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Scarlet Alliance Australian Sex Workers Association

Scarlet Alliance is the national peak sex worker organisation in Australia.

This website is maintained by volunteer sex worker skills, energy and passion! We apologise that the interactive sections are offline.
To join Scarlet Alliance download the membership form
To join the Scarlet Alliance FaceBook Group, link here.
To donate to Scarlet Alliance go to our contacts page


Acknowledgment
Scarlet Alliance recognise that Australia is a colony built upon Aboriginal land, we pay our respect to the elders and custodians of this land, current, past and future, and stand in solidarity with the struggles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We are a proud member of the Anwernekenhe National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV/AIDS Alliance (ANA).

Translated information section of this website now live. Available in Thai, Chinese and Korean

ALERT - SAVE DECRIMINALISATION for sex workers health and safety in NSW



 The New South Wales Government has publicly stated that they intend to change the laws in NSW. The current model is decriminalisation - lobbied for by sex workers throughout the world as the only model of sex industry regulation that supports sex workers health and safety and human rights. The NSW Government, after lobbying by local government, is posed to introduce a licensing model of regulation instead. We know the serious negative impacts of the licensing model as it has been in place in Victoria and Queensland for many years. It results in very low compliance and leaves the majority of the industry with no option but to operate in the illegal sector. We believe policy and legislation should be evidence based and the evidence shows this will have devastating impacts on sex workers.

Campaign in Western Australia

People for Sex Worker Rights in WA | Promote Your Page Too

Information Pack on proposed Sex Industry Laws for WA



You may have heard about the laws changing for sex workers and the sex industry in WA. Before laws change they are often proposed as a set of draft laws and then the public (including sex workers) have the chance to comment on the proposals. Download this 1meg info pack and have your say on the laws!

REMEMBERING ALLY DANIEL

The following are a list of links to the amazing sex worker activism of NSW based sex worker Ally Daniel.

Ally Daniel presentation at NSW Parliament House, Nov 2010

Ally Daniel article for RhED Magazine #16

Today I chose to identify as a sex worker under my real name. Choosing to use my real name is liberating but also a risk…I risk what you may think of me, where and with who you may share that information with and how they may react to me; I risk future employment by telling you (a dilemma I have always been acutely aware of – how do I explain the past 12 years of employment?) This can pose a very real danger in many ways.

The most liberating and empowering experience I’ve had in applying for a job was recently when I was able to apply for a position at SWOP (Sex Workers Outreach Project). Part of the criteria for this position was ‘sex work experience’, so for the first time I was able to include my skills as sex worker in my resume and covering letter; for the first time I did not have to hide who I was or how I gained some of those skills; for the first time in a job application I could be "me"!

...I don’t hide my job because of my feelings about my work - I hide it because of your feelings about my work. It is your ignorance and feelings that victimises, humiliates and degrades me. It is your feelings that make me ashamed of who I am and what I do. I can’t hold my head up high and be proud of myself, until YOU allow me to do so.

It cannot be said enough: sex workers are people – they are your friends, your family members, they are wage earners, tax-payers and parents — and they deserve the same human rights as everyone else. Download PDF of full article

Ally Daniel quoted by Kate Holden in Meanjin 2011

"What other job can a woman walk into, with no recent references or work experience, get employed immediately, work flexible hours to suit her and her family, get a decent wage for a relatively short time at work and get paid cash in hand at the end of her shift so she can pay that very pressing bill the next day?" Link to full story

Ally Daniel academic publication "The sexual health of sex workers: no bad whores, just bad laws" 2010

"Sex workers are a group vilified, discriminated against and without many of the legal and social protections most people take for granted yet since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, sex workers in Australia have enjoyed extremely low rates of HIV transmission. Peer education and sex worker advocacy at individual and systemic levels are necessary to maintain these low rates of transmission." Download PDF

Ally Daniel comments for Scarlet Alliance's 21st Birthday

"“On this day we celebrate the 21st birthday of Scarlet Alliance and recognise we have achieved so much. No longer are we, as sex workers, the pariahs of society. Anti-discrimination legislation, decriminalisation in other states, along with sex worker input into HIV and Trafficking policy and funding are all still on our agenda in 2010. The next 21 years will see sex work further legitimised and put whorephobia in the same basket as racism, sexism and homophobia.”" Link to media release

HIV IS A VIRUS NOT A CRIME

updated 9 May 2012