Maggie’s, a Toronto organization run by and for sex workers, is hosting an event on Dec 17, the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, at Toronto’s 519 Church Street Community Centre.
State of Disrepair: State Violence and Sex Work will include a panel discussion about issues such as Children’s Aid’s involvement with sex workers, criminalization of sex work and violence against sex workers.
“If we’re not validated about the work that we do — that it is work and that we have rights and we are people — then these things will never change, “ says Monica Forrester.
“And until we decriminalize our work and put things in place that protect sex workers, I think the violence will continue.”
Forrester’s film, Remember the Living: Monica Forrester on Sisters in Spirit and Indigenous Sex Workers, will also premiere at the event. The panel focuses on sex workers, but Forrester points at the larger issue of women and violence in society.
“You can work anywhere and be targeted,” she says. “Women are at high risk of violence wherever they work.”
Below is an discussion between Monica Forrester and writer and fellow activist Sasha Van Bon Bon.
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