Published 25 september 2023
Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands
Reimagining Sex Work is a feminist activist collective, formed to address the Dutch mainstream media and the many problematic terms and images they use to report on sex work, by bringing together sex workers and journalists.
The collective has created a press image bank and a media guide, and an exhibition that is currently touring around the Netherlands. Julia is a project participant, who writes about the exhibition and her involvement.
Reimagining Sex Work formed due to the stereotyped way that sex workers are portrayed in the mainstream media, which is often due to journalists’ ignorance around sex work. The collective believes that the only way to shift the narrative is to work with members of the media, to support a process of creating more honest and constructive media coverage.
They set up focus groups with sex workers and journalists, who collaborated to co-write a manual based on the positive solutions that they found together. They thought about the many jobs on a newsdesk which all influence the news, from the chief editor to the illustrator, and added specialist advice for each role. The collective have found that these guidelines are appreciated by sex workers and frequently utilised by members of the media, and they hope that in time the guide will build trust between sex workers and media workers.
The group also facilitated a series of photography workshops with sex workers and photographers, to create a journalistic image bank – which is where I came in. I am a transgender woman who came to the Netherlands to escape violence in Latin America. I had no prior experience of sex work, but during the pandemic it became the only feasible way to make money, despite feeling that the conditions couldn’t have been worse. I had joyous and hilarious experiences, but the secrecy and illegality of my work made it easier for some clients to take advantage, and be violent.
Towards the end of the pandemic, I was desperate to meet people and make friends. I found Seksworks in Tillburg, and the Reimagining Sex Work exhibition. I felt an immediate connection to the collective, community and allies, and to my surprise they asked me to be a model. I agreed and when we started the shoot, I felt very shy. But within the hour, I was posing comfortably, and everyone involved made me feel special. We were talking, laughing and joking. I loved it; I felt like a superstar!
The images from my photoshoot form part of the Reimagining Sex work exhibition which has travelled across the country and the government, it has been placed in the Ministry of Justice and it will move to the Ministry of Labour later in the year. The exhibition is currently hanging in theatre De Vaillant in Den Haag, and it will relocate to Amsterdam for the Fast-Track Cities 2023 conference on 25 September. For the upcoming exhibition, the team will present the media guide in English and two new photo sets; portraits of sex workers from the trans and queer refugee community and images from sex worker cultural events.
To find out more, visit reimaginingsexwork.com
Header photo Sabine Joosten, Spot photo Reimagining Sex Work
Julia Rosales
I’m Julia. I’m trans and I’m from Latin America. I do activism for trans migrant rights in the Netherlands.
