When Sunsara Taylor and her activist group, Stop Patriarchy, attended the annual CLPP (Civil Liberties and Public Policy) conference this past weekend at Hampshire College, they never thought it would result in their being escorted out by police.
The 27th annual conference for student and community activists was focused on reproductive freedoms, called: “From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom.”
When some of the conference goers learned about Stop Patriarchy’s position on the sex industry, they confronted the some of the group members, and then complained to conference organizers that their presence at the conference made it an “unsafe space.” Conference organizers responded by calling the police, who escorted group members out of the conference, threatening them with arrest if they did not comply.
I spoke with Sunsara Taylor about what happened at the conference and the growing trend of both defending the sex industry from within the feminist movement as well as these misguided efforts to silence dissent.
Stop Patriarchy is asking allies to complain to the CLPP and demand a public apology for their actions. You can send a message to the organization via stoppatriarchy.org telling them that critiques of the sex industry are not cause for police intervention and that silencing of feminist voices is unacceptable.
