Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex

by Matilda Bickers (Editor), peech breshears (Editor), Janis Luna (Editor)

Fiercely intelligent, fantastically transgressive, Working It is an intimate portrait of the lives of sex workers. A polyphonic story of triumph, survival, and solidarity this collection showcases the vastly different experiences and interests of those who have traded sex; among them a brothel worker in Australia, First Nation survivors of the Canadian child welfare system, and an afro-latina single parent raising a radicalized child. Packed with first person essays, interviews, poetry, drawings, mixed media collage, and photographs Working It honours the complexity of lived experience. Sometimes heart-breaking, sometimes hardboiled these dazzling pieces will go straight to the heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sex Work, Essays, Sexuality, Feminism, Gender, Memoir

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2023

Reviews

[Corvus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content warning for all kinds of trauma and harm you might expect regarding this topic.

I would describe my personal relationship with sex work as... Complicated. I've been sober for almost 19 years (Jesus, really? Seems like yesterday.) In both my years in the grips of a variety of chemicals and those in recovery, the line between sex work and trafficking was not very clear at times for me and for many women I've met. Some were straight up trafficked, but many were in a state of desperation where the drug withdrawal or the desperate need to forget were the ones doing the coercing. I've met women with rapist pimps who would sob in meetings with other women and others whose shame and trauma destroyed all of their relationships. I've had my own less extreme experiences with dealers taking advantage of dope sickness, being a minor around gross adults, or men misleading me into "acting/modeling" for their project that they would turn into porn once I was intoxicated with the substance they paid me in. Men (and sometimes others) lie to and exploit vulnerable women and girls (and marginalized genders and sometimes others) which is not news to most people. As a patron, I had been to a strip club a couple of times while I was using but not often and I don't remember anything extreme in one direction or another. I never encountered a positive or neutral story from a sex worker for many years. So, in my feminist evolution, when I discovered many of the second-wave feminist iterations of sex workers as victims, that made sense to me.

In time, both my understanding of addiction, drug use, and treatment as well as my understanding of sex work evolved quite a lot. (The addiction side will take another far too long post.) I met sober women who decided to continue sex work, often of a different kind, despite other job prospects. I met many trans people across the spectrum who found sex work to be the only, or just the best, employment prospect. I read about many people choosing a variety of kinds of sex work without victimization or coercion aside from the financial coercion of survival that we all have. But, I couldn't get behind much of the sex work activism messaging I'd see from mostly white, non-full service, sex workers which this book refers to aptly as "empowerment narratives" and "girl-bossification." I would think about my life and that of many people I've known and would think, "you all have no idea... Like I'm happy for you, stereotypically attractive fetish model/camgirl, that's great you feel so empowered but that's not most people." Then I'd feel bad, why couldn't I stop having these oppressive, dismissive responses to sex worker voices? I would encounter this again and again in a way that reminds me oddly of how people who I talk to about veganism sometimes understand it- this rich white people health craze, not a diverse collective liberation movement where wealthy and/or white people are actually the minority worldwide. Someone would eventually just say "sex work is work like any other job" without explaining what that even is supposed to mean. It seemed pretty different than other jobs to me.

When I saw this book come out, I figured I'd give it a shot but went in with low expectations. I didn't know the creators or the zine history. I'm really glad I went for it because this was the exact book I have been looking for.

Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex includes a wide variety of (I think mostly or all women) sex workers from many backgrounds, races, histories, types of work, and so on. Most but not all are from North America. Many of the entries are interview formats with the same questions for each person. They are well crafted and in depth prompts for discussion. Others were essays or other formats. Each entry is paired with an image of the worker's choosing which ranged from photos to drawings and more.

Right from the start, I knew this book was speaking my language. The discussion of white girl-bossification of sex work messaging and the wide range of reasons why people do it was at the forefront. Almost everyone discussed the louder voices of a few white sex workers with a hierarchy of sex work types they found respectable or not being a consistent problem. Black and indigenous women discussed the complicated forays through different types of sex work and non sex work jobs and the cultural complexity involved in their lives and choices. The entry on indigenous women drug users who were doing full service work or being trafficked was what I related to most despite being white and they didn't shy away from the reality that most of them wanted out. Trans women discussed dealing with the danger of fragile straight men's fear of being gay. One entry by a woman describing her desk job vs her sex work jobs really helped me understand "sex work is work" on another level. Her artful description of how she experienced the daily grind of each made a ton of sense. Another entry where a worker compared doing full service sex work to doing care work was really great as was the article critiquing enthusiastic consent narratives in regards to sex work. That last one has always bothered me, if you don't want to perform a sexual service but have to to keep your job, is that consensual? The entry was a really frank and helpful discussion regarding the complexity of consent in different situations.

There were also frank discussions of rape, abuse, entitlement of customers, exploitation by clubs and other businesses, and all of the ways sex work is very unsexy. There were discussions of intercommunity trauma and struggle. There were stories of workers making strides by coming together to support one another, stories of the solidarity of groups of people who only really have each other, and the varied ways and tactics that may or may not work to protect sex workers in various industries. Everyone who discussed safety or liberation called for decriminalization. There was a lot more than this, too, that I'm sure will pop into my head after I submit this review.

My only gripe about this book is that there are a few instances of gnarly fat and body shaming. Descriptions of a few men who were god-awful narcissistic customers didn't require me knowing their body size or atypicality to understand that they were really gross, shitty human beings. The idea that fatness was relevant, in a book with frank discussions about whose bodies are most valued in dominant culture, was disappointing. I get what they were trying to say- the entitlement that men have and how they view sex workers as another species practically leads them to treat sex workers in ways they'd never treat other people. There were just details that weren't necessary or even relevant.

Overall, this book really opened my eyes to what sex work is like for people who choose it and why they continue to. It taught me a lot about what "sex work is work" really means at a deeper level and allowed me to hear the voices of women I never get to hear from. I'm going to continue reading and learning more, but at my current level of understanding, this is the best writing I've read about sex work. So, I definitely recommend it to a variety of audiences who want to know more or to relate to the contributors.

This was also posted to my blog.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biased because I’m one of the contributors but this is an excellent collection and I’m honored to be published alongside so many powerful pieces of different genres, by authors and artists of different standpoints, coming together to call for workers rights alongside an anti-work politic.

[Matilda Bickers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved working on this book and I’m sad-yet-relieved to be done. It was an honor to be able to reach out to people whose voices aren’t usually centered and to be able to platform their writing and art!

[Annaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sex work is work, and sex workers are workers! I feel like everybody should have to read this, ESPECIALLY if you feel the need to come out of your neck and say something about sex workers. I firmly believe in decriminalization, and reading this only solidified my stance. Beyond the educational value of this book, it's just well-written and well-illustrated. I cried reading some of the sections. The artwork definitely made an impact. Goodness, I just loved all of my time with this book.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I loved this! Also the social worker to sex worker pipeline (and vice versa) was wild. Really beautifully put together

[Emily Warfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not to brag but I am genuinely humbled to have my work included in such a dazzlingly diverse anthology. Memoir writing on sex work traditionally presents a one-dimensional perspective of empowerment or misery, defiance or redemption. This book is written in 12 dimensions. We hear from people working across the spectrum of choice, circumstance and coercion; across race, class, and gender; as strippers, escorts, street-based workers and phone sex operators— and the array of reflections we’re presented with do not align neatly with whatever expectations we might have about those demographic descriptors. I jokingly described this as “Sex Work Is Work and Work Is Bad: the Book,” but it’s so much more than that, too. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the topic, including and maybe even especially other sex workers.

[Chantal Kloth · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good read, especially for the BIPOC in the industry. would recommend this for literally anyone, but especially all women

[scarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Show your solidarity in helping spread the good word of de-stigmatization and decriminalization by purchasing this collection of art, interviews, essays and more by sex workers . . . and then consider urging your civilian friends to do the same! Often when people talk about bodily autonomy, they are referring to - almost exclusively - reproductive rights; completely avoiding (out of ignorance or just plain anti-sex work/er sentiments) any inclusion of sex work or sex workers. This oversight does not go unnoticed; considering sex workers are the people on the front lines of advocacy in regards to bodily autonomy (including repro rights), LGBTQIA+ rights, anti-carceral and anti-policing - you fucking name it, sex workers were there first! The knowledge passed down and lived experiences shared by so many talented and amazing people contained within this one book is intersectional, approachable, readable and vital. One of the best books I've read this year.

[Anje · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been on the edge of my fucking seat waiting for this collection to come out, and now it's here and it's even better than I expected. What I mean by that is - not only is it a desperately needed book about an incredibly marginalized and stigmatized kind of labor / worker, it's also SO READABLE. My brain hasn't been able to absorb non-fiction very well these last few years, so holy shit what an absolute joy to read something urgent and necessary that I can actually take in and retain and consider. I can't shut up about this book.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so impressed with this collection. Well-written, readable, and eye-opening, it encompasses a wide variety of viewpoints and opinions and it manages to be both very personal and also thoroughly researched. There is such an array of knowledge and experiences in here, and for me the interviews especially lend a grounded touch and strongly humanize the experiences of these workers whose trade is so heavily stigmatized. There is something to be learned in here for literally anyone. Really really well done, I highly recommend this read.

[theperksofbeingmarissa ;) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book that explores the between sex work, capitalism, and so much more. There are a range of thought-provoking essays on how sex work is a labor rights issue, too! I have learned so much, and I appreciate how vulnerable all the contributing authors are!

I figured I'd write two of my favorite quotes below.

"The school-to-prison pipeline was built for girls just like me, and even outside of school, Black girls' bodies are rendered adult and profane before we get to decide for ourselves. "- Cyntoia Brown & My Black Body by Naomi

Dee Lucas pushes us to use our imagination to envision a future free of oppression. I loved this quote : " Faith is mandatory for applied imagination the way it is for growth, because so often, the act of imagining and actively creating our desired realities requires that we endure and persist without immediate evidence that a difference is being made."

Everyone, please read this!!! 🙏🏾

[Aaron Esthelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays and interviews was super interesting with exception to some parts of the last one. I think this gave me some fantastic insights into the sex work world that I didnt have before. I was completly unaware that strippers had to pay to work. As well as being unaware that some sex worker related crimes are classed as no human involved. Its sickening how this government treats these women. Sex work is work and should be respected as such.

A note on the last essay. The writer talks about how she skipped reading classic dystopians like a brave new world, animal farm and most notably 1984. Saying she "got the gist" and then goes on to say these stories make people think every character is a hero or some role model. I'll go as far to say she did in fact not get the gist. 1984 and others classically are not about some hero but people just existing in terrible systems tryingto survive and often failing and conforming. They are tales about not letting it get that bad and breaking free while you still can. It left a bad taste in my mouth for the last essay to miss the mark so hard.

[anna frey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working It is an urgent and enlightening collection. The chapters form a diverse but cohesive whole that points a hopeful way forward towards a more just future for sex workers (and everyone else). Highly recommend for anyone interested in the realities of sex work, social workers, youth workers, and people interested in labour and union organizing.

[Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of a diverse group of sex workers describing their own experiences - a must read!

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book (and others) when PM Press was selling "damaged" books for 70 percent off. I had never heard of it before that, but am glad it ended up in my possession.

Sex work is work. It doesn't matter what the squares or weird right-wingers think. Using your body and/or mind in order to make money is the definition of a job, and that's what sex work is. It's a shitty industry, but that's not because of the people doing the work. It, like many things that suck the life out of us, is the fault of capitalism. It's the people who own the strip clubs (mostly dudes, mostly white), the pimps (mostly dudes, mostly white), the clients (mostly dudes), the lawmakers (mostly dudes, mostly white), and the "justice" system (aka white supremacy). Because sex work is so looked down on by so much of our society, often times people performing the work have no course of action when they're ripped off, assaulted, or murdered. Sex workers are perhaps the most silenced group of workers in the US, and this book does its best to break that silence.

Working It is a series of essays and interviews by and of people who work and have worked in the sex industry. There are plenty of essays, articles, documentaries, etc. where people who have never done sex work try to speak on behalf of sex workers for better or worse (usually worse). This book helps humanize (because, lord knows, too many people look at sex workers as sub-human. When a sex worker is murdered, many police forces classify it as "no human involved.") the hundreds of thousands of people who make money by trading sex/ualized services, and it's sorely needed.

None of the writing in this collection is bad. Most are really good, and some are great. It's a fairly quick read that will tug on many emotions, from laughter to tears to anger and beyond, and you should definitely read it. Or, if you live in Southern Oregon, borrow it from me.

[tomi green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was intense. Full of stories of people revealing their hardships (and sometimes joys) in a job that is stigmatised by society. Sometimes academic, sometimes simple and honest expressions of people with different social backgrounds and identities demanding material security, plain respect and understanding. And not just from mainstream society.

"While anti-sex work feminists see trading sex as the ultimate concession to patriarchy, I see it as a refusal. A refusal to accept the terms we’ve been given, to accept the violence of poverty, exhaustion, and overwork, to accept the limited options and future we’re meant to be content with. In that refusal is an affirmation of our right to exist, of our right to survive, and the possibility of a reality without white supremacy or capitalism. Again, this is not because sex work is inherently radical and empowering—it’s a job like any other job, with the potential to be exploitative or fulfilling based on the day and interaction and context—but because alternative economies can illustrate alternative ways of interacting. Sex workers are pioneers of mutual aid, for example: without social security, family, or other safety nets, we often have only each other."

---------------

Toto bolo silné. Plné príbehov osôb, odhaľujúcich svoje strasti (a miestami aj radosti) v práci, ktorú spoločnosť stigmatizuje. Niekedy akademické, väčšinou však jednoduché a úprimné vyjadrenia ľudí s rôznymi sociálnymi zázemiami a identitami, ktorí požadujú materiálne zabezpečenie, obyčajný rešpekt a porozumenie. A nielen od mainstreamovej spoločnosti.

[Amayrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

FUCKING AMAZING. I loved this anthology. Extremely important for the labor movement. I stayed up reading it some nights because it was just so engaging and relatable in some aspects. All the contributors to this book did a phenomenal job, I learned an incredible amount about sex workers, the industry and swer rights. Beautifully put together. It offered varying perspectives based off of the writers’ individual experiences, which really helped get a grasp on the complexities of the struggle which sex workers go through. I’d recommend this book to EVERYONE I KNOW.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, while this book was more liberal leaning than I prefer, there was valuable information throughout. It opened up my eyes to a lot that I was ignorant about; I really enjoyed it! A few of the stories were hard to follow and had a lot of back stories and facts that I would have to stop and look up or read the footnotes for.

There were TONS of quotes that I loved!!! Sharing them below for you to read now and for future reference.

“My mind had started to empty. The hours spent staring at a screen were changing my thought patterns, depleting my passions, numbing my emotions. Sex work was often draining, and the violence of criminalization was occasionally traumatizing, but it never left me feeling like a different person.” Page 57.

“We’ve moralized sexuality in such a way that monetizing it is considered uniquely hurtful when the truth is that most jobs under capitalism are violent in some way.” Page 59

“Have you ever thought-deeply thought-about what the word freedom means? It's such a funny word, one that doesn't need to be defined. Simply by being human, we somehow innately understand the idea, the need, the want of possessing it. It's a deep, visceral understanding of both the word and the actuality of it: to live a life unencumbered by some- thing. Bosses, responsibilities, bills, and even to some, consequences. It's beyond just wishing we didn't have to be constantly connected to clock-in machines, time cards, and printed weekly schedules; it's the imagination of floating through life, unfettered by anything other than those things we instinctively believe would finally fulfill us. Freedom isn't "not having a job," it's working at something designed to fulfill you.” Page 103

“I have never felt fully satisfied doing anything that requires me to adhere to a schedule, clock in "on time," or watch whether I've tried to clock in three minutes early or clock out more than seven minutes late. While some baristas might not mind that at all and, because they are busy truly enjoying the making of two hundred “mocha-latte-mericanos" a day, never give a single thought to reading the next week's schedule again and again and again... and again, I'm personally filled with such a deep dread at even the thought of it that words cannot begin to describe it.” Page 103

“The service industry, customer service, and sex work-all of these jobs share in common a strong, unifying element of emotional and physical labor, and to some extent, that labor is even sexualized across industries, though of course it is most explicitly sexualized within the sex industry. We flirt, we suck up, we tease, we cajole, we smooth over, we grin through our gritted teeth; we sell, we sell, we sell, we sell.” Page 133

“Is it any wonder, then, that the same white, middle-class, predominantly cis and heterosexual women who gave us enthusiastic consent as the exclusive model of consent are also the same ones who use government crackdowns, police brutality, loss of civil liberties, and social stigma to save sex workers from themselves?” Page 151

“If you're from a middle-class background, if you've only ever worked in a nine-to-five, making a salary that comes in and out of your life through a series of virtual transactions, if you've never had to stand for hours on your feet, breaking your back for minimum wage or suffering through the pawing of some creep to keep your job, then, yeah, I can see how the physical-labor side of sex would remain invisible. Sex is packaged to women along with Romance! as our raison d'être: we are supposed to see sex as inherently magic and meaningful, the ultimate intimacy. Even if you're not from a Christian-patriarchy family, we all know people like Jane Villaneuva's abuela, telling us virginity (a social construct to begin with) is precious and unless we save it for the right man and moment, we're trash. We're taught to find pleasure in being desired but not taught about desiring. All of this presented as natural.” Page 192

“I grew up under adults entirely hypnotized by the plastic promises of the American Dream, knowing already that they as adults had lost sight of something I knew as a child. That life was full of magic. That the Earth could speak. That without love, spirit, and imagination, the world became dark and poisonous. I did not know, at the time, that I was growing up into a world that people would call a "dystopia" without a hint of irony.” Page 207

“A society that has been made to forget just what fiction and fantasy are on a fundamental level. Imagination has atrophied into commodified distraction from the lives and world it was made to benefit. People rewatch, binge, and reminisce over the same escapes on repeat while their own lives lack creative attention.” Page 208

“The idea that fantasy and reality do not intersect is not only racist and sexist in its applications and historical appearances, it is also a skillful tool of disempowerment.

Imagination is "just" play, and fantasy is "just" entertainment… so is worry "just" worry, with no effects on our reality? Our health? Is plan-ning, also, nothing but a daydream to be discarded? Surely you can tell where I'm going with this. At some point, it becomes apparent that we've often been tricked into ignoring what our minds have to say, dissuaded from being brave enough to engage with our hopes and fantasies as if they were things that mattered. When you apply intent to fantasy, it becomes a seed of radical creativity.” Page 210

“So a tip: Dare to imagine peace and safety. Know that this will take faith.

As our world begins to heal from the collective traumas of oppres-sion, society must learn to trust letting go of the addictive familiarity of what hurts most and get comfortable with growth and peace. Apart from religious dogma about the term, I define faith as the fidelity of one's attention to an outcome-literally, how long you can sustain giving something your time and energy before doubt makes you quit. Faith is mandatory for applied imagination the way it is for growth, because so often, the act of imagining and actively creating our desired realities requires that we endure and persist without immediate evidence that a difference is being made.

I shall leave you with one last question. You have heard that this is your story, and you have a right to decide how it goes. Do you believe in yourself, as the writer? If not, start. Our world depends on it.” Page 212

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fantastic selection of essays about people engaged in various types of sex-work. Really eye opening into the challenges these people face in terms of discrimination, legal battles, how they are persecuted as both victims and perpetrators, paradoxically ‘trafficking’ their own bodies if a prosecutor decides if they are doing so, and having no recourse if they are abused, beaten, or worse, as going to the police only exposes them to the carceral system. A variety of different perspectives are also represented here, truly a diverse lot of people from all walks of life. It is a collection that really deserves to be read by a much larger audience than will dare to read it, because of the stigma attached to sex-work.

[Lauren Levitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I’ve read this year. Best collection of essays by sex workers since We Too.

[Josh Freund · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important, well-curated collection of essays, personal stories, interviews, and comics, primarily contributed by current and former sex workers (including quite a few from Portland, OR). I appreciated the diversity of perspectives and the various lenses through which sex work and the sex work industry were examined. Well worth the relatively short time investment, especially for those who have not yet absorbed much material presenting lived experiences and opinions from sex workers themselves.

[Jaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hit me like a ton of bricks in the best of ways and should be considered required reading for anyone who wants a better understanding of the industry. Given my own experiences with SW, it was a difficult read at times, but also it’s so vitally necessary to have these voices centered out in the open. I’m so grateful to the authors for putting this anthology together and getting it out into the world. Thank you!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book. I appreciate all of the sex workers who took time to share their stories, it really opened my eyes.

[Sumit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important and gripping set of essays. While this is not the first book on sex work by sex workers, it is the first I know that focuses on the perspectives of BIPOC workers, which brings an important perspective on how racism makes the lives of these workers that much harder. The introduction is also an excellent breakdown of how the conservative/right wing has conflated sex trafficking with sex work, putting sex workers' health and lives at risk on a daily basis. Highly recommended.

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally new topic to me, it was good to hear consistency, it feels like I have a better understanding of certain aspects of contemporary sex work, especially what changes sex workers would like to see.

[Kirby Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t normally write reviews for books but I felt like this one is worth it. I picked up this book in order to better understand the labor movement through the perspective of sex workers, as they are normally the most vilified and marginalized group of workers, especially if they are BIPOC and/or trans. I’ve heard many leftists and liberals talk about sex work being an exploitative practice that needs to end, but lack any nuance or understanding from a sex workers POV. This book is a great way to bring sex workers to the forefront of the conversation and challenge current understanding of sex trafficking and consent. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the nuances of sex work.

[Abbey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was SO good. a kaleidoscope of different stories and opinions and views from different sex workers of different backgrounds and life experiences. it was hilarious, heartbreaking, and also profoundly interesting. highly recommend, will happily lend my copy to anyone in need.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to read this because a contributor was speaking at HPL.

[Kennedy Birley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down. Fantastic and insightful and relatable and so needed.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best essay collection I’ve ever read.
“first, last, my only” by xaxum omer broke my heart a million times in less than 20 pages and made me feel things I can’t describe.