Sex Worker Resistance

Although there is a great deal of discrimination within our society, resistance still exists. Retaliation to the sexism and classism facing individuals within the sex industry is practiced through political and social movements and focused on regaining the sex worker’s rights and freedoms. Resistance involves “the tactics, strategies and practices persons employ to assert agency, and contest the conditions and/or implications of their position” (CRM 2307, class notes: January 26th). Sex workers resist through different organizations including POWER, by challenging laws, and providing public education on the premise that sex work is a valid form of employment (CRM 2307 class notes: March 14th). Resistance is not just shown by sex workers, but

In addition to this, the ways in which the female sex worker is deemed as problematic is seen as related to intrinsic characteristics of her personality, or tied back to early trauma and past experiences. It is seen as impossible that a sex worker would fall into their occupation out of choice, and instead there is always some reasoning offered for how a person could fall so far down the ladder that they are (supposedly) forced to sell their body in exchange for economic resources. This comes out of the assumption that this line of work is dirty and not desirable, something that puts the woman in danger, and something that can never be considered a valid form of employment (CRM 2307 Class Notes: March 14th). All sex workers are seen as being a certain ‘type’ of immoral woman, who has lost control of her life. However, these assumptions are ignorant to the diversity of individuals that is present not only in conventional occupations, but also within sex work. Sex workers “come from all different age groups, are men and transgendered individuals as well as women, come from varied education levels and for the most part, practice safe sex” (CRM 2307 class notes: March 14th). Therefore, it is necessary within our analysis to recognize the importance of an intersectional mindset, and to avoid the “cookie cutter approach” which is frequently utilized within Criminological studies. Abraham and Tastsogou recognize this approach in Addressing Domestic Violence in Canada and the United States: The uneasy cohabitation of women and the state, as one in which “state regulation homogenizes women, and does not recognize their diversity of experience, needs, life-plans, and access to support”, and therefore, “class, racial, migration, and ethnic/cultural barriers operate in ways that limit access to the criminal justice system and