integrate the labour force. They can be reached by phone at 514.842.6652, or by email at optionelle@centredesfemmesdemtl.org.

JOIN THE COALITION OF THE ARTISTS OF THE CABARET CLÉOPÂTRE!
Following the presentation of a revitalization plan of the Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent, we’ve formed an artistic coalition with the objective of promoting our rights and assets in order to conciliate the colorfulness of Montreal’s Red Light district with the proposed plan of erecting an administrative office building within an area designated as Quartier des Spectacles de Montréal. Help us integrate the creative spirit of the last 5 years at Cabaret Cleo’s within a constructive, honest and positive plan to revitalize Montreal’s legendary “Main”.

ONTARIO - WHY STELLA SUPPORTS THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO THE LAWS AGAINST SEX WORK
On October 6th 2009, to our great excitement, three sex workers in Toronto launched a constitutional challenge to the laws against sex work in the Superior Court of Ontario. Read more.

RIGHTS, NOT RESCUE
During a lively and busy meeting November 10th 2009 in the Balie in Amsterdam, the international women’s social change fund Mama Cash brought together 150 sex workers, activists and interest groups from the Netherlands and abroad. While authorities focus on rescuing sex workers, the concerns of sex workers themselves are ignored and their human rights are violated. "If you take away my right to say ‘yes’, then how much is my ‘no’ worth?" sex worker and activist Ruth Morgan Thomas asked. Read more.

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.

DECRIMINALISATION OF SEX WORK IN NEW ZEALAND: REVIEW SHOWS NO EVIDENCE OF PREDICTED SOCIAL HARMS
Opponents of the decriminalisation of sex work initially hailed the review of the first five years, published on May 2008, as a vindication of their position that New Zealand's Prostitution Reform Act has been a failure in terms of its objectives and that sex work should be eradicated because decriminalisation has little impact on violence in sex work. This is disingenuous at best, but is likely to be something we will continue to hear about. Read more.

SEX AT THE MARGINS
Laura María 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 new 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.

SEX WORK AND THE UNITED STATES POLICIES ON HIV
sexworkerspresent Taking the Pledge, a 13-minute film featuring sex workers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Thailand and more! They describe the problems created by the 'anti-prostitution pledge' required to receive USAID and PEPFAR funds. In English, Khmer, Thai, French, Portuguese and Bengali, with English subtitles. Produced by the Network of Sex Work Projects. For more infos, read our leaflet Sex Work and the United States’ Policies on HIV while listening to this STAR WHORES' Karaoke.