As many of you know, I am featured in a book called I Hate My Job: Thots on Sex Work, Labor and Capitalism. You can buy the book here.
This month, I’m sharing the outtakes of my essays from the book — the parts that didn’t make the cut of the final edit. This is an Empress Mirage exclusive: out of order, and out of context. Enjoy.
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Sometimes those fears become manifest, and then they become tabloid news under a spotlight. In 1995, Black street-based sex worker Divine Brown was arrested, sentenced to 180 days in jail, and forced to pay hefty fines when she and famous British actor Hugh Grant were caught mid-session in his BMW by LAPD. Hugh Grant paid a lesser fine than Divine Brown, and was released to return to England; he later used this incident as a tongue-in-cheek reference for his role in Bridget Jones Diary (2001) to play a bad-boy love interest–the book the film was based on directly referenced the incident. Despite the jail time, Divine Brown was later able to build a modest career off the publicity from the incident. Other sex workers in similar situations are not as lucky. In 1997, Shalimar Seiuli–a Trans sex worker from Samoa–was arrested after the car she was in with actor Eddie Murphy was pulled over by police at 4:45 AM in an area known for street-based prostitution. Seiuli–like Divine Brown–was arrested on the basis of having previous prostitution charges–and Eddie Murphy left without being arrested, later providing the excuse that he was being a “Good Samaritan” by giving Seiuli a ride home. In exchange for paying her bond to be released from jail, Seilui gave her story to a tabloid–but soon after, she reported receiving anonymous threats and told those close to her that she feared for her life. Less than one year after the incident, she was found dead in front of her apartment building. The official ruling by police was an accidental fall, but her friends, family, and coworkers have never accepted that her death was an accident.
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