11 November 2022 – 5 March 2023
Helsinki City Museum, 4th floor
Aleksanterinkatu 16

The topic of the upcoming exhibition ‘Hoes – Voices in Sex Work’  is approached from the perspectives of sex workers’ everyday life, the various forms and definitions of the work, customers, society, legislation, sex work activism, and history. The exhibition lets sex workers speak for themselves. The focus is on Helsinki and live sex work, in particular.

The common thread in the exhibition, set to open in the Helsinki City Museum in November, is checking information related to sex work, alleviating prejudice, and representing the workers in the field and the diversity of the phenomenon. The exhibition has been prepared in cooperation with sex workers. It is based on a collection of interviews and surveys gathered from sex workers and their families and friends, customers and various organisations and experts.

The realities and experiences related to sex work can all be true at the same time. What they have in common is the prejudices associated with the people working in the field. Sex workers and their customers are not disconnected from the rest of society, even though people often want to see them through these roles alone.

Paid sex has always involved morally and ethically charged questions, and it has been shrouded in mystery. The topic continues to stir debates and polarise opinions as it challenges our conventional notions of sex, work and money, and the connections between them.