Akynos

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Akynos, who goes by the stage names The Incredible, Edible Akynos and MF Akynos, considers herself an Afro-Jamerican. Jamaican-born, New York City-raised performance artist, dancer, writer, and activist. Bred in Brooklyn, NY, she is currently a Berlin-based artist. She joined the New York branch of the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) and Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK) in 2011, began publicly advocating for the rights of sex workers in 2012, and founded the Black Sex Worker Collective in 2018.

Career

Akynos has a bachelor's degree from Goddard College in Individualized Studies, with a focus in Sex History and Performance History. She is the founder of the production company little woman. BIG HAIR through which she has developed and presented creative works addressing the intersections of Blackness and sexuality including *Darkie: Black Aesthetics* (a multi-media variety show), *THICK* (a variety zaftig revue), *Dark, Nude Storytellers* (spoken word review) and *Koffee* (a burlesque troupe). Akynos has been performing in burlesque since 2007 and has performed at the NYC Burlesque Festival, and in many other venues.

In March 2018, Akynos presented a multimedia and dance performance She's A Bitch: On the gaze of sex workers in modern society and forming a #himtoo movement at the Museum of Modern Art/PS1.

In April 2018, Akynos performed as part of brASS, a New York City burlesque troupe featuring women of color, queer, and transgender performers, stating that "[p]eople of color have so much history in performance itself so when only white stories are told, it reinforces racist ideas about culture."

Activism

Akynos has worked for approximately 20 years in various aspects of sex work including, as an escort, dominatrix, exotic dancer, and phone sex operator. She has stated that in her career as an exotic dancer she "worked in the trenches of the Bronx" in the mid-1990s. Her experiences working in these clubs and other environments fueled her analysis of the impact of racism and its impact on sex work. She has been a member of sex worker rights organizations in the NY area, such as SWOP-SWANK and We Are Dancers. In 2013, she was selected to lead the Art Track at the Desiree Alliance Conference.

Akynos has advocated for the rights of sex workers at the United Nations in New York representing the Best Practices Policy Project in meetings with Permanent Missions to the UN in 2015 and moderated the parallel session "Sex Workers Speak" during the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women in 2018.

In March 2018, in response to economic hardship resulting from the passage of the federal laws known as FOSTA/SESTA, Akynos founded the Black Sex Worker Collective stating that "[o]ur incomes are lost" and the "people that are always affected by the laws are typically Black and trans people." The Black Sex Worker Collective’s stated goal is to "create a safe space where the unique experiences and needs of Black sex worker voices are validated and responded to with appropriate needs-based resources." At an event in late May 2018, Akynos stated that the Collective was fundraising to "support people with exit strategies to get out of the industry if they want to do so, because you should have that choice if that’s what you want, as well as supporting them with transportation and other services like helping them pay rent or storage fees or food." Akynos organized a public protest in Washington Square Park on International Whores Day, June 2, 2018, to commemorate the occupation of a church in Lyon, France, by prostitutes protesting police harassment in 1975. The event included an enactment of the Lyon occupation on the steps of Judson Memorial Church in New York.

References

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