People think I’m insane, and look, they aren’t wrong. But I’m not crazy when it comes to my concerns about covid, and CONTROVERSIAL – BUT CORRECT – OPINION: no one can call themselves an ally to the disabled sex worker community if they don’t practice covid harm minimisation. They just can’t.
What do I mean by covid harm minimisation? It’s not wearing a mask with clients, it’s not not seeing clients at all. It isn’t staying under lockdown, or not seeing people. I’m talking harm reduction here.
Harm Reduction includes masking at crowded events, on public transport, in medical settings. It’s running HEPA filters indoors. Testing before events. Using nasal sprays and mouth washes that have been proven to be effective layers of defence against covid. It’s reducing exposure where we can. And if we have access to these things, it’s actually really easy, and helps to better protect those who don’t.
I went to an Australian peer body national forum in 2022. The forum is an event to talk about the things that matter to Australian sex workers. And I was one of three people there wearing a mask. I’ve never been so disappointed in the community. The forum took place in a crowded indoor space, and with few people masking, it was completely inaccessible for disabled and chronically ill workers. If you want to hold an accessible event, covid precautions have to be included in that.
I dunno, I just think that by not practising harm reduction in regard to covid, disabled people and those with chronic illnesses are excluded from public life. They are put under undue risk when they undertake non-negotiable tasks; like shopping, going to the doctor or hospital, using public transport, attending community events like the national forum where they can have a say in the things that affect them in their working life.
If you want to hold an accessible event, covid precautions have to be included in that.
The disability and the sex worker communities overlap, big time. The nature of sex work makes it tough to get hard numbers, but anecdotally, many, many sex workers I’ve met are disabled or living with chronic illness(es). They sometimes choose to do sex work to work around their specific circumstances. Disabled sex workers can’t really choose to mask with their clients, to mask in the club or brothel. But everyone practising harm minimisation outside of work means that while they are there, the potential for infection is lower than if nobody does anything at all.
Look, if people want to go and spit in each other’s mouths or whatever it is the youth do these days, they can go nuts. I wouldn’t do it knowing the long term risks of covid infection and reinfection, but if they can’t get through life without that, then whatever! It’s just that if they DO wanna spit in each other’s mouths, maybe they should wear a mask the rest of the time to protect other people? Disabled people can choose to not spit in each other’s mouths. They can’t choose to not go get medical treatment. They can’t choose to not catch public transport. They must go to the store and the pharmacy. And they shouldn’t have to exclude themselves from community events because no one else wants to do the work and engage in a bit of harm minimisation.
Everyone practising harm minimisation outside of work means that while they are there, the potential for infection is lower than if nobody does anything at all.
‘Masks are uncomfortable’, ‘masks are a hassle’, etc etc etc. Do you know what this kinda sounds like to me? ‘Condoms are uncomfortable’, ‘condoms are a hassle’. And the sex worker community ARE BETTER THAN THAT. I know it. Sex workers were instrumental in normalising condom use during the AIDS crisis.
I attended Whore Excellence this week, a Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) performance event highlighting sex workers, and was so pleased to see that all shows were mask mandatory. There were air filters running (provided by Clean Air Naarm.) Everyone still looked hot in their masks and everyone still had a great time. It was a really fucking beautiful example of harm reduction and I was so happy and proud of the community in making the space more accessible to everyone, and protecting the performers, all of whom were workers.
Sex workers have always known that no one is coming to save us. We have to protect each other, because we are all we have! If we can’t even practice a little harm reduction to protect ourselves and others, how can we be trusted to care for our disabled sex working peers?
Disabled workers are not asking anyone to be perfect. But they are asking us to try. Historically sex workers have been at the forefront of harm minimisation. What the fuck happened? Club owners don’t care about sex workers health. Brothel owners don’t care about sex workers health. Many clients don’t care about sex workers health. The least we can do is care about each other.
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