“We Are Here!” The Importance of “Sex Worker Proof” Imagery in Academic and Media Representations

Abstract

This contribution analyzes the sex worker-led project Reimagining Sex Work, which included focus groups of sex workers and (photo) journalists, shared production of a media guide, and photography workshops, and aimed at destigmatization of sex work in the Netherlands. The resulting “sex worker proof” photos were made available through an image bank and exhibited throughout the Netherlands. We found that the participatory, visual approach enabled sex workers to reclaim control over their embodied representations and, in a radically democratic way, demand access to privileged spaces. Collaborating across differences—with media, academic, governmental, and other actors—created space for alternative, more respectful, and inclusive representations of sex work, which have the power to penetrate resistant structures of willful ignorance and innocence.