Veronica Monet is a certified Sex Educator, offering workshops, lectures, and professional advice on sex and relationships. Monet's new book, Veronica Monet's Sex Secret of Escorts: Tips from a Pro (Alpha Books 2005), is available in most major bookstores. Her extensive media credits include CNN, A&E, ABC's 20/20, FOX News, Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, and The New York Times. Monet is also published in six books, including a high school/collegiate textbook: Human Sexuality: Opposing Viewpoints (Greenhaven Press, 1995); Whores and Other Feminists (Routledge 1997); Breaking Ritual Silence (Trout and Sons, 1998); Porn 101 (Prometheus Books, 1999); Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving (Harrington Park Press, 2004), and Paying for It (Greenery Press, 2004). Veronica Monet Graduated with honors from Oregon State University with a degree in Psychology, and has training in Tantra, Human Sexuality, and Ancient Sacred Prostitution. Monet has over a decade's experience with the practical and political aspects of sex work, having worked as an erotic model, porn actress, prostitute, escort, and courtesan. Her political activism has included volunteer work for Bay Area Bisexual Network, COYOTE San Francisco, and Sex Worker Outreach Project

Visit these sites for more info: http://veronicamonet.com/colleges.php

Stephanie Adraktas is the Director of the New College School of Law Criminal Defender Clinic which has conducted research on the San Francisco First Offender Prostitution Program.

She graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1990 and has been a criminal defense attorney since 1992. She was a Goldmark Fellow at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and then worked as a trial attorney and assistant felony supervisor at The Public Defender Association in Seattle. There, she specialized in "third strike" and DNA cases and also represented clients in post conviction proceedings. She was a senior trial attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender and also worked as a consultant and staff attorney at the Office of Legal Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance in Oakland, California. She has served as an alternate member of the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission and is currently a member of the Federal Habeas Corpus panel for the Eastern District of California.

As co-founder and Project Director of SWOP's ‘School for Johns,’ Bacchus was motivated by his experience with sex workers to an educational program for clients.

"I became  interested in  KINK as well as VANILLA as a youngster. In business, I concentrated my efforts in marketing and customer relations. My personal relationships were unfulfilling until I met a professional sex worker in my late 40's. In my 50s I met a young woman who was not only passionate and vibrant, but an activist for sex worker's rights. I have learned a lot, want to know more, and interested in  sharing with my friends, sex workers, and allies."

"Sex work is a nightmare of exploitation for those who are coerced or forced into it. For others, it is a neutral means of income. For some lucky sex workers, it is a vocation that can be a constant source of joy, allowing them to share, physically and spiritually, a love as well as lust for life. Please, let us work together to free those from the first group, welcome them from the second, and celebrate with the third, while demanding equal respect for all of their human rights to pursue happiness and share fulfillment."

Co-founder of SWOP's School for Johns, Robyn Few is also the founder of SWOP-USA.

Robyn, a native of Kentucky, ran away from home at age thirteen and later became an exotic dancer. After marrying and having a daughter in her twenties, she began to take college courses in the hopes of earning a degree in theater arts. She came to California in 1993 to pursue theater and become an activist. Acting and activism not being the highest paying jobs, Few turned to prostitution to pay the bills in 1996. She has worked tirelessly as an advocate and caregiver for medical marijuana and AIDS patients and has gained quite a reputation in the Bay Area activist community as an effective lobbyist for the issue. In June of 2002, the FBI arrested Few under the direction of John Ashcroft. Using the Patriot Act, Ashcroft was able to equate terrorism with prostitution and get additional funding for the very expensive investigation. She was convicted on one federal count of conspiracy to promote prostitution and received six months house arrest, which she finished serving in June 2004. Judge Marilyn Hall Patel allowed Few to continue her activism and volunteer efforts while under house arrest.

Dubbed the "patriotic prostitute," a campaign centered on the idea that prostitution should be decriminalized to protect women from violence began in October 2003 with The Sex Workers Outreach Project.

"Until prostitutes are no longer criminals why would they come forward and allow themselves to become targets for law enforcement? Decriminalization is the beginning of the solution, it's not the solution itself."

Visit:http://www.swop-usa.org/

Maestra Sadie Dusaga is Professional Dominant based in San Francisco. She takes great joy in her role as teacher, guide, catalyst, and especially, cherry popper. For the past seven years, Sadie has facilitated and presented sex-positive workshops, demonstrations and rituals on a variety of subjects from BDSM to support for partners of sex workers.
Sadie has a hands-on style influenced by queer theory and the naughty games she enjoyed in her formative years. She has worked with both SWOP-USA and the Center for Sex and Culture and approaches her work as a pleasure activist both seriously and with a playful sense of humor. You may have seen her fetish modeling in such places as The Mammoth Book of Erotic Women or On Our Backs. Sadie is also a performer and delights in combining performance, sadism, absurdity, eroticism and spirituality in her kinky play.

Marc Perkel is a computer programmer and entrepenuer. In 1988 he ran for Congress and later for the Senate in Missouri supporting the legalization of Prostitution. Formerly system administrator at Electronic Frontier Foundation, he now resides in California, and supports sex workers rights and free speech organizations on the internet. Marc is an avid participant in the democratic process. He is one of the most published "Letters to The Editor" writers in the world. His letters have appeared in numerous times in USA Today, the SF Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and Washington Times among many more.
He was the first on the web to post a clients advice in his "How to Use Escort Services: A Men's Guide."

Visit http://sex.perkel.com/escort/index.htm

Natasha Sommers is a transgender activist and artist. She has had numerous careers in her 21 years including floral arranger, secretary and, ofcourse, escort. As a young person, she has organized other young people in many contexts. At the Desiree Alliance Las Vegas Conference, Natasha developed a youth program. Emphasizing community building, Natasha is a great support wthin her communities. Her many long lears of experience in the industry give Natasha a special perspective about many populations of which she has been a part.

Visit this site for a story about Natasha::

http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=4705

Justina Because is 24 years old, recently from Detroit, has lived in San Francisco for two years. Justina's has worked as an outreach worker, in Detroit and now in the Bay Area. He is one of the producers and curators for the SF Sex Worker Festival. His presentation will discuss various facets of sex work by male providers for male clients.

Sister MaeJoyB withU is a long time expert in sex worker and sexual health. His alter ego, Daniel, is a licensed phlebotomist and health service provider at the St. James Infirmary.

His expertise includes health aspects of various forms of sex work, safer sex, accessing health services and harm reduction. Sister Mae JoyB withU (or Daniel) will answer your health questions and address your concerns including: what kind of condoms work best for you, how to best protect your health in professional sex work contexts, dealing with chylamidia, cold sores and herpes and other stds, testing options and more.