New York (Express Daily) In the state Legislature, whips are elected officials who enforce party discipline.
Then there’s the type of whip two state Assembly members from New York City may encounter when they speak in Brooklyn on Saturday for an organization that advocates for migrant sex workers.
The program includes a “spanking & rope lounge,” dominatrixes and “sexuality coaching” — along with speeches from Assembly members Ron Kim (D-Queens) and Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan).
“We are the people that we represent,” Niou told the Express Daily. “We are also going to be standing by all of the folks who want to be able to speak out for a community that’s always been underrepresented.”
At the event at the Lot 45 event space in Bushwick, she and Kim will discuss legislation that they and sex workers’ rights group Red Canary Song have advocated in Albany.
“Part of [the event] is designed to push people, to make them feel a bit uncomfortable,” Kim said, talking about society in general. “It is an uncomfortable topic for many people and we want to help destigmatize this space.”
Red Canary Song, the fundraiser’s beneficiary, does grassroots organizing for workers at Asian massage parlors, among other kinds of sex workers. The group declined to comment.
Early-bird tickets costing $15 are sold out, says the fundraiser’s Eventbrite page, which states the party will be “a historic grand gathering of the Asian-American underground” and “Queer, burlesque, drag, fetish, tattoo and circus communities UNITE for an extravaganza of Asian-American entertainment and eroticism!”
Admission costs $25 at the door. Donors can also give $100 for special “Thanks Daddy!” and “Donate for your Domme!” tix.
Inside, revelers will find a dungeon with staples of BDSM — short for bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism — like a “St. Andrew’s Cross” used to restrain participants.
Kim said sex workers designed the programming.
“This is a point of pride that they’re not going to be shamed and judged. They want to have ownership of their work,” he said.
Both lawmakers acknowledged some of their constituents might find the programming off-putting.
“I was part of that crowd that felt very uncomfortable being around this space and talking about sex work,” Kim said.
His mind was changed by what happened to Yang Song, a Queens sex worker who died in 2017 as she ran from or was chased by vice cops in Flushing.
Her death became a rallying point for groups including Red Canary Song. “But after seeing what happened to Yang Song, there’s no way I can go back to how it was,” said Kim.
Kim and Niou support state legislation to decriminalize sex work. Niou has also co-sponsored a bill that would repeal loitering for prostitution as a crime, which, she says, enables discrimination against transgender people.
“If we’re having these conversations now, I think that that’s something worth celebrating,” Niou said.