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Sex workers party in the park

A Swedish woman dances in the 2001 International Sex Workers' Culture Festival held at Ta-an Forest Park yesterday evening. Sex workers from six countries performed on the stage to tell their own stories and strive for prostitutes' rights. It was the first such activity after licensed prostitution in Taipei was forced to come to an end on March 28. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The International Sex Workers' Cultural Festival invited 13 visitors involved in the sex industries of six countries to perform yesterday at an evening party in Taipei's Ta-an Forest Park (大安森林公園), a popular destination for area residents.

The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS, 日日春關懷互助協會), formed by a number of activists promoting the decriminalization of prostitution and sex workers' rights, held the outdoor event in the hopes of helping Taipei's inhabitants to understand the opinions and life experiences of sex workers.

The party began with a saxophone melody performed by Rosinha Sambo, a Swedish sex worker who brought up her two children and raised funds for homeless youth through her strip dancing. A former licensed prostitute in Taipei later followed Sambo's performance with a Taiwanese folk song about budding flowers suffering in the rain.

The party also included erotic dance, sex video displays and presentations of songs promoting sex workers' rights.

"Selling one's body for money should not be stigmatized ? Reporters sell their writing, scholars sell their brains. It's all the same."

Chou Chia-chun, Chairwoman of the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters

"The night party is colorful dynamite that ignites alternative thinking about prostitutes. Sex workers are more than what the stigma surrounding them would have -- pathetic people who can only hide in the dark," said CSWS Chairwoman Chou Chia-chuo (周佳君).

The collective chose to hold the event in the upper class neighborhood park because they hoped more middle-class people would participate in the event and gain a real understanding of prostitutes' lives.

"It is a symbolic gesture to break existing social mores that place sex workers at the bottom of society," the collective said in a statement.

Aborigines, homosexuals and others described by the collective as "marginalized" groups, also performed at the event.

"The festival started April 2 and attracted mainly young people," said Chou. "We hope the night party would draw more of the middle class to hear and understand the real voices of sex workers.

"That will facilitate a future dialogue between Taipei residents and sex workers in town to discuss policy making with regards to Taiwan's disenfranchised sex industry," Chou said.

The festival includes a series of symposiums and film exhibitions regarding the industry.

"We hope to promote the participation of sex workers and supporters when it comes to related policy making," said Chou, "We've brought international sex workers and advocates to the event to introduce international experiences regarding such policy making to people in Taiwan."

Taipei's remaining legal brothels were recently closed following the expiration of a grace period imposed after Taipei's former mayor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) decided to end legalized prostitution in the city.

Activists say that comprehensive policy making regarding the decriminalization of prostitution is vital because those who involve themselves in the sex industry are risking increased exploitation without the legal protection of their rights.

In addition, underground sex workers are often subject to unsafe sex practices out off fear that their clients might disclose their activities to the police.

Chou added that it will be tougher for the police to crack down on the trade because of underground brothels' avoidance of police inspection.

"The prosperity of the sex industry in Taiwan is an undeniable fact," said the collective's statement.

"Selling one's body for money should not be stigmatized ? Reporters sell their writing, scholars sell their brains. It's all the same, "said Chou.

"Outlaw poverty, not prostitution," said Carol Leigh, a US sex worker and advocate for prostitutes' rights since the 1970s. She said prostitution should be treated as nothing more than a job.
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