In Part II of our bonus episode in this special Working People series on sex work, we chat to the amazing Alex Andrews, an organizer, former sex worker, and co-founder of SWOP Behind Bars, part of the Sex Workers Outreach Project. SWOP Behind Bars “is a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of people who face discrimination from the criminal justice system due to the stigma associated with the sex trade.” We talk to Alex about what led her to get involved with SWOP Behind Bars and about the vital work they and other sex worker rights groups are doing to protect and advocate for sex workers around the country. And we talk about what allies can do to support sex workers in the era of SESTA-FOSTA. 

 

Additional links/info below...

• SWOP Behind Bars website and Twitter account
• Caty Simon & Alex Andrews, Tits and Ass, “Activist Spotlight: Alex Andrews on SWOP Behind Bars and Service Work” 
• Aja Romano, Vox, “A New Law Intended to Curb Sex Trafficking Threatens the Future of the Internet as We Know It” 
• Emily McCombs, HuffPost, “‘This Bill Is Killing Us’: 9 Sex Workers on Their Lives in the wake of FOSTA”
• Kitty Stryker, Teen Vogue, “What the FOSTA/SESTA Anti-Sex-Trafficking Bill Means” 
• Fabian Luis Fernandez, Yale University EliScholar, “Hands Up: A Systematized Review of Policing Sex Workers in the U.S.” 
• Sirin Kale, Broadly-VICE, “Police Are Allegedly Sleeping with Sex Workers Before Arresting Them”
• STOP SESTA-FOSTA: stopsesta.org 

 

More Sex Worker Groups/Organizations… 

• GLITS (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society)
• SWOP USA (Sex Workers Outreach Project) 
• Sex Workers Project
• Desiree Alliance
• SOAR Institute (Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy & Rights) 
• DECRIMNOW (A Campaign to Decriminalize Sex Work in DC) 
• Students 4 Decrim
• Respect Sex Workers
• Red Light Legal

 

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Coolzey, “Terrorist” 
• The Womb, “You’ll Never Work in this Town Again” 
• The Gays, “The Community” 
• Brakhag, “The Strike”