INTERNATIONAL SEX WORKERS' RIGHTS DAY
2025 ACTION WEEK
JUNE 1-5
CALL TO ACTION: WHORES DAY 2025 – 50 YEARS OF SEX WORKER RESISTANCE
On June 2, 1975, hundreds of sex working women in Lyon, France, occupied the St. Nizier Church. They demanded dignity, safety, and labour rights in the face of constant police harassment, state repression, and patriarchal exploitation. That historic act of defiance sparked an international movement — and its legacy lives on in the ongoing fight for sex worker justice.
This year marks 50 years since that uprising. And in Berlin, we honour it not only with remembrance — but with action. For the last five years, the Sex Worker Action Group Berlin and supporters have organised public demonstrations on June 2nd, amplifying the voices of our community. In 2025, we shift our strategy. Instead of marching through the streets, we are building space: holding ground, deepening connections, and expanding our reach.
From June 1st to 5th, sex workers and supporters will gather across Berlin for a citywide event series. We’ll take up space in symbolic locations — including the Zwölf-Apostel-Kirche (Twelve Apostles Church) — where we’ll host panels, film screenings, dinners, and workshops. Some events are for sex workers only, others are open to the public. We will also publicly launch Germany’s first-ever Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill - written by sex workers.
This is part of a Europe-wide week of action coordinated by the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA), during which sex worker-led groups across the continent will reclaim churches and other spaces — echoing the call from Lyon 1975 — and demand justice, rights, and safety for all sex workers.
This is urgent.
The Prostitutes Protection Act is under evaluation. Repressive policies threaten to be expanded. Laws like the so-called “Swedish Model” are gaining traction across Europe — criminalising our clients, pushing us into risk, and eroding our autonomy.
At the same time, we are witnessing a global turn toward fascism. Across Europe, and here in Germany, the far right is rising. The growing support for the AfD shows us how fear monging, nationalism, and anti-migrant rhetoric are being used to divide us. We are watching people move away from one another — away from solidarity, away from justice.
We cannot afford to stand apart. Sex workers, racialised people, migrants, trans and queer people, working-class communities — all of us targeted, all of us expendable under fascist systems — must stand together. We cannot allow ourselves to be separated or silenced. We must build bridges where systems want borders.
This is more than a sex worker issue.
This is about all of us.
In a time of global grief and brutal repression — as a genocide is being perpetrated in Palestine, ethnic cleansing continues in Sudan, and neocolonial extraction devastates the Congo — we refuse to separate our struggle from others.
None of us are free until all of us are free.
We are calling on all people, especially those outside the sex worker community, to stand in solidarity with us. Whether you are part of labour organising, queer and trans justice work, anti-deportation movements, climate justice, disability rights, or feminist struggles — your presence matters. This is not just our fight — it is a fight for all of us.
Our Demands:
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Rights for All! From workers’ rights to migration justice. No human being is illegal.
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Decriminalisation Now! End mandatory registration of sex workers and all forms of criminalisation.
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End Genocide! Silence is compliance. Decolonise all struggles.
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Intersectional Solidarity! Prioritise the most marginalised in every movement.
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Digital Rights! Stop surveillance, porn bans, data extraction, and state tech violence.
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Abolish Prisons and Police! Stop deportations. End police violence and incarceration everywhere.
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Fight Fascism! No to fearmonging, division, colonialism and state repression.
We invite you to listen, discuss, learn, share space, and build power together. Come eat with us. Mourn with us. Strategise with us. Celebrate resistance. This is a living movement — rooted in love, rage, and collective vision.
📍 Berlin | June 1–5, 2025
🔗 IG: @swactiongroupberlin
OUR OPENING STATEMENT
(EN)
On June 2, 1975, sex workers took over a church in Lyon (France) to demand safety, dignity, and labour rights and resist police violence and state repression. Their bravery ignited a global movement. This year is the 50th anniversary of this occupation, and in order to honor that, we have decided this year to change our strategy. For the last five years we have poured our energies into our annual Whores Day Demonstration.
Demonstrations are a powerful and essential way for us, as sex workers, to raise our voices and demand our seat at the table, but it is time for a different approach - one that we hope is accessible, internationally connected and highly effective.
Over five days, between June 1st - 5th Sex Worker Action Group and our collaborators will take up residence in the Zwölf-Apostel-Kirche (Twelve Apostles Church) and other venues across the city in order to organise a programme of events, press conferences and workshops by sex workers for sex workers and for our extended community of supporters. This event series is in collaboration with a European wide action week coordinated and supported by the European Sex Workers Alliance (https://www.eswalliance.org/50years).
Sex worker-led groups across Europe will reclaim churches and other symbolic spaces, demanding justice, safety, and rights — just as we did 50 years ago.
🎥 Our main events will be live-streamed on ESWA channels.
We will shortly be announcing our full Berlin-based programme of events via email, social media and our website so please follow to stay updated.
For now, here are some things you can do to get involved:
1. HOST AN EVENT💋
Want to host a workshop? A performance? A support group? We got you. We have three time slots available throughout our action days. If you are interested in hosting an event, please EMAIL US with the word "EVENT" in the subject line and tell us your idea. We prioritise applications from racialised, queer, disabled, migrant and undocumented sx workers but are open to all sx workers.
2. BECOME A SUPPORTER 🍒
Want to offer a space to host one of our events? Want to offer yourself for postering and handing out fliers? We need your help. email us with the word "SUPPORTER" in the subject with your offer and we will put you in contact with the appropriate structure.
3. JOIN OUR ORGANISER TEAM 🔥
Are you interested in joining our orga team? We meet weekly in person or online to make this week happen. If you want to join our team, email us with the word "ORGA" in the subject and we wIll get in touch. We prioritise applications from people who are sx workers, or already networked with us through other allied struggles. Orga team applications are vetted internally before we accept new members and orga team members must adhere to our SWAG organising principles.
4. show up at our events 🍒
OUR FULL PROGRAM OF EVENTS, WORKSHOPS, PRESS CONFERENCES, TALKS AND COMMUNITY SPACES WILL BE SHARED SOON.
(DE)
Am 2. Juni 1975 besetzten Sexarbeitende eine Kirche in Lyon (Frankreich), um Sicherheit, Würde und Arbeitsrechte zu fordern und sich gegen Polizeigewalt und staatliche Repression zu wehren. Ihre Tapferkeit löste eine weltweite Bewegung aus. Dieses Jahr jährt sich diese Besetzung zum 50. Mal, und um dies zu würdigen, haben wir beschlossen, unsere Strategie zu ändern. In den letzten fünf Jahren haben wir unsere Energien in unsere jährliche Demonstration zum Hurentag gesteckt. Demonstrationen sind für uns als Sexarbeitende ein wirkungsvolles und wichtiges Mittel, um unsere Stimme zu erheben und unseren Platz am Tisch einzufordern, aber es ist Zeit für einen anderen Ansatz - einen, von dem wir hoffen, dass er zugänglich, international vernetzt und höchst effektiv ist.
Fünf Tage lang, vom 1. bis 5. Juni, werden sich die Sex Worker Action Group und weitere Mitwirkende in der Zwölf-Apostel-Kirche und an anderen Orten in der Stadt versammeln, um ein Programm von Veranstaltungen, Pressekonferenzen und Workshops von Sexarbeitenden für Sexarbeitende und für unsere erweiterte Community von Unterstützenden zu organisieren. Diese Veranstaltungsreihe findet in Zusammenarbeit mit einer europaweiten Aktionswoche statt, die von der European Sex Workers Alliance ( https://www.eswalliance.org/50years ) koordiniert und unterstützt wird.
Von Sexarbeitenden geführte Gruppen in ganz Europa werden Kirchen und andere symbolische Orte zurückerobern und Gerechtigkeit, Sicherheit und Rechte fordern - so wie wir es vor 50 Jahren getan haben.
🎥 Unsere wichtigsten Veranstaltungen werden auf den ESWA-Kanälen live übertragen.
Wir werden in Kürze unser komplettes Veranstaltungsprogramm in Berlin per E-Mail, über soziale Medien und unsere Website ankündigen, also bleibt bitte auf dem Laufenden.
Im Moment gibt es einige Dinge, die ihr tun könnt, um euch zu beteiligen:
1. MACHT EINE VERANSTALTUNG💋
Du möchtest einen Workshop, eine Performance oder eine Selbsthilfegruppe veranstalten? Wir unterstützen dich dabei. An unseren ACTION DAYS haben wir drei Zeitfenster zur Verfügung. Wenn du Interesse hast, ein Event zu veranstalten, schreib uns eine E-MAIL mit dem Betreff „EVENT“ und erzähl uns von deiner Idee. Wir bevorzugen Bewerbungen von queeren, behinderten, migrantischen und undokumentierten Sexarbeitenden sowie solchen, die Rassismus erfahren - aber sind offen gegenüber allen Sexarbeitenden.
2. WERDET SUPPORTER*INNEN🍒
Möchtet ihr einen Raum für eine unserer Veranstaltungen zur Verfügung stellen? Oder beim Plakatieren und Flyerverteilen helfen? Wir brauchen eure Unterstützung. Schreibt uns eine E-Mail mit dem Betreff „SUPPORTER“ und eurem Angebot – wir bringen euch mit der passenden Struktur in Kontakt.
3. MACHT MIT BEIM ORGA TEAM 🔥
Wir treffen uns wöchentlich – vor Ort oder online – um diese Aktionswoche möglich zu machen. Wenn du Teil unseres Teams werden möchtest, schreib uns eine E-Mail mit dem Betreff „ORGA“, und wir melden uns bei dir. Wir bevorzugen Bewerbungen von Menschen, die in der Sxarb3it tätig sind, oder die bereits durch andere verbündete Kämpfe mit uns vernetzt sind.
4. KOMMT ZU UNSEREN events 🍒
Unser vollständiges Programm mit Events, Workshops, Pressekonferenzen, Talks und Community Spaces wird bald veröffentlicht.