We need to overcome decades of stigma against sex workers, for starters. We need to prove why decrim is an attractive policy to our states. We need to get the anti-trafficking institutions and pro-Swedish model feminists to side with us. These are big, long-term tasks; not easy fixes. So while we work towards that, I suggest we get started by employing a much more straightforward tactic: we rethink how we market and communicate decrim.
I realise this isn’t a very sexy thing to say. And I get it: when sex workers’ lives are literally at stake because of poor policy, who has time to think about something as banal or seemingly light-hearted as a visual identity? Moreover, how many organisations working on behalf of decrim can even afford a marketing budget? We all know the answer.
But, as a volunteer for Copenhagen’s The Red Van and as a communications professional who has spent the last eight years crafting everything from social media strategies to marketing articles for start-ups, I’m asking you to hear me out. Historically, activist movements have reached critical mass with the help of marketing and communications strategies – be it through eye-catching posters or hashtag campaigns. To follow that lead doesn’t require all of us to suddenly build slick websites, hire PR interns, and hand out free t-shirts. Even small changes can make a difference and aid us in sidestepping what is perhaps the biggest communication barrier we face today: compassion fatigue.
