#Mexican #sex #workers #fight #injustice #pen
Paloma Paz dons a wig and pink heels before taking to the streets of Mexico City to do sex work – a precarious job that she combines with journalism to denounce injustice.
She began writing articles after seeing other sex workers being thrown onto the streets as the hotels where they lived and worked closed due to the pandemic.
Journalism “is a way of shouting at society and the authorities about what’s happening to us,” the 28-year-old transgender woman said.
“It’s not a hobby,” she added, combing her long black wig at her home in the Mexican capital.
Paz and 10 other women write for a free monthly called Noticalle, which is published by the non-governmental organization Brigada Callejera (Street Brigade).
“It’s a communication tool that’s mainly produced by sex workers for sex workers,” said the NGO’s founder, Elvira Madrid, who felt misrepresented by the mainstream media.
Around 1,000 copies of the magazine are printed each month, consisting of three sheets of letter-size paper folded in half and stapled together.
On the cover is a caricature of two sex workers with the word Noticale in the background. The letter O is represented by a condom.
– “Community Journalism” –
Members of the magazine’s team hand out copies to sex workers in Mexico City every month.
“This is community journalism,” Paz said to a woman.
“We report daily on everything we see. Read it in peace,” she added.
The woman leaned against a wall and read the latest issue, hailing the publication as a useful window into the lives of sex workers elsewhere in the city.
“It helps us find out what’s happening in other areas where colleagues are,” she said, asking not to be named.
In its June issue – the 26th – the magazine reported that sex workers had lost up to 70 percent of their income due to the pandemic.
Other issues included blackmail by organized crime and the case of an indigenous transgender sex worker who was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being “wrongly” convicted of the murder of her partner.
Madrid selects the published articles and an external collaborator acts as designer and proofreader.
Paz and her colleagues regularly hone their skills in a journalism workshop, Madrid said.
“You have to take care of the sources of information,” a teacher in one class tells them.
– ‘Clear Vision’ –
Krisna, a 51-year-old transgender sex worker, was trained at another journalism workshop and now sometimes reports for digital media Disinformemonos.
On a recent day, she patiently interviewed displaced indigenous people demanding housing from the government in front of the National Palace and tactfully extracted the information needed for her article.
Learning journalism “has given me a sharper view of the news. I have the ability to analyze texts, see the social and political situation in the world,” Krisna said.
One of the best things the profession has given her is a different, peaceful way to defend herself against police abuse, she said.
In 2014, the Mexico City government began issuing ID cards to sex workers to protect them from police officers asking for money or sexual favors.
Using her new skills, Krisna also co-edited a book of sex worker interviews with fellow journalists.
Reporting “helps me with my self-esteem and my worth as a person,” she said.
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