Our Mission

The Oregon Sex Workers Committee (OSWC) addresses economic and health disparities among consensual adult sex workers and trafficking survivors in Oregon, centering BIPOC communities through research, advocacy, education, and harm reduction to promote safety and equity.

OSWC Leadership Team

Valentine Von Bettie (she/her)

Board of Directors | Co-President
Valentine Von Bettie is a 34 yr old biracial Black queer sex worker who started her career in 2009. She is a community organizer, an advocate for equity among marginalized groups, and current OSWC board member and Co-President. Valentine has traveled nationally and internationally for adult work, spoken on panels, been a guest on podcasts, and has been interviewed many times regarding her experience in the adult industry. Currently working as an adult consensual full service provider, dominatrix, and porn performer she believes dedication to decriminalization allows safer working conditions for all, but especially Black and Brown workers in these trades.

Elle Stanger (she/they)

Board of Directors | Co-President | Harm Reduction Director of STI Services & Education
Elle is an AASECT certified sexuality educator and longtime adult industry worker, writer, and podcaster who uses their wide social media reach to receive feedback from survivors of exploitation, and consensual sex workers from all over the world and especially in Oregon where she lives. Elle received a BA in Criminology from Portland State University and uses her privileged positionality to teach the impacts of whorephobia and sex-negativity to harm reduction providers such as therapists, counselors, EMTs and other crisis responders. Elle is anti-carceral and has worked as a facilitator for sex worker and survivor specific therapy groups, and as a fundraising-event organizer who co-led Portland Slutwalk, an international movement to end victim blaming and sexual assault. Elle is a co-parent and works in porn, webcam, phone and media sex, stripping, and consensual-but-criminalized contact work.

Serena Blessed (she/her)

Board of Directors
Serena Blessed is a longtime professional, writer, former ballet dancer and tarot reader. She is the newest member of the OSWC Board of Directors. Serena's focus on community care relates to all those who are considered fringe and untouchable by a homogeneous normative society. folks that are often left out of organizing and nonprofit spaces. Hence her often wry nickname of “Queen of the outsiders.” Serena is currently working to source clothing and makeup for other trans folks and SWs and truly, sincerely believes that being able to see beauty in another is the most sacred of callings. Because it is through this beauty that we can all see ourselves as connected, reflected and live outside of the fear of fitting in; and choose instead to belong to one another.

Stoney Faye (she/they)

Board of Directors | Harm Reduction Director of Overdose Prevention & Community Outreach
Stoney Faye is a 30-year-old mother, homemaker, and graduate student in public health at Purdue University. Currently retired from sex work, they have done all forms of sex work in the past, and credits sex work for lifting her & her daughter out of poverty. Stoney now lives in a rural suburb of Philadelphia, where she spends her days doing a lot of homework, a little housework, and countless hours trying to advance harm reduction and work to end the overdose crisis.

Misty Maven (she/her)

Board of Directors | Marketing Manager | Treasurer
Misty Maven is a digital marketing professional and online sex worker. She is a current OSWC board member, Treasurer, and Marketing Manager. Misty is passionate about community engagement and social justice, and has both volunteered and worked for organizations in the sectors of medical research and access, temporary and permanent housing for unhoused people, access to food and clean water, environmental justice, and of course, decriminalization of sex work with OSWC. In 2021, Misty earned a Sustainable MBA from Unity Environmental University with the goal of working with organizations to establish sustainable systems in terms of the environment as well as in the sense of long-term viability.

Roz Stranger (they/she)

Grant Writer | Harm Reduction Operations Manager
Roz Stranger is a queer interdisciplinary artist with a range of community organizing experience and adult industry knowledge. From criminal justice reform and arts and culture initiatives to supporting LGBTQIA+ youth, they have been involved in grassroots efforts across the country. Currently, Roz serves as the Grant Writer and Harm Reduction Operations Manager for OSWC. They advocate for collective liberation through the self-determination of marginalized communities and are committed to the ethos of “Nothing about us without us.” At OSWC, they are excited to be combining their creative strategy skills with community care work. Roz holds a BLA in Critical Art Practices from Hampshire College and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University. They live in Portland OR with their chihuahua mix Rugelach.

More than 250 academics, researchers, and harm reduction experts published a formal letter to decriminalize sex work in 2021.

Because it works.

(Click for our anti discrimination policy)

OSWC History

How it started VS. How it's going

2024

November

Community Care Backpacks

The Community Care Backpacks Fundraiser was 100% funded within one week and two days! These packs, which will be distributed to orgs, include tampons, hand warmers, reusable water filters, wound care kits, and overdose prevention supplies. Click here to view or give to the ongoing fundraiser.

2024

October

Community Services Network

Tabling Event. OSWC members got to hear from other organizers and non-profit workers in healthcare and harm prevention and services for marginalized people. Thank you to our affiliates!

2024

July

Pride Booth & Distribution

OSWC hosted a booth for our second year Portland Pride waterfront, and distributed 200 condoms, 264 Plan B units, 264 Fentanyl testing strips, and 528 units of liquid naloxone and clean syringes each. We received overwhelmingly warm reception from Oregonians who were local and far-traveled to celebrate pride. 

2024

February

Harm Redux Office Hours

Harm Reduction Office Hours is Now Open via the Program Director Stoney, aka @naloxonesfavoriteth0t on IG . Over 450 units of naloxone have been distributed to the Portland metro area, and Oregon cities.

2023

December

Event for 20th International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Star Theater hosts OSWC and Cupcake Girls with members of Aileens and Sex Positive Portland for 20th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Artists and vendors joined for prizes and supplies distribution, and memorial for those we have lost to systemic or individual violence.

 

2023

November

Legal Mapping Concludes

The Legal Mapping Program concludes for year. This study seeks to calculate how Oregon police and courts currently address and process sex workers and clients in their systems.

2023

July

Project Red Initiative Partnership

OSWC partners with ProjectRedInitiative.org to inform and create our Harm Reduction Outreach Program. Free trainings on overdose prevention and direct supplies to venues and individuals is managed by Stoney Faye and can be contacted on IG @naloxonesfavoriteth0t.

2023

June

TOOLKIT Partnership

OSWC partners with TOOLKIT to provide free training on trauma education and internal competence. These training sessions are designed to offer skills and knowledge to identify trauma triggers, understand what is happening in the body, and manage these reactions.

2023

July

Pride Booth & Distribution

Portland Pride at the waterfront allowed OSWC to distribute hundreds of condoms and lubricants, as well as dozens of drug overdose prevention supplies like Narcan, and some specialty items for sexual health, like Plan B. We heard from a surprising number of community members who were grateful for our presence, and disclosed their own personal experiences with sex work to our volunteers.

2023

May

OSWC Members testify

OSWC members testify to media and legislators on the importance of supporting HB 2501 which later died in session due to lack of engagement from Oregon legislators.

2023

May

Passing of Carol Leigh

San Francisco and Online Tribute and Memorial to Carol Leigh, friend of sex workers everywhere and close friend of OSWC’s incorporator and eldest member, Kate Marquez.

2023

April

FNUSA Testimony by OSWC member

Freedom Network USA hosts it’s anti-trafficking conference and our member Bella* gave public comment in front of federal agents about how police stings in Florida had given her three prostitution convictions, made her unemployable with a criminal record, and endangered her ability to parent her children. We at OSWC applaud FNUSA for centering victims of sex trafficking over law enforcement.

2023

March

Rally for International Sex Workers Rights Day

Guest Speaker OSWC’s Stoney Faye at University of Oregon, Rally for International Sex Workers Rights Day – Hosted by UO LGBT Education and Support Services

2022

April

OSWC 2nd Human Rights Commission Event

OSWC hosts its 2nd Human Rights Commission Event in the University of Oregon’s Gerlinger Hall. For two hours, folks impacted by criminalization of sex work give testimony about the impacts of that policymaking. Folks explained how bad laws put them in prison, prevented them from seeking care, or were used against them by their traffickers.

2021

November

John Hopkins OSWC moderated discussion

Johns Hopkins University hosted “Possibilities and Priorities for Marginalized Sex Workers”, moderated by OSWC Co-Chair Bianca Beebe.

2021

November

Decoy Stings Testimony by OSWC members

After investigating local arrests in Portland that were improperly labeled as “sex trafficking” by the media and Portland Police Bureau, the OSWC mobilized and testified for six consecutive weeks to Multnomah County Commissioners to raise awareness of this human rights violation and misuse of funds. OSWC Co-Chair Elle Stanger and other sex workers testified to a Portland City Council to end funding of decoy stings, on November 10th, 2021.

2021

July

1rst OSWC Human Rights Commission

We host our first Human Rights Commission event in Portland, Oregon on July 15th. For more than three hours, attendees learned how the current partial or full criminalization of sex workers and their clients makes it harder to address victimization, creates underground markets and increases the opportunity for predatory individuals to commit abuses against the most marginalized people in societies.

2021

May

Anonymous Donor Makes Large Contribution

An anonymous donor made a large contribution to the OSWC, enabling us to start planning our first event.

2021

January

HB3088

Representative Rob Nosse sponsored a bill that called for decriminalization of sex work laws, called HB3088. Local advocates and sex workers found each other through social media and in-person networks and formed a small group that was determined to help support HB3088.

The bill was largely unsupported in the Salem legislature. The OSWC was granted one brief hearing for HB3088 but the bill died in session, partly due to lack of support by legislators.