International Sex Workers’ Day

visibility for their cause, anonymity for themselves

CeCe : I prompted the Venice AI to explain the history of International Sex Workers’ Day.

Venice AI : origin of International Sex Workers’ Day

Every year on June 2nd, advocates around the world observe International Sex Workers’ Day — also known as International Whores’ Day — a date rooted in one of the most significant acts of resistance in the history of sex workers’ rights.

The story begins in Lyon, France, on June 2, 1975. Approximately 100 sex workers, fed up with exploitative conditions, police harassment, and the criminalization of their livelihoods, staged a bold occupation of the Saint-Nizier Church on rue de Brest. Their goal was simple yet radical: to force society to acknowledge their humanity and demand basic labor protections.

Though sex work itself was legal in France at the time, workers operated without legal protections. They faced routine police brutality, extortion, and the constant threat of incarceration. The church occupation lasted eight days, during which the protesters hung a powerful banner from the steeple: “Our children do not want their mothers to go to jail.” The message was clear — the criminalization of sex work didn’t just harm workers; it tore families apart.

The strikers called for an end to police harassment, the repeal of laws that targeted them, and recognition of their right to safe working conditions. While the occupation eventually ended without immediate legislative victory, it ignited a global movement. The following year, in 1976, the first anniversary of the Lyon protest was commemorated as International Sex Workers’ Day.

CeCe : I asked a second AI assistant to evaluate the impact of the original protest, and where we stand a half-century later.

Another AI opinion

The history Venice AI recounts is a reminder that International Sex Workers’ Day began not as a celebration, but as a protest. The women who occupied Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon in 1975 were demanding recognition, safety, and dignity. More than fifty years later, the movement can claim some genuine successes, even if many of its original goals remain contested.

Perhaps the greatest success has been visibility. In 1975, sex workers were largely discussed as criminals, public nuisances, or victims. Today, sex workers themselves participate in policy debates, academic research, labor organizing, and public advocacy. The movement helped shift discussion toward practical questions of safety, health, and human rights rather than solely morality.

The most frequently cited policy success is in New Zealand, which decriminalized most forms of adult sex work in 2003. Studies generally find that workers are more willing to report violence, negotiate boundaries with clients, and access health services without fear of arrest. Decriminalization did not eliminate exploitation or stigma, but it appears to have reduced some of the harms associated with operating outside the law.

By contrast, countries following the Nordic Model, pioneered by Sweden and later adopted in places such as Norway and France, seek to reduce prostitution by criminalizing buyers rather than sellers. Supporters argue this reduces demand and affirms that people should not be treated as commodities. Critics counter that the model often pushes transactions into less visible settings, making screening and safety more difficult for workers even when they themselves are not criminalized.

The debate remains unresolved because both sides pursue different objectives. Advocates of decriminalization often prioritize worker safety and autonomy, while supporters of the Nordic Model prioritize reducing the overall size of the sex trade. Measuring success therefore depends partly on what outcome one values most.

Looking forward, there are reforms that attract broader agreement. Regardless of legal model, sex workers benefit from access to healthcare, violence prevention, housing assistance, banking services, and legal protection against assault and coercion. Better distinctions between consensual adult sex work and human trafficking would also improve policymaking. The lesson of Lyon may be that lasting progress begins when sex workers are treated not merely as subjects of policy, but as participants in the conversation about their own lives.

CeCe : When I read about the occupation of Saint-Nizier Church in 1975, I thought we could find memoirs, anniversary interviews, perhaps a few grand dames reflecting on what they had accomplished fifty years ago.

Instead, we found silence :

International Sex Workers’ Day commemorates the moment when 100 sex workers occupied a church in Lyon to protest police harassment, violence, and the criminalization of their lives. The occupation lasted just over a week, attracted national attention, and inspired similar protests throughout France. Many historians now regard it as the birth of the modern sex workers’ rights movement. (SWARM)

Yet when the movement celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, the public conversation focused largely on archives, exhibitions, documentaries, and historical retrospectives rather than interviews with surviving participants. (archives-lyon.fr)

Part of the answer lies in the extraordinary stigma surrounding prostitution in 1975. Many participants were mothers. Many feared losing custody of their children. Others worried about arrest, eviction, family rejection, or simply being recognized in public. The famous banner hung from the church expressed this fear with heartbreaking simplicity: “Our children do not want their mothers in prison.” (SWARM)

One of the most valuable historical documents from the occupation remains a little-known film, Les prostituées de Lyon parlent (“The Prostitutes of Lyon Speak”), directed by Carole Roussopoulos. The camera records the women themselves speaking from inside the occupied church. Some smile into the lens. Others appear nervous. Several partially conceal their faces. The result is not polished activism but something rarer: a collective self-portrait. (IMDb)

CeCe : Watching this film today, I am struck by how many women wanted to be heard but not identified. They demanded visibility for their cause while preserving anonymity for themselves. (AlloCiné)

Most social movements celebrate their heroines. Saint-Nizier was led by ordinary women whose identities were hidden, forgotten, protected. International Sex Workers’ Day commemorates a victory achieved by women whose names history never learned.

NB : An exception was Grisélidis Réal, the Swiss writer and sex worker who became one of the movement’s most recognizable public voices. Although she was associated more closely with the related Paris protests than the original Lyon occupation, she spoke openly when many others could not. Decades later, fellow activists still credit her with helping sex workers claim the right to speak publicly about their own lives. (Wikipedia)