No Prison For Any Profession
Sex work is work. We are calling all Louisiana community members to get educated and to push for the decriminalization of sex work in our state.
Sex work is work. Decriminalize it.
Decriminalizing sex workers and clients of the sex trades:
Improves public health
Increases safety for workers
Destigmatizes consensual adult sexuality
Combats human trafficking
Creates a platform for accountability for sexual harassment and wage theft in the sex trades
Lessens the burdens of criminalization and its collateral consequences that Black/African people, Indigenous people, Asian people, migrants, and transgender people face in the State of Louisiana
About Women With a Vision (WWAV)
WWAV was founded in 1989 by a collective of Black women in response to the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in Black communities. Now, more than thirty years later, WWAV is New Orleans’ only queer/lesbian Black women-led organization. We maintain our history in grassroots organizing and harm reduction, while unapologetically engaging in policy advocacy at the intersections of gender, racial, and reproductive justice. Widely regarded as the leading national voice on the criminalization of Black women and girls in the South, WWAV is also a national and international leader in movements for human rights, sex workers’ rights, reproductive justice, and ending mass incarceration.
About #DeepSouthDecrim
Our work to end the the criminalization and abuse of sex workers is rooted in practices of harm reduction and decriminalization. Working with our Sex Worker Advisory Council and Representative Mandie Landry, we introduced LA House Bill 67 in the spring legislative session of 2021. This bill sought to end the criminalization of adults who engage in the consensual, transactional labor of trading sexual services for money or goods. The bill was Voluntarily Deferred, in favor of a task force/study resolution. This allows more time for public education and campaign building for future efforts.
“It is isolating to be a sex worker. Without decrim it is hard to have full access to community resources and networking. I fully believe sex workers are the most amazing people in the world and could create so much change if we were allowed the platform to do so.”
— Anonymous Sex Worker in Orleans Parish, Louisiana