Back in November, I was interviewed by a senior news producer for the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver show about why the decriminalization of adult sex workers makes so much sense from a public health and safety perspective. The producer came across my name, not from my 2015 book about sex workers and the law, but from a 2018 investigative piece I had written for the Intercept about how prosecutors in King County (the Seattle, Washington area) were receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from an anti-prostitution group to arrest sex workers and their clients under the rubric of sex trafficking, even though there was no evidence that any such trafficking was taking place. Other prosecutors around the country were also receiving generous dollops of cash, all of which came with strings attached that law enforcement use the term sex trafficking in describing their stings. According to legal experts I spoke to, this money and the accompanying requirements put these prosecutors, who are supposed to be impartial arbiters of justice, into the ethically compromised position of sensationalizing their own cases.

During my chat with the John Oliver producer, I enumerated the many reasons why adult consensual sex work should be decriminalized and pointed her to research I had assembled for my book and subsequent blogs. You can find those blog entries here. I also slipped in a mention of my latest book, Brassy Broad: How one journalist helped pave the way to #MeToo, although knowing how the John Oliver show works, I very much doubt they will mention either of my books or my contributions to the field.

Even so, I am grateful that the show is planning to take a serious (albeit comedic) look at the decriminalization of sex work when it returns from hiatus in a few weeks. I will keep you posted on when that segment will air.