Red Umbrella Fund is the first and only global fund dedicated to supporting the rights of sex workers. In line with its core values of autonomy and ownership, Red Umbrella Fund is a sex worker-led, participatory fund. Daspu was thus perceived as a sharp provocation which awarded them much public attention and opportunity to share their political message.
Daspu inserted itself into the Brazilian mainstream culture, giving a new meaning to the puta identity by performing fashion catwalks in telenovelas, official fashion weeks, cultural institutions and street events. Sex workers participating in Daspu catwalks recreated themselves as fashion models of their own clothes in a celebratory occupation of the catwalk, a territory that up to then had been reserved to Dasluzettes. Credit: Daniela Pinheiro. During my internship at the Red Umbrella Fund, I analyzed if and how their grantee partners have used artivism in their political and social interventions.
I could not help but think back about how I had been influenced as a young woman growing up in Brazil when Daspu reached the mass media. At least 2 in every 3 sex worker groups reviewed mentioned one or more examples of using artivism in their reports. And this was even higher specifically for national and regional sex worker networks. Using arts in activism is common across all regions, although groups reported it most often in Europe, North America and the Caribbean.
Sex worker activists make use of appealing visual elements such as color and shapes, poetic strategies such as word sounds and repetition, and performance to give strength to the messages. By making complex political issues more easily understandable, the targeted audience is finally able to connect and to relate to sex workers. A basic example of how social movements regularly use art to empower their message is the creation of rhythmic political mottos.
Somos lindas, estamos listas, somos puta feministas! We are beautiful, we are ready, we are whore feminists! Expanding your visibility means to get out of your comfort zone and create and be present in conversations with wider audiences that are distanced from their realities. Art offers sex worker groups guerrilla tools to achieve political visibility among different audiences. It is also used specifically to fight against the stigma imposed on sex workers, with the understanding that stigma is a collective political problem and not an individual fault.
