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Talk:World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights

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Date

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Wotton 2016 reports that The first World Whores Congress occurred on 15th February, 1985, organised by Margo St-James and Gail Pheterson. Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, some 75 participants (identifying as former /current sex workers or allies) came from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, England, France, the United States and Canada. The International Committee for Prostitutes’ Rights (ICPR) emerged from this conference, with the Amsterdam World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights written and adopted on the last day (Pheterson & James, 2005). She seems to contradict herself in the sense that a charter cannot be 'adopted on the last day' (implying a multi-day event) of a congress that only 'occurred on 15 February 1985' (i.e. a single day). As 15 February 1985 was a Friday, I think we can assume it was a three-day weekend event, as conventions tend to be. 'occurred' should thus be read as 'started', as they weren't done in 1 day. Therefore, the presumptive date of writing and adoption of the Charter was Sunday 17 February 1985.

I couldn't find the St. Petersburg Times / UPI article "Prostitutes Appeal For Decriminalization" anywhere, and the link is dead, but the information given here is interesting. In an article announcing the adoption of the World Charter, the United Press International reported: "Women from the world's oldest profession, some wearing exotic masks to protect their identity, appealed Friday at the world's first international prostitutes' convention for society to stop treating them like criminals." The publication date of this article, 1986-02-16, is almost certainly wrong: the first World Whores Congress took place in February 1985 (see also Social Text, Winter, 1993, No. 37, A Special Section Edited by Anne McClintock Explores the Sex Trade (Winter, 1993), pp. 183-185, the oldest copy of the Charter I could find online). Wotton 2016 reports The second World Whores Congress was held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on 1-3rd October 1986., so it cannot have been the second Congress either. More likely, the publication date was 16 February 1985. This would mean the paper discussed yesterday's events, because 15 February 1985 was a 'Friday'. Problem is: if Wotton is correct that the Charter was only written and adopted on the last day, which would have been Sunday 17 February 1985, there is no way for the St. Petersburg Times to have known of its existence if the article was written on Saturday 16 February 1985, but the charter not written and adopted until the next day. The claim that '[the UPI] article announc[ed] the adoption of the World Charter' can therefore impossibly be true, and constitutes WP:OR. The only other options would be that when Wotton says 'occurred', she doesn't mean 'started', but 'finished/concluded' or whatever, wherefore the congress started on Wednesday 13 February 1985. This is possible, but not as plausible as a three-day weekend congress. I'm gonna try to find more sources for a specific date, but for now this question remains unresolved. Cheers, Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 18:40, 10 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I've found the answer. In this chaotically organised webpage, lots of information can be found on the first and second World Whore Congresses. This a the Dutch-language invitation spread by Stichting De Rode Draad (founded on 17 January 1985), probably by paper mail (there is a fold in the middle indicating it was folded to fit in an envelope, and people who want to attend are asked to answer by sending a letter). It says:
"Stichting De Rode Draad is a foundation which seeks to guard the interests of all prostitutes and ex-prostitutes.
Wednesday 13 February 1985 we organise a first national day, at which only prostitutes and ex-prostitutes are welcome.'
We want to talk about:
  1. How can we achieve, that we are accepted as normal woman without the stigma of 'whore'.
  2. How will we get the profession recognised.
  3. If the profession is recognised we will have to pay taxes, what will we get in return.
  4. The criminal character should be removed from legislation, for example Article 250 bis.
  5. How can we improve the working conditions both on the street as in brothels and of window prostitutes, for example safety and disease.
  6. How do we want the healthcare to be organised.
  7. How can we change the attitude of the morale police towards prostitutes?
  8. If you want to quit you should be able to apply for reschooling.
  9. We want to have a say in how policy is made about prostitution such as tippelzones and age limit.
  10. To which degree is it desirable to develop a national policy?
[handwritten extra point with pen:] How [do we] want to reach foreign / black wo[men] as well.
Anonymity is guaranteed, the press will not be present, men are not welcome, and children can be brought along.
A 2nd day will be organised with prostitutes and allies from abroad. Here, too, everyone will be welcome, but we would like to know who will then come for venue [renting] purposes.
On the 3rd day, 15 February, a press conference will be held. In the afternoon, there will be a dialogue. Friday night 15 February there will be a great whore ball at Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam from 21:00 to 02:00. Tickets are available at the Uitkrant in Amsterdam and at VVV locations. Whores, ex-whores and supporters are welcome.
If you'd like to come or respond, then send a message to postbus 12042 in Amsterdam, post code 1100 A. It's also possible to respond by telephone: 020-247149, Mr. R. de Graaf Stichting.
The national day will be held on next 13 February in Gebouw RASA, Pauwstraat 13a in Utrecht."
This is a fascinating historical document. On the one hand, it seeks to eradicate the word 'whore', on the other it seeks to reappropriate it as a badge of pride in the word 'whore ball'. Importantly, it's now pretty clear that the total Congress took place from Wednesday 13 February (Utrecht, only Dutch (ex-)prostitutes) to Friday 15 February 1985 (Amsterdam, Dutch and foreign (ex-)prostitutes and supporters). It's unclear where the second day was held (they probably hadn't rented a venue yet) and who was 'everyone'; presumably that would include men and the press, or just the same group of women and their kids as invited for Day 1. The press conference of Day 3 will have been attended by a UPI reporter, who wrote a press release which was then bought by the St. Petersburg Times, modified and published the next day. It's unclear from the programme when the Charter was written; perhaps the organisers hadn't even planned on writing the Charter yet, but was the initiative taken during the Congress itself, quite possibly during the afternoon dialogue planned for Day 3. Presumably that was after the press conference because it is mentioned in that order, but who knows? It's possible the Charter was written and adopted before the press conference, and presented to the press during the press conference. In any case, the Charter unmistakably dates from Friday 15 February 1985, it wasn't a weekend conference, and when Wotton says 'occurred', she really means 'concluded'. However, it's even possible the Congress dragged on for an extra day, not just because the whore ball ended at 2 am of 16 February, but also because this page features a picture from "World Whore Congress, Amsterdam 16 Feb 1985." That could just be a picture from just after midnight, or the Congress was formally or informally extended to at least also include 16 February as Day 4. On the other hand, that would contradict the well-established notion that the Charter was adopted on the last day, which is widely claimed to be 15 February. I suppose it was just informally extended, or this is a just-after-midnight photo. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 20:08, 10 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I managed to find some original copies of the Charter as featured in a Sekswerkerfgoed video; this one doesn't indicate a precise date, just 'february [sic] 1985'. The Griselidis Real story by Jan Visser ('this page') also narrates: Together, they (Griselidis Real and Margo St.James) will write the "World Charter for Prostitutes Rights" the following night with some 15 women from 10 different countries. At nswp.org, they narrate: A total of 75 participants from six European countries, three South-East Asian countries, the United States and Canada participated. Until the last night of the Congress, they wrote a World Charter listing general demands shared globally by all the participants. Combined with Wotton's description, this indicates that, from the total of 75 attendees, there was an inner group of 15 women, amongst whom Griselidis Real (Francophone Swiss, living in Germany) and Margo St.James (American) played a prominent role. The spelling is in American English (e.g. decriminalize), so it might not be too far-fetched that Margo St.James (identified by Wotton as the 'organiser' of the Congress) took the lead in writing the words down on paper. This despite the fact that some of the participants were from England and Canada, and most women from continental European countries would have been more familiar with British English. Visser and NSWP broadly agree that the time of writing was 'the next night' / 'Until the last night of the Congress', so most likely this took place during the 'whore ball' at Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky between Friday 15 February 21:00 and Saturday 16 February 02:00. Presumably, while the other 60 participants (and supporters) were dancing and partying, this inner group of 15 was busy (presumably in a separate room), at least for some time of those 5 hours, composing this document, with Margo writing the words down in a draft (perhaps later typed out as in the Sekswerkerfgoed video copy). Incidentally, the logo of the ICPR as shown in this 1997 online version was probably designed after the Congress and not on the spot; the copy does feature the name "International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights", but no abbreviation, let alone a logo.
All this pretty much rules out that the UPI reporter, who was present at the press conference that presumably happened before 'afternoon', could have known anything about the Charter, except that NSWP states: Until the last night of the Congress. This suggests that a draft text was already going around before night-time (and my hypothesis that the initiative to start writing it was taken during the afternoon dialogue seems more plausible). However, it would not have been adopted yet before it was finished during the night, and unless the UPI reporter was also welcome to join the ball that night as a 'supporter', he just went back to his office, wrote the press release and went home. Therefore, whatever the St. Petersburg Times article (presumably part of the printed morning edition) says, it most likely didn't mention the Charter's existence, let alone adoption, anywhere. Unless ICPR representatives told the UPI reporter during the night: 'Hey by the way, after the press conference we also adopted this Charter, you might want to mention that in your article', and the UPI reporter - who was awake at night for some reason - added that before he put it in his press release that the St. Petersburg Times then picked up and published in the morning of 16 February to make the morning newspaper edition (possible, but unlikely), they didn't know yet, so couldn't have reported it yet. The mention of 'Friday' is typical of a press release: it avoids giving a specific date or time (which can cause trouble across timezones, Amsterdam would have been UTC+1 while St. Petersburg, Florida is UTC-5) and just says what day it was in the place where the event happened. Quite often there is a significant delay between a reporter writing a report about what happened and the article getting published. Given all these factors, it was probably about 24 hours, and the St. Petersburg Times had no idea about the Charter yet. Cheers, Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 15:19, 11 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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