Sex Workers and Crime
One of my guilty pleasures is reading murder mysteries and watching true crime documentaries. Ever since the seventh grade, my bookshelf has consisted of 15% fantasy, 10% historical fiction, and 75% murder mystery and true crime novels. While I do not watch much television, I have never missed an episode of Criminal Minds. With this desire for a suspenseful reading experience, however, comes exposure to stereotypes about sex workers, who, in the past, have unfortunately been commonly targeted by serial killers and other dangerous criminals. I cannot count the number of times I have read true crime articles that make statements like, So-and-so murdered twelve women and thirty prostitutes. Not only do these articles neglect to use the term “sex workers,” they imply in their statement that sex workers do not belong in the same category as women. Criminal Minds, while more respectful to sex workers than other crime shows, still has its issues. There are several episodes where the main characters scold people who view sex workers as less than human, and even moments where it is made clear that sex workers are often hired by people who are simply lonely and want someone to talk to for comfort. Nonetheless, there has yet to be an episode where a sex worker is portrayed as someone who enjoys the job and does not use it as a last resort.
Sadly, for the longest time, it did not occur to me that these portrayals of sex workers were harmful. Perhaps this is because, as Bell Hooks states in Feminist Theory From Margin to Center, “[i]t has been a [. . .] difficult task for women to envision new sexual paradigms, to change the norms of sexuality” (Hooks 148). Because women are not expected to be sexual, many so-called feminists are more likely to bring up sex when discussing problems like rape and assault and less likely to bring up sex to support women who choose to use their bodies to earn money. If the majority of feminists do not even respect sex workers, it is no wonder that so many people are ignorant about what sex work actually involves. It was only a few months ago that I discovered a true crime podcast called “My Favorite Murder,” which respects sex workers and other marginalized women. If other forms of media about crime could begin to learn from “My Favorite Murder,” I believe it would have a major impact on the stigma about sex workers.
“My Favorite Murder” is actually a comedy podcast where two women, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstardstark, discuss their secret fascination with murder and retell stories about their “favorite” crimes. On the surface, this sounds like a podcast dedicated to laughing about tragedies and exploiting murder victims. Yet, it is actually one of the few crime podcasts to handle the sensitive subject well. For example, Kilgariff and Hardstark are open to criticism from listeners and will correct their mistakes almost immediately in their next episodes. The first time I learned that the term “prostitute” was offensive was when Hardstark read aloud an email from a sex worker who had asked if she would please refrain from using the offensive term. Once Kilgariff and Hardstark realized that “prostitute” was an offensive word, they immediately apologized and referred to sex workers properly, as well as correcting guests on the podcast. By doing this, they reminded listeners that sex work is a way some women choose to earn money, and not always out of necessity. On page 505 of “Under Western Eyes (Revisited),” Chandra Mohanty claims that “[i]n knowing differences and particularities, we can better see the connections and commonalities” (Mohanty). Kilgariff and Hardstark make a similar point in their podcast when discussing sex workers. For example, they point out how sex work is unique in the sense that it has the potential to be dangerous due to the secretive nature of it, but that the level of danger involved is no more extreme than the danger faced by stunt performers, for instance. The jobs are quite different, but similar in terms of risk, and neither is better or worse than the other.
“My Favorite Murder” is quite possibly the most feminist and open-minded crime podcast because of its willingness to own up to its mistakes and correct them to encourage listeners to respect all people and end the stigma that is placed upon sex workers. If other crime media follows in the footsteps of Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, consumers will begin to identify their own responsibility in contributing to the reputation of sex workers.
