Yingwana, N. and Vidima, N. (2022). Reading in-between the sheets: In conversation about SWEAT’s #SayHerName. In N. Falkof, N., Phadke, S., & Roy, S. (Eds.) Intimacy and Injury, pp. 76–101. Manchester University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526157638.00011.
Abstract:
Sex workers in South Africa are confronted with high levels of violence, which rights groups – in particular the national movement of sex workers called Sisonke, and the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) – argue is the direct result of the criminalisation of the industry. SWEAT is a human rights-based non-governmental organisation, which advocates for the rights of adult, consenting sex workers in the country. Launched in 2016, the SWEAT #SayHerName campaign commemorates and honours womxn sex workers who have violently lost their lives. It further promotes the recognition of sex workers’ human rights, including the constitutional rights to healthcare, justice, labour law protection and, of course, freedom from violence. The campaign serves as an important curative in the global feminist discourse on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) – such as the #MeToo movement/moment – as it brings to the fore the all too often marginalised voices of African womxn sex workers. In this chapter, former SWEAT Human Rights and Lobbying Officer Nosipho Vidima – engages in a conversation about the #SayHerName campaign with the University of the Witwatersrand researcher Ntokozo Yingwana.
