Not Your Rescue Project: Stop the Harms of the Anti-Trafficking Movement

Book Launch & Panel

Date: Friday, November 22, 2024
Time: 2:00pm – 7:30 pm
Location: Workers Action Centre, Suite 206, Community Organizing Space, 720 Spadina Avenue
Register: https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/not-your-rescue-project-panel-and-book-launch

The federal, provincial, and municipal government officials have implemented anti-trafficking policies and allocated significant funding, primarily to law enforcement, while mobilizing NGOs, businesses, and the public to join efforts to end human trafficking. However, rather than providing protection, these initiatives often harm sex workers, as well as racialized and migrant communities, due to the negative impact of the anti-trafficking industry.

Concerns about human trafficking have led to increased policing, restrictive regulations, and the shutdown of Asian massage parlours and the workplaces of sex workers. Migrant Asian women, in particular, are frequently misrepresented as passive victims, viewed as incapable of consent and in need of “rescue.” This anti-trafficking agenda often advances whorephobic, racist, and anti-migrant policies, resulting in the harassment, arrest, racial profiling and deportation of migrant sex workers and massage workers, e.g. The lobbying efforts of anti-trafficking organizations have influenced the City of Toronto to adopt a repressive policy against Asian owned massage parlours. In 2019, Toronto proposed the elimination of the holistic license, posing a threat to the livelihoods of over 2,000 predominantly low-income, middle-aged Asian women.

We are organizing this panel and book launch to expose the harms caused by the anti-trafficking industry and to highlight the experiences and resistance of Asian migrant sex workers and massage workers.

Schedule:

2:00 to 6:00 p.m.: Panel Discussion and Group Dialogue
Join community members, activists, and scholars as they discuss the impact of anti-trafficking policies on Asian and migrant massage workers, and explore ways to build solidarity and support workers’ rights.

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Break and snack

6:30 to  7:30 p.m.: Book Launch – Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice by Elene Lam and Chanelle Gallant
Celebrate the launch of Not Your Rescue Project. All book sales will be donated to Butterfly to support their work for migrant sex workers’ rights.

Film Screening: Changing Gears

Date: November 14, 2024
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm ET
Location: Carlton Cinema, 20 Carleton Street, Toronto
Tickets: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/charlies-freewheels-youth-education-society/events/changing-gears/

This presentation is funded by the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research.
The proceeds from this event will help support Charlie’s FreeWheels programming.

Moderator: Mike Layton, Chief Sustainability Officer, York University
Panel: Adam Hasham, Senior Advisor, Metrolinx and Alexandro Zamora, Associate
Professor, York University

Indians on Indian Lands: Book Talk with Nishant Upadhyay

Date: November 7, 2024
Time: 7:00pm ET
Location: Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/indians-on-indian-lands-nishant-upadhyay-with-guests-tickets-1042952618357?aff=oddtdtcreator

Moderated by: Nadia Hasan, Assistant Professor, York University

In their new book, Nishant Upadhyay unravels Indian diasporic complicity in its ongoing colonial relationship with Indigenous peoples, lands, and nations in Canada. Upadhyay examines the interwoven and simultaneous areas of dominant Indian caste complicity in processes of settler colonialism, antiblackness, capitalism, brahminical supremacy, Hindu nationalism, and heteropatriarchy. 

Join us for a book talk in conversation with Sanober Umar, Associate Professor of Politics at York University and Pamila Matharu, independent artist, educator and cultural producer.

Sponsors: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Centre for Feminist Research, Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages, Department of Social and Political Thought

Girls’ Studies Research Network Social

Date: Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Time: 11:30am – 1:00pm ET
Location: Room 749, Kaneff Tower
Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgty4eGR_NHNJJPi1x7cg0tQGw6cJExbAGBbY7VzuSenLqlg/viewform

Join the Girls’ Studies Research Network for a pizza lunch! Meet other girls’ studies scholars in a casual, friendly setting while enjoying a free lunch.

The GSRN is a interdisciplinary network whose aim is to contribute to the development of the field of Girls’ Studies through sharing information and resources and encouraging discussion.

Contact fre14@yorku.ca to RSVP, for details, or with questions.

Palestinian Art in Times of Revolution with Dr. Nayrouz Abu Hatoum

Part of the series Unsettling Anthropology: Violence, Terror & Resistance

Date: October 25, 2024
Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm ET
Location: Online
Register: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcqdOihqD4rGdw_2q8ANyxK2Glc_WOI3Z5M#/registration

Nayrouz Abu Hatoum is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and
Anthropology at Concordia University. She was the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod postdoctoral
fellow at Columbia University in 2018/ 2019 academic year and is a co-founding member of
Insaniyyat: Society of Palestinian Anthropologists. Her research investigates visual politics in
Palestine, focusing on alternative imaginations, place-making, and dwelling practices under
settler-colonial conditions. She is currently working on an ethnographic project exploring the
politics of visual arts production and its role in expanding Palestinian imaginaries.

For any further queries, please email: unsettlinganthropology@protonmail.com

Advancing Equity and Applying Intersectionality in Europe: Challenges and Contradictions

Date: Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Time: 2:30pm – 4:00pm ET
Location: S638 Ross Building (Hybrid Event)
Zoom Registration: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpduCqrTIsG9Bt9fYc3Oxpll4L3dTJKgv5#/registration

2025 will mark half a century since the first European directives prohibiting identity-based discrimination. However, social inequities are increasing. Moreover, equity policy remains hugely ‘siloed,’ predominantly focused around single issues/identities, best serving intersectionally privileged groups (e.g. white women). Yet, intersectionality, the Black feminist theory that inequalities are indivisible from one another, is increasingly difficult for those with influence on equity policy to ignore or explicitly resist. This presentation will give an overview of intersectionality, identify barriers to its operationalization in Europe, examine the UK in more detail as a case study, and reflect on contemporary challenges and contradictions for advancing equity and applying intersectionality. 

Ashlee Christoffersen is a Banting Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Politics and Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her research is about the operationalization of intersectionality in policy and practice. She is the author of The Politics of Intersectional Practice: Representation, Coalition, and Solidarity in UK NGOs (2024, Bristol University Press), and articles about equity policy and intersectionality in the European Journal of Politics and Gender, Social Politics, Canadian Public Administration & Policy & Politics. 

Beyond the Interface: Critical Perspectives on Sex Work and SexTech

Date: October 17-19, 2024
Location: Online
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/beyond-the-interface-critical-perspectives-of-sex-work-and-sextech-tickets-1039013165347?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Contact: beyondtheinterfaceconference@gmail.com

Join us for a groundbreaking 3-day virtual conference that will ignite your curiosity and challenge your perceptions. The Centre for Feminist Research’s “Critical Trafficking and Sex Work Studies Research Cluster” at York University is hosting an immersive exploration of the intersection between sex, technology, and society.

With nearly 40 captivating presentations and panels, this event will delve into the hottest topics in the field, including:

• Legal and Ethical Debates: Navigating the complex legal landscape and ethical considerations surrounding sextech and sex work.
• Inclusive Erotic Spaces: Examining representation and inclusivity in virtual realms and exploring how to create more equitable online experiences.
• Global Power Dynamics: Unpacking the impact of neoliberal globalization and neocolonialism on digital sex work.
• Wellness and Safety Online: Addressing the critical issues of health and safety in online environments.
• Technological Innovation and Social Change: Exploring how technology is shaping the future of sex work and social justice.

Featuring speakers from around the globe, including South Africa, France, Colombia, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, the United States, and Canada, this conference promises a diverse and thought-provoking experience.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with peer-led sex worker organizations, community-based researchers, technology companies, and leading experts in the field. Together, we’ll push the boundaries of knowledge and create a more equitable and inclusive future.

Register now and prepare to be inspired.

Sponsored by Vice-President Research & Innovation Scholarly Events and Outreach Fund; York University’s Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Research Events Fund; OPIRG York; the Jack & Mae Nathanson Centre; York Centre for Asian Research; Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies; Faculty of Graduate Studies Academic Excellence Fund; Centre for Feminist Research; the Harriet Tubman Institute; the Graduate Program in Film/Cinema & Media Arts; the Graduate Program in Communication and Culture; the Resource Centre for Public Sociology; the Department of Sociology; and the School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at York University.

Innovations in Feminist Methodologies: An Emerging Scholar Roundtable

Date: October 16, 2024
Time: 2:30pm – 4:00pm ET
Location: Online
Register: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkdeCuqj8rGtYNfW1fwIvWnBxdU3fT6raS

This roundtable highlights research from current PhD students that advances feminist approaches to the study of political science. Exploring different research topics and methods participants will discuss how their current research is pushing the discipline in new directions.  

Featuring: Iris Bradford, Vanita Clare, Meagan Cloutier, Tka Pinnock 

Moderated by Sarah Wiebe 

CFR Annual Meet and Greet

Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm ET
Location: 626 Kaneff Tower
RSVP: cfr@yorku.ca

Meet the new CFR Director and connect with CFR associates at the CFR’s annual meet and greet! If you are curious about joining the Centre or ones of its research clusters, have ideas for events or research grants for the year ahead, or just want to chat with other feminist researchers at York University, this is the perfect opportunity to connect. Please RSVP to CFR Coordinator Andi Schwartz at cfr@yorku.ca

Straight Work Curious Support Group

This event is for sex workers only (inclusive of escorts, strippers, alternative/erotic massage providers, street-based workers, etc.). Registration is required to protect everyone’s privacy and in support of a safer space.

Hosted by Maggie’s, Work Safe Twerk Safe, and the Critical Trafficking and Sex Work Studies Research Cluster in the Centre for Feminist Research at York University & facilitated by a career stripper who is transitioning into nonprofit/legal clinic work.

Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2025
Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm ET
Location: Virtual
Registration: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtf-ysqj0pE9c2G8HvLBmw3mx8uAe2X6Qe#/registration

Genocide, Resistance and Rescue: Agency in the Rwandan Genocide with Dr. Jennie Burnet

Part of the series Unsettling Anthropology: Violence, Terror & Resistance

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2024
Time: 2:45pm – 4:45pm ET
Location: Virtual
Register: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcod-uvpzIrHtA9OF3FIIjTE5j9PSF37l8R#/registration

The recent calls to moralize violence, to condemn or to relativize it, disregard the inherently political nature of violence, that violence ‘creates and sustains’ political meanings (Paul Kahn 2008). This talk series focuses on political imagination behind all acts of violence, of the willingness of people to kill and being killed and, especially, aims to unsettle common assumptions and moral rhetorics which are pressed down upon us to condemn the violence of ‘the others,’ disregarding the meanings of and the historical context of their actions.

Jennie E. Burnet is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute
for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta,
United States of America. Her research explores the cultural and psychological aspects
of war, genocide, and mass violence and the micro-level impact of large-scale social
change in the context of conflict. She is the award-winning author of Genocide Lives in Us: Women, Memory and Silence in Rwanda. Her 2023 book, To Save Heaven and Earth: Rescue during the Rwandan Genocide, examines how and why some Rwandans risked their lives to save Tutsi from the carnage.