"When you treat the profession as degrading, you degrade those in it."
Dr. Laura Agustín, The Naked Anthropologist, blogs a lot about misconceptions about what she calls "The Rescue Industry". That is, the feminists, social workers, politicians, police, and other organizations that seek to "rescue" women out of the sex worker profession. One of her largest arguments is that the Rescue Industry discredits, "what adult women say about their experiences of selling sex, thus disqualifying them as subjects in a discussion about their own fates."
That discussion is well open today as hundreds of sex workers took to Twitter to express their thoughts about their victimization by organizations and individuals looking to help them. It all started when a sex worker, Pasta, tweeted, "I feel like SWs are always being put into boxes by no-SWs in a way that flattens complexity." The hashtag has rocketed into popularity since, with poignant, surprising, even humorous remarks accompanying the tweets from sex workers and supporters.
#NotYourRescueProject because pic.twitter.com/zXuJCDEh2h
— Suzanna Slack (@SuzannaSlack) January 3, 2014
#NotYourRescueProject because "saving" me doesn't entail locking me up and putting photos of me in a newspaper… #SexWorkIsWork
— Tamsyn Elizabeth (@Tamsyn_E) January 3, 2014
#notyourrescueproject because, perversely, it's *your* crusade that seeks to deny me my agency and cause me harms, rather than my customers
— Amelie Delacroix (@AmelieDelacroix) January 3, 2014
I'm an entrepreneur running a successful business that I am both passionate about and awesome at. I'm #notyourrescueproject, you turds.
— Allison Elm (@AllisonElm) January 3, 2014
#NotYourRescueProject because you're view of what SW *is* is a fantasy and will never correlate to my lived experience of sex work
— Amelie Delacroix (@AmelieDelacroix) January 3, 2014
#notyourrescueproject because sex workers need to direct their own lives, not prop up your gritty documentary/TED talk/thesis/grant proposal
— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) January 2, 2014
Laws that seek to control my sexual behaviour create the opportunities to exploit and abuse me #notyourrescueproject give me rights
— Molli Desi Devadasi (@MolliDesi) January 3, 2014
I love My work I am #NotYourRescueProject but if you want to make it easier for exiting stop the slutshaming and firing of former SWers
— M. (@TrancewithMe) January 2, 2014
When you treat the profession as degrading, you degrade those in it. I take pride in my work & the services I provide. #notyourrescueproject
— Sabrina Morgan (@SabrinaMorgan) January 2, 2014
This protest is interesting in light of recent anti-prostitution laws that passed in France last month, which will fine a prostitute's clients up to $2,100 if they're caught. While some claim this will help curb the trafficking of the Easten European, African, South American, and Chinese women that are brought to France every year, some declare it will only drive the industry dangerously underground, making sex workers unlikely to report victimization and crimes. Even if it's not what Agustín meant in her description of empowering sex workers, the power of social media platforms like Twitter and grassroots driven movements like the Sex Workers Outreach Project and the Red Umbrella Project give actual sex workers what they deserve in the highly complex rescue conversation: a voice.
[h/t Straight.com]
Image via Flickr.
