Desiree Alliance Diversity Statement
The Desiree Alliance is committed to support
fo leadership, representation and inclusiveness of people from varied
backgrounds including cultural, racial, economic, age, size/figure marital
status, family make-up (including expecting parents,) sexual orientation
and gender identity. Among those who are ignored by mainstream society
are sex workers, people of color, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual
or transpeople, differently- abled/disabled people, senior citizens
and youth/young adults.
We recognize that people who face discrimination in our society
often face even harsher obstacles in the context of sex work. As
activists we know that activist groups often reflect society's
prejudices and we are committed to working to build a social
structure that is respectful, inclusive, welcoming and relevant for
diverse sex workers including those with economic and educational
differences, people who work in the neighborhoods, artists, people
working just for enough to live on, immigrants, erotic massage
practitioners, drug users, young people, male, female, trans and
non-trans.
Leadership and organizing within the Desiree Alliance comes directly
from sex worker communities. We are still a young movement and we
are in the early phases of community organizing. Being criminalized
and stigmatized as whores makes this work a challenge for all of us.
Through our efforts to emphasize diversity, we hope we can lay the
groundwork for a strong movement and overcome social divisions and
prejudice between us and the rest of society and within our
communities. We work to build a movement that challenges the
stigmatization of people based on age, size, race, economic status,
substance use, gender identity or sexual orientation. We strive to
build a movement that will not sacrifice the well-being of
immigrants, street based workers, users or trans people who are most
often the targets of punitive laws, enforcement or treatment.
These are our intentions, and we acknowledge that these are tough
goals to fully realize. We work towards building a movement which
supports these ideals, and also treat our fellow activists with
honor and respect as we learn how, and "unlearn" what we need to
"unlearn" to build a respectful, diverse and strong sex worker
movement.
Desiree
Alliance is a coalition of sex workers, health professionals, social scientists,
professional sex educators and their supporting networks. We seek to
encourage a better understanding of human sexuality by promoting ethical
and unbiased research into sexual subcultures; to promote saner and more
sensible approaches to policies relating to adult sexual health and
behavior. We use this information to educate and empower the public to
have healthy and rational attitudes about sexuality.
Desiree
Alliance is a Project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a
501(c)(3) non-profit.