Message from The Editor's Desk

TLDR: hey, it’s Huck. Frenchie gets all monies from August subscriptions~ she’s 8mos preggo and would really appreciate the help. BSWWS is mostly grant-funded, but only to support operations. Our new subscription model on Substack is designed to directly support a named writer within a given month. Please subscribe and support August’s writer Frenchie <3 Discount codes + editor photo reveal at the bottom!

Thank you so much for being a part of this community project. Your interest in our stories means so much to us. Since we’ve generated a couple dozen subscribers now, I figured it was time to make a formal introduction.

BIPOC Sex Worker Writers’ Space, or BSWWS, was formed in October 2024 by Keke Walker, Huck Reyes, Justice Rivera, Chey Davis, and Melodie KG. This group was formed out of the desires, dreams, and frustrations experienced by our members within traditional literary spaces and institutions. We aim to create a literary community in which queer, trans, and BIPOC sex worker writers can show up as their whole selves, and actually gain from that honesty.

Our core organizers each reside in different areas of the US and its territories, making our organizing work and community offerings totally virtual for the time being. We often collaborate on the ground with other local sex worker rights organizations to provide writer services, or contribute original content.

One main objective as we approach our first anniversary: PAY THE HOS.

Why is it so important to financially support sex workers (of any identity)? This might not be so obvious to readers who have never had to make a living completely under the table. Think about different situations where one must show proof of income: housing applications, health insurance, social security benefits, loans…What happens when proving your income means submitting fraudulent information (a crime), or openly revealing your industry (also criminalized)?

For these conundrums and more, we aim to cushion the pocketbooks of our community members and also create opportunities for BIPOC sex worker writers to develop stability outside of sex work. We are not interested in actively influencing sex workers to leave sex work, nor are we interested in overly glamorizing the realities of our industry. We simply want to contribute to an economy of occupational diversification for our participants. And share some valuable perspectives while we’re at it.

How do we do this? We provide $50 stipends to those who attend our monthly writers’ workshop. These workshops are designed for any experience level with writing. For those who would like to lead a writers’ workshop, we provide a stipend of $200. Most of our workshops are lead by our core organizers who are published writers, but being published is not a requisite for facilitating a workshop. For those who are ready to submit work, our rolling call for blog submissions is always open and we pay $75 per published piece.

We also sponsor participants to attend writers’ conferences and other literary industry gatherings. The fees and travel associated with such conferences is a significant barrier for many, and showing up in new spaces can be daunting when you’ve experienced stigma related to sex work. I myself am learning about this mysterious vast landscape as a newcomer to the literary industry (yes, the outsiders are crashing the party and we’re bringing contraband).

Our funding has been provided primarily through grants and also personal financing from our core organizers. We are wholeheartedly grateful to New Moon Fund, Trans Justice Funding Project, and The Action for Transformation Fund for supporting us in our pilot year. I would not be at my desk writing this letter right now if it weren’t for these visionary funders. But this is not enough! While our team works frequently to find and write applicable grants, our community’s needs do not pause.

That’s where you come in, dear reader! In addition to creating paid writing opportunities and sponsoring professional development, we are committed to supplying mutual aid to our blog contributors and workshop participants. To sustain both the internal needs of the operation and the wellbeing of our creators and collective members, financial diversification is needed.

In an effort to support individual writers who have expressed to us a falling on hard times, BSWWS will now be donating 100% of new subscriptions within a given month directly to a specific contributing writer. This month of August 2025, all new monthly and yearly subscription fees will be donated to Frenchie, the author of “Why Pregnant Sex Workers Deserve Dignity.” You can also donate directly by clicking her linked name. An excerpt from her article:

My hustle mentality has only gone up during this pregnancy, especially with such unstable housing. I’m constantly setting daily goals of how much I need to make to sustain a room—planting the seeds through posts, content creation, and marketing to do so.

Often though, I rarely get to enjoy the pregnancy. I’m so focused on meeting my quota and end up burnt out. I still do it because it is what I genuinely enjoy doing and I’m not able to do vanilla work, so I do what I can with the tools that I have.

Because time and bills won’t wait for this baby. Because my kids' stomachs won’t go without being full.

Our subscription model is not designed to support our operations. Our subscription model is designed to directly support our writers. When you subscribe, even if you unsubscribe before the next renewal, you will be donating personally to an individual whose writing you already enjoy and appreciate. Our highest cost subscription starts at $8.98/month—hey, that’s a burrito for us writers! And the yearly is $80, which breaks down to $6.66/month. When a reader subscribes yearly within a given month, the benefiting writer receives the total, not the monthly breakdown. The yearly option is a great opportunity to directly support another human on this planet who has fallen on hard times while also getting a good deal for our content. Our writers’ voices are not often found in the mainstream and for a small token, these unique perspectives will be delivered directly to your inbox.

• Of course it’s free for sex workers!! Please shoot us an email at bipoc.swws@gmail.com or send a DM on IG @bipoc.swws. We will reply with a link to subscribe to our paid content for free.

• For Non-Industry QTBIPOC, we offer our subscriptions at a 50% reduced cost.

If you have the means, we do encourage a full subscription as this goes directly to our writers and we want the most for them!

This tier is designed for invested community partners who not only want to help with general funds, but who are also interested in collaborating with our core organizers. For $280, Founding Collaborators may book one of our core organizers to speak at an event, on a podcast, or as part of panel; all of our core organizers are experienced advocates. The intention with this exchange is to build solidarity among industries, promote the BSWWS project, and simultaneously sustain our operations. The specifics of the exchange will be discussed as needed. If you are a media creator, organizer, or journalist with a budget for guest speakers and events, then this tier is a great option. Let’s create a positive feedback loop of content, sustenance, and advocacy!

It’s been an absolute pleasure to read and edit the writings of my beloved community of BIPOC sex worker writers and I am truly honored that I get to do this. Keep submitting your work to us and keep being you!!

From Atlanta with love,

Huck Reyes (they/he)

Editor of The BSWWS Blog