A year ago I was fired from a sex ed job that I loved because they found out I was a sex worker. Every day since I have been haunted by the reminder of how disposable people treat sex workers. We are people. Our work is valid. We deserve dignity, respect and agency.
We grieve with you as we share the news of Mistress Velvet’s passing. We feel your love and thank you for your support.
Please share your memories of Velvet & how They inspired & challenged you.
With love, grief, & hope,
Comrades of Mistress Velvet
Please help us raise funds for funeral services for Mistress Velvet in Chicago and in North Carolina, to help support family, and as a stretch goal covering some of Velvet's outstanding student loan debt. Thank you all so much for your support.
Laughing / crying at:
1. the irony of preventing a swrker from teaching comprehensive sex ed (Abstinence only ed is so harmful)
2. The cognitive dissonance bw society criminalizing swrk but also barring us from having civilian jobs unless we give in to “rehabilitation” tropes
I am so happy to finally announce that I am the new Managing Director for
@swopusa
I feel energized and humbled to take on such a role and fight for the rights of sex workers across the country. Huzzah.
The fucked up thing is I’ve actually been fired from TWO jobs (both sex ed) because of being outed. I read through this thread and it’s sad but not shocking how many people have also experienced this.
Am I the only person not here for
@bondingnetflix
??? It’s superficial and unrealistic. Like as an ACTUAL PRO DOMME I’m SO OVER mainstream portrayals of BDSM that erase risk aware and trauma informed care / consent. We are not one dimensional / not heartless. We are caretakers.
(1) A form at a recent Drs visit asked if I engaged in risky sexual behavior such as selling sex for money. I asked the dr why commodifying sex was considered risky and he couldn’t give me an answer outside of just moralizing against sex work.
(3) Risky sexual behavior is not engaging in sex work. Risky behavior is heteronormative patriarchal sexual traditions that render sex as something only to be done for procreation. Where cis men take, cis women receive, and no one exists outside of the cisgender binary.
It’s been one year since Velvet passed. For us, it feels like a lifetime & a moment.
We’d love for you to share any memories you have of Velvet in the comments but—more importantly—please remember by taking action.
Mistress Velvet lived radically
Honor Them by doing the same.
MY 9 YEAR INDUSTRY ANNIVERSARY IS JUNE 1! Sex work saved & has changed my life. It’s brought me economic independence from my family & abusive partners. I have community w other providers & beautiful relationships w clients. It‘s helped me process some trauma & find healing.
(4) risky behavior is an entire society that prioritized abstinence over comprehensive sexual health and relationship education, over skill building regarding communication and boundary setting, over teaching ppl not to rape.
(2) I ended up disclosing and explaining that I get tested every 3 months, I’m on PrEP, I am well versed in safer sex practices, and that these behaviors are common among swrkers. He was genuinely shook and speechless.
Happy birthday to Me, your (for sure) favorite Dominatrix, and (hopefully) favorite communist. Subs & fans: thank you for the continuous flow of love. Y’all (and the Great British Bake Off) make life worth living. Eternally grateful. All power to the people. Black Lives Matter.
If y’all gonna come steal our work and stories, not hire or at least consult actual swrkers, and perpetuate harmful stereotypes that cost lives, the LEAST you can do is start fighting for decriminalization. It’s all fun and games until it’s time to be an actual accomplice
Also also ALSO they’re running the twitter profile as if it was an actual domme. My *actual* Instagram for My *actual* job and livelihood as an *actual* Domme got shut down. Sex workers outchea getting accounts shadowbanned and deleted left and right.
It saddens and sickens me the type of blind allegiance people have to material goods, private property, and corporate killing machines over the precious life of people. The outcry over “looting” aka the *liberation of products made by exploited workers* is criminal.
I would rather just not have a show about BDSM & Domination than one that perpetuates misconceptions and stigma. I’m tireddd. Fucking screen your clients, learn actual bondage techniques, and communicate. Cast actual sex workers instead of just taking & distorting our stories
Friendly reminder that the Nordic Model will not end sex work. It makes our work more violent and clandestine. It especially makes the most marginalized workers more vulnerable to harm and unsafe working conditions. Criminalizing the seeking of erotic services helps no one.
And I get so tired of client shaming and pathologizing. There is often so much thought, complexity, intention and fear behind the decision to see a Pro Domme. Again, we are not one dimensional, and our clients aren’t either.
I’ve been hesitant to talk about this bc it frustrates Me so much:
I made the decision last year that I wanted to undergo tubal ligation aka get my tubes tied. I’ve gone to 4 diff drs and was denied consultations w the first 3 bc they believed “I’ll regret not having a child.”
One of the questions I get asked most is for a Black feminist syllabus, so I’ve decided to start sharing the books I’m currently reading. Let’s begin with “Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot” by Chicago’s very own
@karnythia
Photo by: Jade Abston
Forever Velvet
Saturday May 15th, 2-6pm
Online: Instagram live
@missvchicago
In Person:
First Trinity
Community Center and Parking Lot
643 W 31st St
Chicago, IL 60616