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About International Sex Workers’ Day
On the 2nd of June every year, the world observes International Sex Workers’ Day. The objective of this day is to honor all the sex workers and recognize their nature of work, the conditions of which are often too exploited. The day is being observed from the year 1976 following a big strike that had garnered much attention to the lives of the sex workers in the year 1975.
On the 2nd of June 1975, in Lyon, Eglise Saint-Nizier Church saw a big strike carried out by around 100 sex workers who demanded the government for better working conditions, rights, and justice for all the sex workers, since at that point of time, they were constantly being exploited and there were simply too many violent crimes against the sex workers.
The day is known by different names in different countries; for instance, in Germany, it is known as Hurentag, in Spain, it is known as Dia Internacional de Trabajador Sexual.
The origin of the International Sex Workers’ Day is from France. In the era of 1970s, the sex workers faced a tough time since the French police were always keeping them under pressure, and they had to work under many inhumane conditions.
The violence had increased so much against them that once it led to the murder of two sex workers, which aggravated the rest and when the government didn’t pay much heed to this, around 100 sex workers gathered at the Saint-Nizier Church, and sang many political chants demanding from the government improvement of the current scenario.
The strike was prominent and went on for around eight days after which the police came and cleared the entire church.
Ever since that point, the demand for a sex workers’ day increased and hence, from 1976, the same day that is 2nd of June began to be observed as International Sex Workers’ Day.