These Women Are Advocating For Their Rights in the Porn & Sex Work Industries (Mic)

Read the full article by Kenny Herzog at Mic.com

Back in December, Mic published a story asking who would stand up on behalf of women in the adult and sex-work industries — women who’ve been tacitly excluded from the #MeToo revolution. Since that time, continued double standards concerning workplace protections and legislative threats to their safety and livelihood has compelled an entire community of professional porn actresses and sex workers to grassroots activism. For many, that has meant repurposing their social media outreach as a megaphone for change and speaking more openly to mainstream press.

But there are also larger-scale efforts afoot. And in advance of Saturday’s International Sex Workers’ Day — an annual occasion signified by worldwide rallies and protests for sex workers’ rights that has taken on special urgency this year — we’ve spotlighted and spoken by phone with just a handful of women across both the porn and sex-work fields who are unapologetically marrying politics to their profession. In some cases, they’ve committed full-time to activism. Others have followed what they see as a calling while continuing to work — with all the assumed risks — on camera or with clients. They represent a small but powerful sample of people in these invariably intertwined professions who are pushing for equal and human rights.