03/25/2021
Like many, I'm in the middle of processing the results of the Atlanta shootings last week along with the waves of anti-Asian attacks and rhetoric which led to these nightmare-ish realities we’re living in. However, despite the overwhelming positive messages from various demographics showing solidarity for AAPI communities, I can’t help but to think about the harsh structural challenges of these women's immigration and financial struggles before and during Covid.
While we can point fingers at racism and white supremacy (which are justifiably valid), these narratives also overshadows a great amount of microaggressions, fetishizations and stigmas these women have to deal with on a daily basis for being a service provider at these parlors - many of which comes from outside AND within the Asian communities itself for being associated with s*x work - a taboo topic that is seldom talked about. One of the victims from the shooting was Hyun Jung Grant (현정), who also did what she had to do to raise 2 kids as a single migrant mother, who also attempted to shield the details of her works from her sons.
Many media outlets and our communities play a role in invisiblizing the need for expanding labor rights and protection for these marginalized groups, while law enforcement continue to use narratives such as s*x trafficking and licensing to justify criminalization of such demographic - arrests of Asian-identified people in NYC charged with both unlicensed massage and s*x work increased by 2,700 percent between 2012 and 2016 according to reports. Yang Song(宋楊), 38, lost her life after falling four stories onto a sidewalk in Flushing, Queens in 2017 while trying to run from the police, while some of her colleagues also suffered injuries from the raid that forced her to return to China for medical treatment. These are only a few of many examples of systematic violence perpetuated by the NYPD Vice Squad alongside their long-known corrupt undercover practices that “solicited s*x for a fee, took advantage of unsuspecting s*x workers, engaged in s*xual activities, and then radioed in their squad to make arrests.”
While we’re condemning the recent attacks on Asian Americans, it’s also important for us to think about the forms of approaches we advocate in the face of these increased hatreds towards our skin colours. Do more policing units actually keep our communities safe given their track records with marginalized POC groups? What will become the new normal for other migrant massage parlor/s*x workers after these horrific news cycles? And how do we create safer working conditions for them moving forward? to prevent more tragedies such as ’s and many others.
The red umbrella has been the international symbol of s*x work movement since 2001. The artworks displayed were taken from the S*x Workers' Pop-Up last year around this time (which was unfortunately cut short due to NYC Covid shutdown), I had the honor of working alongside amazing orgs such as The Soze Agency, Decrim NY, Red Canary Song to highlight the importance of s*x workers’ rights via the mediums of artworks and dialogues.
*xWorkIsWork
