Content warning: this piece contains general discussion of rape. I got a call from a reporter from Mother Jones the other day, her voice nervous. She was one of the many journalists who called the sex worker health clinic I work at, St. James Infirmary, looking for comments about the public sexual assault accusations made… Continue reading What Media Coverage of James Deen’s Assaults Means For Sex Workers
Tag: sex workers in the media
Support Hos: True Detective
One of my partners cautioned me that I might take issue with the treatment of sex workers in season one of True Detective. Yet somehow, I completely forgot their warning, and found myself marathoning it over a few days several months ago. The first season is a continual whorephobic, misogynistic trainwreck, so it’s difficult for… Continue reading Support Hos: True Detective
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
The P Word: A 101
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
More Than Silence: Tjhisha Ball, Angelia Mangum, and the Erasure of Black Sex Workers
Tjhisha Ball and Angelia Mangum: Two names you should know but probably don’t. Tjhisha Ball and Angelia Mangum were 19 and 18 years old, respectively, two young women who were brutally murdered on September 18th. Their bodies were found in Duval County, Florida, reportedly thrown off an overpass, by passerby in the wee hours of… Continue reading More Than Silence: Tjhisha Ball, Angelia Mangum, and the Erasure of Black Sex Workers