Image provided by author. Read some of these stories, right here. Using the slogan zerodiscrimination: join the transformation, launched by UNAIDS last year, the sex worker group Gempac organised a political advocacy event. This included a workshop on expressions of sex work, which are often negative and offensive, a demonstration in front of the headquarters, a parade through the old, bohemian part of town, and a run, attracting a lot of attention.
Back at the headquarters during the evening, sex workers and allies held a performance about discrimination and hypocrisy and sang songs with critical lyrics concerning machismo , racism, homophobia, environmental degradation, exploitation of labour, and medicalisation.
Feminists, people from the LGBT community and artists were present during the day, strengthening partnership with GEMPAC sex workers, which created a neologism adopted all over Brazil: the 'Puta Dei' puta for 'whore' and as a synonym for excellent, followed by Dei, which sounds like Day and means to give a sexual sense.
The Association Women Warriors Mulheres Guerreiras promoted an event at a cultural centre taking place in a train station. A bus brought female and trans sex workers from Itatinga Garden, the sex work area of Campinas. A pulpit was improvised on a small railway vehicle from which sex workers complained about something that makes them mad. Betania Santos, one of the coordinators of the association, criticised the closure of bars and hotels by local government, leaving women with a hard time to find places to meet and attend clients.
There were musical performances and a tribute to Gabriela Leite. A Daspu parade, with more than 20 transvestites and sex workers walking the catwalk of the brand created by Davida, thrilled the audience. For Betania, the highlights of the event were the participation of a great number of sex workers and the wide range of feminist allies, including legal and popular prosecutors who work with the issue of domestic violence, members of the SlutWalk, of the Domestic Workers Union, and the staff of the local headquarters of a federation of unions CUT , where the association is based.
