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Project Respect is an Australian non-government organisation which challenges exploitation of and violence against women in the sex industry. Project Respect was established in late 1998 to work with women and girls in the sex industry, and began direct service work in March 2000. We conduct outreach and offer services to women in brothels especially where there is a high concentration of women from non-English speaking backgrounds.

We have a particular focus on women trafficked to Australia for prostitution, and other women experiencing harm and violence within the sex industry.

Complementing direct services, we undertake advocacy and public education, and collaborate closely with partners in trafficking 'sending countries', particularly in the Asia-Pacific. We are committed to global solutions to the problem of vioence against women in the sex industry, and work closely with regional and international organisations and networks addressing sexual exploitation.

Aim 1: To provide support, information, advocacy and training to women in the sex industry.

Project Respect understands that women in the sex industry face great barriers to support, information, advocacy and training. We believe that while women are in the sex industry, they have a right to safety, respect, financial security, and support.

We are therefore committed to:

• Providing a regular outreach service to brothels, individual and family support and advocacy, information kits translated into relevant languages and leadership training to women in the sex industry.
• Challenging the women-blaming attitudes of society towards women in prostitution.

Aim 2: To work towards community responses to prostitution and trafficking that are informed by a feminist perspective.

Project Respect believes that prostitution results from and strengthens structural inequalities of gender; in that the 'clients' are overwhelmingly men, and the 'workers' are overwhelmingly women. Project Respect believes that legalisation institutionalises prostitution and the exploitation of women. Project Respect believes that the purchase, not the supply, of prostitution should be criminalised. We are therefore committed to:

• Actively supporting women who want to exit the sex industry.
• Challenging the idea of male entitlement and forms of male power over women.
• Training, educating and lobbying relevant organisations and government departments on appropriate responses to prostitution.
• Raising community awareness of prostitution and providing a feminist perspective.
• Researching and documenting violence against women in the sex industry.

Aim 3: To sustain a non-hierarchical, feminist culture that welcomes women from marginalised backgrounds, and challenges the mainstream organisational approach.

Project Respect believes that our organisational structure must reflect our understanding of gender, power, and exclusion.

We are therefore committed to:

• Working as a feminist organisation run by women for women.
• Involving women in the sex industry (past and present) in all aspects of the organisation.
• Involving women from a range of backgrounds in all aspects of the organization.
• Implementing an organisational structure that inherently promotes collaborative decision-making.
• Providing those involved with ongoing support, training and opportunities.
• Practices that limit harm to the environment and animals.

Melissa Westerman (whose artwork is seen throughout the site) is a young Melbourne artist whose artwork is strongly inspired by social history, feminist literature, nature, music and poetry.

Her work for Project Respect reflects a passion for representing women's stories and experiences as well as engaging with the global politics of trafficking women.

Project Respect has a number of publications available for purchase.

• The One Victim of Trafficking is Too Many: Counting the Human Cost of Trafficking report
• Dr Sallie Yea's report on The Trafficking of Women to US Military Bases in South Korea

Ph: +61 3 9416 3401

Facsimile: +61 3 9417 0833 (please ring before faxing)

Email: info@projectrespect.org.au

Mail:
PO Box 1323
Collingwood, Victoria 3066

Project Respect is located at:
First Floor, 126 Moor Street
Fitzroy, Victoria 3065
Australia