Questions and answers ( again )

I had a question sent to me via Formspring, and thought I would share it with you.

"You seem to be a campaigner for sex workers rights. Why? Don't you think that if you keep a low profile that the battle will just pass you by. Are you not afraid that the anti's will come after you and attempt to unmask you and make your life a misery."

I'm going to do my best to answer this question without sounding like a politician outside a polling station.

There is a large battle ahead for us as sex workers, for the recognition we deserve as individuals who make a worthy contribution to society but also as a group, who deserve to carry out our perfectly lawful jobs without fear of intimidation and social exclusion and stigma.

As to why I became an activist; I used to live in a very small town, full of very small minded people. When it became common knowledge that I was an escort, the treatment I received at the hands of the local people of that town was nothing short of disgraceful. They projected their own insecurities onto me by belittling me, when in fact I had committed no crime. In my career as an escort/ whore / prostitute I have done no more than provide pleasure and companionship for men who crave a woman's presence for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps they are widowed, perhaps they are sex starved, or perhaps they want to roll around in jelly and are afraid to ask their wife of some thirty years. Whatever the reason, I provided the service and I was very proud of my work and got an immense amount of job satisfaction from the grateful hugs I received. For some reason my job was an indication to local people that they could feel free to treat me like scum, to them I was no better than the dirt from my cat's paw. That HAS TO CHANGE.

It's not so long ago since homosexuals were isolsated, stigmatised and in some very backward minds, even feared. However, with education and the public debate of rights and status, the public attitude towards homosexuality has gone full circle. It is now possible for a gay couple to have a civil ceremony and adopt a child. Progressive and rational thinking at it's best. I firmly believe that in time, the same full circle turnabout will happen for sex workers, after all as a person I never believe in putting up a fight if the end result is but a futile fantasy.

I am constantly in awe of my fellow activists, they are far better read than I and in many respects I feel that sometimes in joining them as a voice I am punching very much above my weight. But surely the crux of the matter is that I, as a sex worker feel that the current system as it is is highly hypocritical in it's aims, which amount to no more than hooded abolition. If I can add my voice to those that speak for the silent amongst the 80,000 sex workers in Britain, then why not ?

As to whether I'm afraid of the anti's - I campaigned for animal rights in my home country for many years ( and still do ) and sometimes got myself into some quite sticky situations. Quite often I ran ahead of a fox hunt to ruin the scent and if I was caught, I risked a horsewhip to the side of my head. Was I afraid ? Sure. Did it stop me ? No, because at the end of the day I knew what I was there for was to protect the fox being thrown to the hounds and that made it all worthwhile. :)