Sex Workers Outreach Project works to share accurate information, promote evidence-based policies, dispel myths, and promote media justice for sex workers.
Links to recent media coverage of our work is below.
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Executive Director of Communications
2019
February
Slixa.com Announces Winners of FOSTA/SESTA Essay Contest
January
How FOSTA-SESTA Legislation Is Wreaking Havoc On The Lives Of Sex Workers
The Second Drug Death at 1234 Laurel Ave. Was Not on the City Council’s Agenda
Why Sex Workers Aren’t Enthused About Kamala Harris’s Run for President
2018
December
Jessie Sage recalls how she found her place in sex work
Sex Workers and Allies Gather to Remember Those Lost to Violence
Advocates Say Sex Worker Rights Are Human Rights
Sex workers say Tumblr’s move to ban explicit images leaves them at risk
Seattle Sex Workers Call for the City to Decriminalize Sex Work
The end to violence against sex workers can’t come soon enough
Pittsburgh group uplifts sex workers for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
The Dangerous Trend of LGBTQ Censorship on the Internet
Sex Workers And Immigrants Are Under Attack. Don’t Like It? Send DC A Fax
Peepshow Podcast: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Sex Workers Around the World Demand Decriminalization: Reason Roundup
November
Seattle asks municipal court to throw out low-level misdemeanor warrants
Abused then arrested: inside California’s crackdown on sex work
Let This Be the Last No Nut November
October
For The Families Of A Border Patrol Agent’s Alleged Victims, The Pain Doesn’t Stop
Cops in this Pennsylvania county claim sex workers with cellphones possess ‘instruments of crime’
September
Texas Border Patrol agent ‘serial killer’ knew his victims, authorities say
New Episode of “Counterspeak” Features Activist Maggie Mayhem
2016
August
How a Mom’s Sex Worker Past Can Be Used Against Her—and Her Kids
Sexual Abuse Is a Problem in Baltimore Policing [ATTN]
The Life of a Phone Sex Operator [Priceonomics]
July
“Fast Fashion”: Anne Elizabeth Moore on the Global Garment and Sex Trades [Truthout]
Safe Space: Sex Workers in the South [Gambit]
June
Sex Workers React to the UN’s 2016 Political Declaration on Ending AIDS [The Body]
Sex Workers Say California Bill Gives Sex Workers Too Much Power [CBS]
17th Annual 30 Under 30 to honor youth June 22 [Windy City Times]
Police crimes too big to hide [Socialist Worker]
‘It’s Destroyed People’s Lives’: The Shocking Rise in Hepatitis C-Related Death [Broadly]
Efforts to crack down on illicit massage parlors have had unintended consequences [News Review]
May
The Everyday Faces of Sex Workers [New York Times]
World Human Rights Group Publishes Policy To Legalize Prostitution Everywhere [Daily Caller]
I Feel Bad That I’ve Never Paid for Porn [Chicago Reader]
A Dangerous Campaign Against Sex Trafficking Has Bipartisan Support [Alternet]
On Mother’s Day, Remembering Sex Worker Moms [Huffington Post]
Person of Interest [The Stranger]
XXXerox: C.M. Ruiz on Turning the Lusty Lady into a Giant Gallery [Seattle Weekly]
April
Looking for a prostitute? Go to Nevada [Fairfield Daily Republic]
Sex Workers Explain Their Jobs to Their Families [ATTN]
Activists Say Sex Worker Was ‘Wrongfully’ Convicted Of Murder In South Side Stabbing [Chicagoist]
March
Sex workers, advocates stand by killer of Brother Rice teacher [Chicago Tribune]
A vigilante put a sex worker in prison after filming her with a drone [The Verge]
Is Prostitution Just Another Job? [New York Magazine]
February
California ponders whether prostitutes are criminals or victims [Sacramento Bee]
At clubs like Stone Park’s Playpen, sex work no fun and game [Medill]
Senate passes prostitution bill [Portland Tribune]
How the Rentboy Indictment Threatens Our Community’s Safety [The Advocate]
2 LAPD officers charged with raping 4 women, mostly while on duty [89.3 KPCC]
Sex work is safer online than on the street [LA Times]
Sex workers, advocates oppose bill aimed at sex trafficking [Portland Tribune]
The students-turned-hookers who love what they do [NY Post]
January
LAPD Arrests 198 People In Connection With Human Trafficking [LAist]
Were Sex Workers Caught Up in Recent Seattle Raid Really Being Trafficked? [Huffington Post]
Inside the Controversial Trafficking Sting that Seized a Seattle Sex Worker Site [Broadly]
Savage Love Letter of the Day: Pay to Lay? [The Stranger]
Wash. police free 12 women, seize sex trade site [Police News]
Seattle Police Take Down Prostitution Ring, Seize Sex Website [PanAm Post]
Brothels, sex websites shuttered in Seattle-area prostitution bust [Business Insider]
Sheriff: Korean women freed after bust of Seattle-area sex trafficking ring [Seattle Globalist]
What the Pathetic Case Against Rentboy.com Says About Sex Work [The Nation]
FBI & Local Police Seize Adult Entertainment Website “The Review Board” [Huffington Post]
FBI Helps Shut Down Seattle Sex-Work Review Board [Reason.com]
A
2015
- December – Sacramento | Diversion court for Sacramento sex workers hopes to RESET the paradigm
- December – Denver | International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers Marked in Denver
- December – National | Sex Workers Take a Stand Worldwide to Resist Violence, Prohibition
- December – Portland| Candlelight vigil to remember sex workers who died
- December – Ft. Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale March To Remember Murdered Sex Workers
- December – National | These Charts Show Why We Need to Start Caring About Violence Against Sex Workers
- December – National | 41 Sex Workers Were Murdered This Year—We Can Prevent Those Deaths in 2016
- December – San Francisco | Whore Next Door: The Meaning of Dec. 17
- December – Portland | Macedonia prostitutes march against increasing violence targeting sex workers
- December – National | Gay Sex Slavery Ring Leader Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison
- December – National | Will I Regret Having Sex for Money?
- December – National | Illegality, Cops and Johns: Why American Prostitutes Are 400 Times More Likely To Die On The Job
- December – National | Backpage Wins Small Victory in Appeals Court
- December – National | Why Sexual Assaults on Porn go Underreported
- November- National | Charlie Sheen put a spotlight on HIV and sex workers. But here’s what’s missing from the conversation
- November – National | Slut-Shaming Charlie Sheen Isn’t Going to Help Him — Or His Partners
- November – Chicago | South Side’s Village offers free legal clinic for sex workers
- November – West Virginia | Cabell County tries new approach to prostitution — public shaming
- October – National | Sex Workers More Worried About Cops than Dangerous Johns
- October – National | Sex Trafficking and Sex Work Are Not the Same Thing
- October – National | Manhunt founder joins coalition for male escort rights
- October – National | Can’t Buy My Love–But You Can Rent It
- October – National Keeping Sex Workers Quiet
- October – National | Will Decriminalization Become the Next Anti-Regulation Battle?
- September – National | Who’s Sweating the SexBots
- September – Chicago | Sex Workers, Allies Rally Against Rentboy RaidsSeptember – National | Forcing Sex Workers Into a Hidden Economy Will Not Keep Them Safe
- September – West Virginia | Prostitution Persists Despite Police Efforts
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September – National | The Feds Raided This Gay Sex Website—And Pushed Sex Worker Rights Into the Mainstream
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September – National | How Sex Worker Rights Made the Mainstream
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September – D.C. | Foggy Bottom Council member cracks down on prostitution (D.C.)
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September – National | Scientists score one over celebrities in battle to decriminalize sex work
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September – National | Beyond Rentboy: Will the LGBT Movement Really Fight for Sex Worker Rights?
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August – National | What is the O’Bama Justice Department Doing Arresting Gay Men for Sex?
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August – Los Angeles | In Defense of Rentboy.com: Why the Feds Should Leave Gay Escorts Alone
- August – Iowa | Finding Sex with the Click of a Mouse
- August – Pacific Northwest | Are Bikini Baristas Sex Workers? Are You?
- August – National | Rentboy: For What it’s Worth
- August – National | Rentboy Raid: The Stonewall for Sex Workers?
- August – National | Why the Rentboy Raid Matters More than the Ashley Madison Hack
- August – National | Raid of Rentboy, an Escort Website, Angers Gay Activists
- August – National | Must Read: Justin Vivian Bond’s Statement About The Rentboy.com Travesty
- August – San Francisco | Online Extra: Political Notes: Amnesty International backs decriminalization of sex work
- August – San Antonio | Women kills Serial Killer, Called Hero
- August – National | Reason Panel on Sex Trafficking Policies
- August – National | Here’s What Amnesty International’s Sex Work Proposal Really Means
- August – National | Police Investigate Whether Woman’s Death is Tied to Backpage.com Date
- August – National | 8 Things to Know About Amnesty Draft Proposal on Sex Work
- August – National | Inside the National Push to Arrest Men who Buy Sex
- August – National | This Is Why The Rentboy Raid Is About Way More Than Just Sex Work
- August – National | Sex Workers Side with Proposal to Decriminalize Prostitution
- August – National | Forget Hollywood: Decriminalizing Sex Work Helps Sex Workers
- August – National | Sex Workers Want Hollywood Stars To Shut Up About Sex Work
- July – National | We Asked A Sex Worker What She Thinks About Amnesty’s Proposal to Decriminalize Sex Work
- July – National | 3 Sex Workers’ Rights Organizations That Fight Every Day To End The Stigma
- July – National | Sex Workers Say Sheriff’s Backpage.com Fight is Wrong Approach
- July – National | These Three Graphs Could Change Your Mind About Legalizing Sex Work
- July – National | Sex Workers Say Credit Card Bans On Online Ads Do More Harm Than Good
- July – National | Credit Card Firms Just Put Sex Workers Like Me at More Risk
- July – National | Sex Workers Tell Lena Dunham to Stop Grandstanding About Sex Work
- July – Tucson | Sex Worker Defends Industry
- July – Philadelphia | Stripper Doesn’t Want Big Brother to Oggle Her Dossier
- July – National | What’s the Right Way to Protect Sex Workers?
- July – National | 3 Sex Workers’ Rights Organizations That Fight Every Day To End The Stigma
- July – National | 8 Things to Know About Amnesty’s Draft Proposal on Sex Work
- July – National | The Wrong Way to Stop Prostitution
- July – Sacramento | Sacramento Sex Workers Too Scared to Use Condoms
- July – Sacramento | Sacramento’s red-light district is a 9-mile trail of violence, disease and hopelessness—and it’s busier than ever
- July – National | Visa, Mastercard Cut Ties to Backpage
- July – National | Defending Backpage, Sex Workers Say Removing Online Ads Does Them More Harm
- July – National | Sex Workers Say Decision by Visa and MasterCard to Leave Backpage Website Puts Them at Risk
- July – National | Visa Nixes Cards as Payment Option for Online Sex Ads
- June – National | We Need More Rights, Not Rescue in the Sex Industry
- June – National | Why Camming Is ‘Demolishing The Mainstream Porn Industry’
- June – National | Is the War on Sex Works Like the War on Drugs?
- June – Spokane | One thing that isn’t getting more expensive: sex-for-hire
- June – Miami | Scarlett’s Cabaret agree to pay $6 million to exotic dancers in wage suit
- June – Las Vegas | Nevada Entertainment Taxes Now Affect Certain Sex Workers
- June – Las Vegas | How Does the Live Entertainment Tax Effect Sex Workers?
- May – Honolulu | Prosecutor, Police Continue to Push an Ineffective Policy to Punish Prostitutes
- May – National/Honolulu | Hawaiian Sex Workers Deserve Protection, Too!
- May – San Antonio | Former sex worker founder of the San Antonio Chapter of Sex Workers Outreach Project
- May – National | A Former Sex Slave’s Terrifying Ordeal
- April – National | Should Bikini Baristas be Regulated?
- April – National | Sex Work and the Sex Worker
- April – National | Just Because I Work Here, Doesn’t Mean I Don’t Deserve Respect
- March – National | ‘Pretty Woman’ 25 years later: The good, the bad and the revenge shopping
- March – National | What Pretty Woman Says about Sex, Money, and how we view Women
- March – Chicago | Sex Workers Exhibit Their Art to Raise Awareness
- March – Phoenix | ‘I Have a Right to My Own Body’: How Project ROSE Tries to ‘Save’ Sex Workers
- March – Seattle | With Johns Under Fire, a New Program to Help End Prostitution Emerges
- March – International | Sex Workers From South Africa to India to Washington Demand Decriminalization on International Sex Workers’ Rights Day 2015
- March – Santa Fe | Why We Shouldn’t Use the Term Sex Slave
- February – Philadelphia | Therapy at Gunpoint: Can This Controversial Philly Program Put an End to Sex Work?
- February – National | SAVAGE LOVE column, ft. SWOP-USA Board Member Savannah Sly
- February – San Francisco | Berkeley: Shannon Williams, longtime advocate for sex workers, dies at 48
- February – New Orleans | How Does Mardi Gras Affect the New Orleans Sex Economy?
- February – Phoenix | A Hardcore Debate on Porn
- February – Phoenix | Phoenix Drops ‘Walking While Trans’ Charges Against Monica Jones
- February – San Francisco | Silicon Valley’s Sex Workers Are Being Priced Out of the City By Their Own Clients
- February – National | Why There Is No Uber for Prostitution
- February – Seattle | Prostitution Bill Gets Green Light, Showing Strange and Fuzzy Politics Around ‘Trafficking’
- February – Seattle | Local Sex Worker Speaks Out Against Proposed Legislation
- February – Seattle | Meet the Sex Workers Who Lawmakers Don’t Believe Exist
- February – Seattle | Sex Workers Write Open Letter to Lawmakers Over “End Demand” Bills
- February – Seattle | Sex Workers Get Shut Out of Seattle’s “Sexual Exploitation” Conversation a Second Time
- February – Seattle | Bill would let police in Washington seize property from johns seeking sex
- January – Phoenix | Monica Jones Wins Appeal of ‘Walking While Trans’ Conviction
- January – National | Porn Star Belle Knox Is Remaking Herself As A Libertarian Activist
- January – Seattle | Sex-worker activists frustrated they couldn’t testify in Olympia
2014
- December – National | Help End Violence Against Sex Workers by Decriminalizing Prostitution, Activists Say
- December – National | More Sex Workers Are Killed in the US than in Any Other Country
- December – Chicago | March, vigil stress that sex workers’ lives matter, too
- December – New Orleans | Sex Workers to March for Rights in Quarter
- December – Atlanta | Sex Worker Vigil Against Violence
- December – Seattle | Sex workers say the fight against trafficking has become the ‘new reefer madness’
- December – Seattle | Sex workers gather to fight stigma, advocate for rights
- December – Seattle | Eden Was a Scary Movie About Sex-Trafficking Based on a True Story—Or Was It?
- December – New York | To Catch a Sex Worker: A&E’s Awful, Exploitative Ambush Show
- December – Iowa | Demonstrators protest violence against sex workers
- November – Northwest Indiana | Guest Commentary: Serial Killer Sheds Light on Prostitution
- November – National | Ariz. Activist Convicted of ‘Walking While Trans’ Will Appeal
- October – National | Campaign urges AP Stylebook to replace use of ‘prostitute’ with ‘sex worker’
- October – Phoenix | Project Rose Aims to Save Lives, Traumatizes Sex Workers Instead Critics Say
- September – National | Is One of the Most-Cited Statistics About Sex Work Wrong?
- August – Chicago | SlutWalk marchers and CPD officers clash
- July – San Francisco | Closure of Prostitution Website Costly for Sex Workers
- July – New York | How the Financial Sector Is Making Life Miserable for Sex Workers
- July – National | Beyond Birth Control: Recent Reproductive Justice Stories That Fewer People Are Talking About
- July – Phoenix | US: Laverne Cox joins #StandWithMonica campaign against Phoenix ‘walking while trans’ law
- July – San Francisco | Red Alert: The Feds Shut Down an Escort Site
- June – San Francisco | MyRedbook shutdown could compromise sex worker safety, law enforcement resource
- April – Phoenix | Why I Stand With Monica Jones: My Liberation Is Bound Up With Yours
- April – National | The Soapbox: How PayPal & WePay Discriminate Against The Adult Industry
- April – Chicago | Perception vs. Reality – The Sex Workers Outreach Project Reaches Out to the Public
- April – San Francisco | Support Your Local Sex Worker
- March – Phoenix | Trans Activist And Sex Worker Rights Advocate Fights Prostitution Charges
- March – National | The Problem with Anti-Trafficking Drag Nets
- February – San Francisco/Sacramento | Two Views on Sex Work
- February – Chicago | Simply flesh for sale – human trafficking, part two