The Truth Will Come Out: An Interview With Jill Brenneman and Amanda Brooks

Jill Brenneman. (Photo by Amanda Brooks, courtesy of Amanda Brooks and Jill Brenneman.)

Interview co-authored by Josephine and Caty Content warning—the following contains descriptions of extreme injuries and rape suffered by two sex workers due to a campaign of violence by an abusive client, as well as an account of child abuse. Jill Brenneman and Amanda Brooks are veterans and heroines of the sex workers’ rights movement.  As… Continue reading The Truth Will Come Out: An Interview With Jill Brenneman and Amanda Brooks

Remembering Stone Butch Blues’ Pledge To Sex Workers

Stone Butch Blues, the 2004 Alyson Books edition.

Trans/queer writer and socialist hero Leslie Feinberg died last week. The event rekindled my memories of squatting on the floor of Barnes and Nobles at the age of 17, reading the work zie’s1 most known for, Stone Butch Blues, a bildungsroman set in the lesbian working class bar scene during the Stonewall era. I was… Continue reading Remembering Stone Butch Blues’ Pledge To Sex Workers

The P Word: A 101

(1942 poster via Amazon)

Though most don’t consider the word “prostitute” pejorative, it’s more damaging to sex workers than any other slur. There’s no true neutrality to be found in a word whose verb form Merriam-Webster defines as “to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes.” But precisely because it is used in polite language, because of its patina of… Continue reading The P Word: A 101

An Excerpt from Prose & Lore, Issue 4

(Image courtesy of Red Umbrella Project)

  Prose & Lore is a literary journal published by the New York sex workers’ rights organization Red Umbrella Project. Memoir stories about sex work are collected in two issues per year (Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer). We at Tits and Sass have been following Prose and Lore since the journal began, and the fourth issue is even more fantastic than those that preceded it. Prose… Continue reading An Excerpt from Prose & Lore, Issue 4

Criminalizing Their Choices: Following Up on AB 1576

Now that California’s AB 1576—which would mandate condom use on porn sets—is in committee in the  California State Senate, we wanted to follow up on our earlier coverage of the legislation. We asked two progressive porn performers, Jiz Lee and Conner Habib, about how they felt the proposed law would affect the future of California… Continue reading Criminalizing Their Choices: Following Up on AB 1576