This activity should take you about 10 minutes to complete.
What does looking at a problem or a challenge ‘intersectionally’ mean in action? In this activity, we’ll explore this in relation to sex work.
If you’ve already covered the topic Bodily Autonomy, you’ll have heard Kate McGrew talk about how the sex work community includes many members who are marginalised in different ways. Now listen to this excerpt from the Body Politic Podcast where Emma, Jade and Theo from The Street Workers Collective Ireland talk about intersectionality, solidarity with sex workers and decriminalisation of sex work. As you listen to the first clip, consider the question:
What does an intersectional lens mean for sex work activism?
“Alongside decrim, we put an emphasis on campaigning for anti poverty measures”
In this clip Theo talks about the reasons for setting up the Street Worker Collective and how this relates to the broader Red Umbrella Collective. Theo points out that street-based and homeless sex workers are subject to more intense policing and are made more vulnerable than other sex workers by homelessness and poverty. Moreover, these factors inhibit their capacity to take part in the overarching struggle for the decriminalisation of sex work in Ireland. The intersectional lens allows Theo and others to see that fighting homelessness and poverty are part and parcel of the struggle for decriminalisation. In other words, decriminalisation is the ultimate and collective goal, but it must be achieved while also fighting poverty and homelessness.
As you listen to the second clip, consider the following question:
What does an intersectional lens on sex work mean for feminism more broadly?
“If feminism is not intersectional, then it’s not useful to the majority of women around the world”
Emma makes the point that if feminism isn’t intersectional then it is not useful to the majority of women across the world. She refers to the fact that many marginalised women are in sex work and that if these voices are not heard, then the experiences of those who are ‘at the thin end of the wedge’ are also missed. This leads to a mis-recognition of the challenges that feminism faces ‘actively excluding women that need the power of feminism most.
Now go to Lesson 4 : An Intersectional Approach to Abortion in Ireland