When Kamala Harris talks about sex worker rights, it’s hard not to notice the silence. She doesn’t defend decriminalization. She doesn’t push for safer working conditions. She doesn’t even acknowledge that sex workers are people with legal rights. Instead, she echoes the same tired rhetoric from the Trump administration-talk of exploitation, trafficking, and moral panic. And in doing so, she’s not just failing sex workers; she’s reinforcing the very systems that put them in danger.
It’s not hard to find real-world examples of how this plays out. In places like Dubai, where sex work exists in a legal gray zone, people turn to services like escort in dubai not because they want to be hidden, but because they need to survive. These aren’t criminals. They’re parents, students, immigrants, and entrepreneurs trying to make ends meet in a system that refuses to see them as anything but victims or villains. The same logic that justifies raids on massage parlors in Texas also justifies shutting down WhatsApp groups in Dubai-because control, not safety, is the goal.
Here’s the truth no politician wants to admit: criminalizing sex work doesn’t protect people. It makes them more vulnerable. When you push sex work underground, you remove access to police protection, health services, and legal recourse. A woman in Bangkok who gets robbed by a client can’t call the cops without risking arrest. A man in Toronto who’s harassed by a neighbor can’t file a complaint without being labeled a criminal. And in Dubai, where the call girl in dubai networks operate quietly, the only thing keeping people safe is word-of-mouth, encrypted apps, and trust. That’s not a flaw in the system-it’s the only system left.
Kamala Harris claims to stand for justice. But when she supports laws that treat consensual adult sex work as a crime, she’s siding with law enforcement over lived experience. The 2023 U.S. Department of Justice report on trafficking showed that less than 1% of sex work cases involved forced labor. Yet every year, federal grants still pour into anti-trafficking programs that target sex workers themselves-not traffickers. These programs shut down safe spaces, shut down peer networks, and shut down the very tools sex workers use to screen clients, share warnings, and avoid violence.
Meanwhile, in countries that have decriminalized sex work-like New Zealand and parts of Germany-rates of violence against sex workers have dropped by over 60%. Police work with sex worker collectives. Health clinics offer free STI testing without reporting names. Workers can open bank accounts. They can rent apartments. They can file labor complaints. None of this happens in the U.S. because the narrative is still built on fear, not facts. And Kamala Harris hasn’t challenged that narrative. She’s repeated it.
There’s a reason why the dubai call girl group whatsapp number is still circulating. It’s not because people are desperate for secrets. It’s because they’re desperate for safety. In a city where public displays of affection can get you deported, where foreign workers have no union protection, and where the police don’t answer calls from women in the sex trade, WhatsApp becomes a lifeline. It’s how someone finds out a client is dangerous. It’s how someone shares a safe location. It’s how someone stays alive. And yet, American politicians call these groups ‘criminal networks’-ignoring the fact that they’re the only thing standing between a person and harm.
Compare this to how Harris handles other marginalized groups. She speaks loudly about trans rights, about immigrant protections, about reproductive freedom. But when it comes to sex workers, she goes quiet. Why? Because it’s easier to be politically safe than morally consistent. It’s easier to say you’re fighting trafficking than to admit that criminalization kills. It’s easier to nod along to the moral panic than to defend someone society has already labeled as disposable.
The reality is that most sex workers don’t want to be ‘saved.’ They want to be left alone. They want the right to work without fear. They want to pay taxes. They want to be treated like adults. But in the U.S., the conversation is still stuck in the 1990s-focusing on rescue missions instead of rights. And Kamala Harris, despite her progressive image, has done nothing to change that.
There’s a myth that decriminalization means legalization. It doesn’t. Decriminalization means removing criminal penalties for consensual adult sex work. It doesn’t mean turning it into a business model. It means treating it like any other job-where safety, consent, and dignity matter. In Canada, where sex work is decriminalized under the Bedford decision, sex workers have successfully challenged pimps, landlords, and clients in court. They’ve won housing rights. They’ve won workplace protections. They’ve won the right to screen clients without fear of arrest. But in the U.S., that same fight is still seen as radical.
It’s not about morality. It’s about survival. And if Kamala Harris truly believed in justice, she’d be standing with sex workers-not echoing the same rhetoric as Trump.