Violence Prevention

Violence Prevention

Survival sex workers face multiple levels of violence, including bad dates, spousal abuse, harassment and abuse from the public, and police brutality.

The Violence Prevention is on-the-spot emergency support and prevention-based education workshops around relevant, contextual safety issues in the lives of survival sex workers.

The Violence Prevention Safety Workshop Groups

  • Teach confrontation management skills
  • Train participants in self-defense for extreme situations
  • Educate participants about relevant laws, such as the concept of reasonable force and the right to defend yourself
  • Re-frame societal stigma – work on avoiding the internalization of society stigma (for example, the “you deserve it” mentality)
  • Emphasize using instincts recognizing that survival sex workers tend to have remarkable, innate intuition because they work in high-risk environments
  • Encourage the participants to share their own violence prevention strategies with each other to keep the information current and useful – the expertise of the participants are integrated into the program to be passed on in future groups
  • One-on-one safety planning for participants not comfortable in group settings
  • Keep participants updated on bad date sheets and any sexual predators known to police
Show Buttons
Hide Buttons