I am the sex worker who took a selfie with Corbyn – this is my side of the story
The selfie was used to beat Jeremy Corbyn with by reinforcing the assumption that it is acceptable to consume our work, but not to be an adult performer, or be seen in proximity of one
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Your support makes all the difference.Yesterday, The Express published a selfie I took with Jeremy Corbyn, underneath a headline that asked: “Who is Misha Mayfair?” To answer that question I have to declare that I am Misha Mayfair; I am an adult actress; and I have the same right to engage in politics as anybody else.
During my chance meeting with Jeremy Corbyn at the Whittington Hospital (in his Islington constituency) I thanked him for a statement he had made in support of sex-workers’ rights back in 2016 as well as offering him a personal apology in case this had caused him any political turbulence.
He stated that he was in favour of decriminalising sex work during an address to The Sex Worker Solidarity Society at Goldsmiths University in London, a group that I founded whilst I was an undergraduate there.
Given this, you may appreciate that I was disappointed by the suggestion in The Mail Online, The Express and The Star that I’m a one-dimensional polluting figure and that sex-workers are not entitled to support politicians, just like any other citizen.
The problem with this salacious story is that it will have a significant impact on other sex-workers throughout the UK; from phone-sex operators to cam performers. It reinforces the idea that we’re not normal and that we exist only to create scandal.
Other sex workers will read this ‘story’ and wince, it’ll make other people like me think twice before trying to take part in activities that others take for granted.
Whilst this ‘story’ was used to beat Jeremy Corbyn with, it does so by reinforcing the assumption that it is acceptable to consume our work but not to be an adult performer or be seen in proximity of one. This is clearly a hypocritical contradiction. It perpetuates a social stigma that we can’t escape. As the tabloid press gleefully reminded me yesterday.
When Jeremy Corbyn speaks in our favour he’s demonised and when he’s pictured with one of us he’s demonised. Every interaction a politician has with a sex worker or any statement that one makes which isn’t imbued in negativity or ‘savior’ rhetoric is met with disgust.
I can’t help but think that if we could change the narrative in the press, humanize sex workers and a give sex workers a voice as opposed to running ‘shock’ factor or moralistic stories then we may come closer to getting the much needed safety and equal rights for one of the most marginalised groups in our country.
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