Dec 17, IDEVASW, and remembrance of lives lost

Hi again,

I couldn't go to sleep so I thought I may as well write another post. Who knows, was my reasoning, I may not get the chance before December 17.

I have feelings about that date. On the upside, it's one week to Christmas Eve. On the other hand, it's really hard to feel happy when quite a few of your sexwork fam are gone, even if you didn't know them personally. Loss of life is always hard, and going to a memorial every year is tough, but I see it as a responsibility for being part of this community. I feel it's important to note that I do not see it as a duty. That is another feeling entirely and one that I reserve for other events.

SPs that I know will be there, so that's something. A friend is coming with me - she's supportive - so that's something else. As we mourn losses, we (or I at least) look forward to a future in which this profession is not, for all intents and purposes, illegal. I'm not suggesting that future is a utopia, by any means; but it is what keeps me going through each year of loss. Hope.

Many struggles are fundamentally the same: the struggle for recognition, for dignity, for love. I plan on going to a vigil. I plan on saying a prayer that less of a struggle will happen next year. Maybe by next year, the profession of "escort" (to pick one of a myriad of examples) will be more normalized. Those are steps that everyone can take. To all who paid the ultimate price this year: you are not forgotten. You will never be forgotten. If treating people like human beings starts anywhere, surely it starts with our most vulnerable and treating them with dignity. We must think of how to do that. How will future societies judge us, if we fail in this task?

Write. Read. Mourn. Hope. Fight. Write.

We can always do better.

Xoxo,

Olivia