Like many, I had immediately associated the employees in the massage parlor with sex work. The women became unworthy of sympathy since they could easily be equated to prostitutes.
As reactions to the breaking news flooded my Twitter feed, I was reminded of the dangers of prostitution, a profession that I once wanted to escape. I could not shake off the memories of fearing for my life when meeting new clients on the job as a queer sex worker β I had no idea whether a hateful murderer, cop, or sane client awaited me.
I had heard too many stories of sex workers being murdered by clients or arrested after being sexually assaulted by cops to approach my work casually. If my potential clients had viewed people like me in the same way the shooter had viewed the masseuses, I could have easily met a similar fate while on the job. After the massacre, I was even more disgusted by the crude utilitarian remarks that reduced our work to effortless, unskilled, over-glamorized labor.
It is not difficult to see why misconceptions dominate our profession. Online-based sex work platforms like OnlyFans are glorified and demeaned as celebrities like Bella Thorne capitalize on their fanbases to become instant millionaires effortlessly.
Such jokes erase the realities of increased risk of incarceration, murder, and sexual assault for sex workers.
