The streets were unusually quiet-save for the pitter-pattering rain and the muffled traffic sound of vehicles traveling over the rain-slicked roads. A night that would otherwise end with a cacophony of exploding fireworks, instead sizzled with the drizzle.
At the annual New Year’s Eve Grand Park countdown the thousands expected to show up for the live music, food and other festivities failed to materialize.
The same could have been said about the sex worker’s NYE celebration, Hosted by SWOPLA (Sex Workers Outreach Project) and Decrim SW California. The number of those in attendance barely registered at about 25, give or take.
But the vibe and energy turned out to be a different story entirely, thanks in no small part to the exotic dancers who lit up the night like fireworks in celebration of their latest legislative win as sex workers.
A night of dance performances hosted by SWOPLA AND Decrim SW California gets underway on New Year’s Eve at Navel, a loft warehouse space in Downtown Los Angeles. Tickets to the event were on sale for $25, $40 and $50. The proceeds, according to the organizations hosting the event will support the “sex worker-led work being done by DecrimSWCA, the state-wide coalition that led the charge to pass SB 357, and SWOPLA an LA-based SWer mutual aid org that helped a lot to pass the bill.”
On that rainy New Year’s Eve sex worker’s rights organizations and their supporters hosted a night of dancing in what was dubbed “Baring it All, a sex worker celebration of sex workers and the passing of Senate Bill 357,” in downtown Los Angeles.
SB 357, the Safer Streets For All Act, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and signed by Governor Newsom last July, went into effect at midnight, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Its passage repealed a provision of California law that made it a crime to loiter “with the intent to engage in prostitution,” – formerly a misdemeanor offense.
“This criminal provision — arrests for which are based on an officer’s subjective perception of whether a person is “acting like” or “looks like” they intend to engage in sex work — results in the disproportionate criminalization of trans, Black and Brown women, and perpetuates violence toward sex workers,” Wiener said in a statement back in June.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) were among the group opposing the bill:
“While the intent of this legislation is to protect the prosecution of a vulnerable community, the unintended consequences will be to benefit the sex buyers as well,” an argument during the analysis phase of the bill in the legislature reads. “A repeal of this law will take a major tool away from law enforcement, especially patrol operations.”
For sex worker’s rights activists, the passing of SB 357 was long overdue and another step forward into the larger goal of one day decriminalizing sex work in total across the United States.
“Onyx Black,” who has worked as an exotic dancer for the past seven years and 20 years as an activist and advocate for sex workers, performs her dance routine during the SWOPLA and Decrim SW California New Year’s Eve event on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. In the past, she has worked in the phone sex industry and an escort but now predominantly focuses on pole dancing both as a performer and instructor.
“We hope that the Safer Streets for All Act will help people understand how policing does not create public safety, and will immediately deprive police of one tool they use to harass and oppress folks based on race and gender,” Ashley Madness of SWOP LA and the DecrimSexWorkCA Coalition, said in a statement.
A sentiment echoed in a separate statement by Fatima Shabazz of the DecrimSexWorkCA Coalition:
“SB 357 repeals a Jim Crow law that criminalized Black and trans people in public spaces.”
“Onyx Black” in a spinning “Superman” pose on the dance pole. Her performance induces attendees to “make it rain,” the act of tossing money at an exotic dancer.Audience members stand stand back and watch as “Ms. Angel” performs her exotic dance on the pole. “Ms. Angel.” “Elle Souza” begins her dance routine on the dance pole. An exotic dancer, “Elle Souza” collects the money she earned after her performance “made it rain” during the SWOPLA and Decrim SW California New Year’s Eve event on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. “Angel,” 25, poses for a photo inside a photo booth where she is volunteering as a portrait event photographer during the sex worker’s New Year’s Eve event celebrating the passage of Senate Bill 357 (Safer Streets For All Act) set to go into effect at the toll of midnight on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. “Angel” became a sex worker when she was 20-years-old after experiencing homelessness. She began to make enough money that she was able to provide housing for herself less than a month after becoming a sex worker. “It really saved my life,” she said. She recently graduated from UCLA where she has been pursuing a career in law.Attendees dance while the exotic performers pause for a break.“Nicole,” 26, walks up to the dance pole during a sex worker’s celebration of New Year’s Eve in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Nicole pursued her passion to become an exotic dancer at the age of 19 back in North Carolina. She had just recently arrived in Los Angeles last Summer. “I grew up in the South so I always knew a lot of dancers who were comfortable being on stage- I always loved the dance stage- so I figured, ‘why not dance?,’” she said.“Willow Nicole” stands back and observes “Xochit de la Noche” tease a member of the audience during her dance routine. “Xochi De La Noche” performs her themed dance on New Year’s Eve during the SWOPLA and Decrim SW California celebration of the recent passage of SB 357 bill into law when the clock struck midnight.“You have to genuinely not give a f-ck to be an [exotic] dancer- get up on a stage in front of complete strangers and take your clothes off for money. You cannot be ordinary. You have to be extra-ordinary to do that,” a supporter for sex workers said during the event.A makeshift memorial for Carol Leigh, a “member of Decrim Sex Work CA, the coalition that threw the party with SWOPLA (& help from other supporters). She was a fierce activist, organizer, creative, and visionary! And so full of humor and wonder. She was also very involved in BAYSWAN and the Sex Worker Film Festival in San Francisco, and is widely credited with coining the term sex work,” Ashley Madness of SWOPLA said.
Note: All of the names of the performers for this piece were kept anonymous and only their stage names were used for safety concerns. Many sex workers continue to deal with the effects of stigmatization against their profession.
Notes From MacArthur Park/Pico-Union... 