A must-read by anyone who supports the #MeToo movement, We Too collects the stories of a group often cast aside or maligned by mainstream feminism - sex workers of all types, across race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability. In these essays, they tackle the issues that feed into the assaults of sex workers - social stigmas, the tensions between sex workers and the US government, the complicated happenings within their workplaces, their relationships with families both found and birth, and their fights for survival and healing. Several of these essays were absolutely revolutionary to me - from discussions of sex work during the pandemic to the uneasy concept many of us have of what constitutes sexual assault. My favorites were: "Your Mother Is a Whore: On Sex Work and Motherhood" by Jessie Sage, "How to Not Be an Asshole When Your Sex Worker Partner Is Assaulted at Work" by Maggie McMuffin, "Undercover Agents" by Norma Jean Almodovar, "The New Orleans Police Raid That Launched a Dancer Resistance" by Melissa Gira Grant, "What Media Coverage of James Deen's Assaults Means for Sex Workers," by Cyd Nova, "Are You Safe?" by Reese Piper, "When She Says Woman, She Does Not Mean Me," by Lorelei Lee, "Going from Homeless Trans Youth to Holistic Caregiver" by Ceyenne Doroshow with Zackary Drucker, and "We All Deserve to Heal" by Yin Q.

 

“I have been harmed in sex work and I have been helped in sex work and I should not have to explain either of those experiences in order to talk about my work as work. “ 

It’s important to go into this anthology with the understanding that this was not written for a casual reader. It is not catering to the newly curious or the “debate me bro”-types. This a book for the community. The “we.” Most of us are not a part of that, nor should we pretend to be. Instead, our role is to witness and absorb the stories and experiences of these workers and just generally try to reduce the size of our own egos. 

Sex work is not one thing. It is a thousand different things, and those forms of labor mean different things to different workers.  This collection covered everything from more mainstream porn work, to leather-culture, to socially-distant sex work in the time of COVID. 

Some of the essays made me happy and some made me sad. Some made me breathlessly uncomfortable, while others made me grab my laptop to do more in-depth research of my own. I would recommend that everyone eventually read this.  Eventually being key – this is not a primer on sex work, and it is not interested in holding your hand and walking you through terminology, customary practices, or toning down the more intense shades of how some workers choose to earn their income. 

 

Pairs well with: 

-       ‘The Roommate’ 

-       John Oliver’s recent LWT ‘Sex Work’ segment 

-       Anarchism 

I have highlighted so many passages from this book. I found most of the essays in it brilliant and it was such a combination of different perspectives that it never felt tiring. Sex workers are absolutely a major part of #MeToo and this book was a great resource for being able to articulate why. I would recommend it to any feminist, and especially those looking for an easy-to-read book on sex work, and how it relates to #MeToo as well as other issues such as decriminalization and trafficking.