Talk: Les narrations autour du travail du sexe

“Incivilities and violence towards trans* sex workers/prostitutes in the Yser district” is a qualitative study by Ana Dresler, on the feelings of trans* women in the Yser area. Halfway between urban planning and sociology, the survey places the participants' experiences in the political and urban context of this gentrifying area, which puts the neighborhood's historic groups in tension with the aspirations of smaller, higher-income households that have been moving in over the past few years.

Stories put into voice

Marie Darah's narration of the testimonies, which emerged from the survey work that made them possible and from the silence of transcription, presents the situation in Yser from a new angle: that of the most authentic people concerned. Fragments of experience that the polemics surrounding the Yser district often render inaudible.

Several of these testimonies will be read during the meeting.

In Fille méchante (L'Oie de Cravan, 2023), Juliette Langevin writes uncompromisingly about sex work, love & friendship, addiction, loneliness and the Internet. It's a work full of humor, poetry & violence, with a powerful sense of image and derision.

-- Excerpt

"écrire est difficile mais vendre mon corps ne l’est pas je m’arrête pour me toucher je ne sais pas si je pourrai revenir au paragraphe au texte au déversement je vais sortir tout le liquide de moi parce qu’il menace de me sortir par les yeux à chaque fois que je m’applique sur le clavier ça signifie I guess que la poésie c’est comme de la cyprine pis mon écriture est plus à l’aise d’être décrite comme ça"

Alias is an association offering psycho-medico-social support for men and trans* people involved in prostitution/sex work in Brussels.

Sophie d'Aubreby is an author and awareness-raiser at Alias. She will be moderating the meeting.