Pop Star Halsey Stands Up for Sex Workers

Pop star Halsey recently came out in favor of decriminalized, safe, consensual sex work. After an Instagram story (which has since disappeared) was posted last weekend with the #supportsexworkers hashtag, fans of the twenty-four-year-old singer apparently raised quite a ruckus, worried that her support of sex workers equated to her supporting sex trafficking.

So Halsey took to Twitter to set the record straight in a series of tweets making it clear that she supported safety, consent, and respect for sex workers—and that it’s important to note regional and cultural differences that play into the conversation.

“[I’m] getting a lot of shit because I posted #supportsexworkers on my story last night. Just to be clear. I DO support sex workers,” she wrote. “It all comes back to autonomy and choice.”

“I try, and I hope you try, to be mindful of cultural and regional differences that complicate the conversation,” she continued. “Personally in the states I’m friends with many men and women who work in ‘sexual’ fields and they are empowered by it.”

When fans and followers began conflating her support of sex work with supporting non-consensual sex trafficking, she fired back: “Sex work and sex trafficking are wildly different subjects!!!!!!! There is a difference! choice does exist and some people proudly choose it as their line of work and live comfortably.”

The tweets have since been deleted, but were captured for posterity by a number of media outlets. As Tracy Clark-Flory at Jezebel pointed out, it’s risky for a celebrity to be pro-sex work in a world where the conflation of sex trafficking and consensual sex work is commonplace.

The social media storm came about a month and a half after the singer revealed that she had considered pursuing sex work herself when she was homeless as a teenager. Clearly, she’s spent more time thinking about issues around sex work than many celebrities, and she knows the conversation about these issues is vast, nuanced, and important. 

We at YNOT say, “Go, Halsey!” We need more prominent voices who can speak knowledgeably, and with nuance, about these topics!

Halsey photo by Justin Higuchi, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license