Sex Workers Unite Author Dr. Melinda Chateauvert Keynote Speaker For Sex Worker Fundraiser

Sex Workers Unite Author Dr. Melinda Chateauvert Keynote Speaker For Sex Worker Fundraiser

Who: Melinda Chateauvert is an author, historian, and activist. Her new book, Sex Workers Unite! A History of the Movement from Stonewall to SlutWalk, (Beacon Press, January, 2014) recasts sex workers -- of all genders, persuasions and occupations -- as key activists in struggles for gay liberation, women’s rights, reproductive justice, union organizing and prison abolition, and holds that sex worker rights are ultimately human rights (http://www.sexworkersunite.com).

Dr. Chateauvert is currently at fellow at the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a participant in the New Orleans Free School. She has taught courses on civil rights, community organizing, and gender and sexuality for more than twenty years. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Sex Work: Writing about Women in the Sex Industry (Cleis Press, 1986, 1997), the Journal of African American History, the Journal of Women’s History, $pread Magazine, Labor History, http://www.swaay.org and http://www.titsandsass.com. A member of the Centaur MC of Washington, DC, and an honorary member of the Philadelphians; she a past member of the New Orleans Leather Alliance, and former board member of HIPS, (http://www.hips.org) in Washington, DC. In addition to sitting as a board member at the Leather Archives & Museum, she participates in the Positive Justice Project to decriminalize HIV+ status (http://www.hivlawandpolicy.org), the Desiree Alliance of sex workers (http://www.desireealliance.org), and serves as an advisor for Women With A Vision in New Orleans (http://www.wwav-no.org).

What: Fundraiser for the Litigate to Emancipate Fund seeks to bring a constitutional challenge to the prostitution laws. Sponsored the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project, a San Francisco nonprofit for sex workers and our larger erotic community. According to Dr. Chateauvert, despite the acceptance of “sluts” the “prostitute” remains a deeply embedded symbolic marker between decency and disrespect … money changes everything. The event is open to the public.

Where: Alchemy ~ San Francisco’s premier private dungeon~ 1060 Folsom Street San Francisco, California 94103. Wheelchair Accessible through a rear entrance.

When: Sunday January 26, 2014 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Tickets: Online at sexworkersunite.brownpapertickets.com Or Call 1-800-838-3006