Gnarly concern trolling in the wake of the murders of sex workers: “Show me a child who deserves to grow up a heroin addicted street sex worker. No one gets to choose their parents.” Thankfully Tracy Connelly’s actual family speaks here, and her partner here.
Melissa Gira Grant’s story about April Brogan’s death from withdrawal complications while in jail is a heartbreaking look at how little regard the justice system has for sex worker lives. Our Caty is quoted on the double stigma drug-using sex workers face.
A new Cambodian study reiterates what the Lancet already proved: further marginalization and criminalization of sex workers, even in the guise of ending trafficking, only puts us more at risk.
“Sex workers don’t owe you any answers” is a sharp, smart, and sadly necessary reminder by Alana Massey that we do not, in fact, owe you answers. Not to friends, not to teachers, and definitely not to sad little clovers on the internet:
“The best thing sex work taught me was that men will take every opportunity to demand things they feel entitled to,” Bruiser told me in a direct message on Twitter. “I literally owe them exactly nothing.”
Picture of Jasmine shared by Rose Alliance on Facebook
Swedish activist and sex worker Jasmine Petite was reportedly murdered by her abusive ex after years of documenting his violent behavior to the police, only to have it ignored and dismissed in large part because of her occupation. You can read more here. Sweden’s criminalization of clients has long been lauded by anti-sex trade advocates and various feminists as an effective method of eliminating criminalization’s harm of sex working women. Jasmine’s inspiring twitter feed is still online.
Nicki Minaj instagrams photos of her strip club visit with the caption “I endorse these strippers.” Surely our T&S dancers also deserve such an auspicious blurb—though they’re probably not cool with being photographed at work.
Chinese sex workers’ rights activist Ye Haiyan was released from detention for defending herself from police assault, only to have the Guandong security police evict her, her partner, and her 14 year old daughter from their home. “‘If I ever see you again in Zhongshan, I’ll break your legs,” the head of the security police told Ye.
Philippine survivors of the Japan’s WWII era “comfort system” are planning a rally later this month to draw more attention to the decades of injustice and silence around their abuse.
Cam Model Lady Dee mugs for the camera. Happy #Blackout Day!
Bubbles said it first, but the documentary that “exposes” exploitation in amateur pornography production, Hot Girls Wanted (now available on Netflix),has some problems. Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals offers some constructive criticism of the doc and suggests what points it should also have covered.
A Portland sex worker art show/book launch party for the $pread Magazine Anthology got some local press. The show, $pread The Love, the brainchild of our own Tits and Sass Week In Links Editor Red and other Portland sex worker activists, was held yesterday.
Bloomberg Businessweek published two excerpts (here and here) from Rhacel Salazar Parrenas’s new book, Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, and Sex Trafficking in Tokyo, for which the author spent nine months working as a “hostess” in a Tokyo bar.
