Other ways you can get involved

[adannyboy]

So, I wanted to just throw this out there because so many people have asked me "what can I do?"

 

READ: about the long history that government has played in subjecting sex workers to violence through legislation. Read about "End Demand", the nordic model, the New Zealand model and anti-trafficking measures gone wrong. Read what happened to MyRedBook. Read about backpage, craigslist and Tom Dart from Chicago. Read about the laws in Nevada. Read about Monica Jones and how trans and communities of color are profiled as sex workers and arrested. Understand the problems that come with full legalization and why we work toward decriminalization instead. Don't buy into the narrative that female sex workers are victims, being exploited and trafficked. While I don't deny that happens, it's not helpful to anyone to paint women as people who don't have agency over their own body. It also doesn't help actual trafficking victims if people can't make the distinction between the two.

 

WRITE: about your experience. Start a blog. Keep a copy of your essay for Hawk and HOOK online. That's still going to be a resource for us going forward.

 

TALK: about what you experience to your trusted friends. I've changed so many minds about sex work by just talking to my friends. It can be as easy as gently asking them to lose the word "prostitute".

 

And like I said the other day, reach out to each other. Something Hawk and Sean were always quick to remind us: we aren't competitors as rentboys. We're colleagues. We have to see each other better. It's hard enough talking to friends about our lives because they don't know what we've experienced. At least talking to another rentboy, you know there's some basis of solidarity and familiarity. Follow other sex workers on twitter. Follow the #sexwork twitter hashtag. Call up a SWOP chapter. Start a collective of your own if you don't have one.

 

This is the greatest community of people I've ever been a part of. Male and female identified sex workers alike are total badasses. We have allies EVERYWHERE - from the White House to Wall Street to Hollywood and the media. I hate seeing dividing lines all over the place when we should all be focused on the same goal of being able to work safely and without fear of arrest.

 

That's all I have. [/rant]

 

Danny