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On the national level, SWOP helps build stronger communities and a stronger movement through technical assistance, funding, and direct support and advocacy. On a local level, our chapters address structural, cultural, and interpersonal violence individuals in the sex trade face by working to change attitudes, change policies, and create alternative community-led systems of support.

SWOP was founded in 2003 in the Bay Area, with it’s first major action being the coordination of International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, a global vigil that continues to be a cornerstone of SWOP’s awareness-raising work. Since it’s founding, hundreds of individual activists have engaged in local SWOP chapters and national projects geared towards educating the public and policy-makers on the direct and institutional harms committed against sex workers and their communities.

SWOP promotes decriminalization as the best means of decreasing harm and promoting agency amongst people in the sex trade. SWOP adopts the principles and practices of nonviolent action in order to reduce violence and achieve dignity and rights for sex workers. SWOP is committed to the respect, safety, and autonomy of all sex workers, and seeks to amplify the voices of those who are often left out of discourse around the issues we address colletively as a social justice movement.