News — penelopesays

“I’d never date a stripper. They have no self-respect.”   Raise your hand if you’ve heard that one before.   When you are a sex worker, sometimes to be loved feels more like a privilege than a right. Many of us, myself included, grew up internalizing society’s negative messages about sex workers–that we are dirty, disgusting, shameful, untrustworthy, unfaithful to our partners, incapable of love, and, therefore, unworthy of loving, respectful relationships.   The social stigma against sex workers is deadly. Across the globe, many sex workers–mostly femme, trans, and queer sex workers–are murdered daily by their own relatives, partners,...