Week 7: Commercial sex and decent work

One of the greatest slogans of the sex workers' rights movement is that 'sex work is work'. To understand this slogan, sex workers encourage us to think about how sex work encompasses many different types of what sociologists Eileen Boris and Rhacel Parrenas call intimate labour. This category of intimate labour allows us to telescope out, to not think of sex work as the act of prostitution, but as part of a whole spectrum of work that revolves around intimacy. This includes different careers that we might never associate with sex work, including nannies, nurses, therapists, and masseuses, and this diversity also reflects different kinds of sex work, including cam work, street-based sex work, escorting, acting in porn, and stripping.

The demands for 'rights not rescue' and 'solidarity not sewing machines' responds to the fact that efforts to stop sex trafficking do not take sex workers' rights into account. These are basic labour rights that working people all over the world demand of their jobs. If you ever encounter a friend, family member, or colleague who feels confused or uncomfortable about the idea of sex workers' rights, just ask them to reflect on what labour rights they have at their own jobs.

After sex workers are 'rescued' – and many sex workers say this happens against their will – they are placed in government or NGO shelters where they are often taught skills like sewing and jewellery-making, which are supposed to be dignified alternatives to sex work. Rather than classes in arts and crafts, sex workers' rights activists ask us for solidarity, to advocate for occupational health and safety in their work, and against laws that criminalise them. Ultimately, more safety and protection for workers enables the sex industry to be freer from trafficking and instances of forced sex work.