Meet the Thai Sex Workers Fighting for Their Right to Earn a Living

Attitudes towards the legalization of sex work are changing around the world, and now some cities have even started considering public spaces for sex work while developing urban infrastructure plans. From Cologne, Germany (where there are "sex drive-throughs" that are equipped with safety features, facilities for rest, and toilets for the workers) to Amsterdam (where they are developing new rules for window-based sex work), governments are now increasingly inviting sex workers and their representatives to the negotiating table.

In an effort to protect Thai massage therapists from sexual harassment and assautl, the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Centers partnered with R-A-W Power to deliver self-defense training at Hollywood Career College, teaching 34 massage therapists physical techniques and boundary-setting skills to handle inappropriate client behavior during sessions. Beyond self-defense, other community organizations are also providing education, legal advocacy and working on policy reform efforts to further protect workers.

Union’s auxiliary members and miners’ wives work to support the miners on strike from Warrior Met Coal in Alabama by running a strike pantry, collecting donations, and planning strike activities and marches. In some cases, wives agreed to be arrested in the name of the cause. The bonds they’ve formed throughout the process are what keep them going.

The Equal Justice Center helps people who have experienced issues in the workplace like wage theft, labor trafficking and discrimination get justice against their employers.

In Thailand, the Issara Institute gives freed workers money, instead of services, and a chance to make their own choices. The system disavows paternalistic programs that tie strings to aid.

The Wise Up Campaign works to increase HIV testing rates and reduce transmission of the disease through educational efforts and connecting with young people, a particularly high-risk group, to spread awareness and connect them with necessary resources. Since forming, the campaign has reached over 500,000 young people with HIV counseling and testing, as well as condom distribution, and has even trained several young volunteers to continue spreading the message to their peers.

Drop-in Centers (DiCEs) in Kenya provide specialized, stigma-free healthcare to marginalized populations at high risk for HIV. These centers offer one-stop HIV testing, treatment, counseling and other health services. DiCEs operate with flexible hours, specially-trained staff, and a peer-to-peer outreach model designed to reach people who face barriers accessing mainstream healthcare due to criminalization, discrimination and violence.

In Kenya, sex workers face disproportionately high rates of STIs, compounded by widespread antimicrobial resistance and stigma that keeps many from seeking care in public hospitals. In response, the Center for Health Solutions, working alongside the Kisumu County Government and the Kisumu Sex Workers Alliance, launched a community-based program offering free STI screening, lab testing, and peer education to over 50 registered sex workers. The program uses an outreach-first model, finding and linking sex workers to care rather than waiting for them to navigate hostile clinical environments.

Girls&More educates girls on menstruation, puberty and menstrual hygiene. The group travels to schools and throughout rural communities to talk to girls and provide them with sanitary pads and other resources they may struggle to access.

The Population and Community Development Association was established in 1974 to promote family planning and has since partnered with the local government and other groups to provide family planning services, and resources, like condoms and birth control, as well as education. Widespread promotion and availability of contraceptives thanks to the group has led the uptake among women of reproductive age to go from about 17% in 1970 to 75% in 2022 — as well as a reduction in fertility rates, all of which helps to control the overall population.