The people who tell sex workers to get another job are the same people who would not hire a homeless or drug using sex worker, but then expect us to somehow retrain into a new job, get back into education or starve to death.

THREAD.

Some people leave without basic education, and it would take them years of relearning to resit these exams before even dreaming of going further or retraining.

How do you get a new job with a criminal record the length of your arm & no prior work experience?

These people don't care about that. They would rather you work a low pay job for the rest of your life because at least it isn't sex work. Even if it is not the job the sex worker wants or needs for their circumstances.

Drug users can not get jobs.

If you have severe mental health issues, PTSD or trauma to deal with, it isn't really appropriate to burn yourself out in a full time job, slot in your appointments in between and manage your life.

You need to learn to live again, to cook, have hobbies, care for yourself.

There are so many barriers to just leaving; it really isn't that simple, and if it was, we all would do it the moment we had enough of it.

How the fuck can you expect someone to retrain/get a new job or go back into education when they don't even have a home or money?

The people who say just get a different job have clearly never worked with complex or chaotic sex workers.

You meet people where they are at and support them, not barge them into a different direction by force.

If you live in a hostel, you can't even get a job otherwise you will have to pay the accommodation there. It was £500 A WEEK where I was staying - who on earth can afford that, and on minimum wage too?

The worker patronising to me wouldn't pay that either.

Leaving sex work sometimes takes years because you have to resolve the immediate needs such as housing, food and money. Then the personal such as drug use and mental health, then you have to start overcoming the barriers like criminal record, no work experience etc.

Its important to remember many became sex workers after being excluded from the mainstream job market due to reasons such as physical or mental health, caring needs, inflexible working hours, being a single parent with no support & many other reasons.

You're literally telling someone to go back to the thing that encouraged them to become a sex worker.

Universal credit was £250 A MONTH for me - how could I live on that?

You cant exit sex work unless the services you need are well funded, you need to reverse austerity, supply adequate housing, greater social security & benefits, better social mobility, less stigma around convictions

You cant drag someone out into something that cant support them

It is not better to be desperately poor than a prostitute. It is that poverty that made me a prostitute to begin with, and you want me to go back to desperation simply because you don't think I should be a sex worker?

You are not me, nor living my life!

If you want to be such a saviour then I suggest you hire them, regardless of their circumstances and work around them. If you can't, then feel free to pay all their bills, and supply their drug habit & provide housing etc.