The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA will be the venue for a health fair on Friday, June 2, to celebrate International Whores Day. The event is organized by the BIPOC Collective in partnership with several organizations, including SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project, PASS Certified, Kink Out Events, Strippers United, The Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The event will take place between noon and 5 p.m.
The theme of this year’s event will be “Sex Workers’ Health: From Surviving to Thriving,” a twist on the usual protest-meets-celebration.
The health-and-safety-focused wellness and resource fair expands access to racially concordant, trauma-informed, sex work- and LGBTQ+ inclusive holistic practitioners, medical providers and mental health care.
BIPOC Collective founder and Director Sinnamon Love stated that their organization has been offering crisis management and direct service referrals to community members who require urgent assistance over the past year.
“I am dedicated to continuing this work by collaborating with organizations such as SWOP LA, The Sidewalk Project, and PASS,” Love stated. “I am excited that this year’s IWD event will be a ‘party with a purpose’ to provide sex workers with testing, insurance, access to resources, and protection against MPox, just in time for Pride season.”
The program will offer a variety of services such as information sharing, mental health referrals, Medicaid enrollment navigation, and mobile health clinics. Additionally, participants can engage in wellness activities like yoga led by Thick Girl Yoga LA, a self-defense class with Vanessa Carlisle of Hooker’s Army, and a sound bath with Erotic Medusa.
The afternoon will also feature pole-dancing organized by Strippers United and DJ sets from EthicalDrvgs, Star Ah-Mer-Ah-Su, Succubus Tony, Ly Tran and Eva Myra May.
“I cannot reword.”
This year’s event will feature more than 30 vendors, such as St. John’s Transgender Health Program, Avril Heals, East LA Women’s Center, Fire & Flow Therapy, Total Testing Solutions, MPower, Trans Migrant Support CA, The Cupcake Girls, Sunday Faire, Templerotica, Pansey Esthetics, SWAID, evan mccrary, Stripper’s Co-op, East LA Women’s Center, and CAST-LA.
The 2023 IWD Health and Resource Fair receives funding from Third Wave Fund, Emergent Fund, CAST-LA and The Black Erotica Archive through donations, grants and sponsorships.
To obtain free in-person and online tickets for the sound bath, yoga and self-defense classes, click here.