All the groups mentioned in my post are made up primarily of current and former sex workers, so yes sex workers themselves are definitely leading the debate on this issue, on both or all sides. And I think sex workers and their advocates pretty much agree that women and men just trying to earn a living should not be prosecuted and should get any treatment they need. I know there is at least one actual union of sex workers (at the Lusty Lady in San Francisco), there are probably other official unions, meanwhile groups like SWOP aim to in many ways …
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Kari Lydersen
Kari Lydersen, an In These Times contributing editor, is a Chicago-based journalist writing for publications including The Washington Post (where she is a staff writer), the Chicago Reader and The Progressive. Her most recent book is Revolt on Goose Island. She can be reached at kari@inthesetimes.com.
Lydersen is the author or co-author of three books: Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-US Immigration in the Global Age; Shoot an Iraqi Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun (co-authored with Wafaa Bilal), which she was recently named a ‘Best Book of 2008’ by Booklist; and Revolt on Goose Island: The Chicago Factory Takeover, and What it Says About the Economic Crisis.
Lydersen teaches journalism at Columbia College and to high-school students. Her work can be read at www.karilydersen.com.
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Latest Comments view all 3
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Hello Reading your comment I'm afraid maybe I didn't make my point clearly (and maybe didn't do Gabriel Thompson's story justice in the process); I think the underlying message is that these industries have become (as opposed to in days past) structured in such a way that they are inhumanly grueling and dangerous for any worker. I know these sectors have always involved very hard work which as you say plenty of "Americans" were willing to do in the past, but the massive scale and the production line speed and/or amount of production expected of workers today has been greatly increased …
Posted to Working in the Shadows: Undercover Writer Sheds Light on Immigrant Labor
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Serious Materials is hoping to hire everyone back by summer or so of 2010. It all depends on how quickly business for highly energy efficient windows picks up, especially in terms of contracts for large buildings. Kari
Posted to Good News for Former Republic Windows Workers
- Joined May 9, 2003
- Last Visit March 15, 2010
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