Sex Workers Need Friends, Too: An Essay on Sex Work

The standard expression is sex work is real work. Though this may be true, as is so often the case in America, the job will tend to overshadow the worker. In the same way that union electrician or illegal migrant workers are more than just a political or economic class, sex work is more than just prostitutes or strippers. Industries are staffed by people and the nature of capitalism and democracy will make you forget that.

Odds are you know a sex worker, either currently working or retired. With the advent of internet pornography, and especially its transition from studios to becoming part of the "gig economy", this is more true than ever. The average college student or 20-something can now start an OnlyFans with just a few clicks. The odds that your daughter, friend, or girlfriend has contributed to the industry have only gone up. Their decision to do so may vary from needing some spending money, to wanting to run their own business, to simply enjoying the thrill of exhibitionism and being seen.

Whatever your feelings about sex and porn are, it doesn't change the fact that at some point, probably recently, you have been or are friends with or love a sex worker. Their humanity may be easy to discard because of the job they have but you must not fall into this trap. Every human deserves the basics of decency and respect.

If you hate the industry, remember that your hate and its political consequences are what has driven it underground. This creates a vicious cycle where hatred of the industry makes participating in it even more taboo. This taboo then allows the industry to be controlled by ever increasingly less scrupulous entities. These entities make working conditions less safe, which drives further fear and hatred of the industry thus the cycle starts anew.

The only way to break this cycle is to recognize the humans that participate in sex work. The individual behind the screen or on the pole. Beyond stereotypes of bad fathers or broken homes & people into a deeper understanding of the different reasons why the industry exists and who participates in it. The world's oldest profession has always been real work and this real work has always been performed by real people.