Sex Work

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, central to my work is my mission to provide education and awareness of the value of sex work and the need for equal rights and protection for our sex workers to my professional and surrounding communities. Although there is a great need for educational material relevant to practitioners in my field, resources are rare, so I am eager to introduce a new film, American Courtesans, an invaluable resource for therapists, clients, sex workers, as well as the general public.

The term “sex work,” she argues, moves away from the realms of legality and morality to the world of economics. It steers the discussion away from whether sex work is right or wrong, and away from the law, toward the real way most sex workers see their trade — as work. “Good managers, bad managers, well paid, not well paid — it’s a job.”

Sex workers in Johannesburg are demanding fair rights to operate within their industry. The Commission for Gender Equality says it has embarked on an investigation into how the law affects sex work.

It has discovered that the current laws which criminalise sex work in South Africa have failed sex workers and perpetuate abuse of their Constitutional rights. The Commission was briefing the media in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The Commission’s Janine Hicks says that the correct approach is to regard sex work as ordinary work, and allow the industry to be governed by existing labour and business laws intended to prevent unsafe, exploitative and unfair business practices.

The World Wide Web is very much like a cocktail party: You aren't sure who you'll meet, & drinking is optional.

In the realm of the Adult Webmaster, this is especially true. For like most parties, there are always the concerns of under-age attendees, party crashers (hackers), and those dreaded conservative neighbors who may call the cops.

Like any good host (or guest), we must be wise about our guest list ~ we should never tease minors or lure them into our festivities. We ought to do our best to not only be on the look out for the uninvited, but have plans in place in the event we do need to toss someone out as well as repair the damage done by such unwelcome guests. And we should do our best to make sure our party doesn't disturb our neighbors, or otherwise incite them into causing us legal problems. And if one angry person does make the call, we should have all our necessary papers at the ready (2257 etc), so that the interruption doesn't last long.

Women in Japan's island chain of Okinawa have demanded an apology from an outspoken Japanese politician who suggested US troops there make use of its thriving sex industry.

The comments from Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto came after he said "comfort women" – who most historians agree were pressed into sexual slavery for the Japanese imperial army during World War II – served a "necessary" role by keeping soldiers in line.

"Regardless of whether it is war-time or not, a view to use women as a tool [to let out sexual frustration] is intolerable," said Masako Ishimine, a senior member of a local women's body, quoted by the Okinawa Times, the day after Mr Hashimoto spoke.

"Does he mean women should simply take it because men work hard?"

The outrage came on the day Okinawa marked the 41st anniversary of its reversion to Japan at the end of post-WWII US occupation and after comments on history that provoked ire in South Korea and China.

Up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military in territories occupied by Japan during WWII, according to many mainstream historians.

I always thought that Facebook was the social network for "fun stuff," while LinkedIn was the social network for "work stuff." I guess I need to change my definition of "work stuff." LinkedIn has just singled out escorts as specifically unwelcome on their platform, and changed their terms of service to banish users promoting sex in exchange for money.

To all you sex workers out there (I'm told you prefer the term "sex worker"!), be aware that this is not an overall ban on promotion of adult services on the LinkedIn platform. You can still promote yourself as a porn star or fetish model on LinkedIn, and it would still be legal and compliant with the updated LinkedIn terms of service. But you can no longer promote "escort services or prostitution" on your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn updated their terms of service to ban escort services on Monday. (You have to scroll two-thirds of the way down the page to get to the juicy part). In Section 10 of the terms, entitled LinkedIn "DOs" and “DON’Ts," the policy has been revised to state that LinkedIn users cannot "upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that...promotes escort services or prostitution" -- "[e]ven if it is legal where you are located."

There's the rub. Sex work and escort services are legal in several countries -- and some parts of the United States, if I'm to believe the little cards that cab drivers hand me whenever I'm in Las Vegas.

Sex on Wheels will follow sex worker Laura Lee as she speaks candidly about her work helping disabled clients achieve satisfaction.

The cameras follow Laura from Belfast when she travels to Yorkshire to meet John, who has learning difficulties, after being hired by his mum Tracy.

Tracy says: “I’m very uncomfortable with it, but I have this need to make sure that John is happy, that he is not restricted, that this disability does not steal away my son’s right to lead a normal life.”

Former Victoria's Secret star Kylie Bisutti, who gave up modeling last February because it clashed with her Christian faith, has told how the fashion industry made her feel like a 'sex worker'.

The five-foot-ten brunette, 23, who was based in New York but now lives in the quiet town of Big Fork, Montana, with her husband, Mike, said on the Today show: 'It definitely felt like I was being made to sell sex. I just really started to feel exploited and sexualized.'

The local sex industry has almost doubled in the past 20 years and much of it occurs between the sheets in motel rooms across the New England North West.

Sex workers steer clear of hustling work off the street because in order for them to make money in country areas, they must be discreet.

The claims might startle some but it’s just some of the cold, hard evidence that has landed in front of UNE expert Professor John Scott, who’s been researching the industry for almost 20 years.

I spent six and a half years at a sex work project, from 2002 to 2009, providing outreach services to sex workers on the streets, in flats, saunas and massage parlors, and online. I gave out condoms and needles, linked people up with specialist services, took reports of violence and circulated them to other sex workers, provided emotional support, gave advice on legalities and personal safety—basically I just responded to whatever issues sex workers brought to me. However, we were sometimes limited in terms of what we could actually do, given that we were operating on pretty much a shoestring, and adequate support was not always available to sex workers from other agencies. I guess that’s what happens when the funding is almost entirely focused on sexual health, as if sex workers couldn’t possibly have any other needs. Hi, I may be ranting already.

During my almost five-year career as a sex worker, I have experienced work-related fear exactly twice. The first time was at the very beginning of my adventures in the sex industry, when Grant, the gentleman I got my revenge on last week, outed me to my mother.

The second time was two weeks ago when I got arrested.

That’s right, folks, after almost five years of whoring in various legal grey–and even black–areas, it finally happened. Frankly, I’m shocked this was my first arrest. I’ve done significantly more illegal jobs with significantly less protection and screening… and I’ve always been fine.

Sex workers in China are subject to abuse by police, including physical assault, arbitrary detentions and extortion, a new report says.