"I need to talk to a therapist, but they will just tell me that my JOB is the problem.”
Spend a few hours talking with sex workers* about mental health, and that quote will come up - usually repeatedly in various forms. It's not inaccurate. "Professionals" have told them over and over that their depression, anxiety, PTSD symptoms, and virtually all of their mental health challenges are created or at least exacerbated by their jobs. Apparently engaging in sex work, to many mental health practitioners, is ether a symptom of or the cause of mental illness. I would argue that the same can be said of any work in our late-stage-capitalist hellscape. “But you are selling your body,” exclaim some people. First, if you SELL your body, then you don’t have it to take home at the end of your workday. Second, ALL employed people are ‘selling’ our skills, our labor (physical, mental, emotional), and our time.
I believe that there are specific challenges endemic to sex work, and some of them are best understood by someone who has been in and around these jobs. I also know that being honest about the challenges of your daily life is an absolute requirement for making the changes to heal.
Find a therapist who listens. Find someone who works with you on YOUR challenges and issues without casting aspersions on the choices you are making to move through the universe. Join in partnership with a therapist who wants you to heal, grow, and become your best human, not to try to make you conform to someone else's ideas of how you should live. Most of all, find a therapist who celebrates you and your strengths.
I’d love to meet you!
*In the context of this post, the phrase "sex work" is used to describe many different jobs: full-service escorts, exotic/erotic dancers, 'street walkers,' cam girls (or boys), pro-dommes, Only Fans models, phone sex providers, and anyone else who provides services that are considered sexual to sustain their financial/material needs.
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