Sex Worker Resistance

My introduction into sex work-related academia was one of resistance. As a student of Gender and Violence, I was frustrated that very little of the research on violence against sex workers was focused on systematic forms of oppression, painting sex work as inherently violent and, at worst, the cornerstone of all violence towards women. This view is both reductionist and infantilising towards sex workers; it ignores the evidence in sex worker histories of resistance and navigation. Across the world, we can find examples of sex worker protests, which are not focused on stopping the industry, but on challenging police and government violence, demanding rights as workers, and abolishing poverty. A lot of these examples are in our archive, from newspaper clippings of sex workers in the Netherlands protesting the closure of workspaces, to Thai sex workers in Bangkok redefining the vocabulary we use to “empower” or “speak for sex workers”. 

Often, we have requests at the PIC from journalists who want to “create a platform for sex workers to  share their voices”. Sex workers have already shared their voices, LOUDLY! Whether through protest, blogs, maga/zines, art, lectures and conferences, we do not need someone to share our voices, but we do need more people to listen to what we are saying. If you would like to explore the multitude of materials we have relating to our heritages of resistance, please reach out to us! 

~Phoebe Marsh – Founder of the Archive