I started my pole dancing journey like many others. I saw a beautiful, sensual, and empowering form of expression that inspired me to move my body in new ways. I started taking classes at local pole studios and following pole dancers on Instagram.
As I got deeper into the hobby, one account led to another until I began following strippers and sex workers. I saw hashtags like #yesastripper and #notastripper. Soon, I came upon posts by sex workers calling out pole dancing hobbyists for benefiting off stripper culture while disregarding the community that actually pioneered the art.
Pole dancing hobbyists… like me.
At first, I reasoned I wasn’t one of those pole dancing hobbyists. I never participated in the #notastripper hashtag. I respected sex workers. But my unease grew. I had to look inward as I faced a reckoning in my own practice of pole dancing as a hobby.
How could I ethically practice pole in a way that supports sex workers rather than erases them from the narrative? How could I do better now and continue doing better in the future?
- Recognize Your Privilege
- Confront (Your) Whorephobia
- Listen to Sex Worker Voices
- Respect Sex Workers’ Boundaries
- Educate Yourself (Do Your Own Labor or Pay for It)
- Pay and Tip Sex Workers for Their Time and Labor
- Take Pole Dancing Classes From Strippers
- Support Sex Workers in Policy Change
I am by no means perfect. I mess up all the time and I’m definitely no expert on this subject, which is why I’ve included some actual expert resources in this post. I’m always open to learning more, so if you have additional thoughts or resources to add, please leave a comment!
If reading this post makes you uncomfortable or defensive, I recommend that you sit with those feelings and consider why. Usually, the more triggered I feel, the more I realize I need to take a step back and examine my reaction.
Ask Yourself: Why does this make me feel attacked? Am I actually being attacked or am I reacting? Why is this triggering such a reaction in me? Follow your thoughts where they take you instead of deflecting.
Step 1: Recognize Your Privilege
Privilege isn’t a bad word. It’s just a matter of recognizing the advantages you get based on the social and economic realities where you live. Almost everyone has some sort of privilege.
You may be privileged in one area but marginalized elsewhere. You may have different parts of your identity that intersect to give you privileges in one realm but disadvantages in another. You may even have different privileges at different points in your life.
For example, I am a White, cis, thin, straight-passing, half-deaf but otherwise able-bodied immigrant from a Muslim country. I may face challenges because I’m a woman with a foreign name but I don’t have to worry about discrimination based on the color of my skin. Unlike trans individuals, I don’t fear personal violence simply because my gender identity doesn’t match the one assigned to me at birth. When I go to the doctor, I don’t have to fight against fatphobic diagnoses that end up obscuring the real issue. My invisible disability makes some situations more challenging to navigate but I don’t have to worry about physical accessibility to run everyday errands.
Consensual sex work is work and deserves the same respect as any other job. But sex workers still have to fight for the ability to do their work with respect and dignity.
Civilians (non-sex workers) don’t face the stigma and disenfranchising policies that affect sex workers. As a civilian, you have the privilege to not worry about getting de-platformed, outed, or arrested for the type of work that you do, with potentially dire consequences. You don’t have to worry about harmful legislation that makes it more dangerous to do your job. You don’t have to deal with everyday whorephobic attacks rooted in puritanical cultural standards and judgments.
Consider What Happened: When celebrity model Bella Thorne decided to join OnlyFans for “research” for a film. She misled her followers into thinking she would share nude photographs on OnlyFans for $200. When her thousands of new OnlyFans subscribers found out this wasn’t true, many of them requested refunds immediately.
As a result, instead of restricting Thorne’s account, OnlyFans introduced new restrictions on all creator accounts on the platform: 30-day payouts, a $100 limit on tips, and a $50 limit on the cost of posts. She destroyed the platform for countless creators in just 48 hours. She later apologized for the harm that she caused.
TLDR: A privileged person decimated the livelihoods of a marginalized community trying to survive during a pandemic while appropriating and using their lives and stories for personal profit and gain.
Moral of the Story: Think about how your privilege could affect the lives of those around you before you step into a marginalized community’s space or use their culture.
Thorne can pretend to be a sex worker then step back from that world and continue living her life mostly unaffected. Sex workers who rely on their profession for income can’t just step back from their reality. They’re left to live with the consequences of Thorne’s actions – having to find another safe platform and viable source of income to survive. Instead, Thorne could have paid real sex workers to consult or act in the film.
In Contrast: Consider what happened with FKA Twigs and her pole dancing performances. When strippers expressed concern about a celebrity profiting from their culture, FKA Twigs came out as a former sex worker. Shortly after, she allowed sex worker organizations to take over her Instagram feed to advocate for their rights.
Privilege isn’t a contest over who’s got it the best or worst. We’re all in the fight for equality together. Recognizing your privilege is the first step to seeing outside your own reality to the lived reality of those around you who may struggle with things that you take for granted. From what I’ve learned, untangling privilege is a complicated, lifelong process.
Ultimately, recognizing your privilege allows you to use your position to advocate and fight for others who are facing systemic challenges and oppression.
Step 2: Confront (Your) Whorephobia
The Mindy Project is a romantic comedy series that follows the life of gynecologist Dr. Mindy Lahiri as she navigates romance in Manhattan in her early 30s. Mindy Kaling takes the show through a variety of romantic comedy tropes with heart and humor. I’d recommend it except for the regular use of fatphobic jokes and other problematic plotlines.
While watching the series with my roommate, we came upon season 1, episode 20, “Pretty Man” – a gender-flip of Julia Roberts’ Pretty Woman. “Mindy accidentally hooks up with a male prostitute and tries to help him with his dream to become a singer.”
I cringed and told my roommate, this one’s a little rough. As I remembered, there was a decent amount of whorephobia. At the climax of the episode, the sex worker character says, “Is it so bad that I just like being a prostitute?” The two main characters respond: “Yes, it’s bad!”
Oof. All in all, you can safely skip that episode.
The problem isn’t just with The Mindy Project, which isn’t the only show that’s made sex workers the butt of an extended joke (and not nearly the worst example). Whorephobia is woven into every aspect of the puritanical and patriarchal culture in which we live.
When it comes to surviving capitalism, we all sell our bodies, whether it’s on a stage, at a desk, or on a factory line. If you lose the arbitrary idea that sex is immoral, why stop two consenting adults from engaging in the exchange of consensual sexual labor for value?
Sex work offers many benefits for clients, such as physical touch and companionship. A sex worker may be someone’s only access to one or both of those basic human needs.
Sex workers may choose their line of work to pay their bills, feed their families, fund their education, or any other reason including that they enjoy the work, they’re good at it, or they prefer it to other employment options. When it’s between two consenting adults, the reasons why someone chooses to offer or buy sex work are none of anyone else’s business.
The Difference Between Sex Work and Sex Trafficking
Sex work involves a commercial exchange of services between two consenting adults. Sex trafficking involves force, coercion, threats, or deceit. Many laws treat the two as the same, with results that hurt both sex workers and victims of sex trafficking.
For additional reading on the difference between sex work and sex trafficking, see:
- It’s Dangerous to Confuse Sex Work and Trafficking
- We Need to Stop Confusing Sex Work with Human Trafficking
Action: Use Non-Derogatory Language for Sex Work
When confronting whorephobia, consider the language you and others use when talking about sex work and sex workers. For example, the term “prostitute” is largely considered by sex work activists to be a pejorative slur because it “contributes to the dehumanization and criminalization of the sex worker profession.” In the media, “prostitutes” are often portrayed as disposable characters with no regard for their humanity. This has real effects on the lives of sex workers, who frequently face violence for their profession.
Instead of “prostitute,” use “sex worker” as a neutral descriptor for people who engage in sexual labor. Don’t make sex workers the butt of jokes. Don’t use terms for sex workers as insults. Challenge and call out whorephobic comments that dehumanize sex workers.
Pay attention to the words that sex workers use to define themselves. Some may use the term “whore.” “Ho” and “heux” are African American Vernacular English (AAVE) versions of “whore,” also with derogatory connotations. If this is not your culture, consider whether using those words is appropriation. Language is powerful, so consider carefully how you use it.
Action: Call Out Whorephobic Campaigns Like #notastripper
If you see fellow pole dancing hobbyists using whorephobic language or hashtags like #notastripper, educate them on what that means. Sometimes insensitive language is a matter of ignorance. A newbie pole dancing hobbyist may be following the example of other dancers they’ve seen on Instagram.
Hey, I see you’re using the tag #notastripper, which disrespects the industry of sex workers who created the art of modern pole dancing. It’s not cool to throw sex workers under the bus especially since they face a lot of hate and violence already. I recommend checking out the #yesastripper hashtag for sex worker-positive posts.
But sometimes whorephobia may be part of a pole dancing studio’s culture or brand, which is a deeper problem. Avoid supporting these types of studios with your money. Whorephobia is not a “victimless crime,” as people who dehumanize sex workers may feel. It has real consequences in the actual physical threats and violence that sex workers face on a daily basis.
Step 3: Listen to Sex Worker Voices
The best way to learn how to advocate for sex workers is to listen to them directly. They have the day to day experience. They shoulder the stigma against sex work that still exists in society. They live with the disenfranchising effects of bad legal policy.
Don’t forget to follow and amplify a variety of sex worker voices, especially those coming from marginalized communities. Sex workers often rely on these platforms to pay their bills, support their families, and survive. When sex worker accounts get shadow-banned, suspended, or shut down, they lose their income and their hard-won audience.
What Is Shadow-Banning?
Shadow-banning happens when social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok penalize certain accounts in their algorithm. Accounts that get shadow-banned don’t appear on “explore” or trending pages. Sometimes they don’t appear in searches. If you get shadow-banned, your content may disappear from your followers’ news feeds. Even people who want to hear from you won’t see your posts.
When accounts get shadow-banned, they usually see their engagement numbers drop dramatically. That means way fewer views, likes, comments, saves, and reposts.
In some extreme cases, shadow-banned accounts may lose followers who never actually unfollowed them. Shadow-banned accounts may not be able to like or comment on anyone else’s posts for a period of time. Worst-case scenario, these accounts get deactivated. Suddenly losing thousands of engaged followers can be devastating for someone’s livelihood, especially during the pandemic. Check creator profiles to see if they have back-up accounts that you can also follow.
Hashtags can also get shadow-banned, where no posts appear even when searched. Instagram is notorious for banning hashtags related to pole dancing.
Social media algorithms often end up favoring White, thin, able-bodied accounts over others. As much as shadow-banning sucks, it happens most to marginalized creators who don’t fit heteronormative, patriarchal, White-supremacist ideals. These creators also receive the most hate on these platforms and get the least protection from platform moderators. Twitter, for example, has historically been terrible at shielding BIPOC and women from torrents of abuse.
That’s why it’s so important to support marginalized creators as much as possible.
Follow Black, Disabled, Indigenous, Large-Bodied, POC, Queer, & Trans Sex Workers
Intersectionality is about recognizing the unique social positions we all inhabit and the challenges we face based on varying aspects of our humanity.
Much of pole dancing culture comes from Black strippers and sex workers who are erased most from the pole dancing hobby narrative. So even when stripping or sex work is represented in mainstream channels, it tends to get whitewashed. Aim to center BIPOC and marginalized sex workers in your allyship.
Check your Instagram feed. Are many of the voices or visuals similar? Do you follow only people with a certain body type? Can you expand the perspectives that you see every day?
I encourage you to follow accounts that challenge you, open you up to new possibilities, educate you, and help you untangle the assumptions and biases you may hold. None of us are immune to bias and we have to work every day to untangle a lifetime of racist, sexist, ablest, homophobic, transphobic, and sizeist bullshit.
Fortunately, the internet is filled with resources created by people who have generously put in the time and labor to educate. The least we can do is listen and learn. (Ideally, you’ll also pay creators for their labor, which we’ll get into in step 6.)
When visiting and following sex worker accounts, keep in mind that it’s important for marginalized communities to have safer spaces for themselves. If you’re a civilian (e.g., not a sex worker), most of these accounts were not made for you. You are a visitor to another group’s space. Be respectful, keep unsolicited opinions to yourself, listen, learn, and tip when able!
Below is a list of accounts to get started:
- Antonia Crane @antoniacrane – Author, activist, writer, filmmaker, sex worker, UCLA professor, and founder of Soldiers of Pole.
- The Black Sex Workers Collective @thebswc – The BSWC is a “grassroots organization supporting current and former Black sex workers.”
- Cyber Girls Gone Virtual @cyberclowngirlsshow – “A sexy, clown girl-operated virtual experience of legendary entertainment, donating money to social justice organizations.” Started by the talented performers at Jumbo’s Clown Room.
- Decolonise Sex Work AU @decolonisesexworkau – A “Blak Sex Work Collective” dedicated to “decolonize and destigmatize Indigenous sex work in Australia.”
- Decriminalize Sex Work @decrimsexwork – “DSW teams up with local sex worker organizations across the country to pass sex worker-led legislation.”
- East London Strippers Collective @ethicalstripper – The ELSC is a group that puts together regular life drawing classes in London with strippers as their life models. I would love to attend these events if I only lived on that side of the world!
- Elle Stanger @stripperwriter – Certified sex educator, writer, parent, podcaster (@Strange Bedfellows), and sex worker. I appreciate Elle Stanger’s perspective, vulnerability, and honesty. I’ve learned a lot following her account over the years. I often find other great resources through her stories.
- Hacking//Hustling @hackinghustling – “Hacking//Hustling is a collective of sex workers, survivors, and accomplices working at the intersection of tech and social justice to interrupt state surveillance and violence facilitated by technology.” Follow to keep up on legislation that affects sex workers.
- The Lysistrata Mutual Care Collective @lysistratamccf – The LMCC is an “online-based sex worker mutual care co-op and emergency fund to support marginalized sex workers in crisis.”
- Nina Galy (@ninadoesitall) – Twerk legend, owner of the Champagne Room in Los Angeles, and creator of the Six Figure Stripper course.
- Political Stripper @politcalstripper – “Working to discuss and deconstruct misconceptions and damaging stereotypes regarding sex, sexuality, and sex work.”
- Selena the Stripper @prettyboygirl – Selena the Stripper is on the board of Soldiers of Pole, a labor movement for better stripper working standards. I really appreciate Selena’s genuine voice, insightful perspective, and beautiful photos.
- Sex Work History @sexworkhistory – Learn about the history of sex workers, escorts, dancers, and models up to the 1980s.
- Stop Speaking for Us @stopspeakingforus – “A space for sex worker voices.”
- SWOP USA @swop_usa – A human rights organization “dedicated to fighting for the dignity and safety of sex workers” that regularly posts about issues affecting sex workers. “All sex workers deserve to work safely without stigma and without danger.” Look for your local chapter, too. Here’s Los Angeles.
- TOS Journal @tosjournal – A journal of sex worker culture by sex workers for sex workers.
- Twerkology Nation @twerkologynation – “Decolonising ‘Twerk’ one country at a time.” An account for education and cultural activism around the historically African dance style popularized through Black New Orleans culture in the 1980s. Although this is not a sex work account, I wanted to include it as a resource because it’s important to recognize the cultural origins of the dances we learn, especially as twerking has gotten whitewashed and appropriated in popular U.S. culture.
- United Pole Artists @upartists – A “source of information, consulting, and marketing for the entire pole dancing industry.”
- Valentine @valentine.pdx – Black, queer, femme, entertainer.
- Women’s Whork – Run by a sex worker, started “with the intention to help dancers and other sex workers in life and business as well as provide comic relief and information.”
Action: Boost Sex Worker Voices and Accounts
Amplifying sex worker and other marginalized voices costs nothing and helps fight the muting effects of shadow-banning on social platforms like Instagram.
This is my favorite comprehensive post about how to support the accounts of marginalized creators on Instagram. I highly recommend reading and saving the post for later reference.
To use the Instagram algorithm to support creators:
- Save posts – Instagram considers saved posts a “super-like.” The most saved posts have a higher chance of getting featured on the explore page.
- Share posts – Gets an algorithm boost, introduces your followers to new accounts, and grows the shared account’s audience without them having to pay for ads. If you follow a lot of pole friends and vice versa, this can spread awareness in your community.
- Comment four words or more – These comments get the most weight.
Likes, profile visits, and short comments help too, just not as much.
Important: Do not “repost” someone else’s content as a new post on your own feed (i.e., your profile grid on Instagram). Ask permission first and respect the creator’s wishes if they say no.
Reposting someone else’s content as a new post takes away from that creator’s social media engagement, even if you credit them. Many people won’t bother to check the original account and will just share your post instead. You end up splitting the creator’s social engagement from one to two posts and getting some of their engagement for your own.
Basically, you’re taking someone else’s work, using it to promote yourself, and stomping over the original creator while you do it, which is… not great, to say the least.
Instead, save their post and share it to your stories.
Step 4: Respect Sex Workers’ Boundaries
If you’re a civilian who feels compelled to respond to a sex worker’s content, consider what kind of energy you’re bringing into their space.
- Is your comment supportive or helpful?
- If not, is it necessary?
- Are there nuances in a sex worker’s lived experience that you might not understand?
- Is your unsolicited comment going to contribute anything of value?
General rules of good internet etiquette apply, but also consider the marginalized person’s position. Disagreeing about something that doesn’t affect you personally is a thought exercise for you. But you might be arguing with someone who experiences the actual daily emotional, mental, and physical toll of the issue. That discussion is naturally going to be more taxing on them compared to you.
It should go without saying, but I’ve seen threads that prove otherwise: be respectful and consensual. A sex worker’s occupation is not blanket consent for inappropriate sexual advances or obscene DMs.
- Don’t expect to get attention from a sex worker for free.
- Don’t shame sex workers for requiring money for their time.
- Respect when sex workers say they don’t want unsolicited DMs unless you’re willing to offer compensation.
- Don’t assume you’ll get continued attention from a sex worker just because you’ve had a few interactions, especially if they’re unpaid. A few in-person interactions with a sex worker doesn’t make you entitled to endless unpaid online interactions, either.
Basically, respect people for their time and labor.
Step 5: Educate Yourself (Do Your Own Labor or Pay for It)
You’re excited to learn more so you’ve started following sex workers and educators. Great! As you proceed, don’t assume that anyone you follow has the time or energy to answer your newbie questions.
Most people don’t get any form of compensation for posting on social media. They may get a lot of abusive hate mail or hundreds of messages per day. They’ve got families, bills, and other priorities. You can bet they get the same basic questions from random people all the time.
Don’t be that uninformed rando. If you’re curious about something, do your own leg work to learn more. Go through earlier posts and pinned stories. Some profiles have FAQ stories that answer common questions. If someone has a podcast, check out the playlist – have they addressed your question in depth in an episode? Do a little bit of Google research, just be conscious of the sources you find. If, after all that, you still can’t find an answer to your question, ask away. Just don’t get upset if your message doesn’t get a response.
If you get a response to your question, compensate them for their time and labor – even if it’s just $5. Most sex workers have their Venmo/CashApp accounts listed on their profiles.
Recognize Sex Worker-Exclusionary Radical Feminism (SWERF)
SWERFs, or Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminists, claim to be feminists but discriminate against sex workers. SWERF ideology includes:
- A failure to distinguish between sex workers and victims of sex trafficking
- A belief that all sexual labor is degrading and harmful to women and feminism
- Opposing decriminalization and supporting the criminalization of sex work
- A belief that sex workers who engage in consensual and voluntary sexual labor are perpetuating systems of sexual objectification and oppression
- Prejudice against sex workers based on puritanical beliefs
- Advocating for laws that end up hurting sex workers and putting them at greater risk
- Bullying and doxing sex workers by publishing their personal information online or getting their accounts suspended or deleted
SWERFs are similar to TERFs, or Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, who specifically exclude trans women from the feminist movement. These radical ideologies are based on rejecting certain identities from the protection of feminism. Intersectional feminists consider TERFs and SWERFs to be based on hate, not actual feminist ideals of equality.
Unfortunately, some celebrities subscribe to SWERF ideas. Because of the power of their platforms, their sex worker-exclusionary statements can carry a lot of weight. For example, Tina Fey is a well-known SWERF who regularly dehumanizes and abuses sex workers in her writing. Violence against sex workers in the media contributes to the violence they face in real life.
For more about SWERFs, read:
Informing yourself of these issues equips you to better confront and push back against SWERF ideologies whenever you encounter them out in the world.
Step 6: Pay and Tip Sex Workers for Their Time and Labor
I celebrated my 34th birthday at the delightful Jumbo’s Clown Room in Hollywood. I brought a large group of friends and we waited in line for an hour to get inside. Many of my friends were first-timers to the lively, almost wholesome bikini bar.
Everyone loved the show. At the end of the night, I got a birthday dream come true: my partner crowdfunded a stage lap dance from my friends. I got to celebrate my birthday in the tantalizing aroma and grind of ten sexy bodies on stage, which was as awesome as it sounds.
As my partner and I prepared to wrap for the night, I noticed my friends… lingering. Our group had taken over a corner of the venue, which was already not that big. They might have been on their way out soon, too. But they were no longer really tipping.
My birthday-inebriated brain was piecing together what was wrong with that picture as we left. We stepped outside and passed by the line of people waiting to come in – when it hit me. We were taking up space from other tipping customers. The longer my friends lingered without tipping, the longer they blocked the dancers’ income on a Saturday night (probably their most lucrative shift).
When you go to any bikini or strip club, you must come prepared to tip and tip well. Sex work is real, hard work. As pole dancing hobbyists, we know the difficulty of the moves those dancers perform. Sex workers deserve to be paid compensation for the value they provide.
Now I know: the next time I organize an event like that party, I’ll include a note to my friends in attendance to tip or GTFO (in nicer terms, of course).
Dear friends, please come prepared to tip the dancers. Out of respect for the workers, if you no longer feel comfortable tipping and the club is full, please leave to open space for other customers. Seats up front are for big spenders!
Of course, the club isn’t the only place where you pay sex workers. Now, more than ever during the pandemic, sex workers are turning to online sources of income. Many offer paid content through platforms like OnlyFans. Others sell video dances to client-chosen songs, among other content. Pay sex workers directly whenever you can.
Even if you’re just a follower, if a sex worker’s content has benefited your life in some way through education, awareness, or titillation – pay them. Send them a $5 Venmo. (The same goes for any marginalized creators/educators, whether they’re sex workers or not.)
Step 7: Take Pole Dancing Classes From Strippers
Who better to teach you about the art of seduction on the pole than actual strippers? They are literally the professionals of the pole dancing world. Their livelihood and survival depend on getting paid to do what we aim to do as pole dancing hobbyists.
This step involves confronting the whorephobia within the pole dancing community. How many pole dancing studios do you know that actually employ working strippers? Even in Los Angeles, where there’s no shortage of options across the city, I’ve only attended a single studio that regularly employed strippers and sex workers. The classes I took from actual strippers taught me about my sensuality by leaps and bounds.
At its most whorephobic, the pole dancing community can implicitly or explicitly tout “pole sport” – the oft-whitewashed ballerina-pointe version you see in international pole dancing competitions and conventions – as the refined, “respectable” version of stripper pole dancing. In this framework, pole sport is separate from and held above stripper pole dancing. This erases predominantly Black and POC sex workers from both the conversation and the optics, not to mention those with marginalized bodies who don’t fit the svelte shape represented most often on the competition stage.
We must confront the racism and classism behind this exclusionary approach, within ourselves and within our studios. How inclusive is your studio? Do you get to take classes from instructors with different backgrounds? Are all body types represented and celebrated?
Recently, strippers and sex workers have gone online to offer classes and private sessions to teach their art, with details on their social media profiles. There’s no better time than now to take online classes for pole dancing, lap dances, twerking, or the art of seduction from amazing instructors who might otherwise not be geographically available to you.
Action: Buy From Sex Workers
Many sex workers have other pursuits, from designing pole wear to curating lingerie. If a sex worker you follow has a storefront, they may get commissions from selling items like poles or even Pleaser shoes.
- Pure Delish run by Kat Misty Lish had a brick-and-mortar store in Los Angeles and has moved online.
- Angel Candy Shop is an online boutique with unique pieces created by a stripper.
- Strippers Forever @strippersforever has “soft clothes for tired sluts” designed by @jacqthestripper.
Step 8: Support Sex Workers in Policy Change
You’re just a single pole hobbyist. What power do you have to change policy?
More than you’d think, especially with the active online nature of the pole community. We all have the power to make a positive impact on the community around us.
This article is filled with actionable steps you can take to be a more conscious pole dancing hobbyist. Let’s work to break down the stigma of sex work and protect sex workers’ rights to conduct their business safely and with dignity.
Action: Support the Decriminalization of Sex Work
Policies and laws around sex work tend to take one of three approaches: criminalization (of the sex worker, client, or both), legalization, or decriminalization.
In most of the United States, the buying and selling of sexual services is a crime. Most states and cities have laws that charge both sex workers and their clients with criminal offenses for engaging in sex work.
This criminalization of sex work only drives supply and demand underground, where conditions are often less safe for sex workers.
For example, in many criminalized systems such as San Francisco, simply having condoms in your possession is enough circumstantial evidence for “intent to commit prostitution.” As a result, many sex workers avoid carrying condoms, which makes them vulnerable to the dangers of unprotected sex. In criminalized systems, sex workers who are the victims of violence and assault often feel they cannot bring their cases to the police for fear of getting arrested themselves.
The “Nordic model” is another legal framework where only sex workers’ clients are criminalized. The goal of this policy is to reduce the demand for sex work by punishing buyers. But similar to other criminalization efforts, it only pushes sex work underground.
A system of legalization allows some sex work as long as it’s carried out in a legally sanctioned way. In Nevada, for example, many counties have legalized sex work within the structure of brothels, while all other types of sex work remain outlawed. Sex work activists reject the legalization model because it involves imposing industry-specific regulations and licensing requirements. In Nevada, all brothel sex workers must register with the police department and follow a number of restrictive or invasive working conditions.
Decriminalization means treating sex work just like any other business, without additional and unnecessary government oversight. The same tax, occupational health and safety, and employment laws apply to sex workers, treating them like any other worker. You can find the decriminalization model in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, and parts of Australia. Most sex worker activists support the decriminalization model.
As a pole dancing hobbyist, it’s important to be knowledgeable about the issues that affect the pioneers of our pole dancing community. Support decriminalizing sex work so that sex workers can go about their business just like any one of us.
Action: Contact Your Reps About Laws That Hurt Sex Workers
The more you follow sex worker accounts on social media, the more awareness you’ll have for when your state or federal representatives put forward laws that affect sex workers.
In reality, bad legislation that hurts sex workers hurts the rest of us, too.
Take FOSTA-SESTA, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. These two bills were signed into U.S. law in 2018 with the purpose of fighting online sex trafficking. Except since their passing, they’ve only:
- De-platformed and put sex workers in more danger,
- Made it harder to find and help actual victims of sex trafficking, and
- Wasted taxpayer money.
How come? Well, FOSTA-SESTA makes websites legally responsible for all the content that’s posted on their platforms. In response to the law, online platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, and Tumblr restricted sexual content so much that it pushed both sex workers and victims of sex trafficking off of these legitimate platforms.
The result? Sex workers lost reliable and safe sources of income and the ability to screen their clients. And victims of sex trafficking went back to being trafficked offline – making them harder to trace and find by authorities.
This bad policy affects civilians, too. Has your pole dancing hobby account been censored for nudity or sexual content? Have you had your posts taken down? Has your favorite artist’s account been suspended or deleted? You can thank FOSTA-SESTA for that.
Additional reading on FOSTA-SESTA:
- Sex Workers Warned Everyone About Fosta-Sesta – Now Lawmakers Are Beginning to Listen
- A new law intended to curb sex trafficking threatens the future of the internet as we know it
FOSTA-SESTA is followed by the EARN IT (Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies) Act of 2020. As of this writing, the bill is currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives. Similar to FOSTA-SESTA, the EARN IT act claims to fight online sex trafficking. Except it threatens all of our internet privacy and security as we know it.
If the EARN IT Act passes, it will end encryption – the system that makes sure your private online communications stay private. Not just that, it’ll give the government the power to make online platforms break encryption and turn over your data. That means even more censorship and losing your online privacy to government oversight.
Additional reading on the EARN IT Act:
- Urgent: EARN IT Act Introduced in House of Representatives – Includes a link to find your representative and contact them about the law
- US: Senate Should Reject EARN IT Act by Human Rights Watch
- The EARN IT Act’s serious privacy, security, and free speech implications
Unfortunately, the potential effects of the EARN IT Act are as scary as they sound. What can you do about it? You can contact your government representatives and tell them to vote it down.
You can find your House representatives here.
As someone with anxiety, contacting any of my government officials was nerve-wracking the first few times. But soon enough, I got used to it.
If you’re nervous about calling the office and talking to a human, call them after hours so you know you’ll go to voicemail. Have a script written down in front of you to follow so that you don’t have to think on the spot. Include your name and tell them that you’re a voter in their district for the greatest impact. Keep your message short and simple.
Hello Representative [X], my name is [X]. I am a voter in your district and I’m calling to voice my opposition to the EARN IT Act. The EARN IT Act threatens our First Amendment rights and internet security as we know it. It’s a poorly constructed bill that will do much more harm than any good. Please vote no on the EARN IT Act.
If you hate the idea of calling anyone on the phone (which I totally relate to), send your representative a physical letter. Personal, physical letters are one of the most effective ways to get your voice heard because they’re the most difficult for political campaigns to ignore.
Plus, think about it this way: your government representatives work for you. It’s their job to listen to their voters and represent your interests – or you can fire them by voting them out.
This applies exponentially to local elections, where you have much more power over policy than on the national stage. Check to see if your locality has laws on sex work. How have those laws and policies affected sex workers where you live?
Final Thoughts
Thanks to Elle Stanger and Valentine for beta-reading and editing this piece before publication. You can find the post corresponding to this article on Instagram.
Thank you for making it this far! I hope that this article has been helpful to you in some way. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I also encourage feedback on corrections, updates, or resources I haven’t yet included.