Understanding the Myth: All Sex Workers Are Women

The Reality of Sex Work

Reality: Men, nonbinary, and trans people also do sex work, and ignoring them erases real needs, advocacy, and data from the conversation.

This myth isn’t just about who people imagine when they hear the words “sex worker.” It reflects who feminism has historically chosen to see and who it has chosen to leave out.

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Much of mainstream feminist rhetoric around sex work has centered on cisgender women. They are often cast as victims in need of rescue or as symbols of patriarchal exploitation.

This framing makes men, trans people, and nonbinary sex workers invisible, as if they don’t exist or their experiences don’t count.

Why Does This Matter for Feminism?

When feminism relies on a narrow, one-dimensional picture of sex work, it repeats the same exclusionary patterns it claims to resist. It prioritizes the experiences of some women—usually white, cis, and middle-class—while erasing others. This denial of solidarity affects entire groups who also face gender-based violence, stigma, and criminalization.

By refusing to see the full spectrum of sex workers, feminism weakens itself. If our goal is gender justice, we can’t build it on myths that erase men who sell sex or trans and nonbinary people whose survival often depends on sex work due to systemic discrimination in housing, healthcare, and employment.

A feminism that only protects some women while ignoring or even harming others—and everyone else who doesn’t fit neatly into that category—isn’t feminism at all.

The Importance of Inclusion

Inclusion is vital for effective advocacy. When all voices are heard, solutions can be more comprehensive. This approach leads to better policies that protect everyone involved in sex work.

Why This Myth Exists

This myth persists because mainstream conversations about sex work are often filtered through sensationalized media, rescue industry campaigns, and outdated feminist frameworks. When people hear “sex worker,” they often imagine a cisgender woman standing on a street corner. This image is both limiting and dangerous. It erases the realities of male, trans, and nonbinary sex workers, who often face even greater stigma, invisibility, and vulnerability.

Ignoring the diversity of sex workers distorts the public narrative and undermines services and policies. Studies show that up to a third of sex workers in some regions identify as men. Trans women and nonbinary people are disproportionately represented in both online and street-based economies. Yet funding for services almost exclusively targets cisgender women, leaving others without culturally competent healthcare, legal resources, or community support.

The Impact of Invisibility

This invisibility creates loopholes in research and advocacy. When data collection assumes all sex workers are women, critical needs—like HIV prevention for men who trade sex, safety planning for trans street workers, or labor protections for full-service workers of all genders—go unaddressed. Anti-trafficking laws and “rescue” programs designed around the image of the helpless cis woman miss or criminalize entire populations that don’t fit the stereotype.

The truth is simple: sex work is as diverse as humanity itself. Men sell sex. Trans people sell sex. Nonbinary people sell sex. Ignoring them isn’t just inaccurate—it’s harmful. If we’re serious about equity and justice, our policies, research, and feminist advocacy must reflect the full spectrum of who does sex work and what they actually need.

Who Gets Hurt When This Myth Drives Policy

When policymakers assume all sex workers are cisgender women, everyone outside that narrow frame falls through the cracks—or worse, gets targeted.

• Men who sell sex often lose access to healthcare, housing programs, or HIV-prevention services because those initiatives are written with “at-risk women” in mind. Their labor is ignored, and their safety is treated as irrelevant.

• Trans and nonbinary sex workers—who face some of the highest rates of police harassment, incarceration, and violence—are made invisible in “rescue” programs designed only for women. This leaves them both over-criminalized and under-protected.

• Survivors of trafficking who aren’t women are erased from policy discussions entirely. If they don’t fit the expected profile, they’re less likely to be identified, supported, or believed.

• Cisgender women themselves are also harmed. When feminism props up this myth, it reduces women to victims and erases their agency, ignoring sex workers’ own organizing, labor rights demands, and leadership.

  
  

The result? Billions of dollars flow into raids, sting operations, and gendered “rescue” programs that don’t reflect the real diversity of sex work. Meanwhile, the people most vulnerable—especially trans women of color, undocumented workers, and LGBTQ+ youth—are left without meaningful protection.

In other words, this myth doesn’t just distort reality. It directs resources away from where they’re needed most and puts already marginalized communities in greater danger.

How This Myth Fails Everyone

Reducing sex work to “all women, all the time” isn’t just inaccurate—it undermines the fight for justice across the board. Men who sell sex are erased from research and services, meaning their health risks, safety concerns, and labor rights disappear from policy conversations. This leaves them unsupported and more vulnerable to exploitation.

Trans and nonbinary sex workers, who often rely on sex work for survival because of systemic discrimination in employment, housing, and healthcare, are written out entirely. By pretending they don’t exist, the myth ensures their specific needs—like gender-affirming healthcare or protection from targeted police harassment—remain unmet.

Even cisgender women are failed by this narrative. When feminism frames all women in sex work as passive victims, it strips them of agency, silences their leadership, and results in policies created for sex workers instead of with them.

The Consequences of Exclusion

This myth fails feminism itself. A feminism that only protects some women while ignoring others—and everyone who doesn’t fit into a narrow category—ends up reproducing the same exclusions patriarchy thrives on. Real liberation can’t be built on erasure.

The Bottom Line

The idea that “all sex workers are women” is more than just a lazy stereotype. It’s a myth that props up exclusionary feminism, fuels bad policy, and abandons the very people who most need support. Men, trans, and nonbinary sex workers exist, organize, and lead, yet their erasure keeps resources and protections from reaching them.

Even cis women are harmed when feminism reduces them to passive victims instead of recognizing their agency.

If feminism is about equality and justice, it cannot afford to build itself on myths that erase whole communities. Busting this one isn’t optional—it’s the foundation of a feminism that refuses to leave anyone behind.