Two new publications on sex workers' rights

[Guest guest]

SANGRAM, Sangli and Point of View, Mumbai present two publications that

mainstream the rights of people in prostitution and sex work:

1)The Struggle To Be Human (a training manual)

Looking at sex work and prostitution through the lens of gender, sexuality and

rights

Built on a fully participatory methodology, The Struggle To Be Human is a

three-day structured training programme that explores and unravels participants'

own deep-rooted attitudes and beliefs about gender, sexuality, sex work and

prostitution. It is built on the belief that learning is an open, multi-ended

process, in which participants can learn as much from other's responses as they

can from facilitators. It contains exercises, films, games and other interactive

methodologies and other stimulating learning tools to catalyze participants to

think about these complicated issues. The Struggle To Be Human can be used with

a variety of organizations, groups and individuals - particularly those working

on women's rights, HIV, public health, reproductive and sexual health, human

rights, or sex workers' rights. It can be used with grassroots activists,

advocates, researchers, policy makers - and with groups of sex workers.

2)Are We Not Women? (a report)

Women in prostitution, feminist activists and sex workers' rights groups in

dialogue

Are We Not Women? brings together critical moments from a series of dialogues

that were organized in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata in

collaboration with women's rights organization in each city. These dialogues

aimed to create a channel of communication on prostitution and sex work between

feminists, women's groups, and women in prostitution and sex workers' rights

group. Are We Not Women? looks at a multitude of overlapping issues: How can we

discuss prostitution and sex work outside the paradigms of 'force vs choice' and

the other binaries that dominate the discourse? Is sex work 'work'? Can

exchanging sex for money be equated to or compared with providing other

services? Are there moral issues underlying our understanding of prostitution

and sex work? How can we locate the 'choices' of women in prostitution in the

larger context of women's choices, while acknowledging their specificity? Does a

'woman's right to her body ' translate into a 'right' to using her body in the

marketplace - for prostitution or for anything else? Is violence faced by women

in prostitution a form of violence against women? How can women's rights

organizations acknowledge and support the struggles of women in prostitution?

Both publications combines the ground-level experiences of women in prostitution

at the VAMP collective, the organizational experience and insights of SANGRAM,

and Point of View's passion and skills to communicate marginalized points of

view.

For copies contact sangram.vamp@... or pointofviewmumbai@...

The Struggle To Be Human is priced at Rs 500 (postage extra).

Are We Not Women? is priced at Rs 100 (postage extra).

Point of View

e-mail: <pointofview@...>