Feb 14, 2012
We as Aboriginal peoples who have current and/or former life experience in the sex trade and sex industries met on Mississauga’s of the New Credit Territory. In a talking circle organized by the Maggies’ Aboriginal Sex Workers Education and Outreach Project we came together to create a statement around Aboriginal Sex Work.
- We acknowledge that as Aboriginal People in the sex trade, we are the family for a lot of different people. The love we give each other cannot be defined- we have a language of our own that includes our bodies. Two-Spirit people in our community specifically give an amount of love that can’t be defined or understood by many communities. We connected through this unity of realities and experiences. Many of us come from stories of foster care and residential schools and never had families to call our own before. We are very much connected and sex work has pulled us together to respect/connect over that part of our lives.
- As part of the larger Aboriginal community we recognize that different groups make up and enrich our community (eg. Two-Spirit, Elders, Trans People, Youth, & Adults). Aboriginal Sex workers are one of the groups that make up and enrich the community. These identities are not limited, and Aboriginal sex workers often fit into several of these groups.
- As a part of supporting Aboriginal People in sex work - remote and rural Aboriginal communities need to be educated about our work just as much as those in the city. It is important for our home communities to be just as educated as those in the city. Many of us are not able to go home to visit/stay because of the violence, stigma and lack of acceptance of our work. Sometimes this is also tied into our communities perceiving us as lacking culture of native identity. Our lives, our bodies, and our realities are culture.
- Not all aspects of sex work are negative. It is harmful when the emphasis is put on drug use and mental health. While we see some parts of culture adapting to society, we also see certain elements of culture changing that do not support people in their choices. Aboriginal culture needs to adapt to include Aboriginal People in the sex trade where they are at, empowering them to make their own choices, and support harm reduction.
- There are still large amounts of systemic oppression that Aboriginal sex workers face in their day to day lives. People need to understand the history of Aboriginal sex workers in order to move forward in the future. Much of the stigma towards Aboriginal sex workers is rooted around sex and history. Society’s ideas of sex work do not often take this into account. Colonization has shaped our community to think sex is shameful. We need to abolish colonization in order to move forward. Violence happens but it is part of a society. Because sex work is looked at as a negative profession it validates the violence. The root of this violence comes from colonization.
- Part of (de) colonizing Aboriginal sex work for the larger Aboriginal community is to work through their own internalized oppressions. An example of this is not acknowledging people’s choices within our community. Our communities need to stop re-internalizing oppressions. Without community supports, we are still living through internalized colonization and genocide. Our creator has no bind on what people do, but guides us in the right direction.
- There is no better time to work around decriminalization, but it is only a step towards (de)colonizing. This will push forward Aboriginal sex workers out of the darkness, oppressions, and bring more empowerment. It will bring more support to our choices of work and the lives we chose to lead. Aboriginal sex work is an act of self-determination and an act of empowerment- a valid act of supporting ones basic necessities of life. We are aware of the choices we make, and we are tired of people controlling our ideas, bodies and voices. Agencies, policy makers, and community can empower us with tools for our chosen work. The ‘we need saving process’ repeats a historical narrative of saving in the history of Aboriginal peoples. Feminism is playing out in a way that does not support our choices of self-determination over our bodies as Aboriginal Peoples.
- ASWEOP brings the Aboriginal sex working community together to recognize the Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered as a part of ongoing genocide and systemic oppression. It allows us to celebrate current Aboriginal and Two-Spirit sex workers while acknowledging those who have lost their lives due to ongoing colonial abuse. Projects like ASWEOP have allowed the community to be more resilient within their work, community and with each other.
- The seeds have been planted for community, sex workers and community based agencies. Now it is time to grow together. We need our people to support us, fight for us, and back us up. We need to work together.
-press release
-Video of ASWEOP at Sisters in Spirit Vigil, 2011 (click here for subtitled version)
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