BAYSWAN's central project has been production of the San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival since 1999. BAYSWAN also provides consultation about sex worker rights issues to local and international organizations through the Sex Worker Education Network. From 2014-2020 BAYSWAN had worked closely with the San Francisco Mayor's Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, on the Sex Work and Trafficking Policy Impact Committee. The emphasis of this effort was an ongoing review of the impact of anti-trafficking policies on sex workers and other communities. BAYSWAN recently participated in the drafting of legislation addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and sex workers.
The Sex Workers Education Network is primarily an information service (formerley PENet, Prostitutes Education Network) which provides information for sex workers, sex worker rights advocates and students about diverse sex industries. BAYSWAN links individuals to resources provided by sex workers and other rights based organizations.
The Sex Workers Education Network highlights legislative and cultural issues as they impact prostitutes and other sex workers. The service is comprised of information for sex workers and activists/educators who study issues of decriminalization, human rights in the context of prostitution, violence against prostitutes and women, trafficking issues from a sex worker rights perspective, sex workers and pornography, as well as current trends in legislation and social policy in the U.S. and internationally.Through Sex Workers Education Network, sex workers and others who research prostitution issues may find or request information and get connected with others who advocate for sex workers' rights in their geographical area.
Further information about Carol Leigh, BAYSWAN Co-founder and director, is available here.
Material from the following organizations is included: The National Task Force on Prostitution (U.S.), PONY- Prostitutes of New York (N.Y.), SWOP-Sex Worker's Outreach Project (NSW, Australia), SWAC- Sex Worker's Action Coalition (Oakland), Toronto Safe Sex Project, COYOTE -Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (San Francisco, Rhode Island and Los Angeles), HIRE- Hooking Is Real Employment (Atlanta, Georgia), SIN- Sex Industry Network (Adelaide, Australia), SWAV -Sex Worker's Alliance of Vancouver (British Columbia), Danzine (Portland, Oregon), and the Exotic Dancer's Alliance (San Francisco). Information distributed includes AIDS reports, materials from The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Task Force on Prostitution, testimony and stories by workers, health and community outreach reports, sex worker art and more.
