SWOP Behind Bars stories

Seen but Still Silenced: The Complicated Gratitude of the Sex Worker Rights Movement

When a certain child rescue organization—you know, the one whose name sounds like a Christian indie band—published their recent reflection titled “Mistakes happen in anti-trafficking work. We must learn from them,” a strange thing happened across the sex worker rights community.
We collectively blinked. Really slowly.
Not in shock, but in that tired, long-suffering way you blink when someone finally repeats back something you’ve been saying for twenty years and calls it a revelation.

Classroom Contraband — What They Don’t Teach You in Prison

For years, prisons were called “crime schools” because people learned more about how to survive in the underground economy than how to build a stable life. But over the past two decades, peer educators, survivor-led programs, and small but mighty prison college initiatives have begun to shift that narrative. Inside, women are not just learning—they’re teaching. They’re guiding each other through case law, GED exams, and grief recovery. They’re mentoring each other, mapping out legal strategies, and explaining reproductive health when medical staff won’t.

Tariffs and other Economic Nonsense - When Protection Becomes the Problem

Remember when tariffs were marketed as the golden ticket to economic salvation? They were supposed to protect American jobs, revive domestic industry, and punish “bad actors” overseas. Just slap a tax on imports, they said, and factories would roar back to life. Jobs would multiply. Wages would rise. The middle class would thrive.
Spoiler alert: they didn’t.

The Most Expensive DUI in MA history

This week Karen Read of Massachusetts was found Not Guilty by a jury of her peers, regarding the suspicious death of her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe in 2021. 
Here's what Blair Hopkins, Executive Director has to say about that!

Degrees of Separation: Why We Must Redefine What Counts as Education

For criminalized women—especially those who’ve survived trafficking, incarceration, and generational poverty—the idea of “formal education” often feels like a fortress: high walls, locked gates, and a very specific key held by someone on the other side. If you didn’t get your high school diploma at 18 or walk across a stage in a cap and gown, you’re somehow seen as less equipped, less capable, less… educated.
But let’s break down how that gatekeeping actually works.

Top Ten Myths and Misconceptions About the Adult Industry—And the Truth Behind Them

Let’s be real—if myths about sex work were dollar bills, every stripper in America would be retired by now, sipping cocktails on a beach somewhere and finally getting paid what she's worth. But instead of cashing in, sex workers are still stuck cashing out the emotional and legal damage from decades of moral panic and misinformation.
These tired narratives don’t just misinform—they fuel stigma, drive harmful legislation, justify police violence, and shape the way society treats people who trade sex for survival, for empowerment, or simply because it pays the bills. They show up in courtroom rulings, in media headlines, in social services that exclude us, and in public health policies that criminalize our bodies instead of keeping us safe.

Weekend Hot Takes - A Country in Chaos

Hope your coffee is strong and your boundaries stronger, because this weekend delivered a full-course meal of carceral nonsense, QAnon fever dreams, ICE agents crashing into elementary school zones, and a grown man throwing himself a military parade for his birthday. So yeah—just another totally normal weekend in the land of the free

Degrees of Survival — When Learning Is a Lifeline for Trafficking Survivors

Education is one of the few concrete tools that can reduce the risk of re-exploitation. Survivors who are able to return to school—whether to finish a GED, complete a college degree, or learn a trade—gain more than academic knowledge. They gain economic mobility, self-efficacy, a supportive peer community, and the tools to advocate for themselves in complex systems. Studies consistently show that financial insecurity is one of the primary drivers of trafficking and exploitation. Survivors without access to income—especially those exiting jails, shelters, or unstable living environments—are at significant risk of being retrafficked. Education, especially when paired with housing and wraparound support, becomes a direct intervention against this risk.