Looking for your help !!!

We hope that you understand the urgency that is needed to help these individuals – these victims of abuse – through raising our own view and respect of the transvestite in Barazil and their right to be prtected against exploaitation and thier right to equality as human beings . That is our goal . That is our work. If you would like to help please visit our website http://www.sosdignity.org or email us at to find out how you can best help us either financially or through volunteer work.

We need your help !!

The term transvestite is saturated with prejudiced images and rarely does any media present a positive image of these individuals . We can easily say that they are stigmatized in general and in no place is this worse than in Brazil.

The transvestite only wants what any other free human being wants , the rights allowed to any free citizen. They want to be able to live a dignified life of their choosing with the need to turn to prostitution for their only form of employment.  They want to be entitled to health care , participation in civic duties and to be respected for their diversity. 

In almost all of the media reports we see with respect to transvestites we rarely see even a single sentence explaining why they have chosen to be a transvestite or how hard their day to day lives are due to their choices of individuality.  There is never any question about the violence , abuse and the other factors that lead them to suffer at the hands of exploitation and prostitution. 

Society does not offer any incentives to transvestites to better their lives because to be a transvestite is not” socially” correct.

Barry Wolfe, founder of SOS Dignity have been working for over a year with transvestites  with AIDs and other illnesses in hospitals as well as providing probono legal service and counsel to them when needed. SOS Dignity is 100 % volunteer based and without any outside funding.

Even facing this enormous burden of expense Barry never gives up and only  tries to expand the base of support that he can offer to this ostracized community, he wants them to have a real network of refuge that they can count on. This would include registering those transvestites in need of immediate assistance and then refer them to professionals that will help them in areas of physical and mental health , social and human rights and to have a general sage community transformed from the hell that they currently have.  On the spot , immediate services will be provide , such as Ambulance and Help Line as well as long term assistance by professionals in their respective areas. 

SOS Dignity is now seeking financial assistance from the international  community , professional and personal  who would be willing to collaborate with the personal growth and improved living conditions of Brazilian transvestites. 

Day to Day

What we know today as a TRAVESTI or TRANSVESTITE is something that changes in meaning depending on the context. These contexts can be historical as well as cultural. All to commonly they the context in which these individuals are discussed is nevernever far from the discussion of prejudice, intolerance, substance abuse and violence. These is even more exaggerated when you deal with cultures as complex as that of Brazil. Here the negatives are worsened and there is no one for these individuals to turn to for legitimate and reliable help,

The day to day of these human beings is best described with words like – PREJUDICE , DISCRIMINATION, ABUSE , VIOLENCE. Words that define the daily lives of thousands of Travestis that live in the big cities of Brazil.

From schools ,top homes , to families, to the general media there are an infinite number of situations that cause great suffering to these human beings . Aggressions , discrimination, estrangement , moral insult , and all sorts of individual traumas that we can not even imagine to be able to describe without having lived through these tragedies ourselves. There is so much work that need s to be done to turn this around. To change the homophobia , the prejudice , to simple tolreance and respect of teinherent rights of individuals to be individuals and treated with dignity.

There is not a social refuge for the travesti in Brazil – that is to say not outside of the sex industry , and maybe with a lot of luck and money , maybe a beauty salon. These confines these individuals to dive deeper into the underworld of prostitution and human trafficking, , and whether we agree or disagree with these activities we must respect that they are not themselves breaking any laws and are only trying to survive.

There are countless rights as citizens that these individuals are denied here, in most cases they and their loved one are unaware of all that they are being denied by way of basic human rights, Their rights to property and professional opportunity are compromised consistently. There are no laws established for their protection and leaves these human individuals to a world with out law and order for them to seek recourse from./

SOS DIGNITY wants to change this. We want to change the daily suffering to daily success so that they may enjoy the basic rights and freedoms that all human beings are entitled to. And we need YOUR helphelo to do this , we need your help now. Tomorrow is a hell away when we could be building steps to a earthly home that would give hope that even a heaven could be found in the here and now.

Join us for a better world

Transvestites come from all walks of life, income brackets, intelligence and cultures. It's quite possible that
someone you know is either.
 Transvestitism is primarily a male practice. Female transvestites are much fewer in number. This is probably because it is much more
acceptible in our society for a woman to do male apparel than it is for a man to dress as a woman.

Due to a common lack of understanding and acceptance by others, thetranssexual or transvestite often experiences the following:

- guilt, depression, stress, low self esteem
- isolation from family and friends
-ridicule and harrassment from the public
- discrimination in the workplace, including possible loss of  employment
- extreme difficulty in finding employment if transexuality or   transvestism is known
- misunderstanding in the medical community when seeking proper  assistance
- loneliness

Joining SOS DIGNITY support group enables you to meet others like yourself. For many, it ends the isolation and creates life long friendships.

Help us make the difference

Considered by many in society as “freaks of nature” the travestis’ underworld displays certain characteristics of primitive social movements. Denied the basic human, civil and political rights enjoyed other citizens, their subculture is pre-political.

 

Bonded together by society’s rejection, their culture is ritualistic, with its own patois and rights of passage. Travestis often live in groups which play the role of an extended family whose leader is referred to as “Godmother” and who provides not only basic living and social conditions but also the value system its members are required to adhere to.

 

While these leaders in many cases administer prostitution, loan sharking and trafficking activities, in other instances, Godmothers nurture their travestis

and provide significant guidance and emotional support. A Godmother’s character and outlook are crucial in determining whether her workers will be guided toward or away from criminal behavior and drug abuse.

 

 

 

Our Projects

 

• Direct human rights activism: emergency response to and representation of victims of police torture, beatings, intimidation, abuse of power, etc.
• “Project Silicone”: health project to reduce damage from and combat clandestine medical practices.
• Protection of the victims of human trafficking and slavery.
• Combating human trafficking and slavery through international political and legal action.
• Creation of a multi-disciplinary 24/7 Emergency Helpline and Response Centre for all sex-workers in Sao Paulo.
• Assistance to HIV+ travestis.
• Direct sponsorship of educational projects.
• Projeto Nome Delas – the pursuit of Human Rights by the creation of awareness through Art: Retrieving the dignity of Brazil’s travestis and enhancing their self-esteem while at the same time creating international awareness of their plight.

 

Our goals

 

 

• To protect the victims of exploitation, to raise their self esteem so that they will not fall prey to traffickers and exploiters.
• To do away with clandestine medical practices.
• To sponsor the education of a critical mass of travesti doctors, lawyers and dentists.
• To bring Brazil’s travestis under the full protection of the law and enable them to enjoy the full range or
• rights as citizens.
• To reduce travestis’ vulnerability to DST/AIDS, drug abuse and self destructive behavior in general.
• To combat discrimination.
• To create employment opportunities and prepare travestis for employment outside prostitution.

 

 

Hello world!

SOS Dignity was conceived by International Lawyer, Criminologist, Photographer and Human Rights Activist, Barry Michael Wolfe, with the aim of retrieving the dignity of Brazil’s transvestites.

 

Travestis – people who were born men and present themselves as women – are the  single most marginalized group in Brazil. Travestis are vulnerable to exploitation by clients, pimps and traffickers, not to mention arbitrary violence from police, organized crime, clients and the general public.

 

The travestis’ subculture is “pre-political”: below the level of protection of both local and international laws. Effectively, their plight does not reach the agenda of law enforcement agencies and NGOs dealing with human trafficking and slavery.  Consequently, attempts to attack exploitation and trafficking through political or legal action tend to result in further suffering by the victims.

 

SOS DIGNITY was therefore conceived to pursue human rights activism through emergency legal and health protection (physical and mental), education, employability and dignity enhancement.

 

SOS Dignity began in 2005 as a photographic project, taking photos in the São Paulo underworld. These portraits were edited, developed and signed “by Michael”, and presented as gifts to the travestis who, in many instances, send them to their families, being the only dignified record they have of themselves. What started as a photographic project has in three years evolved into a human rights movement.