A team of medical students at the University of British Columbia have developed a panic button for street based workers in Vancouver. This could be awesome. I hope this helps workers who are left without any decent options for creating basic safety. I also have ambivalent feelings about our saviours, the non sex workers. The best safety for sex workers is when we work together in a setting under our own control. If this button saves lives and prevents violence, then fuck yeah. Just don’t forget that it is second best to sex worker self-determination and should never replace it.
Which is to say, it also makes me uncomfortable to see non sex workers get really excited about how smart and amazing other non sex workers are at saving us. This project may have enormously beneficial impacts for sex workers–if and only if–they implement all the suggestions made by street workers. I just want non sex workers to think twice about: Continue reading
Born Whore 