The Melbourne Festival of Sex Work Safer Spaces Policy is
about taking a positive, proactive, preventative step towards making spaces
safer in our community. We use the word ‘safer’ to acknowledge that no space
can be entirely safe for everyone and not everyone experiences spaces in the
same way as others. We want the Melbourne Festival of Sex Work to offer sex
worker friendly environments that are welcoming, engaging and supportive:
spaces where people take care of one another whilst promoting lively and
productive debate. We want people to feel they can be themselves and that
different opinions are important and can strengthen our community. We are
asking people to be proactive in creating a safer, sex work positive space that
is comfortable for everyone attending. We won’t be micro-monitoring behaviour
at the Festival, but each event will be facilitated and we expect that everyone
attending will respect our safer spaces statement and take responsibility for
their behaviour at all times.
Just as we use the word “safer” because no space can be 100% safe for all
participants, we also acknowledge that no policy can eliminate 100% of risk and
danger for people participating in any event.
With that in mind Festival organisers would like to make clear that this
policy is a guiding document, one that is live and can be amended as necessary.
Festival organisers are open to feedback regarding the Safer Spaces Policy and
this can be given by emailing whoreganisers@festivalofsexwork.com
Every
event is a safer space for all participants.
Being a safer space for participants means a number of
things:
1.
Event content must not discriminate, exclude or
perpetuate stigma against its potential participants. Each event, its
facilitators and participants must avoid making judgements and/or promoting
prejudice about race, sex, gender, sexuality, ability, drug use, mode of sex
work, legal status, and mental health. If it is necessary to be exempt
from this (for example, a workshop’s content may only be relevant for only
cisfemale participants), these stipulations and the reasons for them must be
made explicit to festival organisers and will be absolutely clear from the
beginning in all promotional material.
2.
Privacy and confidentiality of participants is
paramount. It will be made clear to participants that no personal or
identifying details are ever required for participation in a workshop; that no
contribution made by participants at a workshop will be shared outside of it
unless consent is clearly and explicitly given; and no recording devices
(including cameras) will be used during workshops.
3.
Event facilitators must be aware that some
content may trigger a negative emotional impact on participants. Any
planned event content that may be at all traumatic (including discussions of
violence, abuse, suicide) must be made clear to participants prior to the
event. It must also be made clear to participants that they can leave the
event whenever they want and should debriefing be necessary, festival
organisers will arrange this in accordance with our Safer Spaces
Policy.
4.
The Festival is made up of events that are
either sex worker only or open to the public. In terms of ensuring the safety of
event participants, public events will be clearly indicated as such. (Further discussion of this below)
5.
Festival organisers will ensure that a safer
space and team of debriefers will be made available at all events. Participants
will be made aware that their involvement is completely voluntary and the right
to exit any event plus access to a debriefer will be upheld.
6.
Festival organisers are sex workers. As such we
also need to ensure our own safety. While we are responsive to concerns
individuals have regarding the operation of our festival we will not
tolerate abuse or harassment of individual Festival organisers or the
collective.
This
Festival is a celebration of Sex Work.
Events must reflect this. We want the experience sex
workers have at the festival to be a positive one. We know sex work can
be hard at times and festival organisers do not want to make invisible these
experiences. However, the festival is a constructive and positive space;
it is not the right place for working through people's personal issues; it is
not the space to attack or critique any individual sex worker.
Each event must...
1.
...affirm the choice to be a sex worker.
2.
...contribute to participants understanding of
the diversity of sex work
3.
...acknowledge the difficulty of being a sex
worker but give priority to focussing on the skills, character and strategies
that overcome these difficulties.
Sex
Worker Only and Public Events
The Festival organisers acknowledge that negotiating
safety in a sex worker only space is different to negotiating safety at a
public event. The festival organisers value the contribution of sex workers and
recognise that particular goals of promoting sex worker rights, health and well
being can only occur in sex worker only spaces. However, Festival organisers
would also like create opportunities for the general public to engage with the
perspectives of sex workers. With this in mind the following guiding principles
are adopted by Festival organisers:
1.
The details of sex worker only events (time and
location) will not be publicised in any public document.
2.
All events that are open to the public will be
made explicitly clear to all participants.
3. Sex worker only events will be promoted in
forums that are clearly and explicitly sex worker only networks.
4.
No one has the right to compel an individual to
produce evidence of their status as a sex worker. However, Festival organisers
recognise the need to engage in strategies that ensure sex worker only events
are attended by sex workers only. This will be done through promotional
strategies that enable a degree of verification . Festival organisers reserve
the right to refuse participants attendance of sex worker only events.
Specific Events:
Generally, all workshops during the day and social events
during the festival will be sex worker only spaces. At this stage the
exception to this is the Touching Base Professional Disability Awareness
Training. The Touching Base workshop is
primarily facilitated by a sex worker but has specific sections that are
facilitated by a person with a disability and a qualified occupational
therapist, both of whom do not identify as sex workers.
Where a workshop is not sex worker only, this will be made
clear in the non-public festival guide.
The art exhibition, public forums, public
action and film nights will be public events. The Safer Spaces Policy
will be made available at these events and awareness of this will be stated as
part of each events formal process.
No participant is compelled to attend any public event if
they do not wish, and participation in the festival can be entirely at sex
worker only events if the participant wishes.
Public events are designed to engage our allies and friends as well as
the broader public.
The end of Festival party will be a strictly invite only
event. Participants are primarily sex workers, however, some may also bring
partners and family. It is the
responsibility of sex workers who are bringing guests to the event to ensure
that they are familiar with the safer spaces policy. This is not an event for
clients or the general public.
Examining our own
subtle and not-so-subtle prejudices
If we profess to be concerned about issues such as race,
gender and sexuality, we need to live our lives in a way that proactively seeks
to subvert prejudice and undermine discrimination. This means treating people
equally and acknowledging that everyone has something amazing to contribute. It
means not being tokenistic.
We may like to think of the Melbourne Festival of Sex Work
as an alternative space where people reject the prejudices associated with
‘mainstream’ anti-sex work values. However, sex worker communities can often
carry the same prejudices as the so-called mainstream and we all need to
address this. We are part of this broader society. All of us have to challenge
our own internalised sex worker stigma. By participating in making the Festival
a safer space, we can all learn about how to overcome this stigma.
People attending the Melbourne Festival of Sex Work are
asked to be aware of their language and behaviour and to think about whether it
might be offensive to others. The Festival is no space for violence, sexual
assault, touching people without their consent, being intolerant of someone’s
religious beliefs or lack thereof, being creepy, sleazy, racist, ageist,
sexist, heterosexist, homophobic, transphobic, cissexist, ableist, classist,
sizeist, sex negative or any other behaviour or language that may perpetuate
oppression. Please also consider whether anxiety, new environments, being
surrounded by new people, drugs, alcohol, etc could blur your ability to gauge
how your behaviour is affecting others.
A note to people who aren’t
sex workers attending the Melbourne Festival of Sex Work
The Festival strives to
create a safer space for sex workers, even at public events. We want people who
aren’t sex workers to come along to public events and learn what it takes to
support sex workers. The following are
some pointers about how to be an ally to our community. Festival organisers would like to acknowledge
that these pointers have been adapted from a document originally published by
the Sex Worker Outreach Project, Chicago.
1) Don’t assume anything about
anyone you may meet at the festival. Don’t assume you know that a person is in
the sex industry and their reasons for being there. Some people make a choice
to enter this industry because they enjoy it, others may be struggling for
money and may feel they have less of a choice.
2) Be Discreet and Respect
Personal Boundaries. If you know a sex worker, it’s OK to engage in dialogue
with them in private, but respect their privacy surrounding their work in
public settings. Don’t ask personal questions such as “does your family
know what you do?” If a sex worker is not “out” to their friends, family, or
co-workers, it’s not your place to tell everyone what they do.
3) Don’t Judge. Know your own
prejudices and realise that not everyone shares the same opinions as you.
Whatever you may think about sex work is irrelevant compared to the actual
experiences of the person who works in the industry. It’s not your place to
pass judgement on how another person earns the money they need to survive.
4) Watch Your Language.
Cracking jokes or using derogatory terms such as “hooker”, “whore”, “slut”, or
“ho” is not acceptable. While some sex workers have reclaimed these words and
use them among themselves, they are usually used to demean sex workers when
spoken by outsiders.
5) Address Your Prejudices. If
you have a deep bias or underlying fear that all sex workers are bad people
and/or full of diseases, then perhaps these are issues within yourself that you
need to address. In fact, the majority of sex workers practice safer sex
than their peers and get tested regularly.
6) Don’t Play Rescuer. Not all
sex workers are trying to get out of the industry or in need of help. Ask them
what they need, but not everyone is looking for “Captain Save-A-Ho” or the
“Pretty Woman” ending.
7) If you are a client or
patron of sex workers, be respectful of boundaries. You’re buying a service,
not a person. Don’t ask for real names, call at all hours of the day/night, or
think that your favourite sex worker is going to enter into a relationship with
you off the clock.
8) Do Your Own Research. Most
mainstream media is biased against sex workers and the statistics you read in
the news about the sex industry are usually inaccurate. Be critical of what you
read or hear and educate yourself on who exactly is transmitting diseases or
being trafficked.
9) Respect that Sex Work is
Real Work. There’s a set of professional skills involved and it’s not
necessarily an industry that everyone can enter into. Don’t tell someone to get
a “real job” when they already have one that suits them just fine.
10) Just because someone is a
sex worker doesn’t mean they will have sex with you. No matter what area of the
sex industry that someone works in, don’t assume that they are promiscuous and
willing to have sex with anyone at any time.
11) Be Supportive and Share
Resources. If you know of someone who is new to the industry or in an abusive
situation with an employer, by all means offer advice and support without being
condescending. Some people do enter into the sex industry without educating
themselves about what they are getting into and may need help. Despite the
situation, calling the police is usually never a good option. Try to find other
organizations that are sensitive to the needs of sex workers by contacting the
organizations listed below.
12) As you learn the above
things, stand up for sex workers when conversations happen. Share your
personal stories if you so choose. Don’t let the stigma, bigotry and
shame around sex work continue. Remember it’s important that sex workers
be allowed to speak for themselves and for allies to not speak for sex workers
but to speak with sex workers.
Realise that sex work
transcends ‘visible’ notions of race, gender, class, sexuality, education, and
identities; sex workers are your sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, lovers,
and friends. Respect them!
Grievance Process
1) If you wish to proceed with a grievance, directly
approach the person whose behaviour has caused you to feel unsafe to try to
resolve the issue. Please do so while maintaining safer spaces yourself – refer
to section above.
AND/OR:
Walk away if you can’t reach a resolution, we don’t endorse
individuals aggravating conflicts that exist over differences of opinion.
Acknowledge the difference of opinion. Make your opposition known. Find your
friends, go to a quiet space and debrief.
2) If unresolved, approach the designated grievance contacts
on the Melbourne Festival of Sex Work Collective (will be identifiable during
the festival).
3) The collective member will ask you if you have approached
the person involved already. If you have not, see step one.
4) The collective will meet daily during Festival of Sex
Work and will hear complex and unresolved grievances if necessary. This is an
absolutely last step and we encourage individuals to take responsibility for
their one-on-one conflicts maturely if possible PRIOR to needing the collective
to intervene.
5) Excluding people from Festival Events is an absolute
final resort and will only be done by consensus decision of the collective
If you decide to confront a person you have a grievance
with, or ask a third party to do so on your behalf, or you have been asked to
approach a person on behalf of another, please keep in mind that YOU ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS regardless of your grievance with another person.
At no time are you acting on behalf of the collective.
The Festival Collective recognises
that some people have ongoing conflict/grievances which have originated in a
space outside of the Festival. It is not the role of the Festival, its
organisers or this policy to resolve such conflict. Please inform Festival organisers
if you feel this may impact on your ability to feel safe whilst attending the
Festival. Please be aware that while we
will do our best to provide a safer space for all participants, we cannot
necessarily mediate all tensions that are brought to our Festival. Again, Festival organisers would like to
reiterate, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS.
Distribution of the policy
We want everyone who attends the Melbourne Festival of Sex
Work to be aware of this safer spaces policy. This statement will be in the
program, reader, website, displayed around the venue and hopefully it will come
up in discussions. We will also send this statement to everyone who has
contacted us about putting on a workshop and we will put it onto the website.
Feel free to alert your friends to the existence of this policy.
We hope that the very existence of this information will
assist in the following ways:
- As a
visible/constant reminder of everyone’s need to take responsibility for
their own behaviour
- To keep
the issues fresh in everyone’s minds
- As a
reminder that words, body language, actions and behaviour affect other
people and make them feel certain ways – a reminder to be aware of other
people’s personal boundaries
- To work
preventatively
- To
follow the Grievance Process
- To take
responsibility for your own actions when confronting or addressing a third
party with whom you have a grievance.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Festival organisers would like to acknowledge and thank Camp
Betty, the Scarlet Alliance and SWOP-Chicago, whose own safer spaces policies
and publications have been influential in the creation of the Melbourne
Festival of Sex Work Safer Spaces Policy.
