Bhavana Karani
I write these words to bear witness to the primacy of resistance struggle in any situation of domination . . . to the strength and power that emerges from sustained resistance and the profound conviction that these forces can be healing, can protect us from dehumanization and despair.
—bell hooks, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
Resistance is usually thought of as the counterpoint to oppression and violence. So why a separate chapter about it? What is resistance on its own terms?
Resistance is transformation. Beneath the immediate ways that individuals and communities respond in moments of crisis and conflict, the struggle against oppression includes how they grow, build, and change. Just as solitary seedlings grow vast underground networks of roots in order to thrive, resistance is as much a web of interconnections as it is visible moments of assertion.
Trading sex in a world that routinely undermines the possibility of doing it safely makes survival alone a form of resistance. The stories in this chapter illustrate the tenacity and creativity with which sex workers survive, struggle, and thrive, and how, during these battles, many sex workers seek justice for a collective whole.
In “The Cutting Edge: On Sex Workers, Serial Killers, and Switchblades,” Sarah Stillman shares the story of Tonya Richardson, a sex worker in Daytona Beach who made local news defending herself and colleagues from a serial killer. Stillman explores how sex workers and their communities stay safe while also demanding “a world where safety is considered a sex worker’s basic human right.”
“2 Young 2 B 4Gotten” was jointly written by four different organizations serving young people in the sex trades across the United States, and draws out the connections between the needs of individuals and the structural oppressions that impact them. Noting that “one of the most positive ways girls heal or fight back against violence is by relying on their own communities,” this piece highlights how the most effective resistance does not come from outside, but from within communities.
Taking care of ourselves is also a form of resistance. In “B is for Bobbi,” Morgan Ellis explores the importance of boundaries for sex workers. Erin Siegal’s “Fashion With A Function,” shows how art can embody resistance when a platform heel is modified with an alarm system and GPS tracking.
The act of fighting for one’s life is undeniably an act of resistance. In “I Have Nothing to Say,” Lynne Tansey describes struggling to stay alive and killing her attacker in self-defense. In the legal aftermath, she is charged with murder and her sanity is questioned. Although she was denied compensation as a victim of violence, her case would come to have a positive impact for other sex workers.
Creating spaces for sharing stories is itself a powerful form of resistance that can defy and complicate stereotypes about those who have for too long been denied voice. As you find your way through this chapter, I hope that bell hooks’ words resonate, that these pieces serve to inspire, heal, and protect through the resistance demonstrated by each—and in the act of sharing and reading them.
BHAVANA KARANI worked at $pread from 2009 to 2011 as subscriptions coordinator and Race Issue editorial collective member.