Presentation on August 7th, 2019 for Min Kwon at Flushing Town Hall, delivered by Kate Zen on behalf of Red Canary Song

1. ByKateZen(RedCanarySong)
forChineseFeministCollective
presentationJune2019

2. 2014, Dongguan – in 4 months of
crackdown, 6000 police raided 3533 hotels,
2000 saunas and karaoke bars, and arrested
3,033 people. They shut down 12000
websites with 1 million instant messaging
accounts involved in prostitution.
- SCMP http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1428709

4. Police abuse of sex workers:
• Beatings, torture, physical and sexual assault
in “custody and education” camps without trial
• Arbitrary arrest and detention for up to 2 years
• Extortion, fines, bribery & blackmail
No referrals to social or health services in “reeducation camps”
• Impunity for police; Public shaming for sex workers and their families
• Negligence to pursue justice when sex workers are victims of crime
• Forced testing without informed consent or privacy
• Condoms used as evidence of prostitution in arrests

5. Sex work in China:
• 3-10 million sex workers in China, as of 2010
(China Daily) Beijing: 200,000–300,000 sex workers.
• Majority of Chinese women engaged in sex work
are migrants from rural areas or small cities who
have not completed high school.
• Main reasons cited for why they engage in sex work: job loss,
to support family, lack of economic and educational opportunties
for women (especially in countryside), divorce / separation
• Fines collected from sex workers supplement operational costs of local law
enforcement. Rampant corruption. No due process in arbitrary detention.
Police conduct “shame parades” to “educate public” in the streets (2010).
• In 2000 - 183 Custody and Education Centers,
holding 18,000 inmates
Once when I was soliciting on
the street, the police just
came and started beating me
up…. There were five or six of
them, they just beat me to a
pulp.
—Xiao Jing, a sex worker
interviewed in Beijing, 2011

6. Ye Haiyan – began
blogging about working
conditions of migrant sex
workers in 2005. Created
China Women’s Rights
Workshops, providing
outreach to sex workers,
distributing free condoms.

7. Shanghai CSW&MSM Center

9. “Sentiment concerning the Chinese:
Illustrations from Periodicals” – July 20, 1899
(UC Berkeley Archive of California)
Page Act of 1875 –
Banned Chinese women
from entering the country,
who were considered likely
prostitutes.
Targeted Chinese brothels in
Chinatown, even though
prostitution was prevalent
among other nationalities.
American Medical
Association: Chinese
immigrants have “distinct
germs.” Esp. prostitutes.
Lead to Chinese Exclusion
Act 1882. Requirement of
upper class women to base
immigration on proven
relationship to men: that they
were wealthy wives, with
bound feet and other signs of
upper class “morality”.
Created policing of
immigrants around sexuality,
which continues today.

11. Florida 2019:
From “fighting trafficking” to
prostitution arrests.
(zero trafficking found, women
unlawful detained, video
surveillance for 8 months)

12. Signs of Trafficking
According to Florida police photos (and racist rhetoric by organizations like Polaris):

14. Flushing Crackdown on Massage Parlors
Queens Councilman Koo
urges police crackdown on
massage parlors in Flushing.
In November 2017, Flushing massage
worker Song Yang was killed during such a
police crackdown on her workplace.

15. Red Canary Song
Organizing Against State Violence

16. Red Canary Song
Vigil for Yang Song

21. Red Canary Song
Justice for Layleen Polanco
Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old trans
Afro-Latina woman who traded sex, died in
solitary confinement, unable to pay $500
of pre-trial bail, after missing a single court
date and failing to complete mandated
“counseling” services by the Human
Trafficking Intervention Court.
<< Cecilia Gentili, a trans Latina leader in
the Steering Committee of DecrimNY, spoke
at this rally, demanding justice for Layleen.
Black, indigenous, and Latinx trans women in
sex trades face the highest levels of police
profiling and state violence.

22. Red Canary Song
Coalition with DecrimNY: Support from Legislators
Support from NY State Assembly
members Yuh-line Niou, Ron
Kim, Dan Quart, Jessica Ramos,
and John Liu.
<< Letter to Investigate
NYPD Vice

23. Red Canary Song
Endorsing Tiffany Caban for Queens District Attorney

24. Red Canary Song
AAPI Coalition for Migrant Workers’ Rights
Migrant Workers’
Economic Bill of
Rights
- Town halls
- Canvassing
- JOIN US!

25. Red Canary Song
AAPI Coalition for Migrant Workers’ Rights

26. Anti-Colonial Feminism
Global Imperialism of American Anti-Trafficking
Sex workers in Thailand &
India protesting the
American imperialism of
anti-prostitution policing.

29. Garment Workers &
Sex Workers:
Low-Wage
Women
Workers
Unite

31. INDIA’S SEX WORKER
LABOUR ORGANIZING: 65,000
strong
1. Community-led sex worker organizing drastically lowered
HIV / AIDS rates in Sonagachi District and West Bengal.
2. Set standard prices for workers across the union and
mandated use of condoms. Inspection of clean, safe working
conditions, and fair wages for all workers.
3. Eliminated presence of child sex workers under 18 years of
age. Created sustainable help for the impoverished children.
4. Created Usha Multipurpose Cooperative Bank, the largest
and most successful cooperative bank in West Bengal,
democratically led by sex workers and former sex workers
saving together, investing in educational programming for
their children, plus career training and social networks for
retiring and retired sex workers.
5. Pushed back against rampant police violence.
Tactical Tech human rights research on
police violence against sex workers, with
data collected by community-led
organizations: DMSC (India) and
Women’s Network for Unity(Cambodia)

32. Nordic Model:
Carceral Feminists Harm More Marginalized Women
• Pushes sex workers underground. Doesn’t decrease sex
trade or stop human trafficking. Trafficking increased in
Sweden in 2017 by 30%.
• Leads to increased stigma against sex workers,
discrimination in social services, child custody, landlord
evictions, job loss. Puts sex workers in danger.
• Especially punitive to migrants, subject to deportation.
Swedish sex worker,
Jasmine Petite, was killed
in 2003 under “Swedish
Model” laws, after being
denied child custody as a
sex worker, which put her
directly into the hands of
her abusive partner.

33. New Zealand Model:
Full decriminalization means inclusion of sex workers in society
• 90% of sex workers said they have better access to
health and safety on the job
• 57% of sex workers said that society’s attitudes
towards them changed for the better
• 64% said they are more able to refuse clients – the
remainder of which, it’s unclear whether they ever felt
unable to do so beforehand
• No increase in trafficking, though migrants do not
have working visa to do sex work
2007 Independent Review
after passing of 2003
Prostitution Reform Act:
New Zealand’s Occupational
Handbook for Sex workers
includes access to autonomy,
freedom from control by
unwanted intermediaries, health
& safety, confidentiality,
unemployment benefits, and
support in transitioning jobs.

34. Butterfly (Toronto)
Transnational Feminism: 250+ migrant sex workers in Butterfly
Toronto organizing is carried to North American by Elene Lam: wisdom
from decades of Hong Kong sex worker organizing, and transnational
Asian sex worker organizing with APNSW (India, Myanmar, Thailand, South
Korea, Philippines, Japan, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Pakistan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea)
Hong Kong Police Headquarters

35. Les Roses d’Acier (Paris)
Transnational Feminism: 600+ migrant sex workers in Butterfly
“What gives them the right to judge us?”
Community art as tools of resistance.
Migrant sex workers are fierce & creative
transnational feminists.

36. Intersectional Feminism Beyond Borders
Sex worker feminism: grassroots organizing by women of color on the margins
- Anti-violence, including state violence & racist policing
- Prison abolition, #NoNewJails, Divestment (Freedom to Thrive)
- Migrant Justice! Labor rights for informal sector workers
- Trans & Queer-inclusive feminism
- Anti-poverty, valorization of “women’s work” & care economy
- Pro-choice, supporting bodily autonomy and sexual consent, freedom
of religion, against “chastity” (Patriarchal objectification)
- For evidence-based public health (HIV/AIDS) & harm reduction
- Anti-war, anti-militarization, anti-surveillance, anti-Fascist,
anti-imperialist, against ”Rescue Industry” & white supremacy

37. Intersectional Feminism Beyond Borders
Sex worker 4th Wave: grassroots organizing by women of color on the margins
 Anti-violence & Anti-trafficking, including state violence
 Prison abolition, #NoNewJails, Divestment (Freedom to Thrive)
 Migrant Justice! Labor rights for informal sector workers
 Trans & Queer-inclusive feminism
 Anti-poverty, valorization of “women’s work” & care economy
 Pro-choice, supporting bodily autonomy and sexual consent, freedom
of religion, against “chastity” (Patriarchal objectification)
 For evidence-based public health (HIV/AIDS) & harm reduction
 Anti-war, anti-militarization, anti-surveillance, anti-Fascist,
anti-imperialist, against ”Rescue Industry” & white supremacy