Celebrate sex worker pride at the Wallen

published 23 july 2023

Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands

It is summer, so time for pride. Queer & Pride Amsterdam is explicitly making room for sex workers this year by including several sex worker events on Thursday 27^th July.

At multiple venues across the city’s Red Light District, queer and trans sex workers will take centre stage with a multitude of talents - from photography, performance art and stripping to spoken word. At the Oudekerk, you can visit the Sex Worker Arts & Culture Festival. The PIC will host a Sex Workers’ Brunch, for sex workers, friends, family members and loved ones. The irresistible crew of Striptopia will take over Casa Rosso’s stage for the afternoon.

Queer, sex worker and proud

Sex workers, and more specifically queer and trans sex workers of Colour, have been a touchstone of queer liberation since the beginning of the movement. But in the shadow of a popular, liberal push for LGBTQIA+ rights, sex workers have largely been left out in the cold. Whether it’s the community spaces we move through, or in the way we're legislated against through local or national governments, sex work is still a taboo - and often ignored even within the queer community. But sex workers have always been here: sex workers, queer people and trans people have always been in a shared community. We have populated the same neighbourhoods, worked together, fought together and broke bread together.

Resistance & Liberation

At a political moment when the autonomy of sex workers is being challenged by the Dutch government and Amsterdam municipality through the closing of windows and workspaces, proposals of an Erotic Center are being pink-washed with the promises of adjoining “queer” party spaces. It is now, more than ever that sex workers should be taking up their place in community. This program, created by a crew of queer folks, red light district inhabitants and creatives, sex workers and sex work advocates, not only serves as a respite for sex workers in a challenging political climate, but also as an act of resistance against these dangerous anti-sex work policies. They aim to provide a glimmer of hope, exploring what it means to fight for the Wallen and the liberation of sex workers, queer and trans people together.

Chandler

Writer, community organiser and accomplice to the sex workers’ movement. They have worked with sex worker action groups and other grassroots, sex worker-led organisations in Berlin and Amsterdam.