NORTH AMERICAN TASK FORCE ON PROSTITUTION
Priscilla Alexander

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ABOUT THE NORTH AMERICAN TASK FORCE ON PROSTITUTION

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The North American Task Force on Prostitution (NTFP) was founded in 1979, to act as an umbrella organization for prostitutes and prostitutes'rights organizations in different parts of the United States. In 1994, its purpose was expanded to involve organizations and individuals who support the rights of prostitutes and other sex workers.

The North American Task Force on Prostitution is thus a network of sex workers, sex workers' rights organizations, and individuals and organizations that support the rights of sex workers to organize on their own behalf, work safely and without legal repression, travel without legal restrictions, have families and raise children, and enjoy the same rights, responsibilities, and priviledges as other people.

The goals of the North American Task Force on Prostitution are to 1) repeal the existing prostitution laws; 2) ensure the right of prostitutes and other sex workers to bargain with their employers, when they work for third parties, in order to improve their working conditions; 3) inform the public about a wide range of issues related to prostitution and other forms of sex work; 4) promote the development of support services for sex workers, including HIV/AIDS/STD and violence prevention projects, health and social support services for sex workers (including supportive programs to deal with sexually transmitted diseases, violence, and substance abuse), legal assistance projects, and job retraining and other programs to assist prostitutes who wish to change their occupation; and 5) end the public stigma associated with sex work.

To this end, the North American Task Force on Prostitution:
- engages in public education, producing and distributing position papers, bibliographies, program development manuals, and other publications. Within the next year, the Task Force plans to inaugurate an on-line information resource, including archives of documents available via FTP, a mailing list, and a newsgroup, to be accessible through the Internet.

- encourages research that is designed to improve sex workers' lives, and especially encourages sex workers to work for advanced academic degrees in order to engage in research that is based in their own experiences.

- provides technical assistance in the development and evaluation of health, social service, and other support service programs for prostitutes and other sex workers.

- provides speakers to lecture in college and university classes, participate in and/or organize conference workshops and panel discussions, as well as to discuss sex work issues with the print and electronic media.



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