Adrienne Graf and Annie O’Niell are two social workers whose focus has been sex workers. O’Niell has experience as a sex worker and Graf is an ally. Together, they have facilitated workshops at the university, state and national level on how to work with students in the sex industry. Here, they have a conversation about… Continue reading Discussing Other People’s Lives: Social Work and Student Sex Workers
Author: Annie O Neill
Hi, all, I'm Annie. I identify as white, queer, cis, femme, raised working class—currently middle class sex worker (primarily an escort). I live in the Pacific Northwest but moved here from Philly (with a one year stint in Santa Fe in between) about three years ago to start a doctoral program in social work. My days are spent working a domestic violence agency with queer survivors of interpersonal violence, writing and researching on different aspects of sex work. Mostly I'm focusing on students working in the sex industry and thinking about the influence of anti-trafficking narratives on how social work/ers and social service agencies think about people working in the sex trade. This can be frustrating and overwhelming, but I'm hoping that through my academic work of teaching and researching in critically feminist ways that I will have some impact and join other critical activist scholars in changing these narratives. When I'm not in school mode, I'm hanging out with awesome kids, going on dates with cuties, getting my nails done, running in relay races, missing Philly chicken cheese steaks and ice cream cones with sprinkles on top, buying dresses, dreaming about having a kid and thinking about what alternative family structures look like.