SWOP Director Responds to Post-Dispatch and Mayoral Candidates Comments on "Prostitution"

As a sex worker and sex work organizer with Sex Worker Outreach Project St. Louis, I implore elected officials and those seeking office to correctly address and unapologetically support sex work destigmatization and decriminalization.

I am encouraged that St. Louis mayoral candidate Tishaura O. Jones features sex work decriminalization and destigmatization as part of her campaign platform. However, I am disappointed yet unsurprised to see that other candidates have responded to her stance in support of sex workers with ambivalence and misinformed rebuttal. SWOP and I refuse to tolerate well-precedented public displays of whorephobia from candidates like Lewis Reed, who hypocritically seeks to uphold the criminalization of our labor despite bankrolling his previous campaign with donations from a convicted felon and former strip club owner. It is unacceptable that stigma and criminalization continue to exclude sex workers from public life, while those who enforce this pernicious status quo benefit from our labor and subjugation. Policy that affirms sex work as labor is necessary and long overdue.

St. Louis deserves a leader who fully sees the lived experiences of all their residents without pearl-clutching or posturing conservative values. Solely using the term “prostitution” is outdated and harmfully connotes stigma and criminality. As discussed in the MO Ho Justice Coalition’s recently released State of The Hustle: Missouri Sex Workers Speak Out report, “sex work” is a recently-coined term that is inclusive of anyone who has ever traded pleasure for resources of any kind.

Using this term more accurately helps us clarify who is doing these types of work. We urge all candidates to reflect on their own internalized biases against sex work, empower themselves with non-stigmatizing language, and seek a nuanced understanding of the current State of The Hustle. It is imperative that our city’s next mayor comes prepared to advocate on behalf of all residents without misinformation or prejudice clouding their judgement.

Sex work is work, and the conflation of sexual labor with crime dilutes our ability to support those engaging in sex work and to truly keep people safe. Conflating the entire commercial sex industry with criminality obscures actual crimes occurring within the industry, fosters a precarious work environment for sex workers, and enables trafficking.

Sex workers are uniquely positioned to identify, report, and prevent violence within the commercial sex industry, but are unable to seek justice for these crimes due to the criminalization of their own labor. Furthermore, criminalizing sex work perpetuates harm against survivors of trafficking even when trafficking stings purport to “liberate” them; survivors of trafficking are frequently arrested for prostitution and thereby re-victimized by the legal system, rather than healed by the rehabilitative services they deserve. Finally, criminalizing sex work impedes trafficking prevention initiatives by gatekeeping essential services from the populations who are at greatest risk of being trafficked: sex workers who use drugs, unhoused sex workers, disabled sex workers, undocumented sex workers, BIPOC sex workers, and LGBTQ+ sex workers.

To conflate human trafficking with sex work is missing the mark. Any city leader must hold the capacity to respect and honor that some people willingly and safely trade erotic services for resources, be they monetary or otherwise. If we can’t talk honestly about sex work as work, how will we really be able to identify when people are being trafficked?

In solidarity with St. Louis’ sex workers and survivors of trafficking, we expect the following two urgent and necessary commitments be made by our city’s mayoral candidates:

1) Honor sex work as professional labor

We implore Missouri leaders, political candidates, and the general public to honor sex workers as experts of the commercial sex industry and as the chief stakeholders in policy concerning sex work. This entails: understanding the experiences and circumstances of sex workers in the state of Missouri (start here); prioritizing sex workers’ recommendations when addressing issues concerning the commercial sex industry; and using current, respectful language when discussing sex work.

2) Serve with a commitment to protecting sex workers and trafficking survivors from the harms of criminalization

We urge the incoming mayor to work closely with the leadership of St. Louis circuit attorney, Kim Gardner, and publicly commit to declining to prosecute all charges related to sex work.

We also call for the full removal of criminal penalties of doing sex work and operating sexually-oriented businesses (such as adult toy/video stores, strip clubs), which promote unfair double-standards against the industry and contribute to stigma.

Sex workers of St. Louis and their allies demand leaders who educate themselves on issues impacting sex workers, listen to their sex working constituents, and address the commercial sex industry with evidence-based policy. Whorephobic conjecture has no place in public policy or city leadership. SWOP looks forward to helping electing a mayor who will work with and uplift residents of all walks of life to ensure the wellness and safety of all St. Louis communities.

Join us in the fight to decriminalize sex work. Be sure to visit mohojustice.com to join the team efforts and don’t forget to register to vote by Feb 3 to participate in this election. To do so, visit https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/elections/.