For years sex industry workers have lectured at universities, trained police officers, trained middle and upper management employees from various government departments, educated secondary school students, residence in youth detention and acted as consultants to community organization and other private institution on matters related to sex work.

Sex workers want to develop standardized curricula that incorporate lived experience, research and social theory. Experiential peoples can collectively set rates and customize workshops for various audiences and environments. This element of the cooperative will provide opportunities for industry workers to share information about the industry, share community based research findings and sex industry worker led initiatives without being ‘represented’ by outsiders.

This enterprise has received funding from Simon Fraser University to create a standardized presentation as the foundation of this enterprise. A series of meetings were held to formalize the Consulting Enterprise Team, define the contents of the presentation and set the rate of pay for sex workers delivering the presentations.

It was decided that a rate of $50/hr with a minimum of 2 hrs was a fair rate of pay. The group also agreed that WCCSIP would be the payee and disperse funds to presenters. $40/hr to the presenter and $10/hr to the coop adimin. This will be paid in cash on the day of the presentation.

We do this for 2 reasons:

1. to honour the knowledge and lived experience of sex industry workers and create alternative sources of income,
2. to ensure people are not harmed as a result of presenting.

These presentations can be difficult especially when a presenter is sharing personal experiences or answering difficult questions from audiences. It can lead to a person being emotionally triggered. By ensuring cash payment on the day of the presentation, we hope to prevent people from taking unnecessary risks to find money for whatever coping mechanisms they employ.

The following outline reflects the contents of the body of the standardized presentation:

• History
• Culture
• Strategic plan
• Ethics and harm reduction
• PTSD
• Mental Health
• First Nations
• Impacts of Enforcement
• Academics
• Our Families and Our community - Separation/segregation
• Feminist abolitionists
• Touching/physical contact
• Sex Industry diversity and gender inclusion
• Selective enforcement
• Hate crimes
• Stigma - the impacts of shaming sex workers
• Survival sex work vs. Adult consensual sex industry work - Sex industry work as a job and a choice

The presentation also includes a resource package including:

• Info sheets on all of the above topics
• Copies of the strategic plan
• Symptoms of and tools for dealing with PTSD
• Tools specific to the area in which the audience engages with the sex industry community
• Techniques which respect the PTSD factor
• Ways to break down segregation
• Tools for ethical engagment of sex industry communities

The WCCSIP Consulting Enterprise would be happy to tailor a presentation specifically for your needs!

Please contact the Cooperative Development Coordinator for details.

coordinator@wccsip.ca