Project ArmHer aims to change people's misconceptions about sex work

Some have lived experience in sex work; some are allies who understand.

They came together as a group of women who wanted to respond to and be part of the conversation around violence against women and sex work issues.

That's how Project ArmHer started. The multi-media show that includes film, theatre, and art, is based on the experiences of women working in the sex industry. And the stories it tells aims to change the misconceptions people have about sex work. 

Monday, Nov. 18, the Sex Workers Advisory Network of Sudbury (SWANS) will present Project ArmHer at 7 p.m. at the Sudbury Events Centre, 19 Regent St. It's their first show in Sudbury since 2017.

"Sex workers are a group of people who are often talked about, talked over, so it was really important for us to actually have a space where we could speak back to the conversations around human trafficking, prostitution, and sex workers' choice," Tracy Gregory said.

Gregory is the founder of SWANS and one of the actors in Project ArmHer. "As a person who has lived experience, it's been an incredible journey of self-growth," she said.

Gregory says the show takes the audience through the stigma, the shame, and the violence against women from childhood into adult womanhood. 

"It's really an unpacking and working through all of the internalized shame that many women carry but it's coming from the perspective of women who have lived experience in the sex industry," said Gregory. 

She added that women in the sex industry have a lot to contribute to the conversation about violence against women but they are systematically and socially silenced and kept out of that conversation.

As a cast member, Gregory says, "We laugh, we cry, we have these moments that are just so powerful. It's just a really beautiful and important performance."

Playwright Sarah Gartshore gives an example of a piece of theatre called "Perception is Reality," which looks at how one woman can be perceived very differently by different people. 

Gartshore believes that the show empowers both the performers and the audience. "Theatre has a way of doing that– of delivering in a way that feels good, that feels personal, that you can connect to," she said.

She said that audience members connect strongly with the show and the stories it tells.

Tracy Gregory says SWANS has some important messages for women working in the sex industry. "Your work is important, your life is important, sex work is work, sex work is a choice and anything that's not consensual is not sex work."