AIDS Conference 2008

02/08/2008

Originally posted in Spanish on August 2nd 2008

Well, here I am, in Mexico City receiving an impressive amount of information which I digest little by little. There are so many facets to the HIV-AIDS issue that I didn't even imagine. I'm in some kind of informational shock, I listen, write, think and talk.

One of the topics that have interested me the most from what I've heard is regarding sex workers and the work they do regarding HIV-AIDS prevention. Sitting here it is hard to think of anyone remaining with any sort of prejudice. These women are hands on, informed, brave and making their jobs get recognition.

It has been a few years since I met one of Sweetie's friends (character in this blog circa the end of 2006) who worked in one of the hotels downtown, hitting on gringos for hefty amounts of money and travel to touristic destinations in our country. This first contact with prostitution that close and told first hand removed several of the cobwebs in my mind, and today they were absolutely erradicated.

The priceless moment was when a woman from Kenya asked Gabriela Leite, sex worker from Brazil and founder of the clothing brand Daspu, why she was in prostitution. She simply replied: that question is never asked of people who work as lawyers, engineers or psychologists. It is only done to us. You ask if we were to receive enough money to maintain ourselves if we wouldn't prostitute ourselves, but we work as any other professional. Of course it is for the money, as any trade is. There is no one working out there to give away their money to others, they all do it because they need money to maintain themselves. And it is also for pleasure, just as any other job. Ask any engineer if they have days when they don't feel like working, or they feel so many years of study were worth it, and they probably have. We have good days as well. What we want is to remove the stigma related to this job, and that which makes people feel justified to ask us why.

Hats off.