1. “You do burlesque? You’re totally a sex worker! Why don’t you want to claim the label? Don’t be whorephobic!”

2. “You do burlesque? Don’t be delusional; no way are you a sex worker. Now GTFO and stop talking about sex work so much.”

[this isn’t taking into account any other work I’ve done…just because it’s not on this name doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist ;)]

I’ve head both from various sex workers - all very passionate about what they do and about sex worker rights. Queensland law doesn’t help either; I asked RESPECT about it (mostly for event planning) and all they could figure is “…maybe.”

The overall answer seems to be “depends on the performer and the jurisdiction”, but it just goes to show - when it comes to identity politics, beware declarations, because your peers will disagree amongst themselves!

[as for me…meh, I’ve stopped caring. it seems to be more of a vehicle for people to project their ideas onto you than anything else at this point.]