Pregnancy care varies in quality at the best of times, but when you’re trans and coping within a system that isn’t built for you it’s important to be proactive about self-advocacy.
Tag Archives: transgender
The Price of Cisification
SWARM and THORN recently collaborated on putting together a zine, entitled Nuance Doesn’t Pay the Bills – a work of poetry, prose, and essays from trans sex workers! I was lucky enough to be asked to write a piece for it, The Price of Cisification which I’ve included below. It’s all about the costs associated with pretending to be cis while selling sex as a trans person.
Trans and Intersex Non-Disclosure vs. The “Trap” Stereotype
The choice over whether or not to disclose being trans or intersex to sexual partners can be a difficult one for many people, but the risks and pressures are especially high for those who sell sex. Instead of solely navigating the possibility of gendered violence when disclosure comes up during unexpected flirtations or planned casual sexual encounters, sex workers have to weigh up these issues against the harms that come from poverty if we cannot see enough clients.
Sex Deception Guidance: The Impact on Trans and Intersex Sex Workers
To summarize this guidance in the simplest terms, it treats a trans or intersex person not disclosing their gender identity and/or the sex they were assigned at birth as a form of deception which negates consent.
Trans Solidarity With Sex Workers
Supporting sex workers is not only the right thing to do, because we are a marginalized group who face constant abuse, but it is also beneficial for trans people who do not do sex work to ally themselves with sex workers. We have common struggles.
Hustling on Grindr
Here we will break down what it’s like to sell sex over Grindr, how this impacts safety, and why someone might choose to use Grindr for this instead of a traditional escorting website. Grindr isn’t built for sex workers, but we’re on it anyway!
Sexual Autopilot
I’m sure it’s not strictly true that I can’t have sex without slipping into what I think about as my “sex autopilot” mindset. For now, I seem to slip into it often, and it destroys my romantic relationships.
We’ll Make a Video Game with Dragons… and Hookers!
I go through phases with what kind of media I like to consume the most, and video games are one thing I come back to a lot. I’ve been playing games and coming across sex workers in them since long before I became a sex worker myself. Some of the examples that might first come to mind would be games like GTA or The Witcher. For me, the first time I remember playing a game that had a brothel in it was with the Dragon Age franchise.
Frequently Forgotten Top Surgery Tips and Mastectomy Myth-Busting
When planning for top surgery, it can be really daunting. Any kind of surgery is a scary prospect and no matter how many videos you watch or how many people you talk to, you’re never going to be able to perfectly prepare for everything that might happen.
You Look Like My…
You might have heard a story before about a client seeing a sex worker after his wife has died who looks similar to her, and I’ve seen those kinds of situations played up as heart-warming and sweet. I have had a couple of clients who’ve told me I look like a partner they lost, mostly early in my time selling sex, but most of the people I’m told I look like aren’t quite so charming…
Jack Talks About Sex Work 