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Occupational therapy professionals will work with clients who may hire sex workers or who would benefit from working with a sex worker.   

Here are 5 things OTs need to know to be prepared to address sex work with clients and to advocate for destigmatizing sex work:

1. Sex work is work. Sex work is a consensual transaction between adults, where the act of selling or buying sexual services is not a violation of human rights. Sex work is an umbrella term that can include escort services, street-level sex workers, pornography, exotic dancing, massage, internet work, phone sex operators and third-party support (drivers, managers, bartenders etc.). Sex work is NOT sexual exploitation or trafficking. If the exchange is non consensual, it is violence, and is not considered sex work under the definitions of the World Health Organization.
   Like any career, sex work is deserving of respect, non-judgement, and professionalism. 
2. Sex workers...

If you have a brain, you have a bias. Confronting our own biases is uncomfortable, but it is our ethical responsibility as occupational therapy professionals.  Considering how paramount reconciling our biases are to enhancing the therapeutic relationship and treatment efficacy, and reducing patient harm and health disparities...

Many of us weren't taught this in school.  

Welp, add it to the list of uncomfortable yet essential topics that were and are omitted from OT curriculum !  And it's a double whammy omission-effect when we combine this with sexuality. 

So what does this mean for OT professionals? 

We need to do the work to acknowledge our bias and make sure to include sexuality when doing so.  This is exactly my motivation behind my favorite CEU offering, "Guided Self-Reflection of Sexuality Values, Beliefs, Attitudes, and Biases" (see below section for more info).  We're all sexual beings with our own experiences and beliefs around...