Supporting Sex Yyforkers &~ Survivors: Lessons for QDefense Campaigns Table of Contents Dedication: Honoring our Friend and Beloved Comrade Introduction: Actively Supporting Criminalized Survivors in the Sex Trades Section 1: Foundations and Infentions that Guide our Terms and Analysis -Who are the toolkit creators? -Analysis Section 2: The Legacies of Colonialism -US Imperialism, Global Capi -Imperialism and Migrancy -North American Genocide of Indigenous Peoples -Migration, Sex Work, and “the system” -Beyond Language: Watch out for appropriation and cooptation , Colonialism Section 3: Labor Justice - Workplace sexual violence and workplace safety - Decriminalize Survival Section 4: Courts and the Criminal Legal System ~Juvenile Justice -Immigra -Diversion -Arresting “Victims of Crimes” n Court Section 5: Case Studies of Sex Working, Criminalized Comrades -#Freelele -#FreeGiGi g Skills, Lessons Learned, Strategies ~Visual Notes from a toolkit creators’ roundtable Notetaking Section Acknowledgments & Gratitudes Works & Resources Cited Dedication: honoring our friend and beloved comrade Dani/Velver Danielle Boachie, aka Mistress Velvet, remains a cherished comrade, friend, co-struggler and fierce lover of Black people even affer their sunset. Dani worked alongside us on, and was an original contributor fo, this foolkit project—when we spoke, they mentioned frequently how important this shared analysis around upliffing sex working experiences for criminalized survivors was fo them and fo our freedom movements. They were passionate about supporfing survivors of violence and everyone in the sex frades. In their labor, they complicated and expanded what anti-domestic violence work could be, they exploded and added a vibrancy fo sex worker non-profits, they demanded what they saw as reparations from their white men clients. They cultivated care, community, and compassion wherever they went. This toolkit is offered fo our many communifies and co-strugglers in honor of Dani, in hopes that we do their memory justice by continuing this work, by loving Black people, by fighting for liberation for us all, and abolishing prisons and policing in all their forms. Please think of Dani as you life, memory, and legacy close fo you s we read this document, say or sign their name, and hold th do now. Jnteoduction: Aetively Supporting Criminalized Survivors in the Sex Trades This Supporfing Sex Workers & Survivors: Lessons for Defense Campaigns toolkit directly references one of the first, and still incredibly important, resources that Survived & Punished created as a formation, our defense campaign toolkit: #SurvivedAndPunished: Survivor Defense as Abolitionist Praxis (2017)." That original toolkit offered lessons, abolitionist analysis, resources, and pra and sustaining popular (that is, of the people), grassroots defense campaigns in support of cri survivors of gender based violence. That toolkit is an invaluable guide fo this work- al guidance on forming alized onsider this an addendum and expansion on that guide’s special considerations of some categories of criminalized ors fo organize alongside; namely: sex workers, survivors of violence and exploitation (somefimes called trafficking), people engaged in survival sex, and all those comrade: violence from the carceral state. sur: the sex trades facing Much of Survived & Punished’s analysis and organizing-in-action has been impli supporfive of all folks in the sex trades, and in community with those in oppo: tly pro-sex worker, ion fo the carceral feminist and right-wing Christian groups’ so-called “solufions” to the violence and exploitation many in the frade experience. These carceral “solufions” have expanded criminalization, policing, and state violence against people engaged in the sex frades, and include calls fo eradicate sex work, with the implicit impact of eradicating people in the sex trades. These efforts disproportionately impact migrants, low-income women, queer and frans people of color, and especially those who hold mulfiple marginalized identities. The implicit solidarity between Survived & Punished and people who frade sex comes from aligned lived experiences and combined decades of organizing in solidarity with those who have engaged in sex work or husiled fo take care of themselves, th 5, and the s&p members implicitly understand that survival takes on many forms of husf just one of the ways we keep our selves and our community safe, housed, fed, and alive. Criminalization, stigmatization, discrimination, and isolation of people who frade sex are other forms of punishing the ways we survive. Famil r extended communi g, and trading se: In the face of the cooptation of abolifion, we must be unapologetic, vocal, and overt in demonsirating all those who are trading sex, selling sex, and support and solidarity, and actively organize wi otherwise husiling fo survive. We ought to listen fo the struggles of and draw wisdom from the criminalized survivors, hustlers, and whom we want fo show solidarity. We ought to challenge infernalized whorephobia, and work to dispel misconceptions and myths about sex working,/ trading people and their labor. The barriers we need fo dismantle in organizing alongside sex workers are external--such as criminalization and the cops--as well as internal--the afitudes and behaviors of workers alongside whom we want fo organize and some of our would-be comrades. These aren't just bad opinions holding our movements back; they 2 See more: http://eminism.org /blog/entry /470 This toolkit has multiple functions for those inferested in defense campaign organizing: It can be understood as a “call in” to the organized left more generally, particularly for those in anti-domestic violence and police /prison abolition spaces, where there is a need for nuanced conversations about the needs and experiences of people who frade sex. Generally speaking, on the lef here exists unevenness in how people show up for those in the sex trades. There exists a pressing need for sirategies in defense campaign building, troubleshooting current campaigns, best pracices, and practical fips. It can function as a political education tool for those wishing o engage more broadly in survivor-based approach to sex worker solidarity and organizing. This might look newly formed or existing grassroots organizations, collectives, or reading groups with desires 1o plug info the work of supporfing criminalized survivors spending fime reviewing this foolkit and its works cited resources intentionally amongst its members. It also must be said, no one toolkit can do all the work, or encapsulate all the action and imagining that stead @ humble aftempt fo create an infentional document fo we or you may desire. This toolkit explore how people engaged in popular defense campaign work can be better co-conspirators with sex working people who are also criminalized survivors. Section 1: Foundations and Jntentions that Guide our Terms and Analysis Who are the toolkit creators? We are a geographically dispersed group of sex workers, survivors, and organizers who are Black, Lafinx, Asian, mulfiracial, white, trans*, and queer. We have all fraded sex for resources like money and hou: arrested for defending ourselves from violence, one having served a prison sentence for as much. We g, and we have all survived violence. Several of us have been have all organized fo support sex workers and survivors who face inferpersonal and state violence. What do we believe? We believe that people frade sex by choice, circumstance, and coercion, and that people may frade sex because it can be low-barrier, flexible, and high-paying work that allows them fo meet their needs. People also frade sex because capitalism forces them fo work fo access basic needs like housing, food, and healthcare, while racism, ableism, classism, and fransmisogynoir shut Black, trans, queer, disabled, and unhoused people out of the formal economies and info shadow economies where they are more vulerable fo inferpersonal and state violence. We believe that prisons and policing are violent systems that must be abolished, and that sex work is a valid strategy for people fo navigate survival within these oppressive systems. So how do we best show up for working, hustling survivors who face criminalization due not only fo their trade, but also by having engaged in a violent act of self-profection, preservation, or self-love and are facing carceral punishment? First things first, especially if you're newly organizing alongside sex workers: know some history and terminology regarding sex workers and their struggle. The below ferms are shared with the acknowledgement that people self-identify in a myriad of ways when if comes to their formal or informal working relationships within the sex frades. The following document and its authors respect and uplift all survival hustles, labor, frade, and crafi. erms N e —— Abolifion®? Put simply, abolition is a collective, political vision for an end to prisons, police, and all carceral/punishment systems they need fo live with full dignity. It is just as much about what we wish to build together, as we work fo see dismantled. | he creation of the material condifions that provide people with what is what s our daily work and our horizon-line. Decriminalization: Decriminalization is the sought-after relationship between the state (i.e. law enforcement, legislators, the court system) and sex workers. Decri ion is the repealing of laws that criminalize sex work and activi ing sexval labor, including selling sex, buying sex, accessing housing as a sex worker, and occupying public spaces as a sex worker. Current proposals for the decriminalization of sex work leave infact many laws designed to combat sex trafficking.* Amnesty Infernational, UNAIDS, and the ACLU all endorse the decriminalization of sex work inaliz ies associated with perfors just know that, for myself, aboliton is ncredibly helpful in thinking about how to move in the world and if's really it helps me navigate the world and it helps me 1o prefigure the world in which | want fo live. Abolition is something that | and everyone really, practice daily.” - Mariame Kaba hitps://transformharm.ora /towards-the-hori- zon-of-abolition-a-conversation-scith-mariame-kaba, 4 bitps:/ /sxhxcolloctive.org /wp-content /uploads/2021 /03/$xHx-media-guide.-final odf as @ human rights issve.* Decriminalization could /should mean a cultural shift as well as a policy shift. Demanding decriminalization and anti-carceral harm reduction tactics, broadly speaking, directly challenges the whorephobia of the stafe and society. inalizar Dea n (contrary o End Demand supporters and carceral feminists’ opinions) is grounded in naming and ending the state violence of criminalization, policing and incarceration of people who trade sex. Decriminalization is NOT about erasing the very real violence that people have experienced while working within the sex frades, but about expanding the understanding of where sex workers experience violence and removing one of the central barriers fo ofher forms of safety and support. The violence and labor exploitation that people navigate under late-stage, racial capitalism must be named and organized against. The ends of decriminalization include greatly reducing the harm,/ violence of the state, and making room for survivors/sex workers fo name harms, organize openly, and /prevent client violence. End Demand: Models based on “End Demand” endorse criminalization of the purchase of sex and punishment of third parties (such as managers, drivers, roommates, children, parners, and landlords) while ostensibly decriminalizing those who sell sex.* End Demand works under the deeply flawed premise (one needs look no further than America’s “war on drugs”) that deterrence can actually end demand for sex and sexual services.” This may also be referred fo as the Swedish Model, Equality Model, or partial decriminalization, the latter being an intentional co-optation of the decriminalization movement led by sex workers and allies. This form of “partial legalization” is most often shorthanded as the “Nordic Model” due to its adoption in Sweden before spreading to other, predominantly European countries.® This model criminalizes clients rather than sex workers, whom it regards as victims who require rehabilitation and mandatory exit from the trades. Beyond being utterly infantilizing if not wholesale dehumanizing of sex workers, which is problematic enough, it renders them vastly less safe than in the absence of such laws. When only one party in a transaction faces criminal sanction, they are vastly more likely to harm and regard sex workers as victims and less than human.” In essence, legalization makes criminals of clients, which is dangerous o sex workers in its pofentially altering their client base, work spaces, and professional opporiunities, as well as oo offen acfing as a self-fulfilling prophecy in committing violence against them. Advocates are most often well-meaning, shortsighted, white, cis-gendered people who rely on skewed stafistics which necessarily ignore massive swaths of the sex worker population as they are, by the nature of their professions, hidden.'® Harm Reduefion: The philosophy that all behaviors entail different levels of vulnerability fo interpersonal and state violence, and that there are many strategies fo reduce those vulnerabilities while confinuing to engage in the behavior. Harm reduction is inherently abolitionist, and understands that marginalization produced by the state nalization, policing, and lack of resources are all forms of harm that must be reduced and eliminated collectively. the form of cr bitps:/ /sxhxcolloctive.org /wp-content /uploads/2021 /03 /$xHx-media-guide.-final odf Adapted from Smith and Mac, Revalting Prostifues (2018) 5 6 7 bitps:/ /sxhxcolloctive.org /wp-content /uploads/2021 /03/$xHx-media-guide.-final odf 8 9 1 Maost recently adopted by the government of srael/Occupied Palestine. s/ /sxbxcollective.org /wp-content/uploads/2021 /03/Sxtix-media-guide-falpdt fnolodt 0 hitps://sxhacollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2021 /03 /SxHx-media-qui 5 Legalization: Legalization is the vastly less desirable result of state paternalism, generally arising imization inherent ir from the state’s assumption of vi sex work (see Reseve Industry). Legalization of sex work infroduces government regulation and oversight info sex work.'" Places that have adopted this dustry while continuing to criminalize workers who model heavily regulate a legal strand of the sex cannot or will not comply with various bureaucratic requirements, such as mandatory health testing, employment in certain venues, having madatory management, or registering publicly as a prostitute.’” Misogynoir: Misogynoir is misogyny directed fowards Black women where race and gender both play roles in bias. The term was coined by queer Black feminist Moya Bailey and Trudy aka @thetrudz, who created the term in 2008 fo address misogyny directed toward Black women in American visual and popular culture.® Misogyny: Misogyny controls, regulates, and punishes women and people who transgress patriarchal norms and practices, and it demeans people and practices that are perceived as feminine, femme, or womanlike. Misogyny reinforces patriarchy by rewarding people and practices that uphold patriarchal dominance, and punishing people when they seek to resist. Misogyny is central fo fransphobia, homophobia, and other types of gender based violence.'* Rescue Industry: The inferconnected matrix of NGOs, legislators at all levels of municipal, state, and federal government, city /county /state-based diversion programs, law enforcement, non profits (501¢3 and otherwise), religious organizations, celebrities and corporate entities, independent vigilantes, grassroots and unaffiliated organizations'® which have as their mission some variation on or combination of stopping frafficking/slavery, saving women/girls, and/or prosecuting traffickers. These organizations are marked by their narrative of all sex working people as victims (somefimes even labeling them “self-trafficked”), and use this narrafive fo prioritize extracting people from the sex trades over the dignity and self-defermination of the person they are acting upon. These actors profit (culturally, politically, and financially) off of the tactics should be considered highly suspect as sources for stories about either sex work or sex trafficking.'® ourse around trafficking, and their mofives and (white) Savierism:) Though we often see agents of the rescue indistry s “white saviors,” in reality sex workers and their extended communities know that people of all backgrounds and demographics can fall into these harmful /violent roles. Typically characterized or mofivated by an overt desire fo save, ing, efc. people who have never expressed a desire for leaving their work, rescue, lft out of, aid in e people with a savior complex can be operating in all manner of profe: organizational fields. Often, these folks don't actually know they’re behaving in ways that cause harm. Other fimes, they are aware of the harm that they cause, but feel jusfified in their effors fo eradicate nal, carceral, and 11 hitps://sxhacollective.org/wp-content/uploads /2021 /03/SxHx-media-guide:-finalodf 12 Adapted from Smith and Mac, Revolling Prostiutes (2018) 13 Moya Bailey & Trudy [2018) On misogynoir: citation, erasure, and plagiarism, Feminist Media Studies, 18:4, 762-768,00% 10.1080/14680777.2018,1447395 14 Summry definition by Emily Suh. 15 It not uncommon for local individuals and organizations who are not specifically working on human trafficking to come together for events, fundraisers, or even the public sharming and targeting of sex workers and workplaces in order fo “rescue potential ictims of trafficking. These events often play into anti-sex trade frames and rhetoric, and rarely discuss other forms of Viclence, actual exploitation, or other forms of labor. 16 The above defnition comes from the Support Hofsle Collective's digital publications (2020). hitps:/ /sxhxcollective.ora/digi- tol-publications/ the potential harm they believe fo be caused by the sex trades. This mentality has historical roofs in the ike determining who Progressive Era and early white women’s “feminisms.” In practice, this can look is performing womanhood “correcily,” who needs paternalistic care, and who cannot act on their own behalf because of perceived incompetence or inability. Sex Work(er): A political, unifying, umbrella term for people who sell sex, or performances, materials, or services associated with sex acts, as their work. Includes, but is ot limited to, exofic dancers/ strippers, infernet-based cam workers, adulf film actors/actresses /stars, pro-dommes, phone sex operators, GFE (Girl Friend Experience) workers, escorts, indoor, outdoor, full-service, and sireet-based workers.” One of, if not the, fundamental premises of @ guide such as this is that sex work is work. If's done primarily fo make living. Because this is, for various reasons, difficult for some members of the public to comprehend, it is necessary fo use the word “work” in defining the industry /trade.'* Survivor-Centered: This phrase has become increasingly popular over the past several years, in lots of confusing and contradictory ways. So what do we mean when we say we're “centering” survivors? This approach puts survivors' lived experiences first, listening to, working alongside and engaging in active support work (however that's outlined by the survivor and their support networks). It means that we're considering the full humanity of the person who has experienced violence in any of the analytical, political, or organizing work in which we're engaged. It means providing support in ways that align with the survivor's healing, and not engaging in practices that might cause further harm, even if they seem 1o align with our larger agenda(s). This does not mean that we negate our politics or existing analysis in place of the experiences of one person, or even a group of people, who have suggested that their healing requires something in tension with our values. Survivors are not a monolith, and their needs are not always generalizable. Survivors and their pathways o healing are very specific and diverse. Survivor-centered does not mean that you/we must cross our own boundaries or principles when doing this work alongside survivors who have different beliefs /needs/expectations than we do. It does mean or asks we hold space for the complex experiences and emotional range survivors may carry. If a sur 1o use @ narrative of their experience which says that all sex work is inherently violent, it means analyzing what you as an organizer can offer fo the survivor, and what that means for your further involvement. If @ survivor asks o not engage in media work, and only wants in-person court support, it means honoring those wishes regardless of our habits or considerations for larger sirategies. Trafficking in Persens: The exploitation of one person by another through force, fraud, or coercion. Trafficking can be present in any form of industry, and most impacs people who experience barriers to resources, including undocumented migrants, youth, and people with disabilities. When drafting the federal criminal provision regarding frafficking, anti-sex work advocates sought to classify all sex work as a form of trafficking, rather than legitimate work, in opposition fo the migrants and labor rights advocates who fought against this biased designation. The compror to create a criminal statute for “sex trafficking” which only covers cri “labor trafficking”, which includes force, fraud or coercion within all other forms of labor (including non-criminalized sex work). Appropriate terminology is either indusiry-neutral (eg. “rafficking in persons,” “human trafficking”) or aligns with other indusiry descriptions (eg. “irafficking in the sex trades”). se which came from this fight was inalized forms of sex work, and 17 Adapted from: hitps://sxhxcollective.orq/wp-content /uploads/2021 /03 /SxtHx-medic-guide-finalpdf 18 Adapted from: hitps://sxhxcollective.orq/wp-content /uploads/2021 /03 /Sxtx-medic-guide-finalpdf 7 Whore stigmas Whore stigma is a specific stigma with which sex working people and those percieved 10 be sex working people are confronted. Though also rooted in a hatred/fear of sex working people, it is the actionable way that whorephobia manifests, and visits ifself upon those who are or are perceived fo be sex working people. Whore stigma operates through a series of assump igma also impacts comrades, friends, and families of sex workers. Frequently, supporters of sex worker rights are called regarding sex working people, their work places, and the work ifself.'” Thi p*mps,2° johns, or other disparaging terms which malign their support, and code them as people attempting to exploit sex workers instead of working alongside sex workers toward liberation. Whorearchy: The manifestation of infernalized sfigma about working in the sex trades, the whorearchy is a hierarchy infernal fo the sex frades where one person who is trading sex in @ certain way actively shames and stigmafizes other sex workers who frade sex in different ways, or have different experiences. This internalized stigma tends to be rooted in classism and racism. For example, this could be someone who is an exofic dancer in a club thinking they are “better” than those who work in @ criminalized facet of the trades, or someone who trades sex for cash shaming someone who frades sex for substances. Even sex workers need political education. Whorephobia: Though the ferm itself is fairly self-explanatory, the levels and effects of whorephobia are complex and varied. Whorephobia is the fear of or hatred foward sex workers, or those presumed 1o be sex working people. Sex workers would argue that if the result of paternalistic atfitudes that deem us a public nuisance, spreaders of disease, offenders against decency, race-fraifors, or simple-minded victims who don't know what is good for them and need rescuing. (Definifion paraphrased from Thierry Schaffauser).” £ PR seren - Fuck FOSTA| No SWERFS 19 The above defiition comes from the Support Hofsle Collective's digital publications (2020). htps./ /sxhxcollective.org/digitol-publications/ As G note, this erm i first mentioned in publication, in 1993: “The Whore Stigmes Female Dishonor and Male Unwort by author: Gail Pheterson. 20 Though not everyone in the trade uses this ferm, let alone negatively, there are undeniable racist undertones when using this word and the peaple perceived 10 be involved in this aspect of the sex trade. 21 The above definiion comes from the Support Hofsle Collective’s digital publications (2020). b tal-publications/ sxhxcollective.org/digl- Analysis s S N How is support for sex workers criminalized? People who frade sex are impacted by the stigmatization and criminalization of third parties who can play multi . It is important o remember that infimate parinerships, working relationships, and the power dynamics in these relafionships can shiff over fime and impact people in multiple ways. le roles in a worker's I Third-party laws can farget a wide variety of actors in sex workers' lives. For example, sex workers might furn fo their peers, who may or may not also be sex workers, for a ride fo a session, @ bodyguard, or sharing @ work room. When peers and people who support sex workers in their work are criminalized under such laws, 2% workers become increasingly isolated because they don't want fo put their loved ones at risk. There are degrees of experience within all aspects of the sex trades-- people have posiive, neutral, or overtly adversarial working relationships with managers.* The power dynamics and relationships between two people who engage in the sex trade are mulfifaceted, and more likely than nof, the manager and worker are two people from the same community and backgrounds. Stigma and criminalization often default o assumptions about relafionships based on gender and stereotypes, and erase the complexity and nuance of these relafionships. In addition fo being a highly racialized term, rife with stereotyping, the “p*mp’s” role in the sex trades is often very different from @ “manager” or “madam/brothel keeper,” in more substantive socioculfural ways. This can result in some young people of color becoming or self-identifying as p*mps, for some of the same underlying reasons that lead others fo do sex work; some p*mps consider themselves performing emotional, client-facing, safety-focused labor not dissimilar fo some sex work ifself. The identity of p*mp is celebrated by many who self-identify as such, and crificized by others both inside and outside of the sex trades. Some comrades who've worked closely on this document also want to highlight the ways in which this ular facet of management within the sex trades can often overlap with marriage,/dating /more ips and how this role, because it is based in performed or percieved and /or experienced unequal power dynamics, can become abusive in ways that reflect infimate parter violence but also have their own specific socio-cultural and economic realiies. How do people in the sex frades experience interpersonal violence? Many of our lived experiences bring us info sharper contact with the carceral state because of racism, xenophobia, white supremacy, anfi-Blackness, poverty, and patriarchy. For survivors of violence who are also in the sex frades, non-consensual contact with the state is often especially pronounced. Law. enforcement agents assault, extort sexual acts, rape, raid homes and workplaces; Child Profective Services steal vulnerable family members; prisons, jails and programs which use shame, fear, and 22 Thirdparty lows or organizing laws refer to criminalization of the activites which “anable trading sex,” such as promoing (plocing an o), pandering (helping someene find @ cien) or facllicing (helping 10 screen cients). Each stae criminolizes these using overlapping but ifferent language, and these charges lmost always carry higher criminal penclties. Bacause these lows do not require force,vitimizarion, or violence,they are distine from offenses such as severe forms of tofficking of odults. 23 The queston remins: how can we hold all of he experiences and very real self-identifying terms, whil sl dismorting stereotypes and pushing back against racimcnti-lackness? aciv 9 threats of incarceration fo attempt fo force people o stop trading sex cage, all while the Rescue Indusiry’s budget grows and grows-~-these non-profi, religious and state organizations alike are fueled by a deep hatred of the sex trades and, by extension, working people. Due fo the ways in which people who frade sex are criminalized, stigmatized, and isolated from support, sex workers are especially vulnerable fo interpersonal violence, and less able fo access redress and security from this violence. g of the transaction of commercial sex also means that negotiations for things il price, boundaries, and /or condoms are all evidence for arrest or in court. This means that people are often afraid fo talk about these important needs and boundaries for fear of arrest, and wait until they are in a private, isolated space with a client. This also means that in public spaces, fear of polici i ing may cause sex workers fo shorten their negofiafing fimes, meaning it is harder to vet someone for infoxication, weapons, or bad vibes. inalized, they are less likely to offer information that sex workers ify that they feel safe taking the person on as a client, and can be. more demanding about protecting their own safety for fear that the interaction is part of a police sting. This can mean that clients can easily refuse to give their legal name, or demand 1o have an appointment in their homes, protecting their own safety and creating a dynamic where the client has more control in the situation than the worker. m.ora/blog/entry /340 “organizing” laws being used to target third parties; however, we think the use of those is more popular in iminalization of the acivites which enable trading sex, such as promting (placing an ad), fents). Each state Jizes these activities using s el o e 26 Third-party lows ref pandering (helping someane find client), or faciitating (helping to screen overlapping but different language, and these charges clmost always carry Solidarity and support from comrades who understand both the vulnerability fo and impact of institufional and individual violence resultant from stigma and criminalization can be an essenfial tool of both supporting survivors and preventing further violence fostered by isolation and stigma. What follows are potential sources of violence, beyond the police, and how to account for and understand them in advancing popular, grassroots defense campaigns for sex working people. Clients.) A commonly recognized source of violence against sex workers is at the hands of clients, or those who pose as potential clients in order fo enact violence.”” Meeting a client for an appointment can put someone in a vulnerable position in myriad ways, due fo the infimate® nature of the inferaction. If @ worker is in a car or home that they are unfamiliar with, sources of client violence can emerge from something as straightforward as not knowing routes of egress in @ moment of cri s. Infimate partners. Sex workers may experience unique forms of violence in infimate partner relationships, with abusers weaponizing a person's experience frading sex as justificaiton for harm. Sex workers may face threats of outing or calling police if they leave, economic exploitai of the off-the-books nature of sex work, or sexual coercion based on someone’s work. n because Managers. Many sex workers may choose fo work for someane else, just as in many ofher indusiries. While there is nothing inherently exploitative or violent about working for someone else, any level of control over someone’s access fo resources is a power dynamic that can be weaponized. Management can become exploifative in ferms of economic abuse (not paying someone, threatening them if they don't bring in a certain amount, or creating escalating deb through deductions), in addition o other more direct forms of physical or emotional violence. Strangers and the public.’ Because of the nature of the indusiry, sex workers offen have fo advertise in public spaces (both physical and online), and are often subject o harassment. Whether if's physical violence when working a siroll, or doxxing when adverfising online, members of the public can feel at liberty fo stalk, harass, and victimize people who frade sex. Sources of harrassment can also include proprieters of commercial spaces where sex workers hustle, see clients or even relax, such as hotel staff, bar or casino staff, or service staff at cafes and restaurants. Whe is most af risk of exploitation and violence in any trade or industry? Exploifation and violence disproportionately target and impact marginalized people. Survived & Punished has most often worked alongside Black people, people of color, queer and trans people, im/ migrant people, undocumented people, caregivers, disabled people, cash poor, and people who use drugs. These criminalized survivors are far more likely fo experience inferlocking forms of violence, as well as face more barriers fo justice and healing. Fewer opportunities fo access basic resources means greater vulnerability to exploitation. When considering labor and survival, we must consider the function of racial capitalism or “the process of extracting social and economic value from a person of @ different racial identity, referring, 27 But s Elane Lam of Butterfly reminds us, esources for sex workers, e.g. econmoic/financia, socil network,transportation, access (1] information efc. 28 Thilevel of vulnerabilty s arguably similar to those in other forms of labor that are disproportintely performed by \omen of color, immigrant women, and poor weomen—damestic workers, hotel cleaning staff, homacare workers nurses, oc. “Clients can be the source of viclence, however, clients are often important predominantly, fo the extraction of value from those of a nonwhite (person of color] identity."® Who gets fo choose the kind of labor they perform in this world? Sex workers regularly have to deal with all sorts of people demanding answers to this whorephobic question, “Why sex work?l" So let's talk more about labor. Living wage jobs that can meet peoples’ needs or the promise of a robust social safety net are inaccessible for many people. Discrimination based upon race, class, gender, perceived or actual dis/ability, caretaking needs, substance use, histories of arrest or incarceration, immigration or undocumented status, and /or immediate survival needs could all be contributing factors for people laboring in a variety of ways in the sex trade. Trans* people, especially trans people of color, in particular face high rates of employment discrimination and homelessness that lead these communities to participate in the street economies at higher rates. As someone organizing alongside people making the best decisions for themselves given their unique circumstances, don't get hung up on the “sex” in sex work/trade, instead focus on what you and your fellow defense campaign/support team members can do to materially and politically support your comrade now that they're facing /navigating punishment for surviving. How and why are sex workers more likely fo face eviction? Survivor justice includes housing justice. Many people come info contact with the carceral state because they have had fo defend themselves where they live /work/perform care. Drug-using parents who are sex working, trans elders who are caring for frans youth who may be or be suspected of engaging in the sex trades, sex workers and massage workers who cohabitate and /or work where they live---all can face infense scrutiny from neighbors, law enforcement, social /case workers and family. The collateral consequences of policing and arrest for sex work can directly compromise the ability of people to stay housed. In some places, prostitution charges are part of the cify’s “nvisance laws” and landlords can be required fo evict people affer an arrest (Oakland, for example). Charges related 1o inhabifing one’s work space can also include things like brothel-keeping for sex workers or peers who are leffing someone work out of their place. Sex workers who live with roommates also have their housing put af risk because their home can be defined by law as a brothel, “bawdy house” (DC), or “house for lewd persons” (NY). Prostifution charges can also lead to @ loss of public housing benefits, or being kicked out of state-run housing and shelters. Many sex workers trade sex because of their housing precarity, and end up in long-term motel housing as a place to live and hustle out of. Policing, surveillance, and growing legal liability®® for motel owners who look the ofher way can put hose who are motel-housed and facing high levels of instability out on the strees.t" 2 Jism" was coined by Cedric J. Robinson in his book “Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition" 30 The expansion of third-party lows, increased pressure from the Department of Homeland Security to screen for “trafficking,” and increasing numbers of private atforneys suing motel and hotel owners can also incentivize the profiing of trans women, women of