My favorite coffee shop always has these cute/funny little tip jar signs, which they change every few days.
Usually something along the lines of this.
Cute, right?
However, I walk in this morning and was a little taken aback when I saw this.
Some people might think that I get a little too sensitive or PC when it comes to slurs, god knows that I’ve been told that often enough.
“Get over it, it wasn’t meant in a bad way.”
“You get offended over everything!”
That’s all well and good for other people to say, however you don’t get to decide what I should or shouldn’t be offended by, especially if you are a civilian, or male, or (insert privilege here).
Casual whorephobia might not seem like a huge deal to people who have never worked in the sex industry, and I have bought the issue up with a few friends who haven’t even realized that they are using slurs to describe something that they perceive as negative.
The thing is, when you dehumanize sex workers in such a casual way, it promotes the idea that it is okay to disrespect me based on my occupation, something that has real life consequence. Now, if sex work is icky and a Bad Thing™, then what you are basically saying is that sex itself is morally wrong.
Can you see how this might not just be a sex work issue?
Using slurs isn’t funny, it isn’t ‘edgy’ and it isn’t harmless. Think about what you are saying when you use words like ‘whore’, ‘prostitute’, ‘hooker’, in any context. Are you implying that I am easy? Dirty? Morally corrupt? What do you think happens when my clients are given the OK by society to treat me with less respect than the general population?
It’s 2016, and I am so fucking tired of having this conversation.
Renaissance-hoe 
Reblogged this on Darkly Dezire.
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I don’t blame you for getting tried about the slurs. In this society of Political Correctness gone crazy, its burns me, that some people still see the sex industry as something to marline and ridicule with thoughtless slurs, usually those who take the morally high ground, but have their own dirty little secret’s.
So people of the world, (and if the shoe fits), pull your heads out of your asses and stop living in the dark ages. Remember “If you can’t say anything positive, about it, don’t say anything”, doesn’t matter what the subject is.
I am proud to say I know Renaissance-hoe, (and quite a few other Hoes over the years), professionally and as a friend, and in my opinion they are better people than those that sit in judgement of them.
I am happy to use my own name as the writer, who else will come forward.
As for you Miss Renaissance-hoe and the other Hoes, DON’T EVER STOP YELLING, UNTIL THERE IS EQUILITY FOR ALL.
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I love this blog and agree with everything you say. I am a ‘secret whore’ because I struggle to be that woman of sexual urges in my professional life because of the judgement I have had instilled in me. However, I am enjoying elements of introducing her. Catching a man’s eye when my dress reveals the top of my lace hold-ups and smiling instead of flushing red and pulling my dress down is a good example. Thanks for posting. Awareness will change attitudes.
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If you aren’t a sex worker, then that word isn’t yours to use. ‘Whore’ is not a synonym for ‘promiscuous’ (not that either of those labels are negative ones).
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