Ep. 11 Sex Workers’ Rights with Savannah Sly

On Episode 11 we are joined by Savannah Sly (she/they), the founder & co-director of New Moon Fund — a capacity-building non-profit dedicated to advancing the welfare of people in the sex trade, specifically sex workers.

Sly’s work spans two decades of advocacy, education, and movement building, and is informed by their personal experiences of autonomy, criminalization, prosperity, and coercion as a sex worker in the United States. 

As a sex worker, Sly specializes as a Dominatrix and is passionate about exploring archetypal kink identity through role play and sex magic. Sly serves on the boards of Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Global Lab for Research in Action at UCLA Luskin, as well as on the steering committee of the globally networked Sex Worker Donor Collaborative. 

Savannah’s commentary on issues relating to the sex trade is published in Brookings, New York Times Magazine, Teen Vogue, and Psychology Today among others.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• Savannah’s career as a sex worker

• Fundamental comprehensive sex education 

• Safe sex, bodily autonomy, and boundaries

• Empowering and advocating for sex workers

• Sex work and public perception 

• Shame and anxiety projected onto sexuality 

• Decriminalization of sex work

• The negative aspects of sex work — is it really the work itself, or the way that society treats sex workers?

• The theatrical and therapeutic nature of some sex work

• The archetypes of BDSM and role-playing

You can find Savannah here: Twitter: @savannahsly | Instagram: @savannahsly_ | savannahsly.com

Please support Savannah’s foundation of choice:

Lysistrata is a network of POC sex workers in the USA who are pooling financial and other resources to help each other survive. Donations made to Lysistrata are shared to those in need through the philosophy of mutual aid.