Old Pro News Old Pros

On this special episode, host and human rights activist Lakeesha Harris gathers a legendary roundtable of leaders in the Black Sex Worker movement: performer/activists Sinnamon Love and Jet Setting Jasmine of the BIPOC Adult Industry Collective, and historian/professor Dr Charlene Fletcher. Together, they discuss the legacy of sex workers in fine art museums, Black women who are silenced in the archives, pleasure influence, mental health care, colorism at the strip club, and more! And Lakeesha gives a raw and righteous farewell to Old Pro News, asserting that no conversation surrounding workers rights and labor organizing is complete without sex workers at the table. 
 
Sinnamon Love is a visual artist, published writer, community organizer, and Black Feminist Pornographer. For almost 30 years, Sinnamon has created media that shifts narratives around sex work, BDSM, and motherhood. 
 
Love is a fierce advocate for Black Lives Matter, Trans Rights, Sex Workers Rights, & Decriminalization of Sex Work & Cannabis. 
 
In 2018 & 2020 she served as a Fellow of the Sex Worker Giving Circle at Third Wave Fund, the first-ever philanthropic organization to put sex workers in a position of grant making. 
 
In 2020, Sinnamon founded the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Collective, a national human rights organization dedicated to bridging the race-based, wage gap in the online sex trades by providing access to mental health resources, financial assistance, and peer-to-peer education. 
 
 In 2021, she participated in a Delphi Panel at Boston University, creating sex education curriculum for US high school students. At the top of 2022, Sinnamon joined the restructure team at the CAST-LA & The National Survivor Network, the largest network of anti-trafficking organizations, to help them move towards a pro-sex work stance.
 
Sinnamon identifies as a kinky, bi, poly, grownup. She is a vibe curator, yogi, Hip Hop & House head, writer, cannabis enthusiast, recovering serial monogamist, #naturallygrey, and happily #singleinbrooklyn.
 
Sinnamon is learning to live with a traumatic brain injury in NYC.
 
You can find out more about Sinnamon at SingleinBrooklyn.com.
The BIPOC Adult Industry Collective: https://www.bipoc-collective.org/



Charlene Fletcher: Historian, educator, and writer, Charlene J. Fletcher is the Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Research Associate in Slavery and Justice at Brown University. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Indiana University, specializing in 19th century United States and African American history and gender studies. She also served as a lecturer of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York and an adjunct lecturer in Global and Historical Studies at Butler University.
 
Charlene’s research and forthcoming book explores the experiences of confined African-American women in Kentucky from Reconstruction to the Progressive Era, specifically illuminating the lives of confined Black women by examining places other than carceral locales as arenas of confinement, including mental health institutions and domestic spaces. She seeks to explore how these women both defied and defined confinement through their incarceration, interactions with public, social, and political entities of the period, as well as how they challenged ideas of race and femininity.
Charlene’s work is motivated by her personal and professional experiences — particularly her work with individuals and families impacted by domestic violence and incarceration — and these experiences continue to fuel her passion for her work today.
 
Jasmine  is a Psychotherapist with a strong emphasis on Intimacy Post Injury/Illness. She is the owner and lead therapist of Blue Pearl Therapy.
Jasmine co-owns, with partner King Noire, award winning Royal Fetish Films and together have over 20 years of experience as adult entertainers, directors and producers. The duo’s love of the arts, film and sex education

Check out this teaser for an update from Old Pro News!

This week, on Old Pro News, we have an extra long interview with Zola Z. Bruce and Mariah Grant from the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. We discussed the Safe Sex Workers Study Act, FOSTA-SESTA, OnlyFans, and many other topics related to tech freedom.  
For more resources on this episode, visit our website:
https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-008
 
Bios
 
Zola Z. Bruce MSSW is a social worker, activist and artist who focuses on helping people to create the life they  want in all aspects of their career. Originally from Dallas, TX, they moved to New York to  attend Sarah Lawrence College to study psychology and sculpture, in addition they did a  semester abroad with The School for International Training in Kingston, Jamaica where they  studied Gender and Development. Zola received their Masters of Science in Social Work from  Columbia University in 2001. Afterwards they worked for 12 years in youth development with  organizations including the Center for Family Life, McBurney YMCA, and the LGBTQ Center focusing on creating therapeutic art programs for youth and families. Internationally they  started a nonprofit, Unified for Global Healing, where they developed grassroots community  health initiatives in Haiti, Ghana, and India using the arts to communicate beyond language,  class, and cultural barriers. Combining their experiences in art, activism, sex work and social  work, Zola currently works as Director of Communications at the Sex Workers Project of  The Urban Justice Center (SWP) and started a documentary series for and by sex workers,  recently on display at The Museum of Sex. Alongside their work with SWP they continue to create, consult, speak at activist events, teach as an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College of  Criminal Justice, is a BDSM instructor and Vice President for KinkOut (KO).
 
Mariah Grant (she/her) is the Director of Research and Advocacy with the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center (SWP). She is a human rights and migration specialist with a focus on migrant and sex workers’ rights, freedom of movement, and labor exploitation. In her role with SWP, she oversees policy advocacy and development of original research, including ongoing studies on law enforcement violence against sex workers. She has worked throughout the US and internationally on improving anti-trafficking policies to ensure better human rights protections for migrants and sex workers.
 
The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City are a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and policy advocacy. 
 
https://twitter.com/UJCSexWorkers
https://www.instagram.com/sexworkersproject/



SAFE SEX WORKER STUDY ACT LINKS 
 
Report produced by Hacking//Hustling, authors: Kendra Albert, Elizabeth Brundige, and Lorelei Lee 
https://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/fosta-in-legal-context/ 
 
https://survivorsagainstsesta.org/ 
 
https://make-the-switch.org/commercial-sex-online/ 
 
https://make-the-switch.org/the-safe-sex-worker-study-act/ 
 
Op-Ed by Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer https://www.thedailybeast.com/want-to-fix-big-tech-stop-ignoring-sex-workers 
 
SWP Statements on SSWSA
https://swp.urbanjustice.org/news-room/resources/ 
 
Senate Bill: 
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3758 
 
House Bill:  
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6928 
 
EARN IT ACT
https://surviveearnit.com/ 
Call your Reps and Senators! 
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/sesta-fosta-anniversary/ 
Request meetings with your Reps and Senators – and other critical members of Congress – like members of the committees the bill has been referred to:   
https://www.house.gov/representatives  
https://www.senat

This week, on Old Pro News, we’ll tell you about two new online reporting programs, only one of which we believe will actually keep sex workers safe. Then, we’ll be chatting with Tamika Spellman, the Advocacy Manager of the harm reduction organization HIPS DC, about the  #DECRIMNOW campaign and why we need to center — and pay! — black trans women in the movement. And we’ll fill you in on recent sex work related legislation in Lousiana and Ohio, and why this makes Lakeesha feel like the government just doesn’t want us to survive!   For more resources on this episode, visit our website:
https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-007



GUEST BIO AND LINKS
 
Tamika Spellman, Advocacy Manager of HIPS (Honoring Individual Power and Strength) DC, is originally from Buffalo New York but has lived in Washington D.C. on and off since 1988. Tamika has worked with HIPS since June 2017. She has served as a peer educator then worked as a part of the needle exchange program.  She has volunteered her time with mobile services giving new works and safer sex supplies to people throughout the District. Tamika knows first hand what the war on drugs has done to the community. She is dedicated to helping others and working to create positive policies and laws to help those involved in sex work and drug use. She has testified on behalf of HIPS at the D.C.  Council, spoken on several harm reduction panels, and is very active in both SWAC and the DC LEAD Coalition. 
 
https://www.hips.org/tamika-spellman.html
 
Sex Workers' Advocates Coalition #DecrimNow Panel featuring Tamika L Spellman, Pontiannà Ivàn Pendavis, Jessica Raven, Louraca Jackson, Nona Moselle, and Jordan DeLoach
“What media should be telling you about the fight to decriminalize sex work”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLIohf-4Ho



HEADLINE 1 | ‘Report John’ platform in Vallejo California
“Vallejo Police Department introduces ‘Report John’ platform to target sex buyers”
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2022/04/28/vallejo-police-department-introduces-report-john-platform-to-target-sex-buyers/
 
HEADLINE 2 | Ugly Mugs Netherlands
“Sex workers warn each other of aggressive clients on new platform”
https://reason.com/2022/04/05/rhode-island-senators-consider-two-paths-to-decriminalizing-prostitution/
https://nltimes.nl/2022/04/20/sex-workers-warn-aggressive-clients-new-platform
https://nationaluglymugs.org/
https://www.uglymugs.nl/nl
https://www.soaaids.nl/en
https://www.wijzijnproud.nl/



HEADLINE 3 | New Westminster develops a work plan related to the safety of sex workers
“New West aims to keep sex workers safe”
https://www.newwestrecord.ca/local-news/new-west-aims-to-keep-sex-workers-safe-5288346
 
HEADLINE 4 | Chippendales are lobbying up
“The iconic male stripper group has hired a lobby shop for the first time. It wants pandemic relief”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/22/chippendales-lobbying-covid-relief-00027202



HEADLINE 5 | Update on Noho Strippers Strike
https://www.change.org/p/star-garden-petition-for-jobs-and-safety
https://www.instagram.com/stripperstrikenoho/
https://donorbox.org/stripper-action-fund




MUTUAL AID NAME AND LINK
 
COYOTE
https://coyoteri.org/wp/

This week, on Old Pro News, we’re talking decrim strategies in Rhode Island and dominatrix discrimination from DoorDash. Our guest is Geo, an activist from Sex Workers Against Criminalization New Orleans, who shares her story of being an undocumented sex worker in the United States. Then I explain what the 14th amendment has to do with the personhood of sex workers.  
For more resources on this episode, visit our website:
https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-006/



GUEST BIO AND LINKS
 
Our guest this week is Geo, an organizer with SWers Against Criminalization New Orleans, who has chosen to remain anonymous because of her vulnerable immigration status. 
 
https://www.instagram.com/swacnola
 
HEADLINE 1 | FOSTA-SESTA upheld after 1st Amendment Challenge
“DC Court Upholds FOSTA-SESTA, Rejects Free-Speech Challenge”
https://www.xbiz.com/news/265618/dc-court-upholds-fosta-sesta-rejects-free-speech-challenge
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/federal-online-sex-trafficking-law-survives-first-amendment-look
 
HEADLINE 2 | Two Rhode Island Decriminalization Bills
“Rhode Island Senators Consider Two Paths To Decriminalizing Prostitution”
https://reason.com/2022/04/05/rhode-island-senators-consider-two-paths-to-decriminalizing-prostitution/



HEADLINE 3 | DoorDash Discrimination
“Dominatrix claims DoorDash banned her over sex work”
https://nypost.com/2022/04/06/dominatrix-claims-doordash-banned-her-over-sex-work-its-dehumanizing/
 
HEADLINE 4 | Update on Noho Strippers Strike
“These Strippers Are Protesting For Safer Work Conditions In Hollywood. Instagram “Mistakenly Removed” Their Account.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/otilliasteadman/instagram-stripper-removal-protest




MUTUAL AID NAME AND LINK
 
New Orleans Mutual Aid Society 
https://www.facebook.com/neworleansmutualaid/

This week, on Old Pro News, we’re talking about decrim in Belgium, a stripper strike in North Hollywood, and financial discrimination in the sex industry. Our guest is Alexandra Hunt, a congressional candidate from Philadelphia who has made her background as a stripper a part of her campaign while refusing to be reduced to that one aspect of who she is and what she stands for. And then Keesha connects Alexandra Hunt’s fight for dignity to the worthiness of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.  
For more resources on this episode, visit our website:
https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-005/



GUEST BIO AND LINKS
 
https://www.alexandramhunt.com/
 
Alexandra Hunt is a public health researcher, a girls’ soccer coach, an advocate for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice, and an organizer fighting for the 3rd district of Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of two teachers and a sister to a twin brother. Alexandra’s twin brother grew up with a learning disability. Seeing the systemic obstacles her brother faced inspired Alexandra to become an advocate and challenge barriers on the basis of race, gender, class, and ability. 



HEADLINE 1 | Belgium Decriminalizes Prostitution
“Belgium is the first country in Europe to decriminalize selling and paying for sex.”
https://reason.com/2022/03/23/belgium-decriminalizes-prostitution/
https://www.nswp.org/featured/utsopi



HEADLINE 2 | NoHo Strippers Strike
“North Hollywood exotic dancers walk off job to protest unsafe work environment”
https://www.foxla.com/news/north-hollywood-exotic-dancers-walk-off-job-to-protest-unsafe-work-environment
https://www.instagram.com/stripperstrikenoho/
https://www.strippersunited.org/
 
HEADLINE 3 | Lube and Condom Company Denied Insurance
“Lube and Condom Company Denied Insurance Because It Sells Lube and Condoms”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4aw8dm/lube-and-condom-company-denied-insurance-hartford-company-paradise
 
HEADLINE 4 | OnlyFans Porn Ban Watch
“OnlyFans could ban porn again in its push for an IPO”
https://www.inputmag.com/culture/onlyfans-ban-porn-public-ipo-spac



MUTUAL AID NAME AND LINK
 
Black Sex Worker Collective
https://www.blacksexworkercollective.org/