Davida – Prostitution, Civil Rights, Health

Leaving the Dark: unveiling human rights violation in female prostitution is the project proposed by Davida to map sex workers’ reality.

This qualitative research will map cases of human rights violations against prostitutes in the cities of Salvador, Corumbá, Manaus, and Porto Alegre, through both collective and personal experiences with mobilization and affirmation of identity, autonomy, and dignity.

The research seeks to understand the current forms of violence and stigma against prostitutes, as well as the ways these women and their networks deal with human rights on a daily basis. The project will support local, national, and international advocacy activities.

Davida (“From the Life”) was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to promote the citizenship of prostitutes, creating opportunities to ensure their social protagonism and visibility by means of the organization of this work category, human rights advocacy, mobilization, and social control.

The organization’s activities include the development of STD/AIDS prevention projects in partnership with the Ministry of Health. The initiative benefits more than 20 thousand prostitutes throughout Brazil, including eight thousand prostitutes per year in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

In 2005, Davida launched the clothing brand name “Daspu”. The organization’s social business aims at its economic sustainability, in order to ensure its mission’s social sustainability.

The NGO also participates in the newspaper and website Beijo da rua (“Kiss from the Street”). Since 1988, the publication covers the day-to-day reality of prostitution and the organized prostitutes’ movement and holds the cultural event Mulheres Seresteiras (“Serenading Women”), which convenes sex workers, sex amateurs, and musicians in the community revitalization of prostitution areas in Rio.