#sexwork — Public Fediverse posts

«She Wore the Costume for a Month. We Wear It for Life»
A memorial for Gloria Steinem.

https://www.swopbehindbars.org/post/she-wore-the-costume-for-a-month-we-wear-it-for-life

— SWOP Behind Bars 🇺🇸

It's speaks volumes about how insidious sex worker stigma is than even after experiencing it firsthand, it's still so easy to turn it around and play its consequences as an intrinsic to sex work.
Just imagine the first movements for labour rights had taken the same interpretation of the hideous exploitation and working conditions that motivated them…

Anyway, great writeup.
Quoting their accompanying thread below.

[There are other issues with Steinem's work and practices, yes. Some pretty damning. They don't really change any of this beyond making the wording look somewhat overcharitable, though, so I'm sharing anyway. Those issues likely explain the untouched "why". The point, the "what", basically remains the same.]

> In 1963, Gloria Steinem put on a fake name, a fake age, a satin corset, and took a job as a Playboy Bunny.

> Then she took the ears off, went home, and spent the next sixty years telling the world what it means to work in the sex industry.

> She wrote about the wage theft. She wrote about the required gynecological exam and bosses who treated a cocktail waitress’s body as a company asset. All of that was labor journalism, some of it was good.

> But the women she worked beside did not get a byline.

> They got written about.

> Steinem called the assignment a disaster, “personally and professionally.” Editors stopped taking her seriously. Men wouldn’t stop asking about the costume. She was describing exactly what stigma does to a person’s career.

> She just never seemed to notice that she was describing our lives.

> There were two lessons available from the Playboy Club.

> One: sexualized labor is labor, and the people who do it deserve wages, safety, and the right to organize

> Two: the sex industry is degrading, and women in it are victims who cannot describe their own experience.

> Steinem chose the second one.

> When Amnesty International moved toward supporting full decriminalization, after consulting sex workers on four continents, she signed on with the coalition that tried to stop it, alongside a roster of Hollywood names who had never worked a stroll or a strip club or a cam site in their lives.

> She championed the “Equality Model,” the “Nordic Model,” the “third way,” whatever the branding was that year. It is the same policy every time: keep the worker’s clients and colleagues illegal, keep her landlord and her driver and her security person prosecutable, and call that liberation.

> Why this matters to us specifically-

> SWOP Behind Bars exists because of what happens when powerful feminists decide that the women on the bottom need saving more than they need rights.

> Our people are in cells right now because of laws written by legislators who quote Gloria Steinem.

> She spent a month in a costume and used it as a credential for six decades.
> The feminism that put “abortion” on a magazine cover and the feminism that put sex workers in jail were the same feminism, from the same woman, and the movement she leaves behind has to reckon with that.

> Rest in peace, Gloria. You fought hard. you Were right about a lot.

> But you were wrong about us.

#SexWork #SWOPBehindBars #Stigma #GloriaSteinem

Launch: «The Lancet Public Health Series on Advancing Health Equity for Sex Workers» webinar.

🗓 Tuesday, September 15th
💻 Online (Zoom) 🕐 13:00 UTC
✍️ Inscription: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/N717_mqZSXe9N5GkLQm_uw#/registration

-

> The new Lancet Public Health Series on Advancing Health Equity for Sex Workers is a four-paper Series that represents the culmination of a long-term collaborative effort between academics, sex workers, and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects.

> We would like to invite you to the Series launch webinar on Tuesday 15th September in recognition of Sex Worker Pride Day.

— NSWP 🗺️

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥💖

#SexWork #NSWP #Webinar #SWEvents #TheLancet #Launch #PublicHealth #2026W38 #SWPD #SexWorkerPrideDay

«Let Us Survive: An oral history of sex worker movements before and after FOSTA-SESTA»
Podcast by Hacking//Hustling collective.

https://hackinghustling.org/research-2/let-us-survive-oral-history-podcast/

(Page includes links to episodes and transcripts.)

> Let Us Survive, an oral history project by sex workers for everyone, covers a decade of American sex worker justice movements, roughly 2013 to 2023. It also gazes towards the future: of the industry, and of our labor organizing.  

> This podcast does something that US Congress didn’t do: we listen to sex worker voices. Voices along the Choice-Circumstance-Coercion spectrum. We explore how sex workers use technology to keep ourselves safe, to build community and culture, to not only survive but thrive. We listen to our fellow sex workers and survivors as we talk about our movements, how we’ve responded to FOSTA-SESTA and other policies. How we feel about federal raids on internet platforms like RentBoy and Backpage. How we feel about the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech. What we believe reproductive justice activists and others can learn from sex worker organizing. Why we’re fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, and how that will only be the beginning of the changes we need to see. 

#SexWork #Podcast #HackingHustling #USA #SWPodcasts #OralHistory #History #ContemporaryHistory

«Let Us Survive: An oral history of sex worker movements before and after FOSTA-SESTA»
Podcast by Hacking//Hustling collective.

https://hackinghustling.org/research-2/let-us-survive-oral-history-podcast/

(Page includes links to episodes and transcripts.)

> Let Us Survive, an oral history project by sex workers for everyone, covers a decade of American sex worker justice movements, roughly 2013 to 2023. It also gazes towards the future: of the industry, and of our labor organizing.  

> This podcast does something that US Congress didn’t do: we listen to sex worker voices. Voices along the Choice-Circumstance-Coercion spectrum. We explore how sex workers use technology to keep ourselves safe, to build community and culture, to not only survive but thrive. We listen to our fellow sex workers and survivors as we talk about our movements, how we’ve responded to FOSTA-SESTA and other policies. How we feel about federal raids on internet platforms like RentBoy and Backpage. How we feel about the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech. What we believe reproductive justice activists and others can learn from sex worker organizing. Why we’re fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, and how that will only be the beginning of the changes we need to see. 

#SexWork #Podcast #HackingHustling #USA #SWPodcasts #OralHistory #History #ContemporaryHistory

«Let Us Survive: An oral history of sex worker movements before and after FOSTA-SESTA»
Podcast by Hacking//Hustling collective.

https://hackinghustling.org/research-2/let-us-survive-oral-history-podcast/

(Page includes links to episodes and transcripts.)

> Let Us Survive, an oral history project by sex workers for everyone, covers a decade of American sex worker justice movements, roughly 2013 to 2023. It also gazes towards the future: of the industry, and of our labor organizing.  

> This podcast does something that US Congress didn’t do: we listen to sex worker voices. Voices along the Choice-Circumstance-Coercion spectrum. We explore how sex workers use technology to keep ourselves safe, to build community and culture, to not only survive but thrive. We listen to our fellow sex workers and survivors as we talk about our movements, how we’ve responded to FOSTA-SESTA and other policies. How we feel about federal raids on internet platforms like RentBoy and Backpage. How we feel about the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech. What we believe reproductive justice activists and others can learn from sex worker organizing. Why we’re fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, and how that will only be the beginning of the changes we need to see. 

#SexWork #Podcast #HackingHustling #USA #SWPodcasts #OralHistory #History #ContemporaryHistory

«Let Us Survive: An oral history of sex worker movements before and after FOSTA-SESTA»
Podcast by Hacking//Hustling collective.

https://hackinghustling.org/research-2/let-us-survive-oral-history-podcast/

(Page includes links to episodes and transcripts.)

> Let Us Survive, an oral history project by sex workers for everyone, covers a decade of American sex worker justice movements, roughly 2013 to 2023. It also gazes towards the future: of the industry, and of our labor organizing.  

> This podcast does something that US Congress didn’t do: we listen to sex worker voices. Voices along the Choice-Circumstance-Coercion spectrum. We explore how sex workers use technology to keep ourselves safe, to build community and culture, to not only survive but thrive. We listen to our fellow sex workers and survivors as we talk about our movements, how we’ve responded to FOSTA-SESTA and other policies. How we feel about federal raids on internet platforms like RentBoy and Backpage. How we feel about the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech. What we believe reproductive justice activists and others can learn from sex worker organizing. Why we’re fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, and how that will only be the beginning of the changes we need to see. 

#SexWork #Podcast #HackingHustling #USA #SWPodcasts #OralHistory #History #ContemporaryHistory

«Let Us Survive: An oral history of sex worker movements before and after FOSTA-SESTA»
Podcast by Hacking//Hustling collective.

https://hackinghustling.org/research-2/let-us-survive-oral-history-podcast/

(Page includes links to episodes and transcripts.)

> Let Us Survive, an oral history project by sex workers for everyone, covers a decade of American sex worker justice movements, roughly 2013 to 2023. It also gazes towards the future: of the industry, and of our labor organizing.  

> This podcast does something that US Congress didn’t do: we listen to sex worker voices. Voices along the Choice-Circumstance-Coercion spectrum. We explore how sex workers use technology to keep ourselves safe, to build community and culture, to not only survive but thrive. We listen to our fellow sex workers and survivors as we talk about our movements, how we’ve responded to FOSTA-SESTA and other policies. How we feel about federal raids on internet platforms like RentBoy and Backpage. How we feel about the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech. What we believe reproductive justice activists and others can learn from sex worker organizing. Why we’re fighting for the decriminalization of sex work, and how that will only be the beginning of the changes we need to see. 

#SexWork #Podcast #HackingHustling #USA #SWPodcasts #OralHistory #History #ContemporaryHistory

Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing
By Cath Clarke

A camboy meets up with a convicted paedophile who turns out to be his old English teacher in Elliot Tuttle’s uncomfortable drama

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/blue-film-review-polarising-sex-worker-drama-is-well-acted-and-deeply-disturbing

#Film #Dramafilms #Sexwork #Culture #Society #TheGuardian #CathClarke

Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing
By Cath Clarke

A camboy meets up with a convicted paedophile who turns out to be his old English teacher in Elliot Tuttle’s uncomfortable drama

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/blue-film-review-polarising-sex-worker-drama-is-well-acted-and-deeply-disturbing

#Film #Dramafilms #Sexwork #Culture #Society #TheGuardian #CathClarke

Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing
By Cath Clarke

A camboy meets up with a convicted paedophile who turns out to be his old English teacher in Elliot Tuttle’s uncomfortable drama

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/blue-film-review-polarising-sex-worker-drama-is-well-acted-and-deeply-disturbing

#Film #Dramafilms #Sexwork #Culture #Society #TheGuardian #CathClarke

Blue Film review – polarising sex worker drama is well-acted and deeply disturbing
By Cath Clarke

A camboy meets up with a convicted paedophile who turns out to be his old English teacher in Elliot Tuttle’s uncomfortable drama

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/09/blue-film-review-polarising-sex-worker-drama-is-well-acted-and-deeply-disturbing

#Film #Dramafilms #Sexwork #Culture #Society #TheGuardian #CathClarke

As a sex worker, when I did in-person work, it wasn't just intercourse. I did a lot of reassuring of (cis) men about their size, listened to a lot of people's relationship problems, and sometimes people genuinely just wanted to cuddle, they were so desperate for physical(non-sexual)contact. Whether it's sexual in nature or not, most people are looking for connection-to be seen, to be heard, to be understood-even if it's only for a moment.

#sexwork #sexworkisrealwork #sexworkisart #connection

As a sex worker, when I did in-person work, it wasn't just intercourse. I did a lot of reassuring of (cis) men about their size, listened to a lot of people's relationship problems, and sometimes people genuinely just wanted to cuddle, they were so desperate for physical(non-sexual)contact. Whether it's sexual in nature or not, most people are looking for connection-to be seen, to be heard, to be understood-even if it's only for a moment.

#sexwork #sexworkisrealwork #sexworkisart #connection

As a sex worker, when I did in-person work, it wasn't just intercourse. I did a lot of reassuring of (cis) men about their size, listened to a lot of people's relationship problems, and sometimes people genuinely just wanted to cuddle, they were so desperate for physical(non-sexual)contact. Whether it's sexual in nature or not, most people are looking for connection-to be seen, to be heard, to be understood-even if it's only for a moment.

#sexwork #sexworkisrealwork #sexworkisart #connection

As a sex worker, when I did in-person work, it wasn't just intercourse. I did a lot of reassuring of (cis) men about their size, listened to a lot of people's relationship problems, and sometimes people genuinely just wanted to cuddle, they were so desperate for physical(non-sexual)contact. Whether it's sexual in nature or not, most people are looking for connection-to be seen, to be heard, to be understood-even if it's only for a moment.

#sexwork #sexworkisrealwork #sexworkisart #connection

As a sex worker, when I did in-person work, it wasn't just intercourse. I did a lot of reassuring of (cis) men about their size, listened to a lot of people's relationship problems, and sometimes people genuinely just wanted to cuddle, they were so desperate for physical(non-sexual)contact. Whether it's sexual in nature or not, most people are looking for connection-to be seen, to be heard, to be understood-even if it's only for a moment.

#sexwork #sexworkisrealwork #sexworkisart #connection

If you want to see the legal status of sex work, you can see the map here: https://www.nswp.org/sex-work-laws-map This map is very comprehensive in mapping the legal status of sex work

#internationalsexworkersday #sexworkersday #sexwork #sexworkers #sexworker #sexworkersrights #workersrights #prostitution #prostitutes #prostitutesrights #work #workingclass #nswp #networkofsexworkprojects #healthrights #humanrights #humanrightsmatter #humanrightsforall #raiseawareness #raisingawareness #sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ

Sex work is first and foremost and income-generating activity that encompasses diverse workplaces and working arrangements. This work exists all over the world and throughout history. They have to be criminalised, protected and regulated.

#internationalsexworkersday #sexworkersday #sexwork #sexworkers #sexworker #sexworkersrights #workersrights #prostitution #humanrights #work #workers #workingclass #raiseawareness #raisingawareness #sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ

Sex workers, like many other workers in informal sectors, are often excluded from social protection systems like safe works conditions, maximum work hours and minimum wages. The criminalisation of sex work and failure to recognise this as work make them excluded and it results in the systematic violation of their human rights.

#internationalsexworkersday #sexworkersday #sexwork #sexworkers #sexworker #workersrights #prostitution #humanrights #raiseawareness #raisingawareness #sofiaflorina

Happy International Sex Workers' Day, 2 June, 2025. Today marks 50 years of this celebration. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), as the international organisation that advocates the health and human rights of sex workers, currently have 369 members (local sex workers organisation) in 111 countries.

#internationalsexworkersday #sexworkersday #sexwork #sexworkers #sexworker #sexworkersrights #workersrights #prostitution #humanrights #raiseawareness #raisingawareness #sofiaflorina