Why It’s Important to Use the Term ‘Sex Worker’

By: Dr. Denise Renye

On November 16, 2022, the woman credited with coining the term “sex worker” in the 80s died of cancer in her Bay Area home at the age of 71. Carol Leigh, “The Scarlot Harlot,” contributed a great deal to the industry not only in advocating the use of “sex worker,” but also in advancing labor rights and health protections for people in the profession.  

Prior to Leigh’s phrasing, people referred to the industry as “sex-use industry,” according to the Washington Post. Leigh said it bothered her sense of feminism and empowerment; she knew the profession needed a word other than “prostitute,” especially as she had lived experience working in the erotic massage parlor, Hong Kong Massage Parlor, on San Francisco’s O’Farrell Street.    

Those working in the industry self-identify, but in general, sex workers are people who have sex for money, have private websites, work for another website, do peepshow work, escorts, work in porn stores, operate phone sex lines, do erotic bodywork and massage, are fetish workers, tantrikas, sex club workers, and those who work for porn companies on or off camera. It’s so much more than “prostitution.” “Sex worker” encompasses the range within the field.

When people use terms other than sex worker, they diminish that sex work is actually work. Either that or they try to keep sex work in the shadows, pretend it doesn’t exist, or somehow turn it into something it’s not. Leigh understood that and she became one of the leading advocates for sex workers in the Bay Area campaigning both as herself and her stage persona the Scarlot Harlot. For instance, she helped dancers at a San Francisco club, Lusty Lady, bargain for their first labor contract in 1997.

Leigh also co-founded the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network with a former sex worker, Margo St. James, to decriminalize prostitution and protect sex workers from abuse with some success. In 2013, California said sex workers would qualify for help under the worker compensation fund if they were attacked or raped. Also, in 2019 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that gave sex workers the ability to report crimes without risk of arrest for prostitution.

I see the work of Leigh, St. James, and others as evidence of the divine feminine rising because they are championing the rights of issues that affect oppressed groups, of which self-identified women are a part.

I’ve been working with sex workers over the course of the last 20 years and understand the importance of advocacy for rights, both for them as workers and for general human rights. I’m a part of Bay Area Open Minds, a collective of therapists who affirm that sexual, relational and gender diversity are natural expressions of the human experience. Some of us in the collective specialize in providing therapy to sex workers, people who are partnered with sex workers, and those who go to sex workers.

I also offer an online mindfulness group for sex workers to help them navigate certain situations such as getting paid, raising their fees when needed, harassment (from co-workers and clients), safety, boundary setting, and having a romantic relationship.      

Journal Prompts

·      What comes up for you as you read about sex workers?

·      Have you ever been or are you currently a sex worker? How was that experience for you?

·      Have you dated or been partnered with a sex worker? What was that like for you?

Find out more information on our Sex Worker Weekly Drop in Group.

To set up an appointment to work together now, click here. 

Reference

Murphy, Brian. “Carol Leigh, who sought greater rights for sex workers, dies at 71.” Washington Post. November 18, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/18/carol-leigh-sex-work-dies/