Building Better Solutions Reducing Harm In The Sex Trade

Free Panel Discussion – Wednesday March 4th 7pm Gay City Calamus Auditorium – 517 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122 PANELISTS (full bios below): Eileen Corcoran - Social Services Provider at Evergreen Treatment Services Pria Rai - Anti-trafficking Organizer & Advocate at API Chaya Maggie McNeill - Author of The Honest Courtesan blog & Retired Sex Worker Tobi Hill-Meyer (moderator) - Feminist Porn Producer, LGBTQ Activist & Advocate EVENT DESCRIPTION: For some people, working in the sex industry is a form of employment that is freely chosen. However, there re those who do not have a choice, and for them, the sex trade can be an abusive venue for human trafficking. We need to respect the human rights of those who choose sex work…and we urgently need to end the abuses of human trafficking. HOW DO WE DO BOTH? In this panel discussion, sex workers, social service providers, and activists address the complex issue of the sex industry, and share ideas for helping those who are exploited while protecting the rights of those who choose their occupation. PANELIST BIOS: Eileen Corcoran, MWS, has been a long time community advocate for women who engage in street based sex work and who are chronically homeless, struggling with addiction, and mental health issues. Eileen brings both a personal and professional perspective to street based sex work and harm reduction methods, from her own experiences in the sex industry as a street based sex worker and current career as a social services provider at Evergreen Treatment Services, LEAD Project. Pria Rai is the Anti-trafficking Organizer & Advocate at API Chaya. Priya is a queer, mixed race, vegan, prison abolitionist who is dreaming wildly and fighting to win. Priya is a desi dedicated to building power in South Asian communities by mobilizing against gender based violence, and through finding transformative community based solutions to harm. She imagines a world free of prisons and borders, where no one is disposable. You can contact Priya at priya@apichaya.org. Maggie McNeill was a librarian in suburban New Orleans, but after divorce economic necessity spurred her to take up sex work; from 1997 to 2006 she worked first as a stripper, then as a call girl and madam. She eventually married her favorite client, retired, and moved to a ranch in the rural Upper South. There she writes a daily blog called “The Honest Courtesan” (http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/) which examines the realities, myths, history, lore, science, philosophy, art, and every other aspect of prostitution; she also reports sex work news, critiques the way her profession is treated in the media and by governments, and is frequently consulted by academics and journalists as an expert on the subject. Tobi Hill-Meyer made her film making debut with Doing it Ourselves: The Trans Women Porn Project, winning a Feminist Porn Award for Emerging Filmmaker and being named #3 in Velvet Park Media’s list of the 25 Most Significant Queer Women in 2010. She is a multiracial trans woman with over a decade experience working with feminist and LGBTQ organizations on a local, state, and federal level, having served on several boards and offering support as a strategic consultant, currently serving as the External Coordinator for the Gender Justice League. With her background in activism, she uses her media production company, Handbasket Productions, to create stories and entertainment that reflect community needs and values. Most of her work can be found at www.HandbasketProductions.com or www.DoingitOnline.com