In January 2020, Miriam Haughton and Joel Levy of the Sex Work Association of Jamaica (SWAJ) and Julia O’Connell Davidson of the University of Bristol visited Brazil to learn about the working conditions of Brazil’s sex workers and about Brazilian sex worker activism against violence and for decriminalisation. We were very grateful to Betania Santos and the Associação Mulheres Guerreiras (Warrior Women’s Association) for hosting us in Itatinga and for granting us the interview below.
Sex Work Association of Jamaica: Could you please tell us about the history of Warrior Women, your struggles, and the strategies you use to fight for sex workers’ rights?
Betania Santos: We are a group of sex workers, formed by a number of us who were working in the city centre of Campinas. Our group started informally around eighteen years ago, but we were formally registered in 2007. We have been fighting for sex workers’ rights since then. Our fight is to secure better working conditions for the occupational category that we represent: sex workers. We fight together for all the rights that we are entitled to have, just like any other category of workers.
