For years, sex workers have struggled to find safe work under tighter federal regulations. Coronavirus made that worse. Ganesha Gold Buffalo photographed with Zoom video conferencing on Sept. Sex work for Ganesha Gold Buffalo was never an easy job. Sometimes it was fun. Sometimes it was a necessity. Usually, it was enough to get by.
And, as a transgender femme, it was one of the only jobs Gold Buffalo could rely on. Still, it was steady work. Besides that, with so many others like Gold Buffalo in the sex working industry, too, it was a way of finding friends and community. Those plans, once so reliable, seem like ancient history now. Most in-person events Gold Buffalo was set to work at were canceled months ago, once the coronavirus began to spread.
Life for Gold Buffalo and others in the sex industry has become only more complicated ever since. Savannah Sly, a community organizer with sex worker advocacy organization Sex Workers Outreach Project SWOP Seattle, says the pandemic has worsened problems related to safety and security in the industry. Some sex workers have lost clients or feel unsafe working with the potential of infection hanging over their head. Gold Buffalo got sick with what was probably the coronavirus in late March.
Soon after, it lost its housing. Seeking stability, Gold Buffalo moved back to Tennessee in the past few weeks to live with its mother. Gold Buffalo says the situation requires putting aside personal politics and personality to appease the man for fear of losing housing if he gets upset. The bills, aimed at curbing sex trafficking online, shut down many websites like Backpage that sex workers once used to advertise their services.
Sly says that reports by sex worker advocacy organizations found that removing these websites makes victims harder to track while also putting sex workers operating consensually in more vulnerable positions. Some sex workers tried out virtual work, like webcamming for adult entertainment sites, although Sly says those formats often don't make the same amount of money as in-person jobs.
