Resources for Student Sex Workers

The PSU Women's Resource Center supports the right of all students to seek and access safety in all aspects of life, including in the workplace. For students working in the sex industry, this can be a unique and isolating challenge.

 Students working in the sex industry can face some additional challenges that can affect their academic life and/or their safety in the campus community.  These challenges present tangible barriers to student success and over-all well being. These can include:

• Non-traditional work schedules making required class attendance difficult,
• Fear of "coming out" in collaborative classroom settings designed for student sharing and connecting,
• Anxiety about fellow students or faculty as consumers of the sex industry.
• Fellow students, University staff, or faculty recognizing a student on campus from their time at work, calling them by their stage name or doing other things that violate their confidentiality and separate work identity. "Outing" students as sex workers to other students, faculty or staff.

Students participating in the sex industry often feel like aspects of their life are compartmentalized, and access to non-judgmental support and mentorship on campus is not available. Student workers who have experienced interpersonal violence are less likely to report or seek help because of bias or fear of law enforcement and reporting structures.

 If you are a student sex worker who would like to organize events around awareness and safety for student sex wokers, feel free to contact the Women's Resource Center. 

 The Women's Resource Center's Interpersonal Violence Advocate is also available to meet with student sex workers who have safety concerns or perhaps are just seeking support on campus. Services available can include: safety planning around peers/faculty as consumers and clients, community resource referral, and immediate crisis counseling.

Contact Adrienne, the IPV Advocate, at the WRC for more information at ipv@pdx.edu or 503-725-5605.

Additional Resources

Check out the Sex Worker Outreach Project at PWCL for great info and support options, including events such as International Sex Worker Rights Day.  Their Sex Worker Outreach Advocate is available via 503-419-4355.

Rahab's Sister is a drop-in center offering 'radical hospitality with no strings attached' to local sex workers and other women marginalized by the sex industry, drug addiction and/or homelessness. They provide hot meals, hygiene items, and good company to attendees of their Friday night outreach.

The Sex Workers Outreach Coalition is a Portland Oregon based coalition of social service providers concerned with the safety, dignity, and diversity in needs of those working in the sex industry. Their mission is to promote basic human rights and personal safety for all individuals working in the sex industry. Check out their brand new March 2011 Newsletter.