February’s Blog Contest Winner
Now that February has ended we’re excited to announce the winner of the blog contest!
The theme for February was “Vulnerability and Connection”, the winning blog - as chosen by the Umbrella Lane community - was Jack Forester!
This was his blog entry:
This past year I think everyone has been feeling vulnerable. I think Sex Workers probably more than anyone else. We went from having a consistent and secure income to having less, or nothing in many cases. It’s been a challenge going from self-sufficient to desperate overnight.
For me at least this has been made worse by having to think about seeing clients I never would’ve considered just because there is no support out there that is enough. Just because the government refuses to support Sex Workers, now among societies most vulnerable. I’ve also had clients I’ve seen for more than year not even offer to help- the sense of aloneness is more than disappointing, its scary.
Not all is bad of course, few things are ever all bad. I think we’ve all grown as people just by surviving. I think we’ve all grown as Sex Workers- if we can make it through this now then what cant we handle.
It’s also made it clear that criminalisation of the purchase of Sex, which would achieve much the same as corona, would make us more vulnerable. Hopefully, all Sex Workers can view that as a call to action to stop it from happening in order to protect ourselves and other Sex Workers.
That brings me to another benefit from all this misery; I never knew what I was missing before as I never thought to look for a community of Sex Workers, and I thought even less that I would be welcome in one. Fortunately, I was very wrong and after finding Umbrella Lane looking forward, as many of us have done, I was amazed by the community. It is welcoming, it is safe.
Through meeting other Sex Workers and making friends I have not only been able to connect with others in a way I did not even think possible, with a new level of openness and honesty but I have also been able to connect with myself in a new way. I’ve grown to accept who I am and feel comfortable with myself and what I do to an extent I didn’t think possible.
Perhaps it’s true what they say through vulnerability comes connection, and through adversity strength.
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With the end of one month comes the start of another and lucky for us it brings with it a brand new theme for our next monthly blog contest!
The theme for March is: “Sex Workers’ Rights Day”!
We want to hear how you interpret this month’s theme, whether it’s to talk about how far Sex Workers’ rights have come or to talk about how much further Sex Workers’ rights needs to go before Sex Workers can truly be safe in our modern-day society.
You can take any approach you like, just remember that submissions should be between 150 - 500 words long and must be sent to communications@umbrellalane.org by 3 pm (UK time) on the 25th of March to be in with a chance of winning a £25 Amazon gift card.
Good luck!