Effects on your work

Home: Survivors: For Sex Workers: The Power Book

When your profession involves negotiations to provide a particular sexual service, with particular limits, you need to stay confident that your control is absolute. Knowing that you can draw on that confidence whenever you want is important. A sexual assault can undermine that confidence and affect your future work. Don't underestimate your need for support if you experience a sexual assault. Dealing with the feelings and developing survival strategies can make a difference to your future work. It's important that your life doesn't get more affected by the assault than it needs to. Some workers, for instance, might do drugs more often or do more drugs in response to feelings about an assault - but that can make you less in control of future situations, or with some other Ugly Mug.

You might want to talk to a counsellor who is sex worker friendly and sex work savvy about ways to:

• trust your capacity to suss out Ugly Mugs;
• control feeling vulnerable, afraid or tense during a job or a booking;
• not be afraid of all clients.

And remember - violence is not part of the job! A client's breach of the terms of a contract or agreement with you is not okay. Rape is not an occupational hazard. Sexual assault is never just a job gone wrong!

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Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 24 Sep 2009