A Night With Empower Foundation (Thailand)

Vixen, Victoria's peer sex worker organisation, is thrilled to host our friends from Thailand’s iconic sex worker organisation, Empower Foundation, for a very special one-night-only fundraiser.

Join us for a viewing of Empower’s first feature length film High Heels, and a special live performance of Reality Theatre, followed by a discussion led by Empower themselves.

Tickets
Free for Asian migrant, First Nations, and street-based sex workers
$15 for all other sex workers
$25 general admission
$50 solidarity tickets

All funds raised will be split equally between Empower Foundation and Vixen's Sex Workers' Crisis Fund, which provides emergency cash support to Victorian sex workers in crisis.

Accessibility: Vixen's space is wheelchair accessible, with a wheelchair accessible bathroom. All toilets are gender neutral.

Safer spaces: This event has zero tolerance for harassment of any kind. For the safety, dignity and respect of sex worker organisers, presenters, performers and guests, please leave any whorephobia at home.

We are a group of sex workers employed in work place, public spaces, and online. We have come together to campaign and advocate for the rights of sex workers under the Empower Foundation, established over 40 years ago. Our core demands and goals are to "decriminalize Sex Work and ensure sex workers have access to their rights."

Our members include Thai, ethnic, and migrant sex workers. We find that 99% of sex workers are heads of families, supporting an average of four children, and 80% are mothers. Most have worked in various jobs before entering the sex work to earn enough income to support themselves and their families. Empower has sex worker leaders in three communities: Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Udon Thani.

Our campaign to reduce stigma and build understanding, identifying sex workers as an integral part of society. We use art, performance, and community participation to showcase our identity and foster understanding.We opened our own bar called Can Do Bar, and at the bar we have a museum called This is Us, which tells the story of the work of sex workers in Thailand and the struggle of Empower over the past 40 years.Our advocacy work with the government is challenging, and we have sometimes been betrayed or abandoned by the government.

High Heels, the first film from the Empower Foundation, offers an uncut, uncensored look into the lives of three female service workers amidst the risks, power, money, and friendships of the sex industry. Directed by Pasakorn Sridangchan (Jake Pass), the film is unique from the sex industry community because it directly and frankly portrays "sex industry culture," allowing viewers to see and understand the lives, living conditions, and identities of these women. The film's main backdrop is Can Do Bar, a fair bar and a project of the Empower Foundation that aims to create a model establishment with comprehensive welfare benefits, fair employment, and no exploitation or bribery. A second special feature of the film is the supporting cast, all from the Empower Foundation. Whether you recognize them or not, you'll definitely see the Empower Foundation team on the big screen.

Honey (Kanyarat Sakroek), a freelance escort who works to support her family, is caught in a police sting operation. She meets Manow (Chutima Chankajornchai), the boss of a bar where she (Panrawee Samani) works, leading Honey to take a job there. However, the three women become entangled in a chaotic situation involving police, dark forces, and money that threatens to ruin their lives.

Reality Theatre first premiered in 2017, with the second in 2024 in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Reality Theatre is a theatrical production based on the real lives of sex workers, narrated and performed by the individuals themselves. The performances utilize simple Thai and English, the language commonly used in daily work, with active audience participation. The stories explore themes that society may never have seen or experienced before. Performances were held in the actual hotels where the sex workers performed, receiving much positive feedback. One comment stated, "After watching the play, my perception of sex workers changed in less than an hour. This play was truly amazing!" This particular performance featured three sex workers, each with diverse backgrounds in terms of workplace, age, and experience.

Vixen is Victoria's peer sex worker organisation, run entirely by and for current and former sex workers. Vixen works to advance the rights, health, safety, and wellbeing of all Victorian sex workers, keeping sex worker voices and lived experience at the centre of everything we do.

Vixen's work spans peer support, outreach, peer education, mutual aid, community events, advocacy, resource development, and training — all grounded in the principle of "nothing about us, without us." Vixen champions the recognition of sex work as legitimate, skilled labour, and proudly represents sex workers of all genders, cultural backgrounds, and working environments, including sex workers who use drugs, trans and gender-diverse workers, street-based workers, and migrant sex workers.

Vixen facilitates the Sex Workers' Crisis Fund, which is a mutual aid fun that provides emergency cash support to Victorian sex workers in crisis — covering essentials like food, bills, phone credit, transport, healthcare, crisis accommodation, and emergency rent. It's 100% peer-run and confidential, and every dollar raised goes directly to sex workers who are experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence, illness or injury, and/or homelessness or housing insecurity.

Vixen is the Victorian member organisation of Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association, and a member of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).