All of March Express Woman shared stories from some of the sex workers who have formed the Caribbean Sex Worker Coalition (CSWC). The accounts of two female, two transgender, and two male sex workers (one gay, the other heterosexual) gave insight into the realities of Caribbean socio-economics, sexuality and gender relations that led them to sell sex. They've also opened the dialogue on the health and human rights issues affecting sex workers including minors in sex work, safe sex negotiation, violence, sexual diversity, and harassment and apathy by the police. Today we speak with Kamala Kempadoo. The social science professor at York University is of Guyanese descent and has made a study of the global sex workers' movement.
It's happening. Our sex workers are finding a voice.
As extreme as this mobilisation process may seem to some, it isn't a new revolution. There are sex worker rights groups from India to Indonesia, Nicaragua to New Zealand. In "Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance and Redefinition"-a collection of essays edited by Kempadoo and Jo Doezama-there are accounts of sex workers revealing corruption, challenging stereotypes and fighting to keep brothels open throughout the world. Essays with titles like "The Association of Autonomous Women Workers" and "The Exotic Dancers Alliance" underline a global trend in organisation among working girls and boys.
In Latin America and the Caribbean prostitutes have been organising for almost twenty years. In fact Suriname and the Dominican Republic, two of the countries that form the Caribbean Sex Worker Coalition, have established sex worker organisations-the Maxi Linder Association and the Movimiento de Mujeres Unidas (MODEMU).
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_woman_mag?id=161300325
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