Navigating COVID-19 as a FSSW

This is not an advice post.

This bitmoji of me traveling on a jellyfish really aptly captures my life right now. I am trying to remain cheerful against the undercurrent of constant danger and trying to live my day to day life. It is a surreal reality we are all navigating together. 

There is a lot of conversation on my timeline about COVID-19. But I haven’t seen anything from the perspective of full service sex workers (possible it just may not have come on my radar). So I figured I’d write a little about how I am navigating this.

 Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. I’m just a tired h**ker trying their best. Take what is useful, discard the rest. 

While there is a lot of information about how Omicorn variant is not killing the “healthy” and vaccinated as much, there is still a lot we don’t know about this virus. There are multiple reports, both scientific and anecdotal, about how COVID-19 is a vascular disease and attacks and weakens the immune system. Which means, even if you recover, that you may be left with other long term ailments. On the TL, you may have seen these discussions tagged #LongCovid. 

My goals? Avoid transmitting COVID-19 to others and getting #LongCovid for myself. 

Easier said than done of course. The CDC guidelines are confusing at best and the CDC Director saying on January 7th that only “unwell” people are dying is not helpful. I am disabled and cannot afford another illness on top of everything else I have. But I still need to survive capitalism, so I have been trying to figure out a way through this. I have been thinking a lot about the sex worker response to HIV epidemic, and so I am writing this post in a similar mindset. 

I am not the best at doing online SW but my favorite person to learn from is Amberly Rothfield. But this post is not about online work (kudos if this is your area of expertise!). Of course, vaccinate and boost if you are able to. It will help you not get sick (or reduce your chances of developing severe illness) which is the best chance of not getting #LongCovid. There is a lot of evidence that N-95 and K-95 masks can be reused in non-medical settings. So mask up when and where possible. 

But I can’t mask through an appointment (again, kudos to those who have tried and succeeded!). And I am still at risk of getting sick after being vaccinated and boosted. There is research that shows that rapid antigen tests are better at showing when you are transmitting COVID-19 vs just having the virus in your body. Meaning, you could have virus protein in you but you may not actively be infecting others and this is more accurately caught by doing as many rapid tests as possible. Second: that it is better to try and do a throat swab for at home rapid antigen tests when possible to yield more accurate results. 

Clients are not always easy to convince to follow protocol. I do not trust them to tell me if they are vaccinated or if they have a negative test. Plus, PCR test result times can be so long that someone very easily may catch something in between their test and my appointment with them. So I try and keep at home rapid tests in stock (extremely hard to get at the moment), and tell clients that the current protocol is to be negative on a test. The caveat: depending on the services they are seeking, they may be forfeiting the entire amount of the date if they test positive. For instance, if they are looking for services where there is no fluid exchange, I may still go ahead with the session. Otherwise, I try to steer them towards video sessions (I use NiteFlirt). I have told some clients I will feel more at ease in February when the surge has most likely passed. And after every appointment, I encourage following up with testing after three days and five days to remain safe and vigilant. 

Of course, safer ways of working are often more privileged ways of working. I have found that many clients are amenable to my suggestions (my clients come from diverse backgrounds so this is not a ding on class, race, or age). We all want and deserve clients that respect our boundaries and I see these boundaries in line with practicing condom safety and other screening tools. The reality for me is that I can neither afford to get evicted nor can I afford to have added disabilities. It is a difficult thing to balance and even harsher for people experiencing more poverty and institutional barriers than me. Part of being able to practice safer ways of working when I can is also my hope that it translates towards solidarity towards other workers. There will always be clients looking to push past boundaries and seeking certain services. But if sex work has taught me anything, it is that individual  practices of safety can translate to better communal working conditions for all. We have learned this from HIV epidemics and I think it holds true to this pandemic too. 

Last and not the least: if you are a sex worker that mixes drugs and dates, there is a guide written for you!

Before I leave off, I want to remind readers that this is not an advice post. Just my way of navigating working during a pandemic. I hope it was helpful to you. Are there other ways you are navigating working through the pandemic? Leave a comment below or DM me (@raanibegum) on Twitter or Instagram.