Sex work: Perspectives in conversation

The topic of ‘sex work’ raises important social issues and is a divisive one.

As part of the video installation ‘Experiences in Switzerland – Sex Work’, the Swiss National Museum in Zurich is hosting an event that sheds light on different perspectives. The focus is on protection, labour rights, social recognition and the tension between the ban on buying sex and self-determined gainful employment. Various experts will contribute their specialist knowledge, personal experiences and assessments.

How do different stakeholders experience the reality of sex work in Switzerland? Where do their perspectives overlap, and where do they diverge? What role do protection, self-determination, labour rights and social recognition play? And what lessons can be drawn from this for the social and political approach to sex work in Switzerland?

Dialogue is at the heart of this event. Personal experiences meet institutional viewpoints and expert assessments. Together with the audience, a ‘World Café’ format will be used to highlight different viewpoints, discuss contradictions and explore the question of how sex work is perceived, regulated and organised in Switzerland.

An event for listening, contextualising and joining the discussion, with the participation of:

• Gabriella, sex worker
• Cornelia Zürrer Ritter, Director of RAHAB Zurich (Salvation Army Switzerland Foundation)
• Alexander Ott, former co-head of the Police Inspectorate and head of the Immigration Police of the City of Bern, expert on migration, human trafficking and organised crime
• Agata Zielniewicz, lawyer, co-leader of the Gender Responsive Budgeting Working Group – a platform for feminist economics at economiefeministe

Moderator: Helene Aecherli, reporter and editor

The event is free of charge, but registration is compulsory.