Sex Worker Rights are Human Rights: A Approach to Solidaristic Normative Theory
By: Genevieve Fuji Johnson and Kerry Porth
Read the full article here: Sex Worker Rights are Human Rights: A Approach to Solidaristic Normative Theory
Read the related comic strip here.
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Genevieve Fuji Johnson is a Yonsei settler of Japanese and Irish ancestry on Turtle Island (Canada). Although proud of her family’s history of resilience, she is reckoning with their four generations of Indigenous displacement. It is thus with gratitude and respect that she divides her time between the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and those of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation. Dr. Johnson is a professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
Genevieve is author of Democratic Illusion (UTP, 2015) and Deliberative Democracy for the Future (UTP, 2008). With Randy Enomoto, she co-edited Race, Racialization, and Anti-Racism in Canada and Beyond (UTP, 2007). With Kerry Porth, her long-time research collaborator, she is working on a book project – and corresponding graphic novel – that develops a case for solidaristic scholarship serving the justice struggles of sex workers. She has published (or has forthcoming) articles in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Political Theory, Critical Policy Studies, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Deliberative Democracy, Policy & Politics, Policy Sciences, Qualitative & Multi-Method Research Newsletter, and Social Sciences Quarterly.
Genevieve was Senior Advisor to the Provost’s Office on Faculty Inclusion, Diversity, and Engagement at SFU. She has served on the board and executive committee of the CPSA, executive committee of SFU’s Faculty Association, and board of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC). She was President of DEWC from 2017-2020. She is Treasurer of Surfrider Foundation, Pacific Rim. For many years, she has volunteered for WISH Drop-In Centre.
Kerry Porth is a former sex worker and current sex worker rights activist. She has years of experience working with marginalized people and grassroots movements in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to effect social change through strategic litigation, public education, and advocacy. She has worked on research projects relating to the sex industry and regularly lectures at colleges and universities. Her expertise includes sex work activism, training, policy, law, and governance. Currently, Kerry is employed as a community developer with Living in Community, a non-profit that brings together diverse stakeholders to collaboratively improve the health and safety of sex workers and address community concerns about sex work. She also works as a policy consultant for Pivot Legal Society on their sex workers’ rights campaign. With Genevieve Fuji Johnson, she has co-authored several articles in, for example, the Canadian Journal of Political Science and Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy, relating to sex work governance. With Genevieve, she is working on a book project entitled Political Solidarity – and corresponding graphic novel. In addition to her academic writing, Kerry has published in numerous popular venues, including the Georgia Straight, TheTyee, and The Conversation. Kerry holds a Bachelor of Arts from Simon Fraser University.