In this roundtable discussion, three authors discuss their efforts to research, educate, advocate, and organize around and against the U.S. prison nation, with a significant emphasis on naming how race, gender, and sexuality intersect with criminalization. In particular, this discussion examines how the overlapping sex offender, queer, and criminalization/incarceration organizing tensions provide an opportunity to reflect on the wider implications of the authors’ very local work and to build shared analysis.

This essay describes the personal experiences of a woman who, in September 2010, published an article on Huffington Post criticizing the shuttering of the “adult services” section of Craigslist and defending the rights and dignity of sex workers. She used her own experience working as a “non pro” on the classifieds site to support her argument that not all who sold sex online were victims of trafficking or controlled by a pimp. After publishing this article without pseudonym or apology, she was swiftly removed from her current position as a classroom teacher for the New York City Department of Education and reassigned. Ultimately, as a result of speaking out about her past experiences as a sex worker, she lost my career. This essay discusses the circumstances that led to that resignation and the role feminism can play in supporting sex workers and other sexual minorities wishing to represent themselves publicly.