A
Art Mann
Guest
By Joanna Chiu
Susan Davis, leader of the West Coast Co-operative of Sex Industry Professionals (WCCSIP), smiles wistfully when asked what will happen if her dream of a co-operative brothel materializes.
“It will be so good for morale for everybody—oh man, for the girls!”
Davis has been an escort for 24 years and is one of the best-known sex workers’ rights activists in Canada. Her tough-minded and cautiously optimistic attitude keeps her going, despite laws that punish sex workers and, in particular, those who work indoors.
Davis first thought of forming a sex workers’ co-operative after meeting members of India’s thriving sex workers co-operative, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee a feminist conference in 2006.
“They started a sex workers’ co-operative in 1995, and it now has 65,000 members. They have used it to improve their quality of life on so many different levels,” says Davis.
Davis found enthusiastic support for her idea and since 2007 the WCCSIP has been working to build community and promote solutions that will minimize the potential risks of sex work. Since outdoor sex workers face disproportionate dangers, the WCCSIP’s programs are particularly focused on working to end violence against outdoor sex workers.
The group’s most ambitious project is its proposed co-operative brothel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Read more here.
Susan Davis, leader of the West Coast Co-operative of Sex Industry Professionals (WCCSIP), smiles wistfully when asked what will happen if her dream of a co-operative brothel materializes.
“It will be so good for morale for everybody—oh man, for the girls!”
Davis has been an escort for 24 years and is one of the best-known sex workers’ rights activists in Canada. Her tough-minded and cautiously optimistic attitude keeps her going, despite laws that punish sex workers and, in particular, those who work indoors.
Davis first thought of forming a sex workers’ co-operative after meeting members of India’s thriving sex workers co-operative, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee a feminist conference in 2006.
“They started a sex workers’ co-operative in 1995, and it now has 65,000 members. They have used it to improve their quality of life on so many different levels,” says Davis.
Davis found enthusiastic support for her idea and since 2007 the WCCSIP has been working to build community and promote solutions that will minimize the potential risks of sex work. Since outdoor sex workers face disproportionate dangers, the WCCSIP’s programs are particularly focused on working to end violence against outdoor sex workers.
The group’s most ambitious project is its proposed co-operative brothel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Read more here.
