Who is Chantawipa Apisuk?

Chantawipa Apisuk is a sex work activist from Thailand and the founder of EMPOWER (=Education Means Protection Of Women Engaged in Recreation). Through her work she has helped and supported 100, 000 Thailand’s sex workers by offering them free studies, opportunities to organize and fight against exploitation and by educating people about risks such as HIV and other STD’s.

EMPOWER is a non- governmental organization that was founded in 1985. It supports Thailand’s sex workers by offering them free language studies, free classes in health and law and pre-college education as well as individual counselling. EMPOWER aims to empower sex workers through education and community action. The organization also lobbies the Thai government to decriminalize sex work and to extend regular labor protections to sex workers. 

You can learn more about Chantawipa Apisuk and her life in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3QXUHrotoA

More about Empower: https://www.nswp.org/timeline/event/empower-foundation-founded-thailand