AF3IRM Declares October 5 as International Day of No Sexploitation

Connie Huynh, National Chairperson [email protected]
Valeria Espinosa, National Programme Coordinator [email protected]

Since 2002, October 5th has been observed yearly as International Day of No Prostitution. Started in Australia and the United States, it is now observed across the globe not only as a day of remembrance for women who have lost their lives in the sex trade, but also as a day for launching significant actions by organizations from around the world that have risen up to combat the sex trade. 

As anti-imperialist transnational feminists, we, the women of AF3IRM, staunchly combat the neoliberal narrative of the sex trade as mere transactional labor, as mere “work” to be mainstreamed as a legal business industry. We understand the sex trade as a historical process of exploitative systems that intersects with women’s oppression. In combating the expansion of the sex trade, we learn from the women of our ancestral homelands and study the stories of our foremothers who had to bear the brunt of occupation and war. These lessons reveal the striking similarity of the current conditions that relegate women’s bodies as private property, as a site of conquest for colonizers.

The racialized and gendered colonial legacy of the sex trade continues today as we see survivors seeking justice. From military expansion projects to the direct funding of international sex trade expansionist groups, we must fight the commodification of women’s bodies across countries and domestically.

This is why AF3IRM has decided to move beyond “International Day of No Prostitution” and expand the conversation to include the global sex trade by commemorating October 5th as International Day of No Sexploitation, #DayOfNoSexploitation.

We define “sexploitation” as the process of exploiting the female and feminized, the poor, powerless and vulnerable so that their (and our) bodies become labor, commodity and factory all in one. This is for the purpose of profit and pleasure of the ruling class. Read our analysis here.

Here is a declaration of #DayOfNoSexploitation uprisings happening across the country organized by the fearless women of our chapters. 

BOSTON: Banner drop, Theme: land back bodies back, Statement release

HAWAI`I: Social media action

SEATTLE: Statement & flyering, Theme: Green River Killer, who targeted women in the sex trade

SF/Bay Area: Flyering and Statement

SAN DIEGO: IG highlights, banner drop, Theme: how the military in SD engage in sexploitation

PORTLAND: Banner drop and Statement release

ATLANTA: Banner drop and Statement release

LOS ANGELES: Banner drop

TWIN CITIES: Flyering

NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY: Statement release on Medium: “Remembering The Prostituted Who Perished to Keep An Obsolete Practice Going”