(Washington Insider Magazine)—If you don’t already know, I am making a documentary to help normalize and decriminalize sex work as a whole. It only makes sense that I would be writing an article on the issue.
A lot of people take sex work and its workers for granted. What’s worse is that people tend to demonize sex work and disparage the people in the industry for simply being in the industry, which is incredibly callous and narrow-minded.
I began this journey of attempting to normalize sex work not knowing anything about it except what I heard other people saying about. I assumed that it was a very degrading profession where only those that were involved in debauchery or were assaulted in their formative years. That is not true. Some of these girls get into the industry simply because that’s what they wanted to do with their lives when they were children.
Stats about discrimination in sex work
What’s more alarming is the fact that, according to the Free Speech Coalition, 46% of sex workers are being restricted on Paypal, cashapp and other payment platforms, 36% have lost at least one bank account, 50% have been denied a loan and 55% have been denied insurance simply because of the work that they do.
Understanding that people already view sex work in a negative light is problematic enough and in some parts of the world, police actually benefit from raids on prostitutes and other sex workers, where they are specifically preying on the weak and defenseless.
Many Congressmen have attempted to disarm and target sex workers as their [Congress] goal is to get rid of sex trafficking. That seems like a noble cause but that bleeds over into legal sex work which hurts their legal business. This also includes politicians implementing FOSTA-SESTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act/ Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) and when the acts were passed, many sex workers have reported feeling less safe and financially secure.
I have talked to many women who have expressed their grief and displeasure with how FOSTA-SESTA has affected their business and their work. Many women had to go back into the industry after they thought that they retired from the industry and were forced back into the industry either because of survival sex work and FOSTA-SESTA forced them back into it or because of any other circumstances out of their own control.
Trafficking Vs. Legal
The problem with what these politicians are doing is the fact that they frown upon the use of porn and are unaware of the differences of sex trafficking and legal sex work. Sex trafficking is a crime and done without the consent of one or more parties and in some cases involves minors. Legal sex work is when all members are consenting adults and have agreed to partake in this work.
Politicians want to keep this type of work away from kids and it’s true that children should not be involved, but discriminating against sex workers does no favors to the people in the adult industry. I don’t believe that kids and/or minors belong in sex work, but I also don’t think kids should be allowed to drink alcohol either. Does that mean we discriminate against bartenders and mixologists and target bars to the point that they are unable to apply for insurance or get a loan? Do you see where I’m going with this?
Case in point, you truly don’t know the struggles of people until you have walked a mile in their shoes and making this documentary makes me feel like I have run a marathon. Also if you discriminate against sex workers, who else is going to entertain you?
I hope this helps in some small way because sex work is still real work.
