Claudia Christophe is a Chicago-based escort currently on hiatus until 2019. Nonetheless, she has returned to blogging on her own blog, The Claudia Chronicles, here on WordPress and she may very reluctantly return to Twitter later this year. Previously, she has been an active participant with SWOP-Chicago under a different identity and remains an ardent sex workers’ rights activist in her own way.
Let me make something very clear at the start: I’m not interested in “not all” protestations. I’m not interested in “No True Scotsmen” objections. I’m not interested in catering to willful stupidity. If we’re all on the same page, let’s proceed.
Sex workers need to screen Potential Feminist Allies (PFAs) the way escorts screen potential clients. Why? For the same reason escorts screen potential clients: to make sure that those who will be sharing intimate space with us won’t violate us in said space. In the case of the sex workers’ rights movement, that intimate space is the movement itself. Thanks to the tireless, too often thankless, and overall, unpaid efforts of the worldwide sex workers’ rights movement, our voices and diverse experiences within the sex industry are being listened to with increasing respect. But in the public sphere, that is the media and halls of power, we’re still drowned out by the voices of mainstream feminists who outright hate us or, at the very least, pity us as eternal victims. It is the latter group of feminist allies that we have to guard against as the former will never be our allies.
It is tempting to accept help from our “sisters” in the feminist movement if they show even the slightest inkling of sympathy for us; it is equally tempting to lend support to a feminist event, even though there’s no hint that such sisterly support will be reciprocal. But we have to make sure that the support is for sex work itself and not, ostensibly, just for the sex worker; that is how we get monstrosities like the Nordic Model and all its equally gross mutations. Feminists who can only support sex workers when we talk about bad clients (because it reaffirms their belief that deep down all of us actually hate sex work and can’t wait to be violently rescued), or feminists who only support us because of similar reproductive organs (excluding male, trans and nonbinary workers), are not allies at all; they are the feminists who will inevitably turn on us as soon as it becomes inconvenient to stand with us.
The way we need to screen these PFAs is not a one-to-one analogy to client screening, but it’s close enough. Let’s start with real-world identification: Who are they, individual supporters or an organization? At this point with a client, I would require employment information for verification but in the case of PFAs, I need references: what background research did they do to make their decision to support the sex workers’ rights movement? And how have they cast their votes regarding sex work and the law? Have they consistently voted for politicians and propositions that promote carceral solutions? Will they continue to vote for these politicians in the future because they subscribe to a “lesser evil” mentality in the voting booth? Have they donated money to organizations that promote sex trafficking propaganda and an obviously biased exclusion of dissenting and highly nuanced sex worker voices? Just like verifying references, employment information, checking for previous violent interpersonal actions, and IDs upon meeting, these would-be allies need to prove that our standards for safeguarding our autonomy are ones they will support also.
I, and many other escorts, have a requirement to meet clients in public first, with a few exceptions. PFAs all need to meet us in public; we are not the “side-chick”, okay? If we’re invited to participate in a function, we can’t let them hide our presence and thus lessen the impact of the invitation. If an organization has come to the conclusion that their previous stance on sex workers’ rights was flawed, then the organization needs to publicly amend that stance at the same or greater volume as previous statements on the subject. This is especially important if said organization ever promoted legislation and policies that have been proven harmful to sex workers:
This is extremely important if the PFA is a politician or other policymaker or influencer. PFAs, whether individual or organizational, must take responsibility for any past harm they committed against us before we extend our hand in friendship, and nothing less than this.
And then there’s the money aspect. The obvious screening analogy to this is the deposit: would-be allies need to put their money where their mouths are before an alliance is solidified. This is especially important with any famous, wealthy feminist celebrity who might decide, even for a brief moment, that openly supporting sex workers’ rights will be great publicity. Oh, so Famous Actress made a statement with a half-hearted support for the movement? Let’s contain our excitement until it’s backed up with cash or other valuable resources (like writers’ rooms!) that Ms. Actress has access to and we don’t. If supporting our movement becomes unpopular again for whatever reason, at least let’s not expend our precious resources of time, money, energy, attention, etc., on a fair-weather friend. Maxine Doogan brought up a similar point in this YouTube video where she called out Hollywood hypocrites who make money off portraying us for a substantial paycheck on-screen, while pleading with politicians off-screen to incarcerate us “for our own good”. For individuals who aren’t wealthy but are new supporters to the cause, well, time is money and we’ll gladly tell you how best to spend it. Goddess knows that the coffers of the sex workers’ rights movement are sorely in need of filling.
Harsh? I don’t think so; this is merely the minimum we should expect. I have a feeling that there may be an upsurge in new feminist support for the sex workers’ rights movement coming soon, but I also fear that it could be very superficial. In other words, they might offer just enough support to lull sex worker activists into thinking we have more people on our side than ever before until, as I wrote earlier, it suddenly becomes inconvenient to stand with us…until Ms. Privileged Feminist with the large checkbook and larger voting bloc threatens to withdraw support from her feminist organization of choice for their support of sex workers’ rights. It’s very important to make sure ally participation in our movement doesn’t become a “trend” with a shelf life shorter than an Instastory.