Communication

Professional dominatrix and BDSM advice columnist Mistress Matisse wrote up some recommendations for how to deal with correspondence and telephone communication between escorts, doms, and their clients especially as you determine who you reply to. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the barrage of emails and phone messages. She broke it down to people who are in yes category, those in the maybe, and those in the definite no.

Regarding the no group she said that it may sound mean to deny people based on your instincts, but that it is a survival skill.

A lot of the unsuitable guys will take it as a challenge if you call/email back to say no, and they'll keep coming back, trying and trying to change your mind. You don't need that.

Mistress Matisse (February 23rd, 2006)

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Strippers a Security Risk?

Strippers in Nashville are being finger printed by police as part of a criminal check required by a newly enforced city ordinance. The criminal check is just one part of the ordinance that also includes rules on opening hours of strip clubs and minimum distance required between dancers and patrons. There was already a law on the books dictating a special zoning for adult entertainment establishments.

Stephanie Capps, owner of Stephanie's Cabaret, says that when she went into register for criminal check with the police her employees, dancers at her club, were harassed by police.

According to a court transcript obtained by the Scene, Capps testified in circuit court last month that when she brought a group of dancers to police headquarters to be fingerprinted-as required by the newly enforced Metro adult entertainment ordinance-the cops made inappropriate, sexually suggestive comments to her employees. Capps claimed that a row of uniformed and non-uniformed police lined up and leered at the women, making comments like, "Well, look what we have here," and "Nashville's finest walking right through." Capps said the women were "herded through like cattle, like a show" and called their treatment "very humiliating and unprofessional."

Eventually, Capps testified, the women were taken upstairs to the fingerprinting lab. There, she said, a male police employee asked if they should "fingerprint those," indicating a woman's breasts. Capps said the "laughing and joking and kidding around" got so ridiculous and time-consuming that two female police employees came in and took over the job from the men. Sort of like Animal House, but publicly funded.

There is a serious question about this matter. How do strippers pose a security risk more so than other entertainers? Obviously, lawyers for adult entertainment businesses are asking this question, but so are some Nashville city council members. I hope people are not arguing that registering them and finger printing them is in the strippers' best interest in case they are victims of on-the-job crime. Improving working conditions and educating the public that sex work is work is a much more powerful tool in protecting sex workers from harassment and violence. My better judgement thinks the motivation for this ordinance does not consider strippers well being, their rights as workers or citizens at all in their argument. It is coming from a sex as sin perspective.

For more on the ordinance, click here.

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Strippers Awarded Employee Status

Australia's Industrial Relations Commission has awarded strippers employee rights with minimum conditions including paid leave, meal breaks and rest periods.

"The people who come into the industry to work now have got some protection, whereas before it was a matter of just going in there and just doing as you're told - basically signing contracts that you know were very unfair," an industry spokesperson said.

"Now with the award in place we can get on with cleaning up our industry.

"Annual leave's something we've never had in our industry previously, so it's really great for us to be actually be included with the normal things that people just take for granted when they're in the workplace."

I have always been uncomfortable with the lack of employee rights available to strippers. Their work can be perfectly legal, but they are not protected as other workers are. In Montreal strippers pay to work but it is unheard of that the club manager would give them a receipt so they can keep track of their earnings and use them to file their income taxes. Yes, there are sex workers who would gladly pay taxes and be part of society in that way if they could.

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$pread Presents Sex Worker Visions

$pread presents Sex Worker Visions, an exhibition featuring art by sex workers and about the sex industry, at the LGBT Community Center David Bohnett Cyber Center at 208 West 13th Street, New York City, from March 29 - May 20. Visions kicks off with an opening reception on March 29 from 6 to 9 pm.

The March 29 event is also the opening night of the Sex Work Matters conference, a joint venture of CUNY and the New School. The evening also marks $pread's one year anniversary, and the Spring issue of the magazine will be available for sale at the reception.

For opening night only, the exhibit will be completely interactive with a webcam video project, "30 Second Sex," masterminded by multimedia artist and erotic professional Melissa Gira and featuring webcam pioneers Ana Voog and Echo Transgression camming from remote locations. Computer monitors around the Cyber Center will display the websites of sex worker rights advocacy groups for the public to peruse. Former call girl Tracy Quan along with sex worker activist Carol Leigh (aka Scarlot Harlot) will be signing copies of their respective books, Diary of a Married Call Girl and Unrepentant Whore.

Wow! That sounds like an awesome event. I have a subscription to $pread magazine. I really appreciate the unique voices and stories they present on the world of sex work. I can only assume that the exhibition and the conference will be as powerful as well.

I think the webcam video project is bound to be really cool. As an Internt porn performer I have worked with The Scandelles in their show Les Demimondes, exploring the virtual aspects of sex work. It is the new frontier of sex work and very much worthy of such artisitc projects.

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Students as Sex Workers

We often hear about university students here in Canada and the United States who work their way through school as strippers and/or escorts. Well, it seems something similar is happening in China.

The newspaper Democracy & Law reports that in a recent police operation the Hangzhou police arrested 10 prostitutes, of which, astonishingly, half turned out to be college students.

This is not an isolated case. Many reports and surveys have indicated that some female university students are involved in sex work. This has left people wondering why university students, the envy of others, degrade themselves to sell sex.

Obviously, the author of the report doesn't think highly of sex work. Regardless, I would be interested to learn more about sex work in China and if there is any underground activism that offers support and resources for people choosing the work. When I met the workers and activists from Empower which works out of Thailand I was so impressed with their work and their attitudes. The experience really helped extinguish any lingering stereotypes I had about Asian sex workers - you know the ones we see in the media and in the news. So I wonder if the surprise of finding Chinese students as sex workers is just another example of this stereotype busting.

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Straight From the Whore's Mouth

My friend Sasha, writes a most excellent sex advice column that you can find at Eye Weekly in Toronto and the Montreal Mirror in, well, Montreal. A month or so ago someone asked for some advice with regards to exploitation and sex work in “third world” countries and she replied with some facts about sex workers in Asia that conflict with many Westerners' understanding of the situation. Sasha subsequently got a rash of letters from regular folks denouncing the sex trade and her whore empowering response. So she asked the sex workers at Empower, a sex-worker rights organization in Thailand to share their thoughts. Here is an excerpts:

Whatever the reason, we never said we needed you to be our heroes, we didn't fight patriarchy to have it replaced by matriarchy, so just stop it. We are not little children in need of your protection. We are adult women that need our rights. Our right to speak for ourselves, our right to work in safe and fair conditions at whatever work we choose, our right to make our own decisions, including the right to make bad decisions just like you and the right to improve the conditions in our industry. You don't have the right to judge our decisions. You have no right to tell us who to be with. You don't like to see us with rich American or European men, so who do you want us to be with? Are we meant to only be with poor Asian men?

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Stella’s 11th Anniversary & Launch Party

Tonight I will be attending a launch party of the film and book that was made of the Forum XXX – Celebrating a Decade of Action, Designing Our Future, a sex worker conference organized by Stella (a Montreal based organization by and for sex workers). There were various activities, presentations and working groups held as a part of this conference and I am really looking forward to seeing “eXXXpression” – the compilation of all the work and activities that occurred that week.

For more information on Stella, visit their website.

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Man charged with sex worker's murder in Alberta

Obviously this news report is not uplifting in the least, but it does highlight certain attitudes that exist today towards sex workers. Something to take about: how does the average person’s words and actions encourage and support violence against sex workers?

A man charged with killing a sex trade worker in northern Alberta grinned and waved to the media as he emerged from a police car to appear in court.

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Questionable Opinions

Legalization the Easy Way Out
by Geoff Matthews

Liberal Hedy Fry's campaign to legalize prostitution in Canada hasn't got a chance of succeeding.

Know why? Not because we Canadians are a prudish bunch who recoil at the thought of sex for sale.

Nope. Fry's mission is doomed to failure because making prostitution legal would take all the fun out of it...

This particular columnist does not see the benefits of decriminalization. He thinks the greatest barrier to decriminalization is that sex work would lose its titillation factor. Well, my work as a porn performer is legal and it still has it. Same goes with stripping and phone sex. He also thinks decriminalization will only move sex work from the shadows to "well travelled neighbourhoods". It has shown to do something other than that - say, safer working conditions.

I wonder if he has spoken to a sex worker himself about what she or he wants? I wonder if he has interviewed sex worker activists about the issues sex workers face? I wonder if he has researched how things are in New Zealand where sex work has been decriminalized. It seems from his column his research was a window shopping walk through the red light district in Belgium and Germany.

For some ideas check out the conversation I had with a friend of mine from the Coalition for the Rights of Sex Workers. Or have a look at the video that was made of the Forum XXX – a conference that brought together sex workers and allies from around the world to discuss the issues we face.

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Free Speech Protected & Lives Saved

A federal judge ruled yesterday that a sweeping restriction on the privately funded speech of groups participating in the federal government's international HIV/AIDS program violates the First Amendment.

At issue in the case is a requirement that public health groups receiving U.S. funds pledge their “opposition to prostitution” in order to continue their life-saving HIV prevention work. Under this “pledge requirement,” recipients of U.S. funds are forced to censor even their privately funded speech regarding the most effective ways to engage high-risk groups in HIV prevention.

We're delighted that the court recognized the pledge requirement as unconstitutional and overreaching," said Ricardo Castro, a board member of Alliance for Open Society (“AOSI”) International, one of the plaintiffs. "The provision not only violates the First Amendment, but also hampers organizations on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic working to save lives through proven prevention methods. We believe that public health policy should be based on science--not ideology."

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. I feel a little bit better knowing that groups who help women who at risk of HIV do not have to make some grand statement that they are against prostitution and subsequently limit their access to the very women they are aiming to help. How can alienating your target group help them? I am also happy to hear that a judge has ruled in favour of protecting the private speech of these organizations.

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Man charged with second count of 1st degree murder

They said the cases had certain commonalities, including the fact that all the victims were either prostitutes or exotic dancers, all the bodies were found in the Niagara area, and all but one of the victims was known to frequent the city of Niagara Falls.

I wish I could post more positive news in this section but the reality of criminalizing sex work and whore stigma often leaves us with horrible and depressing cases of violence.

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Seeking Male Talent

Audacia Ray is seeking male talent for her directorial porn debut and has been running into a few too many stereotypical responses for her liking.

Many men seem to devour the lines that the sex industry provides them with, hook, line and sinker. They think that porno sets are big orgies, filled with slippery lube (and morals) and the joys of sex with easy and infinitely willing partners. There is some serious suspension of disbelief going on – or some very excellent sex-selling from the supply end, or a combination of both. Yes, porno can be fun, but it is really work, and work that most men are just not cut out for – the pressure on men is immense.

She has engaged in some not-too-surprising email discussions with potential male performers (I get similar ones and I am not even seeking out new performers) and it has left her wondering about the dissonance between male perceptions of the porn performing experience and the reality.

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World Cup Sex

Among the sex workers I chat with there was an expectation that the World Cup would mean an increase in business. Germany was supposedly building brothels to accommodate the increase in demand. There was also a fear that there would be an increase in smuggling illegal immigrants in for the work (both those who were informed and those we were coerced or mislead). Well, it seems it didn’t turn out the way.

Soccer and sex, it appears, do not mix very well — even in Germany, where prostitution is legal and the World Cup organizers have pushed the slogan "A Time to Make Friends." There are plenty of friendly fans here, most of them male and many pie-eyed by alcohol. The bad news for the sex trade is that they would rather guzzle another beer than go looking for a prostitute.

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"The police carried out a lot of searches to look for forced prostitutes or women without legal papers," said Stephanie Klee, a prostitute who leads a group that lobbies for the rights of sex workers. "When clients see police at the brothels, they think that sex work is linked to crime."

In fact, prostitution is well regulated in Germany, where about 400,000 people work in the sex trade. Since 2002, prostitutes have been guaranteed the same rights as those in other industries. They must register with the authorities and pay taxes, and they receive health insurance.

The rest of the article includes many interesting points about the sex industry in Germany and the affects of the World Cup. A short, good read.

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Fashion Whores

I find it inspiring to read the interesting ways sex workers tackle stigma and the ways they empower themselves.

Daspu is a fashion house founded and run by prostitutes whose designs have become the talk of Brazil's fashion industry nine months after its start. Its success has surprised its founders, who see its sudden prominence as a revolutionary moment for a country long ambivalent about its world-famous sex industry.

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Walk For Life

I am raising funds for the Walk for Life, Quebec largest HIV/AIDS fundraiser. The funds I raise will be going to Stella. Stella is a not-for-profit organization that provides support and information to sex-workers so that they may live in safety and with dignity. I have personally benefited from their health and education services and know of many other sex workers who have done the same. Their work has direct impact on sex workers lives, but also helps fight the stigma we face which in the end helps porn consumers and sex work clients as well.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit my official sponsor page.

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Porn Flick Up for Prestigious Science Fiction Award

By way of Violet Blue…

Writer-director John Millerman looked back to classic science fiction trilogies like Star Wars and Foundation for the Uranus Experiment saga, allowing his epic story of sex in space to unfold over the course of three films.

Whether it wins the Nebula on Saturday or not, the series will retain a unique place in cinematic history thanks to the first instalment, which boasts the first explicit sex scene shot in zero gravity conditions.

Read the entire article.

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Experts on the Sex industry

I have to tell you I am always impressed by the work and commitment by sex work activists in the Asia Pacific. They are working against all sorts of social and political barriers.

About 400 aid workers from around the world are attending the conference that opened Monday. The growing theme has been empowerment -- and ensuring that women's human rights aren't trampled.

"The empowerment of women is the best vaccine we now have against AIDS," said UNIFEM Director Noeleen Heyder.

But that isn't easy in a region with conservative, male-dominated societies, where hundreds of thousands of women are forced or deceived into the international sex-slave trade.

Slamah said that too often, government programs to find alternative professions don't create attractive options.

"We don't need any more sewing machines," she said. "What we need are equal jobs like other people."

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One Prostitute’s Tale

I am not sure if this account was in fact written by a working gal, but based on what my escort friends have shared with me when we get together for sex worker powwows and talk about our work experiences it seems pretty much on the mark. Some find it more enjoyable than this gal, some less so, but the focus on the work seems pretty constistent.

Although I have seen clients of all ages, the most typical profile is a married man in his 40s or 50s. These men view going to a sex worker as a better and safer option than having an affair. Most say that regular sex is not part of their marriage any more, yet they still have needs.

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March Through the 16th International AIDS Conference

The International AIDS conference has brought together people from around the world, some of whom are sex workers and sex worker activists. On Wednesday workers and allies from 21 countries marched through the conference to demand their own place not only at the conference, but in their own societies.

"They should be treated as human beings, instead of being discriminated against, instead of being tormented, instead of being tortured," said Macrina Akorot, a social worker helping sex workers in Kampala, Uganda.

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More on Sex Work and the AIDS Conference

"If we decriminalize sex work and accept it as normal work, like lawyers and doctors, sex workers will have more bargaining power to ask clients to wear condoms and then HIV rates will decrease," Fung said through an interpreter who works with the Chinese advocacy group Zi Teng.

Please note: While the article in question says that sex workers want legalization, more accurately would be the term decriminalization. For more on the difference you can read this article by the Sex Professionals of Canada.

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AIDS Conference Wrap-up

My friend Sasha posted in her column highlights from the 2006 AIDS conference. It features a perspective you did not quite get in the mainstream news sources.

In 2003, Bush’s government created a policy that forces nations to sign a “prostitution pledge,” preventing organizations that empower sex workers from getting U.S. HIV/AIDS funding. Brazil was one country that refused—a whopping $40-million. Such civil societies stood beside their prostitutes, saying they couldn’t do HIV/AIDS prevention and activism without them.

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Survey Busts Street Sex Worker Myth

A few years ago New Zealand passed law reform that decriminalized sex work. It came into affect in 2003 and certain politicians have been claiming that there are more street workers than before there was law reform. A research project headed by Otago University’s Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences has found that there are no more street workers than before.

“Contrary to the much publicised assertions of local and national politicians, the evidence is actually that numbers of sex workers on the streets haven’t increased since prostitution was decriminalised,” says Ms Abel, leader of the research team.

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Client Survey

In his sexuality.about.com blog Cory Silverberg gave an overview of a survey of UK men who have paid for sex. A few quick stats: 1 in 10 men said they had paid for sex. Of those men half paid for sex while already having a partner.

By way of his blog entry I found another interesting post by Dr. Petra Boynton on how the press sticks to the surface and stereotypes when covering such surveys.

It isn’t clear from this research what kinds of prostitutes the men were seeing – male or female sex workers, what age they were, or where they were located (e.g. on street or in a massage parlour). However, the media coverage automatically assumed the male punters would be seeing female prostitutes.

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Boy George on Prostitution

Prostitution is the oldest, most respected profession.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Boy George on prostitution

While I can appreciate his appreciation for prostitution I really hope he is being misquoted because I really do not think prostitution or most any kind of sex work is respected as a profession. Maybe he thinks it should be held in high regard, but at this moment in time it certainly is not. I think people don’t know how pervasive sex worker stigma is or they have become so accustomed to it that it does not come up on their radar of issues. It is extremely common for people to see sex workers as victims or as people who get what they deserve (in terms of violence and hostility). Workers rights, human rights, and basic respect are not seen as things that apply to sex workers. Obviously, I think those are important issues and worth speaking out about.

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More Boy George

After posting the previous entry I got to thinking about how rare it is for celebrities to admit to seeing sex workers, much less be enthusiastic about it. While his current state of fame is nothing like what he had back in the 1980’s and he has less to lose in being open about being a client, it still is pretty extraordinary. It is very different than what we heard from Hugh Grant, Eddie Murphy and Charlie Sheen.

I often wonder what the world would be like if everyone who uses the services of a sex worker or is a customer in the sex industry, be it porn or phone sex, would be public about it. Right now this kind of information only comes out when attached to scandal. I really think we have a long way to go before we can say we a re a sexually liberated society.

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Continuing Education

A sex worker rights and resource group has added go-go dancing classes to its educational and vocational offerings. The course is aimed at women already working in the field and hopes to teach them socially acceptable dancing styles and safe dancing techniques. Empower also offers English and Japanese language courses, as well as computer training.

"We have provided development programmes for go-go dancers and sex workers for a long time and thought 'why not open such a dancing course' - if it is actually useful for those wanting to learn and who could put it to practical use in their careers," Chantawipa said.

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Boot Camp for Call Girls

To continue with the education theme, here is an account of a boot camp for Japanese sex workers. It has the traditional intense workout style of a military boot camp accompanied with training on how to deal with bad clients and other issues prostitutes face.

This is serious business, with no mercy shown to the weak: In previous sessions, the dropout rate by week three at Nonomura's camp has averaged 70 percent. And sure enough, only two of the four survive to graduate, One, Ms. Kobayakawa, headed back to the city armed with a diploma and a hearty recommendation from her instructor, to begin new employment, at a high-class hand-job establishment in Tokyo's Shibuya district. The other, Ms. Nonaka, was mulling a firm offer from a "honban este" in Akasaka, a sexy salon serving intercourse as the main course.

I find both these ideas very interesting. Due to the criminalization of sex work and the activities that surround it, prostitutes and others works often have to fend for themselves. You have to learn the ropes as you go along. Having a mentor is a rare thing, much less organized training. Having access to educational resources, health care, and open solidarity makes sex work a much safer occupational option.

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A Bank By and For Sex Workers

What a success story!

"This bank has really set up an example in front of the society, the same society which once thought that sex workers could not run a bank. Today, we have proved that along with our profession we can also make our saving, without any outsider dictating terms on us," said Dola Singh, another sex worker.

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Serial Killer in Atlantic City

I hate posting these kinds of stories. It is quite upsetting. While I do not live a sheltered life, I find it hard to read about violence against sex workers (or anyone for that matter). Obviously, it hits close to home. I know that it is a common occurrence. It is so common that it is often accepted as a normal part of life for people on the street, that it should be expected. Some people blame the victims for their choices instead of holding aggressors accountable or they do not look at themselves and how their stigmatization of sex workers helps create an environment for violence. Sex workers are seen as perfect victims by serial killers because they think no one will miss them. That should not be the case.

Today I came across an article that made me think of all of this.

Authorities believe a serial killer is targeting Atlantic City prostitutes after they found the bodies of four women in a drainage ditch behind a row of lower-rent hotels in Egg Harbor, New Jersey but near the city's casinos. Police have identified two of the victims, but are asking for the public's help in identifying the remaining two women.

Then there is this report from CNN (only availble for a limited amount of time). The headline for the video reads “Killer won’t stop with hooker, group fears”.

It makes it sound like if the killer stuck with attacking sex workers then it would be relatively OK. But moving onto other victims, that would be worse. Maybe that was not the journalist or spokesperson’s intention. Maybe it was. I would not be surprised.

For some more thoughts on violence against sex workers and what you can do about it, check out a discussion I posted as part of last years International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (December 17th).

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Empowering Sex Workers As a Way to Combat HIV/AIDS

I have posted items before about the US government policy to only fund organizations that sign an anti-prostitution pledge. I came across another article about its impact on India where people have ambivalent feelings about prostitution but realize that connecting with sex workers is essential to having some control on the spread of HIV/AIDS.

That requirement blocks any U.S. money from flowing to grass-roots HIV/AIDS organizations in Sonagachi and elsewhere that have enlisted India's sex workers themselves in the effort to spread information about HIV/AIDS and promote safe sex practices in the sex trade. As a result, the U.S. may be squandering a critical opportunity to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.

But while PEPFAR doesn't appear to have made major inroads in the Indian sex industry, Indian sex workers themselves have taken an active role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. In Sonagachi, the brothel district where Madhu and thousands of other sex workers live and work, the HIV infection rate is just 5 percent — much lower than other parts of the Indian sex industry. That largely is due to the efforts of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, whose name roughly translates as "Indomitable Women's Solidarity Committee."

Empowering sex workers to insist that their clients use condoms seems to be key.

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Stripping As Artisitic Performance

An appeals court in Norway has ruled that like other forms of stage performance stripping is considered an art and is exempt from a value added tax of 25% that a local authority was saying should be paid on entry fees to the club.

Lawyers for the club's owners argued that striptease dancers were stage artists just like sword-swallowers and comedians and deserved the same status.

This seems like a reasonable ruling. I am not a fan of “sin taxes” when applied to sexuality. To me viewing the nude body is not an immoral act and neither is entertaining consenting adults by way of a striptease performance.

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Ducky Doolittle on Webcamming

I really like this mini-doc on Ducky Doolittle’s experiences with webcamming. I think it offers a lot of insight into what webcamming used to be (and parts of it still aplly to today). It was not so long ago when she did her webcamming, but the technology and the market has changed so much that it made me all nostalgic for the 30 second refresh webcam experience.

Webcamming is an interesting kind of sex work. It has some similarities to other forms, but also some differences. The technology and the way you operate really makes it unique from in-person work. It combines intimacy with detachment, viewer expectation with performer control. You are physically safe (though recent 2257 regulations in the United States really make it more dangerous than it needs to be), but exposed at the same time. It can be very overwhelming and time consuming. Wokrign from home has its advantages and its disadvantages. Burn out is likely. But the connections you make can be very satisfying.

Webcamming is one of my favourite parts of my site & sex work, but I know I could not do it 24/7. For me a weekly show is best to counteract the negative aspects of the work. I still deal with some challengers, but the rewards are enough to make it worthwhile.

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Murders in the UK

I am sure you have read the news of the bodies of murdered sex workers being found in a small city in the UK. The media seems to be loving the story. It is causing a bit of hysteria in the UK. I suppose the combination of sex with violence makes for good headlines. It is just in time for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers which is this Sunday, December 17th. With that in mind I wish the focus was on listening to sex workers’ stories and what we think would make for safer work.

Update (061214): I came across a young feminist/criminal justice system employee’s blog on the coverage the murders have received. I appreciated her frankness in not wanting to speak on behalf of sex workers and the realities they face, as well as her consideration of the women as victims of violence rather than sensationalizing the nature of their work or choices.

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Canadian Committee’s Wishy Washy Response to Violence Towards Sex Workers

The final report from the Sub-Committee on Solicitation Laws does not seem to say anything new (read the press release version here). It certainly does not present any concrete suggestions on how to deal with violence against sex workers. It mentions law reform, but without going into any details. The focus seems to be on morality rather than human rights and worker rights as the means of protecting people. I do not see a difference from what is the current status quo which we know is not working.

Various sex worker groups across Canada responded to the reports. Read Stella's response here (in French). Read Maggie's response here (in English).

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One Way of Protecting Sex Workers from Violence

I appreciated this overview of some of the ways in which Dutch sex workers are able to work and how that protects them from violence. Something to keep in mind in light of the murders here in Canada, in the UK and around the world.

Petra Timmermans believes that if social attitudes to prostitutes changed, there would be less risk of such crimes occurring.

" We decide that some people aren't worth our time and violent people know that," she says.
Prostitution is a fact of life, she argues, and in order to protect those women and men who engage in it, it should be given equal status to other occupations.

"We know, for instance, that there is exploitation in the textile industry but we don't scream 'Stop buying clothing' - we talk about labour rights and working conditions," Ms Timmermans says.
" We need to start talking in that way about prostitution."

Dutch prostitutes do still get hurt, she adds, but the Netherlands has made "many more women's lives safer and gone a long way in challenging many long-held biases that have let killers off the hook".

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Language and Identity

Audacia Ray wrote up a very cool piece on recent issues that have arisen over the labelling of sex workers. The first being the US government’s rejection of the word sex worker because in their eyes it is not work, but slavery. Even if the people involved chose and consent to the activities. The second being the use of the word prostitute as the main identifier of a victim of violence such as what has occurred in the UK recently.

She brings it all together in a concise manner. You should check it out.

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