{"id":2226,"date":"2024-09-03T15:14:06","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T15:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2024-09-04T09:12:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T09:12:12","slug":"sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/2024\/09\/03\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a lot that non-sex working citizens will never understand about the industry. They can probably guess that the work is stigmatised, if they\u2019re not participating in the prejudice themselves. But that it can be joyful, celebrated, something to be proud of<\/em> \u2013 that\u2019s the part that\u2019s often overlooked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSex workers are never allowed to be proud because we\u2019re marginalised in society outside of our sex positive echo chamber. There are so many microaggressions and negative perceptions of us. Even one of the girls I\u2019m seeing, who is in an open relationship, said her girlfriend would break up with her if she dated me, because of my job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m speaking to Maedb Joy<\/a>, a 26-year-old artist and co-organiser of Riot Party<\/a>, a Queer sex worker-led rave, and founder of Sexquisite Events<\/a>, an arts company that focuses on platforming sex workers. This Sunday September 8, Riot Party is taking over London\u2019s Electrowerkz for a Sex Worker Pride Festival, that will give this community the opportunity to wear their profession and identity proudly, rather than in the shadows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Attendees of Riot Party. Photo by Whoretographer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The idea for the festival has been floating for a few years. In 2021, sex worker charity Umbrella Lane commissioned Sexquisite to host some performances at an event. The following year they hosted a cabaret and political performance party for people in the industry, and from there started hosting sex worker-only events.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we just had this dream of creating a sex worker pride that\u2019s recognised like regular pride, Trans Pride, Black Pride, and convince people to come and celebrate with us, so it\u2019s not just something focused on only our community,” says Maedb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Miss Gold (left) and Eva Oh (right) at Riot Party. Photo by Miss Angel Bella.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SWer Pride is a collaboration with women and non-binary only event series One Night<\/a>, organised by famed fetish photographer<\/a> and fellow sex worker Miss Gold<\/a>. The event has earned a fierce reputation for itself since starting in 2019, attracting a predominantly Queer crowd of women who want to play, learn and socialise with each other safely and authentically, away from the male gaze. While most of Electrowerkz will be open to all genders and allies on Sunday, organisers are keeping one exclusive area for vetted One Night babes only, putting Queer and sapphic experiences at the forefront of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes sense because almost every stripper I know is Queer,\u201d says Miss Gold, laughing. \u201cIt\u2019s out of hand!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, there\u2019s a sticker we sell at Sexquisite that says \u2018Straight For Pay\u2019,\u201d agrees Maedb. \u201cThere\u2019s a massive intersection between the Queer and sex work community. It\u2019s a bit like chicken and egg, like were you Queer first? Or did sex work make you more Queer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A guest (left) and Maedb (right) at Riot Party. Photo by Pidge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the One Night play area and dance floor are not the only highlights on offer on Sunday. There will also be a Cabaret by Cybertease<\/a> and Sexquisite, as well as a sex worker-led market. A protest sign making workshop and exhibitions from Queer Whore Collective<\/a> and Anonymous Sex Worker Arts Collective<\/a>, and a panel discussion, keep the festival firmly established in the political roots of pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs sex workers, you’re constantly encouraged or made to feel that you have to hide your identity,\u201d says Miss Gold. \u201cIt’s like the concept of being associated with being a sex worker as a brand is frowned upon, or you could lose your business or whatever. But us standing together and being like, \u2018I want<\/em> to be associated with being a sex worker. I want to stamp that all over my brand.’ There’s a real power in that. I’m so proud of what I do, and I’m proud of all my peers. So the more we can do for visibility, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riot Party London Sex Worker Pride Special takes place September 8 from 4pm. Get tickets on Dice.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queer sex worker rave Riot Party and all women and non-binary event series One Night are teaming up for a Sex Worker Pride festival at Electrowerkz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[58,11,36,21,111],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-london","tag-photography","tag-pride","tag-queer","tag-sex-work"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It - Gay Star News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SWers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gay Star News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-03T15:14:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-04T09:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d1wrk42pj731ls.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Helen Meriel Thomas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Helen Meriel Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz\",\"name\":\"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It - Gay Star News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-03T15:14:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-04T09:12:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f\"},\"description\":\"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Riot Resident Performer Felix Mufti who was recently a star in Sex Education. Photo by Miss Angel Bella.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/category\/community\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Gay Star News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f\",\"name\":\"Helen Meriel Thomas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Helen Meriel Thomas\"},\"description\":\"Helen is a bisexual writer from London and Senior Social Content Producer for Gay Star News.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/author\/helen-thomasjoemediagroup-co-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It - Gay Star News","description":"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SWers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It.","og_description":"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz","og_site_name":"Gay Star News","article_published_time":"2024-09-03T15:14:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-04T09:12:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/d1wrk42pj731ls.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Helen Meriel Thomas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Helen Meriel Thomas","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz","url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz","name":"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It - Gay Star News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","datePublished":"2024-09-03T15:14:06+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-04T09:12:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f"},"description":"Gay Star News speaks to Riot Party and One Night ahead of their joint Sex Worker Pride Festival At Electrowerkz.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Untitled-design-44.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Riot Resident Performer Felix Mufti who was recently a star in Sex Education. Photo by Miss Angel Bella."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/community\/sex-worker-pride-riot-party-one-night-electrowerkz#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community","item":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/category\/community\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sex Workers Deserve Pride. Now They Have It."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/","name":"Gay Star News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f","name":"Helen Meriel Thomas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Helen Meriel Thomas"},"description":"Helen is a bisexual writer from London and Senior Social Content Producer for Gay Star News.","url":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/author\/helen-thomasjoemediagroup-co-uk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2258,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions\/2258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}