Sex Work Is Not a Footnote - It’s the Spine of Queer Liberation

Take sex workers out of queer history and the story collapses. Compton’s Cafeteria (1966) was led by trans women, many surviving through sex work. Street queens kept kids alive when shelters shut their doors. That’s not trivia-it’s the core.

Let’s get our terms straight. Sex work means consensual adult exchange of sexual services for pay. Decriminalization removes criminal penalties for selling and buying between consenting adults. Legalization adds licenses and heavy rules. The “Nordic model” criminalizes buyers and third parties, not workers-and still pushes workers into risk.

The data is not vague. In New Zealand, decriminalization in 2003 improved safety. Government reviews (2008, 2012) found workers were more able to refuse clients, report violence, and work with health services, without a big jump in the number of workers. A 2014 Lancet modeling study estimated decriminalization could cut new HIV infections among sex workers and clients by roughly a third over a decade.

Online tools matter too. When Craigslist’s Erotic Services rolled out city by city, female homicides dropped 10-17% in those places (Cunningham, DeAngelo, Tripp, 2021). Shutting down safer online venues pushed people back to the street and into cars-less screening, more danger. Safety is infrastructure, not a slogan.

This is also about how queer communities survive day to day. Sex work covered rent, hormones, food, and bail. Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson used sex work to fund housing for street-involved queer and trans youth. Mutual aid wasn’t optional-it was the plan.

If you’re a worker (adults only), a quick safety checklist helps:

Tip: Use a check-in buddy. Share client details, location, and a timed text. Set a code word for “end it now.”

Tip: Screen clients. Ask for a brief video call, cross-verify names, and confirm from a non-disposable number. Trust your no-no reason needed.

Tip: Control the space. Prefer worker-led or neutral venues. Keep exits clear. Stash a charged phone, ID photocopy, and a small emergency cash card.

Tip: Digital hygiene. Separate work and personal phones. Use app locks, strong passcodes, and avoid storing client lists in plain text. Back up only to encrypted drives.

Tip: Health and documentation. Keep condoms and lube on hand. Log incidents with dates and details. If you report, bring a support person and ask for an LGBTQ liaison where available.

Want to help as an ally? Focus on what lowers harm. Support decriminalization of consensual adult sex work, plus record-clearing, housing-first, and healthcare without ID hoops. Back groups like SWOP-USA chapters, Decrim NY/DC coalitions, local harm-reduction clinics, and trans-led mutual aid funds. Ask candidates one clean question: “Will you make adult sex work safer, right now?”

• Sex Work Built Our Movements
• Terms and Models: Clear and Simple
• What the Research Shows
• Money, Mutual Aid, and Care
• Policy That Reduces Harm
• How to Show Up Today

Sex Work Built Our Movements

Strip out sex work from queer history and the timeline stops making sense. In August 1966, trans women and drag queens-many surviving through street economies-fought back against police at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. That uprising, documented by the GLBT Historical Society and historian Susan Stryker, marked one of the first sustained acts of trans resistance to routine raids and arrests. Youth from Vanguard, a group that met at Glide Memorial Church, had already been protesting harassment in the district. The riot helped seed ongoing local organizing and services that treated trans people as a community, not a problem.

Three years later came Stonewall (June 1969). Eyewitness accounts agree the crowd wasn’t just bar patrons-it included street queens, houseless queer youth, and people hustling to get by. Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, both involved in survival economies, became key organizers afterward. They didn’t sit on a foundation grant; they moved fast and used what they had.

In 1970, Rivera and Johnson started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). STAR House offered beds and meals to queer and trans kids when shelters turned them away. Rivera said plainly that she and Johnson paid the rent by working the piers. In 1973, Rivera’s “Y’all better quiet down” speech at New York Pride called out a pattern that still shows up: celebrating trans people on posters while ignoring those living with arrests, poverty, and records tied to loitering and prostitution charges.

Organizing didn’t stop at Pride stages. In 1973, Margo St. James founded COYOTE in San Francisco to push decriminalization and worker safety; the group worked alongside gay and lesbian bars and community centers. In the UK, the English Collective of Prostitutes launched in 1975 and has campaigned for safety-first policy ever since. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) formed in 1987 under Catherine Healy’s leadership; she was made a Dame in 2018 for this work. In Australia, Scarlet Alliance started in 1989 and helped set up peer-led HIV prevention. The results are not abstract: national surveillance reports show HIV prevalence among cis female sex workers in Australia has stayed under 1% for decades, a public health win built by peer education and condom programs.

Care infrastructure grew from the same roots. St. James Infirmary opened in San Francisco in 1999 as the first U.S. occupational health clinic run by and for sex workers; it offers STI testing, mental health care, and safety planning without shaming people. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Stonewall veteran, went on to lead the TGI Justice Project, focusing on the survival of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated trans people-many policed because they were profiled as soliciting. This is what movement work looks like when it centers the people most targeted.

Recent years prove the pattern. New York repealed the “Walking While Trans” loitering law in 2021 after a decade of organizing by trans-led groups and sex worker rights coalitions. When Congress passed FOSTA-SESTA in 2018, it shut down safer online advertising spaces; queer and trans workers warned, correctly, that pushing people off screening tools would increase violence. Mutual aid funds and bad-date lists expanded as a direct harm-reduction response.

If you run a queer org, club night, or Pride stage and want to honor this history, make it concrete:

• Budget for sex worker speakers and organizers at market rates. Don’t ask for “lived experience” for free.
• Set a no-police-at-the-door policy. Use trained community safety teams and clear de-escalation plans.
• Offer harm-reduction supplies (condoms, lube, fentanyl test strips, Narcan) and a quiet room staffed by peers.
• Protect people’s privacy. No filming without consent. Blur faces in photos by default.
• Include record-clearing and legal aid tables on-site. Partner with local defender clinics.
• Write it down: publish your inclusion and safety policy so workers can decide if the space is for them.

Want to go deeper or credit sources right? Start with archives and oral histories that don’t erase survival economies: GLBT Historical Society (SF), the New York Public Library’s LGBTQ collections, the Digital Transgender Archive, the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the British Library’s Sisterhood & After recordings, and NZPC’s own materials on the Prostitution Reform Act. When you teach or curate, name the organizers and the work they did to keep people alive. That’s the spine.

Terms and Models: Clear and Simple

When we say sex work, we mean consensual adult exchange of sexual services for pay. Consent is the line. Minors cannot consent, and coercion voids consent-those cases are exploitation or trafficking, not work.

Trafficking has a formal definition. The UN Palermo Protocol (2000) defines trafficking as recruitment, transport, or harboring of people by force, fraud, coercion, or abuse of vulnerability for exploitation. For children, any commercial sexual exploitation counts as trafficking, even without force. Keeping these definitions straight matters, because mixing them up leads to bad policy.

Different legal models shape safety, health, and bargaining power. Here’s what those models actually do in the real world.

• Full criminalization: Selling, buying, and third-party involvement are illegal. Many U.S. states still use this model. Penalties often escalate from misdemeanors to felonies. “Loitering for the purpose of prostitution” laws historically targeted Black and trans women; New York repealed its loitering law in 2021 and California did in 2022.

• Partial criminalization: Some acts are legal, others not. Example: England and Wales-selling sex is legal, but brothel-keeping (two or more people working together), soliciting in public, and many third-party roles remain crimes. Result: people are pushed to work alone, which cuts off safety measures like a receptionist or a buddy system.

• “Nordic/End Demand” model: Buyers and many third parties are criminalized, workers are not. Sweden adopted this in 1999; Norway (2009), France (2016), and Canada (2014’s PCEPA) followed. NGOs like Médecins du Monde (2018) and Amnesty International have reported increased displacement, more rushed negotiations, and fear of reporting violence because police target clients and landlords.

• Legalization/licensing: Sex work is legal under strict rules-permits, registration, zoning. The Netherlands (brothel ban lifted in 2000), Germany (2002 law; 2017 “Prostitute Protection Act” with mandatory registration), and some rural Nevada counties use this approach. It creates a legal market but can push undocumented, trans, or homeless workers out if they can’t meet registration or venue rules.

• Decriminalization: Remove criminal penalties for consensual adult selling, buying, and third-party services, while keeping laws against coercion, trafficking, and child exploitation. New Zealand’s Prostitution Reform Act (2003) and New South Wales, Australia (since 1995), are the standard examples. Government reviews in NZ (2008, 2012) found workers had more power to refuse clients and report violence. In NSW, surveillance data show low HIV prevalence among female sex workers and strong condom use, supported by non-policing health outreach.

Third parties aren’t just “pimps.” They include security, drivers, receptionists, website hosts, and colleagues working together. When third-party laws are broad (e.g., “living off the earnings”), they can criminalize safety roles and even roommates or partners. That’s why the details matter.

Online platforms are part of safety infrastructure. In the U.S., the 2018 FOSTA-SESTA laws expanded liability for “facilitating prostitution,” leading many websites to shut adult sections. Researchers and community surveys (2019-2020) documented income loss, more street-based work, and self-reported upticks in violence after these shutdowns. One economics study (Cunningham, DeAngelo, Tripp, 2021) linked the rollout of Craigslist Erotic Services to 10-17% drops in female homicides before those sections were removed-screening tools save lives.

A quick glossary helps keep conversations clear:

• Decriminalization: No criminal penalties for consensual adult transactions and related safety practices; trafficking and child exploitation remain crimes.

• Legalization: Legal but controlled by permits and heavy rules; people outside the licensed system remain illegal.

• End Demand/Nordic: Buyers and many third parties are criminalized; workers are not, but still face police contact through raids, evictions, and surveillance.

• Full criminalization: Selling, buying, and most related acts are crimes.

• Partial criminalization: Mix of legal and illegal acts (common issues: brothel-keeping, soliciting, advertising bans).

• Brothel-keeping: Often defined as two or more workers at the same location; in places like the UK, this makes working together illegal even if it’s safer.

• Third-party laws: Rules that criminalize managers, drivers, security, web hosts; can also snare non-exploitative roles.

How to figure out your local model (adults only):

1. Check the exact statutes. Search your state or country code for “prostitution,” “soliciting,” “brothel-keeping,” “living off the earnings,” “advertising,” and “loitering.”

2. Look for platform rules. Even if the law allows advertising, websites may block it due to liability (post-2018 in the U.S.).

3. Ask a local harm-reduction or legal aid group. In the U.S., start with a public defender’s office, a National Lawyers Guild chapter, or SWOP chapters. In NZ or NSW, health clinics often provide plain-language guides.

4. Note immigration rules. Some places (e.g., NZ) bar migrants from working in the sex industry even under decriminalization. Consequences can include deportation.

5. Map safety exceptions. Are two workers allowed to share a workspace? Are security staff legal? These details change your risk profile more than slogans do.

Why this matters for queer communities: laws that punish clients, landlords, or “public order” often land hardest on trans people and street-involved youth. Clear terms help us debate real trade-offs: safety, health, and the ability to say no without risking arrest, eviction, or loss of income.

What the Research Shows

Here’s the short version: when laws stop treating sex work like a crime, violence and health risks go down. This isn’t a vibe check-it shows up across solid studies, in different places, using different methods.

Start with New Zealand. The Prostitution Reform Act (2003) decriminalized consensual adult work. The government’s Prostitution Law Review Committee (2008) reported workers had more power to refuse clients, were more willing to report violence, and didn’t see a big spike in the size of the sector. Later academic work there echoed better safety and improved relationships with police and health services.

Rhode Island had a natural experiment. A legal gap (2003-2009) effectively decriminalized indoor work. Economists Cunningham and Shah found reported rapes fell by about 31% and female gonorrhea cases dropped 39% during that period (published 2018). When the gap closed, those gains faded. Same people, same cities-only the law changed.

Look at HIV. A 2014 Lancet modeling study led by Kate Shannon estimated that decriminalization could reduce new HIV infections among workers and clients by roughly 33-46% over a decade. The mechanism is simple: less fear of arrest means more screening, easier condom access, and better links to clinics.

Online safety shows up in the data too. When Craigslist’s Erotic Services went live city by city, a study by Cunningham, DeAngelo, and Tripp (2021) found female homicides fell 10-17% in those cities. More screening and digital trails beat curbside quick calls. When safer online tools are banned, people get pushed back into riskier settings.

What about the “Nordic model” (criminalizing buyers and third parties, not workers)? Evaluations in France after its 2016 law (e.g., Le Bail and colleagues, 2018) reported worse living conditions and more exposure to violence, plus more fear of reporting to police. You shift the risk, you don’t remove it.

How to read this research without getting lost:

• Check the policy: decriminalization isn’t the same as legalization. Decrim removes criminal penalties; legalization adds licenses and heavy rules. End-demand targets buyers and can still push workers into danger.
• Prefer natural experiments and difference-in-differences: Rhode Island and the Craigslist rollout are good examples because timing varies by place.
• Watch the outcomes that matter: violence, homicide, HIV/STIs, ability to refuse clients, and reporting to police. If a study ignores safety and only talks “morality,” it’s not about harm.
• Don’t mix trafficking with consensual adult work: the studies above are specific about adults and consent. Different problem, different tools.

Need quick pull quotes for advocacy? Try these:

• New Zealand (2008): more power to refuse, better access to police, no boom in worker numbers.
• Rhode Island (2018): 31% fewer reported rapes, 39% fewer female gonorrhea cases.
• Lancet (2014): 33-46% fewer new HIV infections under decrim.
• Craigslist study (2021): 10-17% drop in female homicides where online screening became possible.
• Platt et al. (2018): criminalization doubles the odds of violence against workers.

Where to find the originals: the New Zealand Prostitution Law Review Committee report (2008), the Lancet Series on HIV and sex work (2014), Cunningham & Shah on Rhode Island (2018), Cunningham/DeAngelo/Tripp on Craigslist (2021), and Platt et al. in PLOS Medicine (2018). If a claim conflicts with these, ask for better data, not louder opinions.

Money, Mutual Aid, and Care

Cash kept closets open, lights on, and people alive. Mutual aid isn’t charity-it’s survival planning. For many, sex work covered rent, meds, hormones, and bail when nothing else did. That’s the economic backbone people don’t see.

First, plan for lumpy income. Think in buckets, not a monthly salary. Set up three buckets: essentials (rent, food, phone), tools of work (transport, ads, condoms, data), and a shock fund. Aim for a one-month “hard floor” first. Easiest move: after each booking, peel off 10% into the shock fund until you hit that floor, then drop to 5% to keep it topped up.

If you report income as an independent worker in the U.S., treat taxes like a bill, not a surprise. A simple rule: park 25-30% of net in a separate account and make quarterly estimates (Form 1040‑ES). Track legit business costs (phone, data, website/ads, supplies, bank fees, rides) so you don’t overpay. When in doubt, talk to a tax clinic or preparer who understands gig workers.

Don’t keep all your money in one app. Payment platforms change rules fast and can freeze funds. Spread risk: one checking account at a credit union, one backup account, and only small working balances in any single wallet. Turn on alerts for low balance and large transactions so you catch problems fast.

Care is part of the budget. Put health on autopilot where you can: regular testing, vaccines, and HIV prevention. In the U.S., the USPSTF gave PrEP a Grade A recommendation (updated 2023), so most insurance must cover it with no copay. No insurance? HHS’s Ready, Set, PrEP program can cover medication for eligible people. PEP works best when started within 72 hours-know where to get it after-hours in your city. Ask about free or low-cost testing at public health or LGBTQ clinics, and get Hep A/B and HPV vaccines if you’re eligible.

Mutual aid wasn’t invented on Twitter. In the early 1970s, trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera ran STAR House, using sex work income to shelter queer and trans youth. Groups like COYOTE (founded 1973) raised bail and offered legal help. Today, local SWOP chapters, Red Umbrella Fund, and trans-led mutual aid drive the same idea: fast, low-barrier help that keeps people housed, fed, and safer.

What does good mutual aid look like? It moves cash fast, with minimal forms. It pays for the boring things that prevent crises-rent gaps, phone bills, meds, rides to clinics, lock changes, storage, and IDs. It respects privacy but tracks basic outcomes so donors see what works (e.g., “42 rent gaps filled; zero evictions”).

• Keep intake simple: name (or alias), need, amount, deadline, and a safe contact method.
• Use tiered grants: micro ($50-$150) for food/transport, medium ($300-$800) for rent gaps, and emergency ($1,000+) for relocation or legal fees, with a clear cap per person per quarter.
• Pre-negotiate with partners: a clinic for same-day testing/PEP access, a locksmith, a storage unit, and a motel. Discounts stretch funds.
• Publish a short, plain-spoken ledger monthly. Hide identifying info; show totals and categories.

Set up a small “care pod” so help isn’t random. Three to five trusted people is enough.

1. Define roles: one check‑in buddy, one money buddy (short-term float), one ride or standby person.
2. Share a private doc with allergies, meds, preferred hospital, and emergency contacts (chosen by you).
3. Agree on signals: a daily emoji check, a code word for “call me now,” and a time window that triggers follow-up.
4. Run a 10‑minute drill monthly: if someone misses a check, who calls, who shows up, who pays for the Lyft.

Health routines that save money long term:

• Testing: every 3 months if you have frequent partners; add throat/rectal swabs if relevant. Many clinics bundle testing for free.
• Vaccines: Hep A and B are two of the best ways to avoid costly hospital visits; HPV vaccine is approved up to age 45.
• Supplies: buying condoms and lube in bulk from community orgs or online wholesalers cuts costs by half or more.
• Records: keep a private symptom and exposure log. It speeds up care and reduces repeat tests.

Bad-month plan (decide this on a calm day):

1. Trigger: income drops 40% in two weeks or you lose housing. Action: pause non-essentials for 30 days and switch to the “floor” budget.
2. Trigger: safety incident. Action: alert the pod, document what you choose to, and use the emergency fund only for housing, transport, locks, or care.
3. Trigger: medical need. Action: call the clinic partner first, ask about patient assistance, then tap mutual aid as a bridge only.

How to vet a fund before donating or applying:

• Turnaround time posted? If it’s more than 10 days for emergencies, look elsewhere.
• Clear caps and categories? That prevents gatekeeping later.
• Privacy policy? No IDs required unless legally needed for housing/relocation payments.
• Community oversight? A worker-led board or advisory group is a good sign.

Money, mutual aid, and care are the same fight: keep people housed, healthy, and in control. When those basics are covered, people take fewer risks and can say no when something feels off. That is safety you can measure.

Policy That Reduces Harm

Good policy starts with a blunt fact: criminal penalties push people into risk. When the law steps back and services step up, people get safer. That’s been shown in places that decriminalized or cut punishment around sex work.

Look at New Zealand. The Prostitution Reform Act (2003) decriminalized consensual adult selling and buying, plus small worker-run venues. The government’s Prostitution Law Review Committee (2008) found workers had more power to refuse clients, report violence, and insist on condoms, with no clear rise in the number of workers. A University of Otago study (Abel, Fitzgerald, Brunton, 2010) reported better access to health services and no evidence of increased underage involvement.

New South Wales, Australia, has used a decriminalized approach since the mid-1990s. A 2012 report to NSW Health (Harcourt, O’Connor, Egger) found low STI rates among workers, no sign of widespread organized crime control, and fewer neighborhood problems than under criminalization. Health agencies could actually reach people because they weren’t hiding from police.

There’s also the Rhode Island “natural experiment.” Due to a legal loophole, indoor selling wasn’t criminalized from 2003 to 2009. A 2014 paper by Cunningham and Shah found reported rapes dropped about 31%, and female gonorrhea cases fell roughly 39% during that period-then trends reversed after recriminalization.

What about the “Nordic model,” which criminalizes buyers and third parties but not workers? Sweden adopted that in 1999. Government reports claim street solicitation fell, but the total size of the market is unclear because work moved indoors and online. Independent research and community reports say workers faced more rushed screening, more isolation, and more risk when buyers feared arrest. In short, you still get displacement and danger.

US internet policy shows how safety can vanish overnight. After FOSTA-SESTA (2018) increased platform liability, many sites banned ads and screening tools. Community-led surveys (Blunt & Wolf, 2020; Hacking//Hustling, 2020) documented lost income and more violence as people shifted back to riskier venues and lost access to client screening. When you kill safer online options, harm goes up.

If you’re writing or backing a bill, here’s a focused checklist that reduces harm fast:

• Decriminalize consensual adult selling, buying, and third-party support. Put workplace issues under labor law, not criminal law. Keep trafficking, coercion, and child exploitation fully illegal, with strong penalties.
• Record relief: automatic expungement of past prostitution convictions and related loitering offenses. Vacatur for records tied to trafficking or intimate partner coercion.
• Stop “condoms as evidence.” Prosecutors in several US jurisdictions have already dropped it because it scares people out of carrying protection. Make that the statewide rule.
• Repeal loitering-for-prostitution laws that target profiles rather than actions. California repealed its loitering statute in 2022 (SB 357). Copy that.
• Protect online safety tools: allow hosting of ads and screening features; carve out safe harbors so platforms can moderate for safety without fearing lawsuits.
• Labor rights for all venues: right to organize, clear contracts, transparent payment, and safety standards (locks, panic buttons, well-lit entrances, guest logs). Treat worker-run spaces like any small business.
• Health first: fund peer-led outreach, mobile clinics, free STI/HIV testing, PEP/PrEP, and mental health care without ID hurdles. Make services usable at night and on weekends.
• Police and court policy: require written guidance not to target people carrying condoms; create LGBTQ and trafficking-informed liaison units; allow a support person during reporting; bar immigration holds tied to prostitution-related policing.
• Housing and banking access: ban discrimination by shelters, landlords, and financial services based on lawful source of income. Make sure name and gender marker changes are simple and low-cost.
• Target trafficking precisely: proactive labor inspections in sectors known for coercion, multilingual hotlines, and survivor-led services. Separate trafficking funds from vice stings so victims can seek help without mass arrests.

Pay for what works. Redirect vice-enforcement dollars to peer outreach, drop-in centers, and legal aid. When NSW and New Zealand funded health and rights services, officials could actually reach people, which is the point.

Build in accountability. Put outcome metrics in the bill and make them public every quarter:

• Violence and homicide trends against workers, plus case clearance rates.
• Time-to-care for STI/HIV services, and uptake of PEP/PrEP.
• Reports of police misconduct and resolution timelines.
• Housing stability and income volatility among workers using services.
• Use of online safety tools (screening hits, bad-date reports) where lawful.

Plan the rollout. Give agencies a 6-12 month timeline with training for police, health staff, and prosecutors. Fund translation, community town halls, and a worker-led advisory board with real power to flag problems and fix them.

Bottom line: the mix that reduces harm is simple-decriminalize adults, fund peer-led health and safety, stop policies that punish protection, and measure results in the open. Do that, and people live longer, healthier lives.

How to Show Up Today

If you care about queer safety, show up for sex work right now. This isn’t abstract. Policies and small choices change whether people get hurt or make it home.

1. Back evidence-based laws. Decriminalization works. New Zealand’s Prostitution Reform Act (2003) is the best-studied model. Government reviews found workers had more power to refuse clients and report abuse, without a surge in numbers. The Lancet (2014) estimated decriminalization could cut new HIV infections among workers and clients by roughly one-third.

2. Protect safer online tools. Research shows when Craigslist’s Erotic Services went live, cities saw a 10-17% drop in female homicides. When safer platforms vanish, people get pushed into riskier settings. Push tech policy teams and lawmakers to stop blanket bans that backfire.

3. Make clinics truly low-barrier. CDC says PrEP cuts HIV risk from sex by about 99% with good adherence, and PEP works if started within 72 hours. Ask your local clinic: Do you offer same-day PrEP/PEP? Do you train staff on nonjudgmental care for workers and trans clients? If not, push for it.

4. End “condoms as evidence.” Carrying condoms should never be risky. New York State banned condoms as evidence in prostitution cases in 2018. Ask your city council and district attorney to adopt the same policy and make it explicit.

5. Fund worker-led groups. Mutual aid and legal help save lives. Set a monthly donation, even if small. If you run a business, offer in-kind help-meeting space, bookkeeping, or discounted telehealth.

6. Fix language and reporting. Don’t conflate consensual adult work with trafficking. If someone needs help, ask what they want: housing, healthcare, legal aid, or safety planning. Support targeted anti-trafficking efforts that don’t criminalize adults who are choosing their income.

Quick playbook by role:

• Voter: Ask candidates one clear question-“Will you support decriminalization, ban condoms as evidence, and fund housing-first?” Track the answer.

• City staff or legislator: Publish a written policy: no condoms-as-evidence; implement record sealing for past prostitution charges; fund a worker-led drop-in space.

• Healthcare worker: Offer same-day PrEP/PEP, walk-in STI testing, and hormone access without extra hoops. Train staff on chosen names and privacy.

• Platform or payment team: Allow legal adult content within clear guardrails; build blocklists, panic buttons, and in-app safety check-ins; don’t force real-name display.

• Journalist/creator: Use “sex worker,” not “prostitute,” unless quoting. Don’t publish identifying details without consent. Link to resources, not just headlines.

• Manager or HR: Add “lawful off-duty conduct” protections, privacy clauses, and ban doxxing. Provide confidential EAP access that’s actually useful.

Support and learn from worker-led orgs:

• SWOP-USA (U.S.): swopusa.org
• Decrim NY / DecrimNow DC: decrimny.org / decrimnow.org
• Red Canary Song (massage workers): redcanarysong.net
• St. James Infirmary (SF clinic): stjamesinfirmary.org
• HIPS (DC harm reduction): hips.org
• Sex Workers Project (legal services): swp.urbanjustice.org
• Maggie’s Toronto (Canada): maggiesto.org
• English Collective of Prostitutes (UK): prostitutescollective.net

Two smart policy asks you can make today:

1. Support decriminalization bills where you live. In the U.S., campaigns in New York and D.C. have introduced bills and built coalitions. Ask your reps to co-sponsor and hold hearings.

2. Push Congress to study and fix FOSTA-SESTA. The SAFE SEX Workers Study Act has been introduced to measure impacts. Lawmakers need data before they do more harm.

Last piece: don’t out people, don’t share client screenshots, and never call the police on someone without their consent unless there’s immediate danger. Offer rides, cash, and a contact to text at the end of a shift. Small moves add up to real safety.