Last year, I relaunched Bornwhore with a piece about stigma, sex work and dating called Lip Service. I wrote about a few ex’es who’d behaved less than gentlemanly when I came out to them as a ho. Turns out one of them had written about me too–something I didn’t know. It paints a picture of … Continue reading
“So why did you get into it?” 14 Ways Sex Work Is Real Work
It’s labour day! When folks think about about labour, they often struggle to understand how sex could be a “real job” and why we do it–forgetting that like everyone else, we need jobs! Here are a few reminders about what it means to look at sex as a form of work. 1. Whether it’s hated … Continue reading
web version–We Got This! Safe Calls, Screening and Buddy Systems for Sex Workers
We Got This! Safe Calls, Screening and Buddy Systems for Sex Workers by Juliet November Version 1: Spring 2013 (corrected version) dedicated to all the sex workers who look out for another–and to Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major, Mirha-Soleil Ross, Monica Forrester and all street-based sex working revolutionaries showing us the way. a huge … Continue reading
LAUNCHING! “We Got This: A Zine about Screening, Safe Calls & Buddy Systems For Safer Indoor Sex Work”
It’s finally here! A year after putting out the call I am finally able to launch “We Got This: A Zine about Screening, Safe Calls & Buddy Systems For Safer Indoor Sex Work” You can download the print version here: We Got This FINAL (1). BY POPULAR DEMAND: view the web version here. Note that this version … Continue reading
Interview with Naomi Sayers: Anishinaabe Academic, Activist, Blogger and Former Sex Worker + Photo Essay of “No More Silence” Rally, Toronto 2013 (reprint)
“The definitions of human trafficking victims by the RCMP removes agency from Aboriginal women/girls. When Aboriginal women/girls are missing or murdered and then labeled as the “drug addicted hooker” (as the media often does), it removes the ability for Aboriginal families and communities to speak for their beloved family member. This effect of silencing Aboriginal families and Aboriginal communities is nothing new—this silencing of Aboriginal peoples is embedded in a colonial country, like Canada.” Continue reading
well-meaning: a note of caution to our allies
A team of medical students at the University of British Columbia have developed a panic button for street based workers in Vancouver. This could be awesome. I hope this helps workers who are left without any decent options for creating basic safety. I also have ambivalent feelings about our saviours, the non sex workers. The best safety for sex workers is when we work together in a setting under our own control. If this button saves lives and prevents violence, then fuck yeah. Just don’t forget that it is second best to sex worker self-determination and should never replace it.
Which is to say, it also makes me uncomfortable to see non sex workers get really excited about how smart and amazing other non sex workers are at saving us. This project may have enormously beneficial impacts for sex workers–if and only if–they implement all the suggestions made by street workers. I just want non sex workers to think twice about: Continue reading
“Hey Baby, How Much?”: Stop Blaming Sex Workers For Street Sexual Harassment
I leave work around 5 on a steamy day in my favourite summer dress, hit the corner and as I try to cross, a guy in a silver car slows and makes friendly eye contact with me. With his hands he says “wanna get in?” I pause, confused for a second, then laugh, remembering where … Continue reading
BlogHop! On my next writing and the writing that I’m excited about
So SexGeek invited me to be a part of a blogHop where we do a self interview and then link to other writers–who then themselves do the interview and link to other writers and so on. The interview is designed for fiction novelists (and it’s kind of boring) so i’ve adapted it. What is … Continue reading
Lip Service: on sex work, relationships & stigma
“Lips like Sugar, Women For Men, 28, downtown, Outcalls only”
1. I prefer to work in the downtown core because I want to bike to my client’s tiny overpriced condos. I love getting on my bike with my handbag in my basket, red dress, hair fresh from the shower, lips glossy and pedaling downtown to see a regular. I love the surprise in every new call, I love working for cash and sometimes I enjoy the sex too. I love the power I have over their bodies and their joy. The money is spectacular and fast. I squeeze in appointments between my day job, friend’s house parties, my therapist, dates, brunches and then a one-hour appointment with a chef named Rob who’s actually done in 15 minutes. We chat in his kitchen about the history of salt and restaurant life while I wait for my cab. Continue reading
Submission call-out! “We Got This: A Zine about Screening, Safe Calls & Buddy systems for safer indoor sex work”
the deadline for this has passed but I will be accepting submissions for the next couple of weeks as I put the zine together!
(Still) Seeking Submissions to “We Got this: A Zine about Screening, Safe Calls & Buddy systems for safer indoor sex work”
As sex workers, escorts, hookers, prostitutes, pro-dommes/subs who have to work without much protection, we use hundreds of little strategies to stay safe. This zine is about collecting and sharing those strategies. This edition focuses on screening clients and safe calls. Continue reading
