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People are always asking sex workers, “Do you feel pleasure at work?” People obsess about how sex workers feel about sex—not how they feel about work.

But under capitalism all of us “sell our bodies” one way or another. The deeper question is: who really gets to choose to work? Instead of “ending the demand” for sex work, how about we “end the demand” for profit?

We are sexualised our entire lives; assessed for our desirability to men and masculine standards, then penalized when we fall short. Asking for money makes a woman or a femme a whore. And our culture tells us this is the worse thing we can be: “attention whore,” “fame whore,” “money whore”. A whore commits the sin of wanting—whether it’s money, sex, or attention. But feeling good about having enough money to put food on the table isn’t the same as hoarding wealth or supporting capitalism, and it isn’t “lean in” feminism. Getting good wages is the harm reduction of living under capitalism.

All of us doing under-valued feminized work (in the service industry, child care, personal support, teaching, counseling, secretaries, artists) can benefit from the gleeful sex worker mantra, “FUCK YOU, PAY ME”.

Money buys protection. It buys time off and privacy. And it buys nice, pretty shit. Money also buys food, housing and health care. Getting paid enough to meet our needs—and more—feels good.

So do sex workers feel pleasure at work? Yeah. Because you know what feels amazing? Surviving capitalism.

— rearranged excerpts from Chanelle Gallant in adrienne maree brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019)

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WORKSHOP: "Awakening Pleasure, Negotiating Desire: a pre-rave game" by Helen Hagemeier
PERFORMANCE: Mat Sergent & Karl Marx Sassy
VIDEO PROGRAM: “The Female Masochist” curated by Mat Sergent
DONATIONS: collected at the door will go towards Kontakt und Beratungsstelle für Flüchtlinge und Migrant_innen e.V. (KUB)

DRESSCODE: (power)suit

NOTE: This space is shaped by queer-feminist principles. Check your privilege and check your ego trip at the door. A rave is only as good as its dancers, and we'd like to call on everyone present to see themselves as co-producers in a shared experience enhanced by mutual care and self-accountability. Everybody is welcome but discrimination, hate, harassment, shaming and uncritically self-harming behaviour are out. Our awareness team will be on call to host and to help.