Whoraphobia – noun. It is the hatred and demeaning attitude towards sexually active people and sex workers especially. This includes jokes at the expense of sex workers and the belief that sex work is a demeaning occupation.
For two years, I have been a sex worker in Peterborough. You don’t see me on Bethune Street, a street where women who engage in sex work are the butt of many jokes made by Trent University students. I am not of these women but I stand with them in spirit.
I am in your classrooms, on your city buses, in your group projects, and behind you in line at the coffee shops on campus.
I hear your jokes. I hear you use the terms ‘whore’ and ‘hooker’ as nothing. I hear you say ‘I should just drop out and become a stripper,’ as if it were not a physically difficult and talent-necessitating job which requires its own impressive skill set. I hear you talk about your ideas of escorts and how oblivious you are to the entire industry. I hear you. And you are wrong.
I see your beliefs. I see that you know nothing about the reality of sex work. I see you watching your propaganda Netflix ‘documentaries’. I see you trying to engage in discussion that has nothing to do with you. I see you trying to be liberal or helpful in placing sex work into the same category as sex trafficking. I see you. And you are wrong.
I am not ashamed; I am an expert in my profession. I am not dirty; I have never had an STI and probably use condoms more often than you. I am not brainwashed, confused or stuck. Like any job, there are bad days and good days. Like any job, it is to make money. Like any skilful job, not everyone is good enough to be successful.
But I did enter the industry primarily out of desperation for money. With two public jobs and OSAP, I still could not afford to live anywhere else but my car while a student at Trent University.
In the beginning, I made a lot of mistakes and risked my safety for the opportunity of education. I reached out to Financial Aid and the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA) and was met with whoraphobia and a pathetic excuse for a student food bank. The food bank that could help me was soon closed down by the University’s Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG).
Still, I manage to excel as a student because of the financial support of the sex work industry.
Still, I have to be subject to hearing your uneducated public conversations of whoraphobia and the University’s lack of compassion for its students’ well-being.
I am confident that I am not the only sex worker on campus. I am confident that we are all sick of the attitude of students and staff in a university setting that are supposed to be well-educated. But you are not.