Skip to content
Chris Ash
  • about
  • Portfolio
    • Current CV
    • words and story
    • blog
    • archived: writing
  • calendar
  • Search
Chris Ash
  • Search
  • about
  • Portfolio
    • Current CV
    • words and story
    • blog
    • archived: writing
  • calendar
Home » blog » #ListenToAllSurvivors » #ListenToAllSurvivors 1: The Spectrum of Agency
#ListenToAllSurvivors human trafficking sex work stories and essays

#ListenToAllSurvivors 1: The Spectrum of Agency

by admin|Published September 18, 2021
Three people are having a conversation. Alisha has medium brown skin and dark brown wavy hair and wears red glasses and a hoodie. Chris has light skin, freckles, short blue hair, and dark blue glasses. Leah has long straight blond hair, light skin. All three look upset.

Leah is saying, "I was a prostitute and felt so exploited. PROSTITUTION IS EXPLOITATION. "Sex work" is paid rape!
 Alisha says, "I'm a sex worker and I feel empowered! SEX WORK IS EMPOWERING!" Chris puts their hand to their head, unsure what to do.
Alisha says, "EMPOWERMENT!" Leah says, "EXPLOITATION!" Chris, standing between the two, is trying to figure out what to do.
Alisha shouts, "CONSENSUAL!" Leah shouts, "PAID RAPE!" Chris grabs their own hair in frustration, standing between the two escalating people.
Chris whispers, "I've experienced both. Do people like me get a voice in this conversation?" As Alisha and Leah look on.
Chris says, "Saying all sex work is paid rape dismisses the experiences of people who've traded sex consensually as adults. Saying all sex work is empowering dismisses the experience of people who've been forced to trade sex."
Chris adds, "And saying there's no difference between consensual and exploited participation in the sex trades tells people who've experienced both that they don't know what they experienced, which is gaslight-y!"
Chris adds, "Acknowledging, honoring, and teaching about the spectrum of agency is the only way to be clear about the range of consent without dismissing the voices of survivors."
As the people start to calm down, Chris says, "The reality is that being in the sex trades, like other forms of labor, exists along a "spectrum of agency" from consensual to circumstance to coercion. We all deserve to be heard, and we all deserve safety."

For more about the Spectrum of Agency, see the Yale issue brief, Sex Work Vs. Trafficking.

  • human trafficking
  • listen to all survivors
  • sex trafficking
  • sex work

You may also like

A white-haired, heavy-mustached professor in a brown suit leans into their conversation. “Well actually…” All the survivors are startled by his intrusion into their conversation.
Published October 2, 2021

#ListenToAllSurvivors 4: Some Conversations Are Best Left as “In Group” Conversations

Published October 5, 2021

New Publication: It has to be their choice. We need to give them options.

In ‘“Have you ever traded sex for money or drugs?” Health care providers’ perspectives on sex trafficking risk assessments in clinics,’ Lara […]

Published February 1, 2021

On the Super Bowl, Safety, and Solidarity: Finding common ground in a time of crisis … and beyond

On the Super Bowl, Safety, and SolidarityFinding common ground in a time of crisis … and beyond Every year, around this time, […]

Image shows a group of people who have lived experience in the sex trades across the spectrum of consent, including survivors of trafficking. They are standing on a crosswalk on a beautiful night, looking powerful. Caption reads: "In reality, very few people in the US today could afford to leave their jobs if they wanted and still be able to pay their bills. Economic necessity is the norm for most work, not the exception. Staying in work because of economic necessity is not unique to the sex trades."
Published September 26, 2021

#ListenToAllSurvivors 3: Circumstance Is Not Unique to the Sex Trades

For more on the range of exploitation that is common (and legal) in many jobs, especially those that involve precarious labor, see: […]

Post navigation

  • Previous post Challenges with Abuse in Polyamory
  • Back to post list
  • Next post #ListenToAllSurvivors 2: Circumstance Is Messy

© 2023 Chris Ash – All rights reserved

Powered by WP – Designed with the Customizr theme