While these celebrations are useful rallying points, if we’re to succeed we need to fight for sex worker rights 365 days a year. – “365 Days of Activism”
If we didn’t already know how much hatred and disdain the rulers of the American Empire have for sex workers, they certainly let us know last year with an extra-special Sex Worker Rights Day gift, a massive internet censorship bill named FOSTA; they then soon followed it by demolishing Backpage, the platform most accessible to marginalized sex workers. But if politicians hoped these evil attacks would demoralize and suppress sex workers, they certainly got a surprise; instead, the viciousness and blatant malice of the acts have galvanized sex workers like nothing I’ve ever seen before. New sex worker organizations have sprung up and old ones have been revitalized, and backers who had long remained silent stepped up with money and other resources to support them. Sex workers’ protests and demands are beginning to be heard at last; some journalists are looking up from cops’ boots, some members of the general public are stirring in their fitful sleep of ignorance, and even a few politicians are beginning to push for decriminalization. More writers are questioning the two-decade-old “sex trafficking” hysteria, and even the useless ACLU issued its first pro-decriminalization statement (albeit a very brief one) in ages. Normally, my essay for this day is directed toward my sex worker sisters, but I’m pleased to say they’ve got this; what we need now more than ever is for those of you who aren’t sex workers to amplify our voices and support our cause. Share and retweet sex worker essays and interviews; counter prohibitionist bullshit you see or hear; support politicians or other public figures who are pushing back on criminalization; loudly challenge media narratives presenting the arrest of sex workers as the “rescue” of “victims”; educate yourself by reading books and articles by actual authorities (sex workers & academics who work respectfully with us) or watching videos like mine (which premiered to a packed house in Seattle last night). And most of all, support us pragmatically with the funds we need to fight. Most of y’all reading this don’t have the money to back a ballot campaign or hire lobbyists, but you can buy a video, help to arrange a screening, donate to organizations which are on the front lines, or even book a session with an escort you know to be an activist. Our movement is becoming louder than ever, but that also means we need your support more than ever; can we count on you?
