activist

In the Booth with Ruth – Tara Burns, Survivor of Labor Trafficking in the Sex Industry, Sex Worker and Sex Workers’ Rights Activist

October 29, 2014 // 10 Comments

We need anti-discrimination laws (as recommended by the Obama administration in 2010) to protect us from discrimination in accessing housing, employment, child custody, public services, financial instruments, health care, and education. This is not an abstract concept. If you don’t want people to be prostitutes, or even if you just want people to be able to leave the sex industry, making it impossible for sex workers and sex trafficking victims to get other jobs or rent a home is the opposite of effective...

‘Whore Diaries III: Retirement’ by Tara Burns – Only 99c/77p to Download Today

July 28, 2014 // 3 Comments

The Tara Burns I first knew was a character in my novel, Soul Destruction: Unforgivable, until I discovered there was a Tara Burns who was also an author and sex worker.

Feminist Activist & Author, Trista Hendren, Discusses Her New Book ‘Mother Earth’

April 29, 2014 // 8 Comments

As I began to heal my own life, I began to care much more about the Earth. There is a very real connection between the violence committed against women around the world and violence against the Earth. 'Mother Earth' explores some of those connections in words children and adults can absorb... I hope the book will be a discussion piece for the generations, which will spurn action.

“I Have A Dream… If MLK could see us now” by Jes Richardson

January 20, 2014 // 3 Comments

"What would Martin Luther King Jr. think of the abolition movement today? What would he think of the movement that uses his name? If he was alive today, I believe he would call out the bitterness and hate. He would call out the injustice of the people. He would speak against the movement that silences the voices from within the sex industry..."

Coming Back from Soul Destruction – Ruth Jacobs interviewed on Women Move the Soul

October 30, 2013 // 7 Comments

We know them. We all know a woman who struggles with drugs and alcohol. Perhaps she’s a woman in your family, a friend or even a co-worker, but we know them. If you have not been a drug addict then you cannot know what they go through. You can’t imagine the pain they feel from moment to moment and the things that they are driven to do because of that addiction.... Ruth Jacobs has been there – in the very recesses of hell – and she came back to us...

In the Booth with Ruth – Kevin Jaffray, Drug Harm Reduction & Recovery Activist

October 27, 2013 // 24 Comments

Those feelings and the memories of feeling so alone are at the heart of everything I do in the field today. The empathy towards those who are living with the same feelings and fighting against the same demons and stigma that I felt during those years drives me to stay connected to those who are living with addiction and all its surrounding issues.

In the Booth with Ruth – Trista Hendren, Author & Feminist Activist

September 17, 2013 // 12 Comments

I write what comes to me. I never thought I would write children’s books, but that is what happened first. I really enjoy the creative process of our books, where we put together illustrations and quotes with the story. It’s really quite fun. And I have the best partner—artist Elisabeth Slettnes—in all the world.

Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes Discusses Decriminalisation & the Merseyside Model

September 11, 2013 // 11 Comments

"Since 1975, the International Prostitutes Collective has been campaigning for the abolition of the prostitution laws which criminalize sex workers and our families, and for economic alternatives and higher benefits and wages. No woman, child or man should be forced by poverty or violence into sex with anyone. We provide information, help and support to individual prostitute women and others who are concerned with sex workers’ human, civil, legal and economic rights."

My most in depth article arguing for the Merseyside model to be made UK wide | The F-Word

August 22, 2013 // 15 Comments

The stigma against people in the sex trade cannot be denied. They suffer undeservedly because of that stigma at the hands of the police, and also at the hands of criminals who view them as 'easy targets'. As a stigmatised and vulnerable group, crimes against them are unequivocally hate crimes.

Victim-centred: The Merseyside Model – Ruth Jacobs interviewed on Policing Today (Part 2)

August 8, 2013 // 12 Comments

In the second part of an exclusive Policing Today interview, author and human rights campaigner Ruth Jacobs talks about human trafficking and the urgent changes needed to the criminal justice system’s attitude towards victims of sexual crime.

Founder of Once Upon An Eden and survivor of extreme child abuse, Michelle Carmela, gives her opinion on Facebook’s issue of child sex abuse images

August 2, 2013 // 19 Comments

I can understand Facebook wanting to protect freedom of speech. I can understand the company at times feels like their hands are tied. However, when children are seen being violated and exploited, it is essential Facebook remove these images. They must use common sense and seek to promote safety...

In the Booth with Ruth – Rachel Moran, Author and Survivor of Prostitution

July 23, 2013 // 11 Comments

I wanted to tell people the truth about all that I had seen. I wanted to record the degradation and the simple human suffering that’s an inevitable and intrinsic part of sexual exploitation, and I wanted, most importantly, to talk about how we can put a stop to it.

Staying Safe: The Merseyside Model – Ruth Jacobs interviewed on Policing Today (Part 1)

July 10, 2013 // 7 Comments

In the first part of an exclusive interview, Policing Today talks to author and campaigner Ruth Jacobs about the efforts being made by the Service to keep sex workers safe in Merseyside, and why violence against those in prostitution should be viewed as a hate crime.

The Merseyside Model Saves Lives – so why is it not being rolled out nationally? | Impolite Conversation

July 8, 2013 // 13 Comments

Not making the hate crime approach the national standard for people in prostitution is a hate crime in itself while women are being beaten, raped and murdered as the state looks the other way... If a particular policing approach was known to be achieving a 67% conviction rate for those who rape people in society in general, and yet it was only being used in one part of the country, there would be public uproar.