At this year’s International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers 2010 event we again lit candles to remember our fallen sisters and brothers in sex work.
Seeing the line of candles made me tear up. But it wasn’t all sad. The feeling of community was so strong. The speeches were inspiring. We are making a difference. Yes, progress is slow-there were 39 sex worker murders this year, prostitution is still illegal in many, many parts of the world and sex workers are still discriminated against. But in places around the world people were able to light candles to remember the fallen. More media coverage was positive. Check out this great NBC coverage on the NYC vigil from Waking Vixen’s blog. I want to see more coverage like that!
Like last year each attendee picked names to read aloud.
The names I got:
Leslie Brown in Chicago, US age 30
killed January 11, 2010 by Murderer Michael Johnson
Nicole Piacentini in Philadelphia, US age 35
killed November 13, 2010
Jackeline Wambui in Thika, Kenya age 25
killed January 24, 1010 by serial killer Philip Onyancha
Last year all three of the names I chose were killed by the same man. Since these women were murdered by different killers I will split them up into different blog posts.
Did you go to a Red Umbrella Day event? If so send me an email-I’d love to hear about it.
Posted by Vixen as Activism, Sex Workers at 8:41 PM CST