Sabrinna Valisce experienced prohibition and full decriminalisation in New Zealand. She also experienced partial legalisation in Queensland and partial decriminalisation in Sydney, Australia. During this time she volunteered with the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) on and off for over two decades until she came to the conclusion that decriminalisation was unable to fix the problems in the sex trade.
Within the collective, Sabrinna struggled with the resistance she saw toward Exit Services and the acceptance of serious issues under the new full decriminalisation model. Issues that once would have been fought were barely being acknowledged. This prompted her to do her own research on the Nordic Model, which decriminalises people in prostitution while criminalising third party profiteers and punters. She slowly discovered that the views previously taught to her were a false narrative where abolitionists were presented as religiously motivated extremists rather than the truthful representation of them as activists, many of whom were sex trade survivors. She left the red umbrella’s and spent the next two years discovering for herself a far more nuanced understanding of the issue from independent sources. She began speaking online and meeting many people with strong views on all sides of the political divide.
Her first speaking engagement happened quite by accident when another speaker failed to show for 2016 World’s Oldest Oppression Conference in Melbourne. She went from audience member to speaker just fifteen minutes before the conference began. Here she met Rachel Moran and Julie Bindel. Since that meeting her activism took off and she found herself on the other side of the world speaking in the Westminster Parliament in London only three months later. Since then she has spoken in the Brisbane Parliament for the first Australian Summit Against Sexual Exploitation, International Women’s Day in Melbourne, for Radio New Zealand and Women’s Hour BBC in London amongst others.
She joined the strategy meetings for implementation of the Nordic Model in Victoria where she works alongside frontline services and organisations, MP’s, Police officers and researchers. She also joined the activist group Sister Survivor where women can write to journalists, media and politicians anonymously and can have input toward policies without having to go public. Sabrinna is one of their few public members and she gives voice to their concerns on their behalf. As of November 2017 Sabrinna will be joining the board of frontline service Herspace; a unique Trauma Informed service for women harmed by sexual exploitation.
