You said it. You truly captured it in a nutshell. So many of the problems sex workers face is indeed because they have internalized the stigma. They just don’t realize it.

Oh, I’m deluded. Just ask anybody

Publishers are a spineless lot. At least, IMO.

XX

On the one hand you have the in-your-face, militant ones who climb on the barricades, and on the other those who (more or less secretly) would like nothing more than assimilation into the mainstream, and internalize as truth the prejudices displayed by the majority.

When a handjob pro claims that she’s not a sex worker because she doesn’t do THIS or THAT particular (dirty) act, or a former escort feels violated, victimized, and crippled by guilt over an activity that she once chose willingly… I’m reminded of blacks who bleach their skin and shun darker brothers, Asians who have their eyes re-cut, and gays who torture themselves living the straight lifestyle married to the other sex.
Denial is a powerful force.

This is the first sex worker blog I read that is completely devoid of justification, commiseration, delusion, and above all, condemnation of others of a perceived lower status to feel better about oneself. It is what it is, “not that there’s anything wrong with that!”. I love it.

Now, that the sex worker “stigma” would scare publishers is absolutely baffling to me.

I don’t think the problem is isolated. But for whatever reason it doesn’t make me pessimistic — maybe because I know better than to believe those comments? It does sadden me though.

XX