Sudbury's 'Project ArmHer' showcases performances by sex workers — and they don't want to be 'saved'
"What they want to say is important ... and they have a right to say it," says show's writer and director
The team of artists, activists and sex workers behind a new theatre production in Sudbury want you to rethink the sex work industry — and the people who work in it.
Sarah Gartshore is the writer and director of the collaborative multi-media show called "Project ArmHer". It will be performed by people with lived experience in the sex industry and their allies.
Gartshore said rather than "othering" those in the trade, it's an effort to make sure that insights come straight from the source.
"They own it. It's their stories," she said. "What they want to say is important, and the way that they want to say it is important, and they have a right to say it."
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Gartshore said the show explores various dimensions of sex work through the lens of people who have chosen to do it.
"We believe that sex work is real work," she said. "It's hard work. It can be boring, it can be wonderful, it can be mundane, you can dread going to work, you can like going to work — just like any job."
"In no way is this about saving anybody."
Gartshore said she hopes that sex work in Canada is someday decriminalized.
"There'll be a lot of people right now who are living in poverty, living in fear and danger who won't be anymore."
"Project ArmHer" is happening at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University in Sudbury on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. — the same day as the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers.