Participants

• Indianara Siqueira

  president of Transrevolução, the creator of the CasaNem (a collective/house/space) and PreparaNem, a college preparation course for the trans population in Rio.

  Indianara Siqueira has been an activist since her mother took her to rallies against Brazil’s dictatorship in the 70s and 80s. PutaTransFeminist, she is a transvestigenere with breasts and a penis, president of Transrevolução, the creator of the CasaNem (a collective/house/space) and PreparaNem, a college preparation course for the trans population in Rio. She has organized the Slut-walk in Rio de Janeiro since 2011 and is also a volunteer of the Grupo Pela Vidda – a group for people living with HIV and AIDS.

  We collaborate with three organizations: Transrevolução, Davida and the Prostitution Policy Watch. Transrevolução  is an NGO that seeks to promote the rights and quality of life of the trans population in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 2009, Transrevolução focuses on political advocacy for trans* rights, a program to prepare trans* for Brazil’s college entrance exam, and a variety of cultural and community based mobilization activities. Davida was founded by Gabriela Leite in 1992 to advance sex workers’ full citizenship rights and health in Rio de Janeiro.

  Today we work as a collective to promote sex worker rights and progressive discourses on prostitution through communication and cultural actions such as our clothing line, Daspu (of the whores) that has graced catwalks and sidewalks in Brazil and the world. The Prostitution Policy Watch is an extension project at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro that is a collaborative of researchers, students, activists, and sex workers that defends sex workers’ human and citizenship rights through a broad range of advocacy and research activities.

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• Natalya Isayaeva

  Natalya is the director of the NGOLegalife Ukraine and remains active in regional and municipal councils for HIV/AIDS and TB.

  Natalya Isayaeva is a human rights activist and former sex worker from Ukraine. Ten years ago, she began her activist career promoting the health and human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. More recently, Natalya served as chair of the steering committee of SWAN, the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network. Currently, she is a member of the advisory board of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, where she represents the interests of sex workers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Additionally, she is the director of the NGOLegalife Ukraine and remains active in regional and municipal councils for HIV/AIDS and TB. Natalya advocates for the recognition of sex work as legitimate work, regardless of one’s gender, sexual orientation, HIV status, or drug usage.

  The NGO Legalife Ukraine is a community-led organization advocating for the human rights, social inclusion, and civic participation of sex workers. Through the active involvement of sex workers in decision-making processes and project implementation, Legalife empowers individuals facing multiple levels of stigma. Intersecting target populations include: MSM (men who have sex with men); transgender people; people living with HIV/AIDS, TB, or STIs, etc.; and opioid substitution therapy patients.

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• Tara Burns

  Tara Burns lives in Alaska, where she’s a founding board member of the Community United for Safety and Protection, a group of current and former sex workers, sex trafficking victims, and their allies.  She’s the author of the Whore Diaries series, and has written about sex work for AlterNet, Vice, The New Inquiry, and others. When she isn’t writing and lobbying, she’s making public records requests at the cutting edge of research by the people and for the people.

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More information

Sex Workers and Human Trafficking in Asia Sex Workers Rights Sex Workers’ Rights in the Americas