The pandemic and the panic that surrounds it are a real and present danger for sex workers.
As soon as my alarm clock rings, I roll over to check the notifications on my phone. Two new emails. Amazing. I open the mail app, hoping for a new client inquiry. It’s been too slow ― the dead space of tax season has extended into March and I’m down to my last $200, needing a client to come in fast. I open the first email.Delete delete delete.A huge sigh. This has been the theme for going on three months now, with no foreseeable end in sight.
In an ideal world, both clients and workers could take time off and pre-emptively self-quarantine until the threat of contracting coronavirus is under control. We could all put our health first, and seek out health care if we need it. Drops in demand brought on by COVID-19 don’t just mean less work ― it means less safe work. Often when workers have fewer clients and no savings to rely on, we get pushed into situations that compromise our boundaries. We are forced to book with clients who do not have our safety or our best interests in mind. Clients will try to haggle with us, push down the price of our services, and sometimes we can’t refuse.
The precarious situations of sex workers in the time of COVID-19 underscore the failings of our systems and our government’s inability to care for its most marginalized citizens. We often say that our work is a luxury service. Sex is a luxury service, but intimacy is not. The most impactful parts of our work ― empathy, intimacy, connection ― are also at risk as we begin to fear the touch of another human being. Intimacy is still a basic human need. People will still seek the services of professional sex workers, even now amid a viral outbreak when we all have that much more to lose.
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