Sex work is work

[su_heading]Due to the criminalized nature of the work, many sex workers are forced to work on the streets, exposing themselves to violence and exploitation.[/su_heading]
My name is Lindsay, and I work as an escort, or if you’re not into euphemisms, a prostitute.
I prefer the word escort (or the more general term, sex worker) because both of these terms avoid the stigma associated with the word prostitute.
[su_pullquote]”My name is Lindsay, and I work as an escort, or if you’re not into euphemisms, a prostitute.”[/su_pullquote]
I’m sure many of you are thinking to yourself, “how demoralizing,” or “how degrading,” or “prostitution is violence against women.” But I can assure you, my work is a lot more complicated than such black and white designations.
Although I personally do not find my work degrading, some sex workers do. But how we feel about the work should not preclude us from fighting for better working conditions. When sex work is seen as work, whether or not you’re morally opposed doesn’t matter; what matters is making the work safer for all those involved. That
being said, let me tell you a little about myself and sex work in general.
Six years ago, I had moved to a new city after graduating with a BA in archaeology and was hoping to find work in a local museum.
This did not pan out. Because of certain language restrictions, I had a hard time finding any work that paid more than minimum wage. I did a stint at the Gap—if you want degrading work, try that. I also worked briefly in a call centre, enduring some of the worst verbal abuse I’ve ever encountered in my life.
After an ex offered to pay me to continue seeing him, I put up an ad in Craigslist’s now-defunct erotic services section. A few hours later, after administering a blow job to a middle-aged construction worker, I was $100 richer. It could not have been easier.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]I put up an ad in Craigslist’s now-defunct erotic services section. A few hours later, after administering a blow job to a middle-aged construction worker, I was $100 richer. It could not have been easier.[/su_pullquote]
In 15 minutes, I earned what would have taken me five to six hours at the Gap, and I didn’t have to fold one piece of clothing into a perfect square. Plus, for a fat woman who’s been derided all her life about her weight, it was pretty awesome having men pay to be with me. Me, in all my fat glory. Fat people are supposed to be
unattractive and unwanted, yet my phone was ringing off the hook.
Don’t misunderstand me, my self-esteem is not reliant upon my gentlemen callers, but during that first year, it was certainly given a huge boost.
Sex work opened a lot of doors for me; I was able to afford to go back to school, am currently working on a master’s degree, and have been accepted to the PhD program in gender, feminist and women’s studies.
And I still work as an escort—the only thing that’s changed since I first started is now I know to charge more.
Sex work is an umbrella term that covers everything from prostitution to pornography to webcam to phone sex. The women and men involved come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. No two sex workers are alike.
Due to the criminalized nature of the work, many sex workers are forced to work on the streets, exposing themselves to violence and exploitation. But this is not a universal experience, nor does it negate one’s choice to do this work.
Regardless of how one gets involved in the sex industry or how one feels about it, sex workers deserve to work with safety and dignity. The level of violence and/or exploitation sex workers may experience will vary based on a number of things—where they work, what level of control they have over the work (working independently or out of a brothel), what support networks they have in place, and the level of criminalization the work is subject to.
For example, street-based workers are the most visible and most criminalized population of sex workers, constituting approximately five to 20 per cent of the industry.
In December of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down laws that ban street soliciting, brothels, and people living off the avails of prostitution, saying they were unconstitutional and endangered vulnerable women, infringing on their constitutional rights.
The court has suspended its ruling until December this year, giving our government time to respond with new prohibitions, and its likely the Conservatives will continue to ban sex work in one way or another, finding some loophole in the Supreme Court’s ruling.
They should remember the implications of existing laws. Ninety-five per cent of charges are for solicitation for the purposes of prostitution in a public place, a charge that criminalizes street-based sex work. Forced to work outdoors and without any protection, these workers have to worry not only about being caught by police, but also about discrimination and violence from members of their communities and from predators, who prey on their vulnerability—a vulnerability which results from the criminalization and stigmatization of the work, not the work itself.
And before you say, “Well, it’s not really a choice if you have to do it out of circumstance,” let me ask you this: why do you work at your job? Because you need the money, right? Do you think that someone working at McDonald’s due to circumstance is not making a choice to be there? Individuals are the experts of their own lives; they make the choices that are right for them out of the options available.
This applies to non-Western sex workers as well. If a sex worker in India chooses to work in a brothel over working in a glass factory, where one’s life expectancy is reduced by 10 to 15 years, that’s a perfectly valid choice.
You may not like the options, but don’t decry the choice. The first step to increasing the safety of those working in the industry is the complete decriminalization of sex work.
This means that no new laws would be introduced. This does not mean that trafficking or prostitution of underage persons has now become legal—consensual adult sex work is not the same thing and trafficking and
under age prostitution are still illegal.
There are still laws on the books to protect against exploitation, kidnapping, fraud, and a host of others.This
is the model that Canada should adopt.
[su_divider]
New Zealand decriminalized prostitution in 2003 and found that there was no significant increase in the numbers of people working in prostitution, nor was there any increase in trafficking.
As for my work, it’s an interesting mix of listening, empathy, intuition, eroticism, sex acts, confidence, and control. As an independent worker, I call the shots from what sex acts are available to which clients I’ll accept in the first place. Further, I am able to implement whatever security measures I desire in order to feel safe when working.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]If a sex worker in India chooses to work in a brothel over working in a glass factory, where one’s life expectancy is reduced by 10 to 15 years, that’s a perfectly valid choice. [/su_pullquote]
Because I work discreetly, indoors, and am able to choose my clients based on a number of considerations including potential chemistry, I am less likely to experience violence than a colleague working on the
street who must avoid both community and police attention in order to work.
Further, since I am a safer sex professional, I am able to educate clients, who may not have ever received any sort of sex education, about the risks involved with certain sex acts, as well as illustrate what female pleasure
and desire can look like. Far from being degrading or demeaning, I find my work fulfilling and gratifying (and not just because I can manage to orgasm with every client I see).
If someone tells you they like their work and that they don’t feel degraded, it’s not your job to try to change their mind because you don’t agree. I am not suffering from a false consciousness, I have not been duped by the patriarchy. My clients are just as diverse as the sex workers that make up the world of erotic commerce.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]“My clients are just as diverse as the sex workers that make up the world of erotic commerce. And they include women. I’ve seen people from a variety of class and ethnic backgrounds from students to architects to garbage men. Caucasian, South Asian, black, Hispanic, Latino—I’ve seen and enjoyed them all.”[/su_pullquote]
And they include women. I’ve seen people from a variety of class and ethnic backgrounds from students to architects to garbage men. Caucasian, South Asian, black, Hispanic, Latino—I’ve seen and enjoyed them all.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’m not afraid. I am afraid of “feminists” who want to abolish my work, who influence policy and law, who yell verbal abuse and think it appropriate to ask complete strangers if they’ve
ever been raped.
I am afraid of other members of my community who could potentially out me to my neighbours or landlord, which would likely result in eviction. I’m afraid of people who want to “rescue” sex workers from our horrible lives only to lock us up in rehab facilities to abuse us while they teach us more “appropriate”
work such as sewing.
In fact, the only time I’ve ever felt degraded was reading anti-sex work propaganda by “feminists” using objectifying language, like referring to sex workers as “objects for men to masturbate in.”
If you think my work is degrading, keep it to yourself. It’s not a helpful comment, nor does it do anything to change the conditions in which we work. All it does is fuel stigma against sex workers who are just trying to
get paid.
Lindsay Blewett
Contributor