Last month in Santa Cruz, 27-year-old sugar baby and fetish model Alix Tichelman pled guilty to manslaughter in the heroin overdose death of her Google executive client Forrest Hayes, and was sentenced to six years in prison. Throughout the eight months Tichelman was in custody, the media luridly painted her as “The Callgirl Killer,” “The… Continue reading Alix Tichelman’s Trial By Headline
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: Derek Demeri on the United Nations and Universal Rights
On May 11th, American sex workers’ rights activists Monica Jones and Derek Demeri met with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva to advocate for protections for sex workers, in preparation for the Council’s quadrennial Universal Period Review of the US’ human rights record that same day. The following interview was conducted with Demeri,… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Derek Demeri on the United Nations and Universal Rights
Naked Music Monday: August Alsina’s “Grind & Pray/Get Ya Money”
As an indie-listening escort, I was surprised by the content of August Alsina’s 2014 medley/single, “Grind n’ Pray/Get Ya Money”: “Wait a sec, is this actually an ‘I’m a sex worker’s partner and I understand the economic uncertainty we both suffer because I’m a member of the lumpenproletariat/grey market too’ song?” Most strippers will probably… Continue reading Naked Music Monday: August Alsina’s “Grind & Pray/Get Ya Money”
Activist Spotlight: Meg Vallee Munoz on Compassion, Coercion, and Complexity
Meg Munoz became an escort at age 18, and had a relatively good experience working. She then took a break from the business for two years. Some time after her return to the work in order to pay for college, a close friend turned on her, blackmailing her and forcing her to turn over all… Continue reading Activist Spotlight: Meg Vallee Munoz on Compassion, Coercion, and Complexity
Having The Option: Alissa Afonina/Sasha Mizaree On Her Case And Being A Disabled Sex Worker
In 2008, high school student Alissa Afonina, her mother Alla Afonina, and her brother were in a disastrous car accident on the Trans-Canada highway, the result of her mother’s boyfriend Peter Jansson’s reckless driving running the car off the road and overturning it. Both Alissa and her mother suffered brain injuries. Alla, a Russian immigrant… Continue reading Having The Option: Alissa Afonina/Sasha Mizaree On Her Case And Being A Disabled Sex Worker