the feminist librarian reads

This is one of the many constricting binaries of the current sex-work debate in Olympia: Either you’re with the anti-trafficking movement or you’re pro-gender-based violence. To keep this black-and-white view churning along, people like Mary—people who feel fulfilled by sex work—can’t be discussed. For example, when sex-worker activists drove to Olympia to testify before the legislature in late January, lawmakers shut down the public-comment session before the activists had a chance to speak. Five days later, when anti-trafficking groups spoke about ending demand at Satterberg’s Town Hall event, sex workers stood up in the audience and asked if their views could be considered, too. “No one is entitled to buy sex from another human being,” senior deputy prosecuting attorney Val Richey said at the event. “We shouldn’t give that act the credibility of official endorsement.”