Prostitute or Sex Worker?

I brought the first steamy moisture to Austin in over 2 months of 100 degree dry days. Yes, it rained the whole time I performed Naked at My Age there last week. A medical doctor came up after one show, “I could treat the Stars, but I choose to treat the Whores.” Yes, sex workers seek out her positive attitude.

After my Portland show this month, I recognized Rep. Nosse in the audience who championed a statewide study of sex work in Oregon—which the Governor VETOED. Ugh! She wanted more discussion first which many of us had with Rep. Noose right there in the theatre after my show! I invited the Gov too, but she didn't show.

In Naked I sing a song that’s pretty blunt—Be a Whore at 54—and I talk about going on a ‘prostitute interview.’ Those terms date me, 20 years ago we didn’t call ourselves ‘sex workers.’

Today, sex workers include criminalized prostitutes (escorts), brothel and massage parlor workers, dominatrixes, fetish models and legal (but stigmatized) strippers, porn performers, phone sex operators and online content creators. The term “sex work” unites all erotic laborers around the stigma we share. There’s a solidarity, not judgment, between us!

Sex work is about selling our labor—not our bodies—I still have mine after you wonderful clients! Moral reformers through out the ages tell us as erotic providers we are a victims of violence, abuse, patriarchy or “false consciousness.” But really most of us just want a job—a good one if possible—especially if you're a woman. Laws that criminalize consensual adult sex work claim to protect women and children, but they harm rather than help them.

I love how Kaylin Baily, of Oldest Profession Podcast, talks of decriminalizing sex work in her Huffington Post article: 

“Like all consensual, intimate acts between adults, sex work should not be surveilled or criminalized, even if money is exchanged…

The way to shift the treatment of sex workers is not by legalizing sex work, but by decriminalizing it. Sex workers all over the world want to be able to report crimes committed against us. We want to be able to safely schedule and screen our clients. We want to work together to share information about dangerous clients and to advocate for our safety and health. But we cannot do these things if we, or our clients, are criminalized.”

My dear Patreons, sex workers are, and have always been, contributing members of the communities we’re a part of, which is all of them. Have you hugged a sex worker today? I give you a gran abrazo!

Miss Charla

PS Tell any Oregon Coast friends I perform in Newport, OR, Oct 6, Sat, Tickets 

Charla sings Be a Whore at 54 in Naked at My Age!