December 17th, also known as IDEVASW or D17, is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. In 2004, SWOP-USA made a plan to honor the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, designating December 17th as International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers to put an end to this stigma. Since then, the goal to honor sex workers who have been victims of violence has expanded to advocacy groups and allies across the globe.

Each year, sex workers, allies, friends and family members organize demonstrations and vigils around the world. While sex workers mourn our deceased community members and stand in solidarity with others, we also demand attention to hate crimes enacted against sex workers, and an eradication of the discrimination that directly contributes to violence against sex workers everywhere.

The December 17th project is a collaborative effort to continue this mission by maintaining a global resource of memorialized sex workers, a podcast telling the stories of their lives, and a blog with news updates about cases of murdered sex workers and information about the fight for sex workers rights.

We acknowledge that often crimes against sex workers aren’t treated seriously by law enforcement and that certain demographics such as BIPOC, transgender, and sex workers who work outdoors are at some of the highest risks of violence. Our goal is to shed light on the struggles these sex workers face to help end the stigma that keeps them unsafe.

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