So it’s Sex Workers Rights Day, March 3rd. A day to celebrate the sex workers who advocate for our collective rights and a better world for us to wake up and go to work in.
Our beloved, fiery, and fierce colleagues who throw themselves at the system till it gives. Even just a little. Who often sacrifice family, privacy, and safety to do so.
We see you, and you are loved.
SWRD started in India, 2001, when a collective — the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee — of over 250,000 sex workers gathered together for something part protest, part celebration. That feels poignant, heavy, and a bit beautiful as I write this from my desk in Sydney, on the eve of Mardi Gras.
There is much shared history of furious, joyous, ecstatic rebellion in our often overlapping communities. And while governments the world over try to erase the bricks thrown from our hands, for our rights, they simply cannot smudge out every stone from every hand Looney Tunes style. Reality is always so much crunchier than those in power would prefer it to be.
Given [gestures broadly] everything going on right now, this fight feels a touch more pressing this year (it’s always pressing). We, along with many other marginalised communities, are so often canaries in the coalmine, the crash test dummies, for restrictive, regressive, and honestly rude policy decisions and implementation. Not to put too fine a point on it, but what they do to us, they will do to you. As they legislate trans people out of public life, move to repeal the protections granted with the legalisation of gay marriage, collapse our medical and disability support infrastructures, and push sex workers into a more and more precarious existence, know they are laying the foundations for your oppression too. But keep in mind, together, we more than out number them.
We’ve raided the archive for some of the beautiful, furious and joyous work our beloved writers have cooked up over the years. Have a read, have a gander, fill your cups, and let us throw stones!
Are you a sex worker with a story, opinion, news, or tips to share? We'd love to hear from you!
In our publication, we love to see a multitude of voices from all kinds of workers, from across all kinds of backgrounds - especially those who might not otherwise be heard. Stories change minds, and in a world where sex work is largely stigmatised and/or criminalised, your stories matter. As an organisation by and for sex workers, we value the experiences and stories of you, the workers.
Are you a sex worker who’d like to write for us? We’d love to hear from you! Send your pitches here!
Rory Rumble is a senior editor and professional naked person. When not neck deep in the editing mines, they can be found napping in sunbeams, fighting the system or create digging for vinyl.
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