Part of a series discussing whorephobia: Part 1, Part 2

I just came back from the Oakland Trans Day of Remembrance, which I plan to write more fully about tomorrow when I can devote my whole being to it. But listening to the names of 224 people who died, at least in part, because of transphobia, while coming out as a sex worker to talk about issues with health care and access, really made me feel sad and angry that people end up forced into the outskirts of society, where they end up at a much higher risk for violence both institutionalized and not.

See, look at her, READING TO KIDS, the harlot

So of course I was angry on her behalf when I hear that the school she volunteered her time at reading books to elementary school kids claimed she was never there. When photos prove, well, yeah, actually, she was, they said they had no idea who she was and they're now "investigating the incident". Incident? What incident? A woman read Dr. Seuss to some kids. What's the big deal? 

I consider myself a very open minded person, but if I had a kid and I found out after the fact that Sasha Grey had read books to his/her class, I’m not sure how I would process that. Perhaps I’d need some Chlorox surface wipes, at least.

and

Not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that I had no idea who Sasha Grey is, but yeah - I didn’t. So I googl’d ‘er.
And yeah…I don’t think I would want the person reading stories to my kid to have won the following awards:
“Best Three Way Sex Scene”
“Best Group Scene” (They mean ‘orgy’, y’all)
“Best Oral Sex Scene”
Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with working in porn, I just wouldn’t want my daughter to come home talking about this ‘nice lady’ who read them books, only to later come to me asking, “what’s an orgy?”
Planning on saving that talk for 9th grade…

Ok, seriously, how much whorephobia can you pile in there? Sex workers are all diseased, of course (despite constant, consistent proof to the contrary... and I'm talking real studies/stats, not this unprovable bullshit) and we talk about nothing but sex, all the time, to everyone and anyone, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. Once a sex worker, after all, you're tainted for life, right? I bet Sasha read it as "One Fish Two Fish MASSIVE FISH ORGY". I mean, I know I'm always looking to corrupt the kiddies with my nymphomaniac ways.

Oh, wait, no, I'm not a coach. Why aren't people flipping out about sports being a corrupting influence?

There were a bunch of people who responded calling these two people out, of course. But as I reflect on Trans Day of Remembrance, and get ready to work on the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers,  it really hits me hard how attitudes like the ones shown above add to a culture that sees sex workers and people in adult industries as less human.

That's what puts us at risk. Not some random person. Me. Friends of mine. Probably, friends of yours, who know it's not safe to come out as being sex workers so they haven't, not even to you. Same with transgender violence.

That's why we need to speak out. That's why we need to show up and stand up. Not just me. Not just sex workers. Not just trans people. Allies. Relatives. Friends. Coworkers. Because every time to hear someone misuse pronouns and you don't speak up, you're enabling entitlement culture that makes being trans dangerous. Every time you hear someone laugh at a dead hooker joke and you don't say "actually, that's fucked up", you're encouraging a culture that thinks my death is hilarious.

And I am really fucking pissed off about that.

You should be too.