Meeting 2: How do we do it?
Working out short term goals with tangible outcomes, in Decoding Stigma meeting #2
This is our meeting report from Decoding Stigma #2. It covers what we are trying to execute *now* so if anything below inspires you—maybe you can help materially with one of our goals, maybe you want to join our growing group, or anything else—please do not hesitate to reach out (decodingstigma@protonmail.com) or share this with others who you think share our mission.
Our first meeting generated a lot of ideas, which is amazing but potentially overwhelming. So we spent the better part of meeting #2 trying to narrow our focus/direction and not get lost in the weeds. Guiding questions included: what’s reasonably achievable in the short term? What kind of time commitment can thinkers make? What are actions we can take that create tangible output? Who can help? And of course, how do we get money for it?
Outward-facing actions
There was a collective sense that having a project to work toward would help foster a sense of direction. Here are two ideas we’ve agreed to pursue:
Liberation Imagination Workshops: So much sex work-related movement work is responding to crisis that there is a desire to have space for organizing that isn’t crisis-oriented. There is an exhausting amount of restorative/anti-imperialist work that needs to be done, which can crush the soul. Instead we want to organize around speculative futures built/designed with and alongside sex workers, with the goal of empowering laborers while platforming their demands as opportunity to collaborate in allyship. By creating a space to joyfully worldbuild we support the spirit of the movement and create potential achievable real world solutions in the process.
A proposal for workshops was presented at the third group meeting on September 18th, 5pm EST.
Open Source Syllabus/Resource Guide: Inspired by Dean Spade’s Mutual Aid Class syllabus, which Spade makes available to the public (participation encouraged). What does a digital syllabus spearheaded by sex workers and allies look like? Ideas include organizing an open source learning hub of readings, resources, citable research, articles, and teaching toolkits. This should be a living document with space to participate by submitting, reviewing, discussing, and updating materials. Inspirations include audience-managed wiki pages and mutual aid repos on GitHub.
Inward-reflecting intentions
There were also certain intentions we wanted to set for ourselves as a group. These are some first fundamentals, with expectation that they will grow/evolve with the group.
Group meetings are a place of mutual support and respite from institutional challenges that impose the constant need to explain ourselves and why this matters.
The group must remain aware of its privileges and move toward more intersectionality always
There will be space for feedback (What’s working? What can be better?) so that there is an evolution toward effectiveness in collaboration
Communication question: how do we keep in touch between meetings?
Security question: how do we best maintain digital hygiene to keep participants safe?
Contemplation/next steps zone
FUNDING! How do we get it? What do we need to provide for funding proposals?
Those currently institutionally-situated can research grant/funding/financed initiatives at their places that we can apply to (we can create a shared spreadsheet).
We can tailor projects toward grant proposal asks. We are verging on “think tank” here so, we can direct our efforts toward where the money is.
Visibility: similar to above, what conferences, events, publications, panels, hackathons, etc can we be present at or refer sw/allies to be present? What’s happening at our schools, and who is calling for participation?
Institutions are “suddenly interested” (eyeroll) in intersectional movement work, how can we take advantage of this by offering to show up?
Wishlisting: an open-source document collecting ideas & projects (especially tech-facilitated initiatives) seeking collaborators and allied support. A different type of Seeking Arrangement!
We held our third meeting last Friday, where we solidified an idea to beta test a speculative futures workshop in the group. The next meeting report (following shortly!) will include parts of my proposal presentation as well as how we developed next steps together.
Besides meeting reports, I’ll be adding some personal reflections here on the state of affairs at the intersection of sex work and tech. Submissions are welcome!
xxGabriella