Table Of ContentPraise for Working It
“If you ever want to know what is really up, talk to a sex worker.
Working It is chock-full of harsh realities, hopeful activism, hot
takes, sharp writing, electric intellects, dark humor—everything you
could want, all from the culture heroes making their dollars at the
intersection of all our country’s worst problems. This is true outlaw
writing, and the stories inside are of crucial importance for us all.”
—Michelle Tea, author of over a dozen books, including
Rent Girl, Valencia, and Against Memoir
“A serious, eclectic collection that takes a critical eye to the tricky
questions surrounding care and work within our society. The
thinkers in the pages of Working It have a lot to teach us about both.”
—Rax King, author of Tacky and cohost of the podcast Low Culture Boil
“Under neoliberal late capitalism—where wage growth fails to meet the
ever-growing cost of living and the already-frayed social safety net
is ever-receding—laborers in many sectors of the economy struggle
to provide for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Sex workers are among these laborers, and Working It offers what
the editors rightly refer to as a ‘kaleidoscope’ of thought-provoking
historical commentaries, academic examinations, personal narratives,
and interviews. Interspersed with beautiful poems and creative images,
the pieces in this collection, written by contributors representing a
wide range of identities and experiences, offer readers an expansive
view of sex work, while also highlighting sex workers’ broader struggles,
triumphs, and collective efforts. Variously confronting issues including
but not limited to racism, classism, sexism, police brutality, consent,
and respectability politics, Working It indicates the challenges—but
also the hope and radical imagination—of workers striving to meet
their own needs and support each other in a broader socio-cultural,
political, and economic climate that is often hostile to their interests.”
—Sam Majic, author of Sex Work Politics: From Protest to Service
Provision, coeditor of Negotiating Sex Work: Unintended
Consequences of Policy and Activism, and coauthor of Youth Who
Trade Sex in the US: Agency, Intersectionality, and Vulnerability
Working It
Sex Workers on the Work of Sex
Edited by Matilda Bickers
with peech breshears and Janis Luna
“Cyntoia Brown and My Black Body” first published in Tits and Sass, December 1, 2017
“What Would You Say to Other Girls Who Are Considering It?” first published in Hobart,
January 2021
“El Cerrito” first published in Twenty-One: A Story of Survival and Heartbreak Told in
Essays and Poems, Lulu, 2019
Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex
Edited by Matilda Bickers, with peech breshears and Janis Luna
This edition © PM Press 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without
permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978–1–62963–991–8 (paperback)
ISBN: 978–1–62963–995–6 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022942729
Cover painting of stripper in court by Stephanie “Monty Monster Slayer” Montgomery
Cover design by John Yates / www.stealworks.com
Interior design by briandesign
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
Printed in the USA.
Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
Molly Smith
Introduction 1
Matilda Bickers with Melissa Ditmore
Life at the Margins: A Roadmap for the Revolution 22
Leila Raven
Adrie Rose 25
The Monotony of Sex Work 31
Sarah
Sage 35
White Supremacy in Organizing 39
Domino Rey
Sex Workers against Work, by Adrie Rose
Camille 51
Waiting to Be Rescued from My Office Job 55
Emily Dall’Ora Warfield
The High Cost of Cheap Labor 61
Melissa Ditmore
Jelena Vermilion 73
Cyntoia Brown and My Black Body 79
Naomi
Manon 83
What Would You Say to Other Girls Who Are Considering It? 93
Stephanie Kaylor
How I Ended Up Being a Social Worker at the Veterans
Administration 95
a conversation with Eden
What Did Sex Work Take from You—and How Can You Get It
Back? 101
peech breshears
first, last, my only 113
xaxum omer
Respectability Politics by Any Other Name: Sex Work, Sports,
Service, and Therapy 129
Janis Luna
Beyondeep 137
El Cerrito 141
Nick Lovett
6 gifts you can ask your sugar daddy for that won’t destroy his
sense of your “quirk” as unthreatening sexual garnish and that
won’t make you feel like you have turned into a cartoon glyph
with tits animated by the dispossessed spirit of capitalist
alienation 145
Cisqo Thyme
I Don’t Consent to Enthusiastic Consent 149
Phoenix Calida
When My Mom Found My Craigslist Ad 155
Alyssa Pariah
Crystal Kimewon 161
Letter from a Social Worker 173
Aubrey
Monty Monster Slayer 179
Intimate Labor 184
Matilda Bickers
Janis Luna 194
1099 Problems 197
Susan Elizabeth Shepard
Metatopia: Imagination beyond Dystopia 205
Dee Lucas
About the Contributors 214
ix
Illustrations
Sex Workers against Work, by Adrie Rose vi
Self-Portrait, by Adrie Rose 26
Art by Beyondeep 34
Parking, by Scarlett 40
Self-Portrait, by Camille 50
Afterparty, by Ellis Burnheart 56
Repeal, by Anonymous 62
Protect, Believe, Support, by Jelena Vermilion 72
Flamenca, by Manon 82
Photograph by Stephanie Kaylor 92
NHI, by Adrie Rose 94
Scooter, by peech breshears 100
love is for suckers, by xaxum omer 112
Skin, by Sky Rocket 128
Playtime, by Beyondeep 136
Art by Elizabeth Juarez 142
Art by Eva Wǒ 144
Club, by Manon 148
Art by Kat Salas 160
Tips and Tricks, by Leslie Bull 174
Billboard by Monty Monster Slayer 178
After Work, by Cecilia Bahls 198
In the Future, by Rambling Hooker 206
