Sex workers, looking for more respect and a better quality of life



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If bad workers generally want to share their experience, it is because their task is recognized, which allows them to come out of their hiding place and help to avoid social condemnation from a moral point of view.

We are celebrating today the International Day of Sex Workers. The Women's Association of Cordoba (Ammar Córdoba) and the Sex Work Recognition Network decided to commemorate this date by making their stories and demands visible.

For this they organized a sample and lectures at the Museum of Anthropology to give impetus to the retirement and social work campaign for people who practice bad work in its different forms, whether in the street or on social networks. or in other types of spaces. It began on Friday, May 31 and will run every Friday in June.

Since each beginning of this civil badociation, which has already 19 years of experience, women have carried the most diverse stories, often burdened with suffering and lack. The truth is that many have managed to support complete families through the collection of their badual services.

A survey conducted jointly last year by the UNC Social Work Faculty and by Ammar found that 73% are heads of households, 76% have children, 80% are single women and 17% are female. % of transgender women. . The survey, carried out between August 2017 and February 2018 with a sample of 224 bad workers from the capital of Córdoba, also showed that 93% had no social work, 92% did not. Had no other job and 91% did not have any retirement.

Hence the precarious work situation in which they find themselves and for which they demand their inclusion in the pension system and health care, especially for the elderly, who can no longer accomplish this task.

Eugenia Aravena, referent and founder of Ammar Córdoba, explains: "We need to get rid of the existing social discrimination" and says that the bad workers remain hidden and clandestine and that they continue to arrive at the Ammar's seat "with low self-esteem and a lot of guilt." "The subway is still making the situation worse," he adds.

In this space located in Maipú, at 6:30 am, there is a primary and secondary school for adults, a nursery from morning to night, a gynecology office, a testing center for HIV and hepatitis B and C, as well as local. "First listen", to deal with addiction problems. They also offer breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Workshops with official titles (pastry, make-up, gastronomy, textile clothing), a community wardrobe and conferences on the prevention of badually transmitted diseases (STDs). , gender and human rights, among others.

"It's amazing what we have achieved in almost 20 years, each of our activities is the result of agreements with different ministries or secretariats, we are hitting doors and trips a lot, and we continue to move forward. Aravena says in a dialogue with La Voz and recalls that for their work they were rewarded by the "red ribbon" granted by the United Nations at the World AIDS Conference.

"If we are historically persecuted, detained and beaten by the police, we can say today that we have a security commission that coordinates with the police to protect the comrades." Yes, it's true that it's still missing, but I like to see the glbad half full.When we tell the new stories we had to go there 10 or 20 years, they can not believe it, "says Eugenia.

And is it only in 2016 repealed in Cordoba that Article 45 of the Code of Fault (when it was replaced by the Code of Coexistence of Citizens), which provided that the people who were practicing prostitution would stopped? Although this task is not regulated today, it is not prohibited either.

The women and trans women who have crossed several provinces recognize that in Córdoba, the search for better living conditions is gradually progressing. "In November, we organized the first national meeting of bad workers, there are more and more compañeras who are organizing in different places, and that's fine, we have to eliminate this taboo. and talk about what's going on, "says Eugenia, 38, who has a 12-year-old son and a long career.

Sex work against traffic

For Eugenia, those who oppose bad work tend to badociate ignorantly (and morally) the problem of human trafficking and badual exploitation with bad work itself. "It's not the same thing to work in an exploited textile workshop (because they pay you little) than to work in a textile workshop as a victim of trafficking, threatened or deceived, undocumented ", illustrates Eugenia.

Ammar is part of the Commission against Trafficking in Human Beings, which coordinates with the Secretariat for Combating Violence Against Women and Trafficking in the Provincial Government.

In 2012, when the law prohibiting whiskey was created, relations between the two institutions became tense. Subsequently, efforts have been coordinated over time, according to Eugenia.

"Many people think, out of ignorance, that it can only happen to a job that a person chooses, but what do they know? Sex work exists and has always existed, and the focus of the discussion should be the conditions in which it unfolds and how we do it to improve the quality of life of compañeras, especially the most vulnerable, "concluded Eugenia.

"We must build new forms of affectivity"

Meli is 28 years old and has been a bad worker since the age of 19. Her mode is to work with social networks and, as a result, she feels "privileged" in the sector because conditions and pay are better.

She has worked in San Juan, Mendoza, Buenos Aires and Córdoba, where she says the persecution of female workers is minor. "Here, the recognition is greater and we owe it to the task of visibility made by Ammar," he said.

Her routine begins between 9 and 10 am and she updates her profiles on Instagram, on Facebook and on other pages throughout the day, where she receives her two or three services a week, whether with women, men or women. with non-binary identities.

She studies to become a barwoman, studies theater and reaffirms that bad work is her choice. "Even in this case, I think the treatment is still discriminatory, harbading and clandestine," he said. He added: "I would like the culture of baduality to change, to be seen from another perspective, to be appreciated and appreciated, and not to be seen from the outside." moral point of view ".

When asked if she has a partner, Meli explains: "I have connections with several people and I prioritize some of them.Now I'm with a piba.I think we need to build new forms of affectivity. "Also ensures that their links know what their work is doing, as well as their family members, although the latter is hard to say.

Meli says that she has never experienced situations of violence with clients and that she is not afraid because she has links with other companies with whom she is involved. stay in touch to help in case of any problem or to share information about dangerous profiles.

"Some of my clients just want to talk and let off steam, that's part of our job, and for us, bad work is work that needs to be recognized as such," he said.

The differences "We are not bad slaves, we are precarious workers", among the messages. (Facundo Luque)

"I want to be able to tell my children what work"

Juliana (fictitious name) is 44 years old and works 20 years ago in the same corner of the Cañada. None of her seven children know what she's doing and she dreams that someday, bad workers will be less discriminated against, to tell them how she lives her day-to-day life.

"Although I do not recommend this task to anyone, I recognize that I have perfectly created my children with it.I could be a good mother, I was present of what I have best and always congratulated by the doctors and teachers for the performance of my children, "she says with pride, and more when she refers to one of her children, who has almost completed her studies. another who is the primary flag bearer. "I sold my tights to buy coats and notebooks," she says enthusiastically.

She started being a bad worker at the age of 24. When she lost her previous job, she was separated and had two children: "I did not find any options and because of hunger and despair, I started going out. At first, it was difficult, but later I got used to it. "

In this sense, Juliana values ​​the work of Ammar, because it offers workshops to get out of the street with other compañeras. However, because of her level of spending, this is still not an option for her, who continues to "go out" and combines them with other jobs in family homes.

"I have always been very correct, I do not consume drugs, I do not smoke, I do not drink, and I have well educated my boys.I have always worked during the day and I took care of my clothes for my children – that, thankfully, they never saw me – the people from the neighboring buildings know me and have always helped me.When it was cold, they m '39 have brought a coffee or bags with clothes, fortunately they have not disrespected me, "he adds.

"I support the demands for retirement and social work because over time, the body gives you nothing, it's sad to see women who have to continue on the street at 60 or 65," he says. .

"I dream to go back to Bell City and forget everything"

Cecilia is a 61 year old transbadual woman and her story makes anyone who listens to her, for the cruelty she's experienced.

Cecilia Testimony of persecution.

In his childhood, in the 1960s, he had already felt that his gender identity was different from biological identity. But at that time, you could not talk about it, let alone in a small town like Bell City. "In my house, I suffered a lot of violence, I ended up raising my grandmother, but I went through a lot of houses; I could not even go to the house." School, it was hell, "she says through tears.

"Later, they took me to the south, where I did my military service shortly before the Falklands War. There, in the Zapala artillery group 181, I was I have suffered violations and all kinds of harbadment, many beatings, the bosses came back drunk from cabarets and did everything for me, I cut my arms to go to a hospital and felt safe, " he explains in dialogue with this media.

After being taken to Buenos Aires, she came to live in Córdoba: "Here I started to prostitute myself and it was very difficult at the time of the soldiers, they arrested us, they beat us. "I spent whole days in the D2 without knowing what day it was because of the beatings they had given me, and when democracy came I felt a little relieved," he added. he.

However, the persecution did not end for Cecilia, who continued to be persecuted by the police for complying with Article 45 of the Code of Fault, already repealed. Years later, she had a heart attack and four years ago she was diagnosed with a cancer of the mouth for which she had already been operated on seven times. He receives an invalidity pension of five thousand pesos which guarantees the payment of rent and another pension of two thousand pesos for a "Plan Eat", intended for people suffering from oncological diseases, among others.

"Even so, it does not happen to me and I'm still working, I do not want it anymore, the doctors ask me to take care of my health, but I do not have any other," he says.

"I dream of going home and forgetting the backpack I have behind me, forget about it," he says.

On June 2, 1975, more than 100 prostitutes from Lyon, France, tired of police reprisals and after two murders, seized St. Nizier Church for eight days. The strike was the starting point for claiming better conditions for bad workers around the world.

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