Life Questions: Sex Work

They say to have a fulfilling career you have to find your passion in life. But what if you understand those passions and decide to explore your sexuality as a career path? And what if you are sexually assaulted in your controversial workplace? Sex workers are some of the most experienced people when it comes to understanding boundaries and consent. However, they are also some of the most neglected and discounted individuals within labor and feminist movements like #MeToo. Why is this community ostracized from claiming their sense of self within a movement that claims to publicize allegations of sex crimes? Sex workers can be assaulted, and we must make that known. #LifeQuestions #WeToo #SexWorkers

Erika Lust (@erikalust) is a Swedish erotic film director, screenwriter, and producer. She has played a significant role in stimulating the focus of the feminist pornography movement by seizing the female gaze and pleasure in a society that has historically prioritized the male experience. Many people still believe that sex workers cannot be sexually assaulted because they have no limits and boundaries. However, workers in the sex industry are just doing their job and satisfying their fascination with the exploration of their sexuality. This contradiction makes it more difficult for performers to share their story, as they fear their expression of self will not be accepted by those involved in the #MeToo movement. Non-conforming sexuality should not equal neglect. #LifeQuestions #WeToo #SexWorkers
Click the link below to read Erika Lust’s interview with The Next Web.
https://thenextweb.com/news/the-metoo-movement-forgot-about-one-industry-sex-workers 

The Soundcloud audio group Big World Podcast collaborated with Christine Chin, Dean of The School of International Service, to discuss how to create positive change for women on the margins in reaction to the #MeToo movement. Chin analyzes the movement and challenges its prosperity by way of discussingthe stigmas surrounding sex workers and sexual assault. She also voices her opinion on how to create positive change within a movement that lacks the narratives of women on the margins – women that need to be heard to have a full narrative on this trend. For a movement that claims to respect all women, who qualifies as women of respect? #LifeQuestions #WeToo #SexWorkers
Click the link below to access and listen to #MeToo and Women on the Margins.
https://soundcloud.com/big-world-podcast/metoo-and-women-on-the-margins

We Too, Essays on Sex Work and Survival edited by Natalie West is a compilation of sex workers’ narratives that counter the messages of the #MeToo movement. As voices who do not derive from normative work places, sex workers complicate these norms associated with who can be sexually assaulted. Experiences are ways that we identify who we are as individuals as well as in communities. When the encounters that endure are delegitimized by people with similar narratives, superiorities and hierarchies arise. This book is a liberation to the accounts of sex workers, and opens up a space to reveal these complex portrayals of women in the workplace. Complexities do not equal carelessness. #LifeQuestions #WeToo #SexWorkers
Click the link below to access Feminist Press description and reviews of the book.
https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/we-too

Slate Magazine published a video entitled Do Sex Workers and Their Client Interact Different After #MeToo? in 2018, where sex workers were given the platform to talk about boundaries and consent in the workplace following the increased popularity of #MeToo. This engaging angle on the #MeToo allows sex workers to present their perspective on what the movement has meant to them and how it has influenced their interactions. The visual features associated with this video, including the comment section, demonstrate the reality of sexual harassment in sex industry’s workplaces and what others think of it. One of the women interviewed states, “MeToo is a step in the right direction, but unless it is deliberately inclusive of sex work, it’s not gonna do anything for us, we were gonna continue to be like pushed under the rug.” Certain selves are consciously shoved aside to make room for the ideal selves that gain acceptance and fame. We must rethink sexual experiences if we want to protect our own. #LifeQuestions #WeToo #SexWorkers
Click the link below to access and watch the YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kplNr4qCgJo