LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Collective, in collaboration with SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project, PASS Certified, Kink Out Events, Strippers United, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, has announced the organizations will celebrate International Whores Day by hosting a “comprehensive health fair” at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on Friday, June 2, 2023, from 12 – 5 PM PST.
Free tickets for both the in-person and online components for the sound bath, yoga, and self-defense class can be found here on Eventbrite.
In the announcement, BIPOC Collective noted that the theme of this year’s event “Sex Workers’ Health: From Surviving to Thriving”, is a “twist on the usual protest meets celebration.”
“Over the past year, BIPOC Collective has shifted much of its programming by providing crisis management and direct service referrals to community members with the most pressing needs,” said Sinnamon Love, Founder and Director of BIPOC Collective. “We stay committed to doing this work through partnerships with organizations like SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project, and PASS. I’m thrilled this year’s IWD event serves as a ‘party with a purpose’ to get sex workers tested, insured, connected with resources, and vaccinated against MPox just as Pride season begins.”
According to the announcement, the health and safety-focused wellness and resource fair “expands access to racially concordant, trauma, sex work, and LGBTQIA2S+ informed holistic practitioners, medical providers, and mental healthcare.”
The event will offer information sharing, mental health referrals, Medicaid enrollment navigation, and mobile health clinics interspersed with wellness activities, including yoga led by Thick Girl Yoga LA, a self-defense class with Vanessa Carlisle of Hooker’s Army, and a sound bath with Erotic Medusa. The afternoon will also feature pole dancing organized by Strippers United and DJ sets from EthicalDrvgs, Star Ah-Mer-Ah-Su, Succubus Tony, Ly Tran, and Eva Myra May.
“Sex workers are among the most marginalized people in the world, and criminalization leaves them vulnerable to predators,” said Soma Snakeoil, a representative of the Sidewalk Project. “We are committed to empowering sex workers with resources, public health access, and education. We believe in support, not salvation.”
Over 30 vendors will be present at this year’s event, including St. John’s Transgender Health Program, Avril Heals, East LA Women’s Center, Fire & Flow Therapy, Total Testing Solutions, MPower, Trans Migrant Support CA, The Cupcake Girls, Sunday Faire, Templerotica, Pansey Esthetics, SWAID, evan mccrary, Stripper’s Co-op, East LA Women’s Center, and CAST-LA.
The 2023 IWD Health and Resource Fair is supported by donations, grants, and sponsorships from Third Wave Fund, Emergent Fund, CAST-LA, and The Black Erotica Archive.
