A conversation about Borderline Personality Disorder (with Kayla Spicer)
Spencer Greenberg speaks with Caitlin Bailey about the evolutionary sociology of sex and the systemic oppression of sex workers. They discuss how criminalization and stigma harm not only sex workers but also broader societal freedoms and public health efforts.
Deep Dive Analysis
21 Topic Outline
Introduction to Sex Work Stigma and Criminalization
Defining Sex Work and Its Broad Scope
Impact of Anti-Sex Work Laws on Digital and Physical Freedoms
Theories on the Origins of Sex Work Stigma and Misogyny
Evolutionary and Religious Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Purity Culture and the Concept of Women as Property
Sex Work, STIs, and the Ineffectiveness of Mandatory Testing
Cultural Stigma Against Women Profiting from Sexuality
Personal Experience and Client Screening Practices in Sex Work
Client Safety and Personal Experiences of Violence
Psychological Impact of Sex Work Compared to Other Labor
Coercion, Choice, and Consent in the Sex Industry
The Historical Rise of Pimps Due to Criminalization
Critiques of the Nordic Model and Its Harms to Sex Workers
Distinguishing Legalization from Decriminalization of Sex Work
Unified Goals of Diverse Sex Worker Advocates
Evolving Public Attitudes and Political Backlash
Historical and Contemporary Statistics on Sex Work Participation
Deconstructing the 'White Slave Panic' Narrative
Sex Work as a Historical Path to Female Autonomy
Public Opinion on Decriminalizing Sex Work and Final Message
5 Key Concepts
Sex Work
A broad umbrella term encompassing various erotic content and services, including escort work, full-service sex work, stripping, creating erotic content, foot fetish modeling, and BDSM practices.
SESTA-FOSTA (Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act)
A 2018 US law that made online platforms liable for user-posted content related to sex work, leading to widespread censorship of sexual and sex-adjacent content, impacting sex workers' ability to screen clients and sex educators' reach.
Whorephobia
The belief that the deep-seated stigma against sex workers and promiscuous women is a foundational element of misogyny, historically linked to societal obsessions with paternity and the control of female reproductive choices.
Nordic Model (End Demand Laws)
A legal framework that criminalizes the buying or facilitating of sexual services but not the selling. Critics argue it increases sex workers' vulnerability by making them homeless, hindering safety screening, and disrupting the market without providing viable alternatives.
Decriminalization of Sex Work
A legal approach that removes criminal penalties for buying, selling, and facilitating sex work, allowing independent sex workers to operate privately and report crimes without fear of arrest, while also enabling regulation for larger, organized operations like brothels.
5 Questions Answered
Sex workers are often better at preventing STIs and transmission than the general public due to shared harm reduction information, while populations like soldiers and moving armies have historically been more significant spreaders of venereal disease.
Mandatory STI tests create a two-tiered system that pushes the most vulnerable sex workers into the criminal market, where they are less likely to seek care or tell healthcare practitioners the truth, thus not reducing transmission but rather making it harder to track and treat.
While some individuals may find sex work psychologically damaging, it's important to compare it to other jobs that cause significant psychological harm (e.g., soldiers, slaughterhouse workers) and consider that the focus on sex work's harm often stems from historical stigma rather than unique inherent damage.
Legalization typically involves strict state regulation, licensing, and mandatory testing, which can still be coercive and limit sex workers' autonomy (e.g., Nevada brothels), whereas decriminalization removes criminal penalties entirely for consensual adult sex work, allowing for greater privacy and safety while still addressing community standards for larger operations.
Studies suggest that between three and six percent of people in the sex industry are either underage or violently coerced, manipulated, or lied to, but the overwhelming majority of people who do this work are adults and consensual.
8 Actionable Insights
1. Advocate for Decriminalization
Support the decriminalization of sex work, as it increases sex workers’ negotiating power, makes healthcare more accessible, and reduces vulnerabilities to violence and exploitation by allowing them to operate legally and report crimes.
2. Provide Accessible Healthcare
To effectively reduce sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among sex workers, make healthcare services, including clinics, testing, and prevention, easily accessible, as sex workers are more likely to use these resources when not criminalized.
3. Feminist Alliance with Sex Workers
Feminists should actively stand with sex workers, protecting their platforms for information exchange and work, as this directly supports reproductive health, access to contraception, and women’s rights broadly.
4. Shift Perspective on Sex Work
When considering sex work, move beyond concerns about individual vulnerability and recognize that sex workers have historically and currently contribute to every community, acknowledging their humanity and agency.
5. Acknowledge Inevitability of Sex Work
Understand that sex work cannot be eliminated, only made less safe through criminalization; therefore, focus on policies that prioritize safety and autonomy rather than eradication.
6. Screen Potential Clients
If you are an independent sex worker, ask potential clients for the name and contact information of other sex workers they’ve seen to gather feedback and screen for safety.
7. Verify Client Identity
Before an appointment, confirm the client’s identity by checking their ID and verifying their employment or ties to the community to ensure the reference checks are valid for that person.
8. Inform a Trusted Contact
Before entering a client’s space, call a friend in front of the client to let them know your location, who you’re with, and when to expect to hear from you, enhancing personal safety.
5 Key Quotes
I experienced a lot more sexual violence out and out chauvinism and misogyny and felt actively unsafe in my recreational dating life than I did as a sex worker.
Caitlin Bailey
We are all asking for decriminalization. And whether you're making, you know, $30 or $3,000, having your work criminalized does not make you less vulnerable to violence or exploitation.
Caitlin Bailey
We will never eliminate this work. We can only make it less safe.
Caitlin Bailey
This idea around women's purity really has a lot to do with women as property.
Caitlin Bailey
We've really only been monogamish as a species.
Caitlin Bailey
1 Protocols
Independent Sex Worker Screening
Caitlin Bailey- Ask prospective clients for the name and contact information of at least one other sex worker they have previously seen (Caitlin asked for two).
- Reach out to those references to gather feedback, looking for 'nothing to report' or useful insights into client behavior.
- Confirm the client has ties to the community, such as employment listed on a website, to ensure their identity can be verified.
- Check the client's ID upon arrival to ensure the reference checking applies to the correct person.
- Inform a friend or trusted contact of your location, client's identity, and expected check-in time before entering the room.