Ok yeah I used it as a shorthand for it being ok to find trans people attractive and to see our bodies as as sexual as any other adult’s body. I didn’t want to get into the reality of the fact that the sex work industry has two faces and while not inherently evil is rife with abuse. Sex is good, whatever consenting adults want to share is magnificent and even when problematic is none of anyone’s business, but the porn industry is devastating. And in particular the sex work industry ruins and ends trans lives, but it also keeps us from begging on the streets. Sylvia Rivera has talked about it in the context of prostitution as someone who sold her body as a teenager to survive and to not subject her loved ones to transphobic violence.

A speaker at day of remembrance last night spoke of selling depictions of their body for rent and the shame associated. Meanwhile I’ve dated women who sold nude pictures who did it for fun and as a side gig. It’s complicated and I hope desperately we can find our way to a society where I don’t have to worry about starving my siblings by stopping abusive sex work.