2015 was a year in which hip hop and R+B continued to produce excellent soundtracks for the hustle. Here’s my shortlist of the cream of that crop, in no particular order: Trap Queen-Fetty Wap Fetty Wap’s infectious “Trap Queen” was technically first released in 2014 online and independently, but only really blew up this year… Continue reading Naked Music Monday: Caty’s Top 5 Sex Worker Songs of 2015
Author: Caty Simon
I'm a small town escort and activist, with purely *academic* interest in drugs and madness (because identity politics are so passe). I've been escorting low-end on and off for eighteen years, and haven't gotten sex worker burnout quite yet. I'm a co-editor here at Tits and Sass, and you can also find my writing at Alternet, VICE, Raw Story, refinery29, The Forward, HTMLGiant, the emilybooks tumblr, the Red Umbrella Project's literary magazine Prose and Lore volume 4, in a couple of issues of make/shift magazine, and in the anthology Eros & Thanatos. I also have experience in the mad movement, the harm reduction movement, the drug users' union movement, and the low-income rights movement. I fundraise and do support work for Whose Corner Is It Anyway, a local mutual aid, harm reduction, political education and organizing group by and for low-income/street/survival sex workers who use opioids/stimulants and/or experience housing insecurity. I am the national sex worker liason for Urban Survivors' Union, the national drug users union, and a board member there.
Activist Spotlight: The Migrant Sex Workers Project On Borders and Building Movements, Part Two
I interviewed Toronto’s Migrant Sex Workers Project co-founders Elene Lam and Chanelle Gallant as well as Migrant Sex Workers Project member Kate Zen over video chat. The first part of that conversation, edited and condensed for posting, is here. The group’s vital representation of a population often absent from sex worker activism inspired me. I… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: The Migrant Sex Workers Project On Borders and Building Movements, Part Two
Activist Spotlight: The Migrant Sex Workers Project On Borders and Building Movements, Part One
Toronto’s Migrant Sex Workers Project, “a grassroots group of migrants, sex workers, and allies who demand safety and dignity for all sex workers regardless of legal status”, was co-founded last May by Elene Lam, Chanelle Gallant, and Tings Chak. Lam, who moved to the area from Hong Kong two years ago, saw a gap in local activism… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: The Migrant Sex Workers Project On Borders and Building Movements, Part One
Activist Spotlight: Pye Jakobsson On the Amnesty International Vote and Holding Allies Accountable
As the vote this weekend at the Amnesty International General Council Meeting in Dublin approaches on whether the human rights organization will adopt a draft proposal supporting the decriminalization of prostitution as policy, I spoke, via e-mail, to Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) President Pye Jakobsson on NSWP’s petition to Amnesty urging them… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Pye Jakobsson On the Amnesty International Vote and Holding Allies Accountable
What the hell is going on with Backpage? Part II
Update: Backpage filed a federal suit today against Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for violating its free speech and equal protection rights after the Sheriff successfully pressured credit card companies to break with the company this month. In the suit, Backpage requests a preliminary injury, so that credit card processing will be restored to the… Continue reading What the hell is going on with Backpage? Part II