12/18/2024
Today, December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against S*x Workers. On this day, we honor those who engage in this work and remember the lives of those both locally and globally, who are no longer here because of the violent acts of others. Regardless of your beliefs about the morality of this work, it is important to stand in solidarity with this group, with the understanding of the ways all of our hurt and oppression is intrinsically linked. In the words of Molly Smith and Juno Mac in their book Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for S*x Workers' Rights, “S*x workers' rights [...] should hinge on workers' rights to safety, not on the purported social value of the work.”
S*x workers are a widely diverse group of people, who often have a number of marginalized identities. Q***r and trans s*x workers, as well as s*x workers of color, are especially at risk of violence and violations to their human rights. With the criminalization of s*x work in this country, this population is often unable to take legal action against those who cause them harm. This is both because disclosing their engagement in a criminalized field can lead to their own criminal charges but also because of the stigmatization of this work. Often s*x workers will report not being believed, or even being blamed for the harm they experienced.
To support this group, we recommend donating to Lysistrata Co-Op, which is a mutual aid fund for and by s*x workers. Their donation page can be found here: Lysistrata Co-op — Rouge Support Network. https://tinyurl.com/yc7ku357
To learn more about the oppression this group experiences, and how to become a better advocate and ally, we also recommend checking out the S*x Worker Outreach Project on Instagram at swop_usa.
References:
https://tinyurl.com/yc2r48bp
https://tinyurl.com/yhmhtfxz
https://tinyurl.com/yc7ku357
