
We
held an International Day of No Prostitution conference here in
Melbourne on Saturday 5 October. Our main speaker, Linda Watson
from
Linda's House of Hope in Perth, the only survivors' refuge in
Australia,
was in hospital and unable to come. She is the only survivor
speaking out
here and tremendously overworked.
However we had a terrific day. We started with intro to CATW
Australia by
Renate Klein, the
international CATW video So Deep a Violence, then Mary Sullivan
on the
Failure of Legalised Brothel Prostitution in Victoria, then Dee
Hunt of
Centre for Philippine Concerns on Online sex tourism and the
'so-called'
mail order bride experience. Then Jen Rice on The Porn Industry's
Ten Year
Plan, absolutely harrowing stuff including how the pornographised
woman
Houston had a labiaplasty operation filmed as porn and then her
labia were
sold off at auction. It was a tremendous rousing talk such as we
have not
tended to have in recent years, in Australia anyway.
Then we had workshops on porn, activism, and supporting women to
leave
prostitution. Then I spoke on Envisioning a World Beyond
Prostitution.
We had just over 50 women, not bad for this terrible liberal and
pro prostitution climate.
There was a great feeling and it was so good to have a day full
of
radicalism with no opposition and that feeling of revolution in
the air.
(the opposition did not bother to come). We got onto the ABC
radio news in
the evening and that was only media apart from community radio
which is
always good to us.