Police regularly target, harass, and assault sex workers or people they think are sex workers , such as trans women of color. The police usually get away with the abuse because sex workers fear being arrested if they report. Protecting sex workers from police violence is just one of the reasons we need to decriminalize sex work. It would also help sex workers access health care, lower the risk of violence from clients, reduce mass incarceration, and advance equality in the LGBTQ community, especially for trans women of color, who are often profiled and harassed whether or not we are actually sex workers. In the call for decriminalization has made progress, but there are still widespread misconceptions about sex work and sex workers that are holding us back.

Teen Vogue recently released an article calling for a worldwide movement to destigmatize sex work. The answer to that is no. Despite her semantics, Dr. Does Dr.

By Gabrielle Fonrouge. April 30, pm Updated May 1, pm. Sex trade survivors and anti-trafficking advocates are furious over a new Teen Vogue column that argues selling sex is a legitimate job and should be decriminalized — saying it glorifies the trade and ignores its many victims. Is a medical degree really the right measure of who is deserving of dignity, autonomy, safety in the work place, fair trade and freedom of employment?