As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, you HAVE to do it yourself.
COVID-19 has negatively impacted Americans financially, with many having no work or reduced hours. Not to compete in the Oppression Olympics, but many sex workers are experiencing financial hardship because either them or their clients do not feel comfortable being in close contact with one another. Adding trans identities and/or undocumented status into the mix, it only makes matters worse.
Not waiting around for the country to come save them, many sex worker collectives have been working to support the sex work community.
Here are three (3) of many organizations who actively supporting sex workers during the pandemic.
Hacking & Hustling is a collective of sex workers who combine technology and social justice.
Because more sex workers have shifted their services to online, online spaces come with its predators, scams, etc. Hacking and Hustling is being proactive by hosting a harm reduction training to protect sex workers in online spaces. Click here to rsvp for the event.
Lysistrata is an online-based community-run sex worker mutual care collective. With the goal of protecting autonomy and decision making of sex workers, Lysistrata carries out a variety of initiatives, including offering financial assistance to marginalized groups, hosting events to allow networking amongst sex workers, and supporting businesses owned by sex workers. On Twitter, they shared a list of resources based on need/social identities to help sex workers during Covid-19. Click here to access the list.
Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA (SWOP) is a national grassroots social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of sex workers and their communities. The Nation recently published an article about how SWOP, along with other organizations, are providing financial assistance for sex workers by creating funds through GoFundMe fundraisers. Not to mention how, SWOP has been retweeting information from other collectives to distribute information. Needless to say, SWOP is very for the people.
Even though this is a start, the fight for sex workers is an ongoing battle that requires a community to support it. Simply by creating more awareness about their existence and challenging negative stereotypes about the sex work community is a move in the right direction towards empowerment and empathy.
What resources do you know of that support sex workers?