Sex Work, Don't Be Afraid

Reality is so complex and social phenomena so multifaceted that we cannot analyse the entire spectrum of sex work, understand all the underlying factors, feel all the conditions, and highlight all the problems that arise.

There is no objective reality since the point of observation is never the same—modern physics taught us this. Our perspective is always influenced by a specific angle, a body, a position, a history.

Everything exists on a continuous plane of action and reaction, necessity and desire, which is impossible to separate. This is the first thing we must understand. The discussion about sex work cannot be squeezed into the dichotomy of for or against. Sex work can be pleasure but also compulsion, liberation but also entrapment, creation but also destruction.

We don’t need to hide how much pain sometimes and how many wounds open with this profession, and we shouldn’t avoid criticizing the psychological tensions lurking in sex work. Many things happen. Money, pleasure, laughter, desire, respect, and on the other hand, disgust, nerves, tolerance, even use of addictive substances to “live the moment.” At the same time, communities are built, resistance networks are created, lives are saved from poverty, despair and destitution, a way out is found to get by, studies are supported, rents, dreams. The hardest part is that all of this is simultaneously true.

What We Don’t Say