Project Respect is an Australian non-government organisation which challenges exploitation of and violence against women in the sex industry. Project Respect was established in late 1998 to work with women and girls in the sex industry, and began direct service work in March 2000. We conduct outreach and offer services to women in brothels especially where there is a high concentration of women from non-English speaking backgrounds.

We have a particular focus on women trafficked to Australia for prostitution, and other women experiencing harm and violence within the sex industry.

Complementing direct services, we undertake advocacy and public education, and collaborate closely with partners in trafficking `sending countries`, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. We are committed to global solutions to the problem of vioence against women in the sex industry, and work closely with regional and international organisations and networks addressing sexual exploitation.



AIMS & PRINCIPLES

Aim 1: To provide support, information, advocacy and training to women in the sex industry.

Project Respect understands that women in the sex industry face great barriers to support, information, advocacy and training. We believe that while women are in the sex industry, they have a right to safety, respect, financial security, and support.

We are therefore committed to:

Providing a regular outreach service to brothels, individual and family support and advocacy, information kits translated into relevant languages and leadership training to women in the sex industry.

Challenging the women-blaming attitudes of society towards women in prostitution.



Aim 2: To work towards community responses to prostitution and trafficking that are informed by a feminist perspective.

Project Respect believes that prostitution results from and strengthens structural inequalities of gender; in that the `clients` are overwhelmingly men, and the `workers` are overwhelmingly women. Project Respect believes that legalisation institutionalises prostitution and the exploitation of women. Project Respect believes that the purchase, not the supply, of prostitution should be criminalised. We are therefore committed to:

Actively supporting women who want to exit the sex industry.

Challenging the idea of male entitlement and forms of male power over women.

Training, educating and lobbying relevant organisations and government departments on appropriate responses to prostitution.

Raising community awareness of prostitution and providing a feminist perspective.

Researching and documenting violence against women in the sex industry.



Aim 3: To sustain a non-hierarchical, feminist culture that welcomes women from marginalised backgrounds, and challenges the mainstream organisational approach.

Project Respect believes that our organisational structure must reflect our understanding of gender, power, and exclusion.

We are therefore committed to:

Working as a feminist organisation run by women for women.

Involving women in the sex industry [past and present] in all aspects of the organisation.

Involving women from a range of backgrounds in all aspects of the organization.

Implementing an organisational structure that inherently promotes collaborative decision-making.

Providing those involved with ongoing support, training and opportunities.

Practices that limit harm to the environment and animals.