Bringing Common Cause to NOW.

This June, New Moon Network was invited to take part in the National Organization for Women's annual conference, held this year in the Washington, D.C. It would have been easy for the invitation to take the shape it usually does: a debate, with "full decriminalization" advocates on one side of a microphone and "end demand" advocates on the other, each defending their position to a room ready to declare a winner.

We asked for something else.

Instead of a debate, New Moon brought a virtual panel of our own advocates to talk about the Common Cause framework and accompanying Beyond the Binary report, which brought together six advocates with lived experience in the sex trades and genuinely different views on sex trade policy to identify policies and practices we could all agree on. On stage, we made a simple but pointed request: no more fighting with other feminists. We told the room that the more urgent work isn't going in circles on a decades-old ideological split, but rather identifying what we already agree on, and building from there.

On Saturday June 27th, New Moon hosted a virtual panel that was piped into the national NOW conference entitled “Finding Common Cause Between Sex Workers Rights and “End Demand” Advocates'“. The panel was moderated by Savannah Sly with participation from Melodie KG (New Moon) and Jessica Peñaranda (Reframe Health & Justice). The entire event was made possible through the tireless advocacy and persistance of Alex Andrews (SWOP behind Bars), to whom we are grateful for the opportunity.

Savannah Sly, Melodie KG and Jessica Peñaranda speaking to NOW members at their national conference.

What we asked NOW's members to consider

We didn't come to relitigate that 60-year argument, and we didn't come to tell NOW which side of the Nordic model/full decriminalization line to land on. With the understanding that NOW has a documented anti-sex work position favoring the Nordic model of prostitution, we encouraged members to adopt a resolution calling for more education on the issue. On our panel we modeled the Common Cause strategy of putting core differences aside to make room for the identification of commonly shared values and policy priorities. That was the entire premise of Beyond the Binary, where six advocates came together for six facilitated sessions to discuss unifying themes that everyone could agree on, regardless of which side of the debate they're on. It produced six concrete policy recommendations that both "camps" could stand behind, from banning law enforcement from sexual contact with witnesses and victims during investigations, to ensuring prostitution and solicitation are never deportable offenses.

(shown left: image of literature circulated at the NOW conference)

Presenting that model at NOW was a chance to speak directly to the organization where this particular feminist fault line has run the deepest and longest, and to make the case that de-escalation is possible even there, and crucial for our collective safety.

A single panel doesn't undo 60 years of division, and we don't expect it to. But NOW's willingness to make space for this conversation (trading debate for a dialogue) is itself a revolutionary step forward. If the organization that has hosted this argument since 1973 can make room for common ground, other corners of feminist movements can too.

New Moon will keep building on the Common Cause model, and we'll keep looking for more partners willing to trade the fight for the follow-through.

Read the full Beyond the Binary report or watch the NOW conference panel recording.