Sex Work 101

I remember the first time I turned down a media appearance. It was several years ago, and a national TV news network was doing a piece about prostitution and the internet. They wanted me to tell my personal story – how I got into the business, what kind of clients I see, what happens during a session, what kind of danger I’m in, all that. They offered to conceal my identity, and the shoot would take several hours in their studio in Manhattan. It was a pretty cool thing – I’d get to tell my personal story and hopefully educate the public on the workings of the sex industry, and my risk of exposure would be fairly minimal. Then I started asking if they’d be interested in me talking about the political and economic issues that sex workers are up against – I was an editor of $pread magazine at the time and an activist in other ways. Being a sex worker was a tiny piece of my life’s puzzle. They were not interested in this stuff, only the salacious details.

When they called to confirm my address for the private car they were sending for me, I grilled them again about what exactly we’d be talking about, and they were adamant that there wouldn’t be time for me to talk about anything other than my personal experience. Suddenly, the fact that I’d be spending several very stressful unpaid hours at their studio seemed a lot less awesome. If I took them up on having a concealed identity, I would be forfeiting my time so they could have a story, and I’d hope they didn’t edit too brutally to make me look stupid, slutty, or victimized. If I didn’t conceal my identity, I would try to steer them away from the personal details and talk about $pread, but I’d have to deal with fallout from family (I’d recently come out to my immediate family). There was no guarantee that I would benefit from the exposure, except I’d probably get more press requests.

In the years since I shocked that network by saying I didn’t care about being on TV, I’ve turned down a pretty significant number of media requests – though I say yes more than I say no.

When I get a media request, I always ask myself: what will I get out of this interview? If the answer is that I’ll get a chance to give a sex worker and/or sex worker advocate perspective on the issue, that it furthers the cause of sex workers rights, that I can do it with minimal conflict with whatever else I’m working on at the time, or that it might boost sales of my book, I usually say yes. But if I feel that it will take up a lot of time, be stressful, represent me and my work poorly, that I could tell the story better in another venue, or I get a weird vibe from the reporter, then I say no.

Those are my personal rules. I get a lot of media requests because of my public visibility and my general outness about sex work. Journalists often contact sex workers through their online ads or portfolio websites to talk about their personal experiences, and they will often want to hear about the personal experiences of the people who work at advocacy organizations. Here are some things to think about.

Sex worker and blogger Debauchette has a post about participating in an interview with Diane Sawyer on an ABC News, in which her identity was concealed (both voice and appearance), but her parents were watching it and they recognized her. Read the post here.

Some things for sex workers to consider when you get a media request:

• If the request is to tell your personal story – what do you get out of it? The joy of being heard by a broad public audience? Exposure that might get you more work (like a book deal, etc)? Money (unlikely)?
• What do you stand to lose?
• Will your clients, coworkers, employers, friends and family recognize you? How will this affect your relationships?
• What steps will the media outlet take to protect your identity and livelihood?
• How long will the interview last? With what media will it be recorded? Where will it take place? Where will your words/image appear?
• Is there a media outlet you’d feel more comfortable telling this story to? Can you tell it yourself on a blog, in a personal essay in a magazine, to a different reporter, etc?
• In your gut, do you believe the interviewer will respect you and represent you carefully and fairly?

Some things for media to consider when sending an inquiry to a sex worker:

• How can you protect the sex worker’s job and identity? Does the media outlet you work for require people interviewed to give their full legal names? Be upfront about this.
• How will you conduct your fact-checking? How can the sex worker assist you without risk of exposure?
• How can you make yourself accountable to the people you interview? If a person you interview is upset about the way you represented him or her, how will you act to rectify the situation

Do you have suggestions for both sex workers and people who want to interview them? Leave them in the comments.

–Audacia Ray