Only sex workers can truly help you when you in a very bad situation
“I would like to send a message: if you see sex workers as good people, you are going to feel something that boomerangs within your heart that makes it full with peace and special love from them.”
HOPS (Healthy Options Project Skopje) is the SWAN member for Macedonia. Begun as a harm-reduction project for injecting drug users in 1997, HOPS expanded to create an HIV-prevention outreach program for sex workers and their families in 2000. HOPS now offers medical services, legal counseling and social support to sex workers. This January, HOPS opened the first drop-in center for sex workers in Macedonia.
According to Marija Tosheva, coordinator of the sex worker program, the drop-in center has already had a major impact on the city’s sex workers: “Before, when we were only doing outreach, the girls and boys barely communicated at all. Working individually, they didn’t feel a sense of togetherness. They did not have a place to rest or get together. Slowly, spending some time together, they started to feel as a part of a community. Our aim is to strengthen the unity and community so that they all watch out for each other and care for each other. If you do not feel like you belong to a community, it is hard to defend each other and make community demands.”
“I am a drag queen for human rights”
HOPS has had a precious ingredient in their drop-in center’s recipe for success in the form of Laura Ferr. Self-baptized after a fierce American prostitute from the past century who she once saw in a TV documentary, Laura Ferr says she is not only the only drag queen in Macedonia, “I am a drag queen for human rights and my ambition is to be a super drag queen for human rights”. A staunch defender of sex workers, a former kick boxer and a trained beautician, Laura Ferr holds beauty workshops with sex workers at the HOPS drop-in center once a week doing hair, make-up and manicures for the women and transgender sex workers before they go to work.
Marija explains that because of the beauty workshops, more and more girls are coming to the drop-in center. “It is so good for them to get closer to each other.”
“Yes!”, Laura agrees “Closer. So much closer. Before the beauty workshops, they were not close like they are now. Now sex workers come and exchange many ideas, about customers, about their lives. They talk about what to do to improve their lives. What to do about the police.”
Laura sees another benefit to the beauty sessions: “All the sex workers who come love it because they feel good, they feel more beautiful. The sex workers say they ask for more money from clients because they have more self-confidence. They feel powerful.”
It is hard to believe such a simple project could make such a difference at the drop-in center, but according to Marija, it has:
“Laura is so valuable to us because she brings together sex workers who are Roma, Albanian, Macedonian, drug-users, non drug-users, male, female and transgender, poor or rich. And from different scenes. She connects the sex workers from the street, from massage parlors and from apartments. Some don’t want to mix because of prejudice in the sex worker community around who is poorer or richer or who can read and who can’t. She has a very special energy that is so valuable to us. She has this strong feeling about the importance of community and unity.”
Laura, for her part, feels that her contributions to the Skopje sex work community have been amply rewarded. She points to one incident in particular, as proof. Earlier this year, HOPS participated with artists in an art project for social change called “Through Woman’s Eyes”. The project involved workshops and panel discussions and finally artists volunteering at the HOPS drop-in to assist Laura with make-up sessions. Laura had a role as bridge between the artists and the sex workers.
“Part of the job, when we finished with the beauties, was that I had to accompany the artists and show them the street where sex workers work. So we went to the street together with the sex workers. After a while, the artists returned to the center. I stayed with the girls while I waited for a taxi. After 10 minutes, an unmarked car came and men piled out. One of the girls recognized that they were policemen.” One of the policemen started to call after Laura, who was dressed in very sexy drag that night.
“One of the girls told me not to be afraid, but he might do something. I was very scared because I know what the police has done to the girls who work there. Like they rape them, ask them dirty questions, beat them. This was especially possible if they recognized that I am drag queen and not a true woman. I was very scared. When one of the policemen came towards me, the girls near me all ran up and circled him. They started making jokes with him to distract him. The policeman asked for me anyways, “Call her for me”. So, some of the girls started to pinch his cheeks, give him kisses, and flirt with him to get his attention and give me time to escape.”
“I escaped and started running, but not so fast because I had big heels”
“You see what they did for me! And I escaped and started running, but not so fast because I had big heels and one of the girls who was a little bit far and saw me and took me and hid me behind an oil pump and said “Hide here, I will get a car to get you safe”. They called the driver to come quickly. And finally, after some time, the driver from HOPS and one girl came to take me and cover me and bring me to the car. After all that, I felt safe after the trauma thanks to my old girlfriends, the sex workers. I really appreciate that. For reasons like this one, I really appreciate sex workers around the world. Only sex workers can truly help you when you in a very bad situation, because they are very brave. They can protect you when they know you really respect them and love them with all of your heart.”
After that experience, Laura is all the more committed to her beauty sessions at HOPS. “And I would like to say a message,” she ends, “If you see sex workers as good people, you are going to feel something that boomerangs within your heart, that makes it full with some peace and some special love from them.”