An "Only in Berlin" Project

I want to share with you a project I’m really proud of.

As many of you know, a big part of why I moved to Germany was to be able to work legally as a sex worker. Since I moved here, I’ve worked for three different companies—an escort agency, a bordello, and a massage studio—and while it’s been completely amazing to know I can no longer be arrested, I was sad to discover that all of these companies are still super capitalistic and therefore squeeze their workers like oranges for every euro. Most of them run roughshod over the few worker’s rights we do have here. One of them operated in such an illegal manner that I reported them to the police.

So I found an amazing group of other Berlin sex workers to build our own company! And these humans are incredible. For several months, we’ve been laying the groundwork to create a worker-owned escort agency collective (genossenschaft in German). We’ve consulted lawyers and come up with a budget, and now we’re fundraising for a very modest startup fund.

You can find the campaign here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-worker-owned-escort-agency-in-berlin--2/x/30227643#/

You can of course donate anonymously. Contributions should appear on bank statements as "INDIEGOGO*WOEA."

Whether or not you’re in a place where you feel like donating cash, I would deeply appreciate if you could share the campaign and talk about it to everyone you think might listen.

A big part of this campaign is to reduce stigma and prove to the world that self-determined sex workers exist, which most people don’t yet understand. Germany has gotten farther in recognising us as workers than the rest of the world, but what I’ve found is that there’s still a long way to go. However, unlike in the US, I think I’ve found a fight here I can actually win.

Thank you for being my friends and people I know I can trust. Thanks in advance for any amount of support and sharing for this radical project.

Fondly,

Ernestine