Jelena Vermilion is a Canadian sex worker advocate and Executive Director of Sex Worker Action Program in Hamilton, Ontario. A transgender sex worker of many years, she is also an author, archivist, public speaker, and adult film star.

Activism

Vermillion is currently the Executive Director of SWAP, a sex worker community organization that maintains a drop-in center, educational center, and community resource on Barton Street.[1]

She previously served as Co-Chair of the Sex Worker Action Network (SWAN) Waterloo. As part of SWAN, she served as an expert witness in R v. Boodhoo, a case that challenged specific sex worker laws in Canada.

Vermilion created the Sex Worker Media Library Archive housed in the Hamilton Public Library, an archive of books, 'zines, videos, podcasts, and news articles dedicated to sex worker history, activism, and culture.[2]

In September 2023, Vermilion was assaulted as she participated in a Take Back the Night March in Hamilton. The assault happened hours after she met with the city's emergency community services committee to discuss strategies to address gender-based violence.[3][4]

In 2023, Vermilion was honored by the YWCA of Hamilton as a Woman of Distinction.[5]

Media appearances

A frequent public speaker at academic conferences and an outspoken representative for sex worker rights, Vermilion educates the public on laws impacting sex workers in Canada and the U.S.,[6][7] the stigma and discrimination faced by transgender women,[8] and how the needs of sex workers were ignored during the COVID pandemic.[9]

She has appeared in the documentary Translating Beauty to discuss the relationship between beauty standards and sex work and the unique challenges transgender women face. She also appears in the documentary Surviving the Block to address the violence and stigma surrounding sex work and the need for decriminalization.

In 2020, Vermilion and Carol Leigh collaborated to reproduce her #TakeBackTheNight film with the sex work excerpts from December 1990 San Francisco's Take Back The Night March.[10]

Vermilion has served as a Hamilton delegate to the Industrial Workers of the World.[11][12]

She is published in the sex worker anthology, Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex.[13]

Adult industry recognition

In 2017 and 2018, Vermilion was nominated for the Transgender Erotica Award and won for Best DVD in 2018.[14] She has also published a column Beyond Barriers in the transgender magazine Transformation.

The sex doll company Pornstars has recreated a sex doll based on her image.[15]

References

  1. ↑ J.P. Antonacci. “Support Centre Opens for Sex Workers - East-End Venue Will House Archives, Host Panel Discussions, Film Screenings.” Hamilton Spectator, The (Ontario, Canada), May 24, 2022.
  2. ↑ Calugay-Casuga, Gabriela. “Five Women in the Labour Movement You Should Know About.” rabble.ca, March 8, 2023. https://rabble.ca/feminism/five-women-in-the-labour-movement-you-should-know-about/.
  3. ↑ "SWAP Hamilton's delegation to the Emergency and Community Services Committee on September 21, 2023" – via www.youtube.com.
  4. ↑ News ·, Bobby Hristova · CBC. “Video Appears to Show Man Drag Sex Work Activist during Hamilton March against Violence | CBC News.” CBC, September 22, 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/take-back-the-night-march-assault-video-1.6975871.
  5. ↑ YWCA Hamilton. “Women of Distinction 2023 Nominees.” Accessed January 2, 2024. https://www.ywcahamilton.org/wod/nominees/.
  6. ↑ Tarlo, Shira. “Sex Workers Converge on Capitol Hill: ‘We’re Human Beings.’” Salon, June 2, 2018. https://www.salon.com/2018/06/02/sex-workers-converge-on-capitol-hill-to-be-recognized-were-human-beings/.
  7. ↑ Jen and Roz. “Episode 4: Sex Work and the Charter Challenge by The Feminist Shift.” The Feminist Shift. Accessed January 2, 2024. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/feministshift/episodes/Episode-4-Sex-Work-and-the-Charter-Challenge-evuvb3.
  8. ↑ Green, Sarah, Calgary Journal April 16, and 2020. “Surviving the Stigma: Inside the Life of a Trans Sex Worker.” Calgary Journal, April 16, 2020. https://calgaryjournal.ca/2020/04/16/surviving-the-stigma-inside-the-life-of-a-trans-sex-worker/.
  9. ↑ Press, Teresa Wright The Canadian. “Sex Workers Say They’re at Risk, Have Been Left out of Canada’s COVID-19 Response.” Toronto Star, April 19, 2020. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/sex-workers-say-they-re-at-risk-have-been-left-out-of-canada-s-covid/article_a91c9fdb-d6be-5344-94ee-3941b623b0ca.html.
  10. ↑ Sex Workers Take Back The Night 1990 by Scarlot Harlot & Jelena Vermilion (11 Minute Video- 2020), 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1u2zfFoEMs.
  11. ↑ Vermilion, Jelena. “Sex Workers’ Charter Challenge Currently Underway.” Industrial Worker (blog), May 20, 2021. https://industrialworker.org/sex-workers-charter-challenge-currently-underway/.
  12. ↑ The Arquives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archive. “Jelena Vermilion Fonds,” n.d. https://collections.arquives.ca/link/descriptions44638.
  13. ↑ Smith, Molly. Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex. Edited by Matilda Bickers, peech breshears, and Janis Luna. Oakland: PM Press, 2023.
  14. ↑ XBIZ. “2018 TEA Nominees Announced.” XBIZ, November 22, 2017. https://www.xbiz.com/news/231928/2018-tea-nominees-announced.
  15. ↑ Harris, Jamie. “XXX Stars Recreate Themselves as Life-Size Sex Dolls for HIRE.” The Sun, January 15, 2022. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/17319459/pornstars-life-size-sex-doll-recreation-brandi-mai/.
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