Dear Friends, Supporters & Allies, 

We want to give a warm welcome to our newest board members, Lila, Charlie, Kira, Anna, Nix and Agata, who were voted in during our Extraordinary General Assembly on July 13th! 

This past month, we held our bi-annual team meeting in Berlin, planning our next six months and aligning our work with our new strategic plan (read more about the team meeting below). We also participated in the Joint Civil Society Input on the proposed European Commission Recommendation on Equality Data and published our recent research on Deepfakes and Sex work. 

Last but not least, we are very excited to have announced the dates for this fall’s Digital Rights Gathering in Barcelona! (Read the Digital Rights section below for more info).

There will be no newsletter in August. We will be back in September! Wishing everyone across our community a wonderful summer.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

In solidarity,
ESWA Team

Bi-Annual ESWA Team meeting in Berlin! 

The ESWA team came together for our bi-annual in person staff meeting, this time in Berlin. We held our meeting at the Lustery office, who generously donated their space to us. It was wonderful to hold out ESWA meeting in a sex work positive space! Some highlights from the sessions were: team grounding exercises, dealing with urgency culture, envisioning ESWA’s work in the next 5 years, and gratitude mapping. Read more about our meeting here. Check out our recommended summer reading list published in the Recommendations section below. You can also find here our tidal playlist of songs that we would listen to if we were stranded on a desert island!

ESWA stands in solidarity with Berlin's Queer Community

Following the violent attack at Christopher Street Day (CSD) on July 25th, we share in the grief and pain of marginalised people who continue to be targeted by violence. As a sex worker-led organization, we know that our safety and the safety of queer communities are inseparable. At the same time, we take a firm stance against the rising Islamophobia in Germany that instrumentalises this tragedy to advance a far-right agenda. In the same breath that state actors politicised harm against our communities for their agendas, we also saw violent police force used to attack and arrest queer activists at the Internationalist Queer Pride the very same day. We condemn all violence against our communities, including state violence. Community resilience and solidarity are the way forward.

ESWA stands in Solidarity with Migrants Crossing in Ceuta

We expressed above how our rights as sex workers are inseparable from queer rights, they are also inseparable from migrant rights. Since yesterday, we have seen images flood news and social media networks of thousands of migrants crossing the border in Ceuta. We have also seen massive anti-immigrant backlash across Europe with far right politicians stoking the flames and distorting the narrative.

The border in Ceuta is one of Europe’s only land borders with the African continent as a result of ongoing European colonial occupation. We denounce all colonial borders and their increasing militarisation as well as the horrific villianisation of and violence against those migrating globally. We honour the lives of those who were lost trying to cross the border, and we call on the EU to respond.

 ESWA’s Digital Rights Gathering 2026 is now looking for participants and session holders!

We are happy to share some exciting news, the open call to ESWA’s 2026 Digital Rights Gathering is now open!

We’ll gather in Barcelona on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of November for a Halloween-themed edition that will unearth some of the Digital W(h)orrors sex workers face online, but also create space to imagine better Digital futures and build collective resilience. Applications are now open for sex workers who are members of organisations in the ESWA network and session holders who are both sex workers and allies. You can find all the details and submit your application here.

ESWA’s Deepfakes and Sex Work Research is Now Out!

After six months of work, we are incredibly proud to present our latest Digital Rights Research. Deepfakes and Sex Work: Harms, Benefits, and Worker-Led Recommendations is the result of six months of work set out to bring a much needed sex worker perspective into the deepfake/generative AI debate. 

After an online event this past Tuesday the 28th, the research is now online and available for download for all. Make sure you read it, download it, and share it with your networks.

Would you like to write for the ESWA blog? Email [email protected] with a brief description of your idea!

Human rights organisations all over the world are shutting down due to lack of funding.

If you believe sex workers' rights are important, please consider showing your support with a donation, so that ESWA can continue working towards a fairer, safer, and kinder world for all in 2026 and beyond. 

Community Spotlight

In this section we share news and initiatives from our members that stood out to us this month. Would you like to be featured in the next Community Spotlight? Message [email protected].

Ntcarmenia hosts Community Quest: Care, Rights & Realities Event

Ntcarmenia brought together sex workers in a safe and inclusive environment for connection, peer support, creative expression and conversations about sexual health. During the event, participants also learned about the European PrEP Survey and had the opportunity to complete it voluntarily, anonymously, and in a private setting. Ntcarmenia writes, “Thank you to everyone who joined us for your trust, openness, and solidarity. Your experiences and perspectives are essential for building more accessible, inclusive, and rights-based healthcare services. This activity was implemented with the support of the European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance (ESWA)”  Read more about their event here.

Honouring Paola Revenioti (June 1958 - July 2026)

It is with profound sadness that we say goodbye to Paola Revenioti, a fearless activist, writer, publisher, filmmaker, and a beloved member of the wider sex workers' rights movement. For decades, Paola challenged stigma, amplified voices too often pushed to the margins, and stood in unwavering solidarity with sex workers, LGBTQI+ communities, and all those fighting for justice, dignity, and self-determination. Through her activism, art, and storytelling, she helped shape movements in Greece and inspired advocates across Europe and beyond. Paola's legacy will endure in the communities she helped build, the barriers she broke, and the courage she encouraged in others. She will be remembered not only for her remarkable contributions, but also for her generosity, conviction, and relentless commitment to collective liberation. ESWA extends its heartfelt condolences to Paola's family, friends, comrades, and everyone whose lives she touched. We honour her memory with gratitude and commit to carrying forward the values and struggles she so passionately championed.

Rest in power, Paola.

Support the Implementation of the Sex Work Act (SAG) in Germany

Sex workers are calling on German lawmakers to “read and review the Sex Work Act (SAG)—a comprehensive legislative proposal" drafted by sex workers in Germany and reviewed by ESWA. Sex worker activists in Germany explain that the 2017 Prostitute Protection Act (ProstSchG) effectively criminalises those unable to comply instead of improving their rights or safety. Whereas this legislation, “represents a new, evidence-based, and human rights-compliant path forward—guided by the needs, analyses, and demands of sex workers in Germany and internationally.” Please sign to support the act below. 

Sign here to support.

Opportunities

If you have news you would like us to share in the next newsletter, send them to [email protected]

Red Insight in the Netherlands is currently looking for a new treasurer! 

“We are looking for someone who wants to join our board with a focus on financial oversight. You don’t need to be a professional accountant, but you should feel comfortable working with budgets and financial reports, and with asking critical questions. This job can be done fully remotely.”

"This is a voluntary position (expenses can be reimbursed)."

Read more here

THE BSWC-Berlin w/ Funding from Digital Freedom Fund is seeking to interview SWorkers for our current research project: Strategic Litigation on the Deplatforming of Sex Workers and the Future of Digital Rights

Who: Are you a Black Sx Worker who has experienced shadowbanning, or other forms of social media platform discrimination? (Non-Black SWorkers will be considered)

What: Through interviews, we aim to document cases of deplatforming, digital erasure, or state misuse of online content (e.g. immigration denials, surveillance, loss of access to platforms).

Where: Interviews will take place over Zoom 

When: August-September

How: Fill out this screener survey to be considered

Learn more here

Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO is hiring a Public Relations and Communications Specialist

Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO is the first and leading Trans community-based organization in Armenia. “Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO is looking for a creative, proactive, and motivated Public Relations and Communications Specialist to join our team on a part-time basis. If you have experience in public relations, communications, social media management, website administration, content creation, graphic design, and producing engaging Reels and short-form videos, we’d love to hear from you.” 

Read more here. Application deadline: August 20th, 2026

The Red Umbrella fund is looking for a committed sex workers’ rights activist​ to join their International Steering Committee (ISC)​ (UNPAID POSITION)

Red Umbrella Fund is guided by an International Steering Committee (ISC) made up of sex workers and donors. The ISC decides the grantmaking criteria, approves the annual budget and makes other strategic decisions.​ ISC members are sex worker activists (always the majority) and representatives of selected donors to the Red Umbrella Fund. It has up to 11 members from different parts of the world. Read more about the ISC and the application process here.

How can you apply? E-mail the completed self-nomination form together with a support letter from a sex worker-led organisation to: [email protected] by August 10 (new deadline)

Recommendations

Hand picked books, videos, articles and podcasts, recommended by ESWA staff and members. Tell us your recommendations to be featured in the next newsletter!

CSAM Toolkit for Activists

The Digital Intimacy Coalition and COSPR, with the support of Superrr Lab have launched a toolkit for activists to talk about CSAM from a sex-positive lens.

CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Materials) often can make the conversation shut down and be used to introduce abolitionists talkpoints. This free-to-download handguide is a new toolkit that debunks some of the pervasive myths around CSAM and equips activists and sex educators with data to help them navigate conversations separating fact from fiction.

You can download the handguide here. 

ESWA Summer Reading List: 

Here is the list of books our team compiled as recommendations for your summer reading: 

1. The story of Seagull and the cat who taught her to fly - Luis Sepulveda

2. On the earth we are briefly gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

3. Abandon me - Melissa Febos

4. 100 years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

5. The Cost of Living - Deborah Levy

6. Man's Search for Meaning- Viktor Frankl