Stories change minds. In a world where sex work is highly stigmatised and/or criminalised, your stories matter.
As an organisation by and for sex workers, we seek to elevate and amplify sex worker voices to build community, challenge stigma, and fight for decriminalisation.
Our experiences are as diverse as our community. We publish voices from all over the world, from all sectors of the industry. The Tryst blog is a living archive of the compassion, resilience, and power of our community.
What we're looking for
We’d like to publish your first-person essays, educational pieces, reviews, and opinion pieces, covering all things sex work. Pieces should be between 800-1500 words.
Some examples of the content we love:
- First-person essays exploring sex work and identity, parenthood, race, censorship, religion, popular culture, relationships, dating, politics, stigma, and discrimination
- Educational pieces to help civvies be better allies or help other workers address their own internalised prejudices.
- Guides and tips for new workers (eg, photography tricks, lighting, getting started with online content, etc)
- Opinion pieces and commentary on sextech, laws, the latest news…
- Promotion of upcoming sex work events - articles promoting events must be provided to us at least one month prior to the event date. We will expedite these, but please keep in mind that we are a small team, so articles can take 2-5 weeks to be published.
You can also write for our current series:
A Tryst About Town - City guides: help clients plan better bookings with workers by recommending location-specific date ideas.
Hoes Odes - Our poetry corner! We want your freeform verse, your blackout poems. We’re looking for sex work setinas, vixen’s villanelles. Got an ode or sonnet to share?
Whoreview - Reviews of books or films about – or that contain representations of – sex work or sex workers. Reviews of any media from a sex worker lens.
Hobby Whores - A series for sex workers to share our special interests and pastimes. We don’t just hustle, after all!
Whore and Tell - We’d like to publish your work subverting a question workers get asked all the time: “What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you at work?”
Whore d'oeuvres - Sluts eat. Whether it’s the lunch you bring into your weekday broth shift, the snacks you create between bookings at 12am, the food that’s fuel or the food that’s care, the recipes for when you’ve got 2 spoons or 10, we want them. Send us your recipes and the stories that go with them.
Sex Work and the City - This series explores the relationships sex workers have: with each other, our friends, families, our lovers. Dating as a sex worker, parenting as a sex worker, coming out as a sex worker … we want to build a living library of experience. Loving is complex, especially so when you live and work in a stigmatised, and often criminalised industry. So, tell us how you really feel.
The Moment I Knew: Sex Worker Origin Stories - Most sex workers remember that moment. The moment we looked at our bank account, at the bill sitting on the table, our lack of spare time, lack of options, and decided to try something new. Maybe it was curiosity, a desire to express something old or new. Whatever it was, forget the stereotypes. We want to publish work that explores the moment you knew you wanted to be a sex worker.
If you’re stuck for ideas, check out some of our favourite pieces below:
- First person essay: But what about the children? Jessie Sage on motherhood and sex work - Jessie Sage
- Educational piece: Are you friends with a sex worker? Here’s what being a bestie - and an ally - really means - Georgie Wolf
- Guide: Herbal care for sex workers - Molly Simmons
- Opinion piece: So You No Longer Own Your Body: A Sex Worker’s Guide to a Life Without Bodily Autonomy - Adrie Rose
- Book Release: Sacred Sex and Sex Work Activism with Gabriela Herstik - Vixen Temple
Compensation
TLC, aka Tryst Love Credits, are credits workers use to pay to advertise on Tryst.link. We pay writers 200TLC per 800-1500w article.
200TLC equates to 200EURO (approx. 220USD). Being compensated in TLC means you get to keep that cash in your pocket, lessening the risk of banking or payment processor discrimination — or having to deal with bitcoin — when advertising on Tryst. Tryst.link will always have free plans, but being able to pay with your writing makes standard and premium plans more accessible to all workers.
We understand only a small part of the sex worker community use online advertising sites. As such, we also publish writers who do not use Tryst.link. If you are not a current member and would like to be published, please reach out to us to discuss other options.
Timelines
We are a very small team, and pitch appraisal and acceptance may take a minimum of four weeks. Our publishing schedule also varies, so if it’s been a hot minute since you were paid and you still can’t see your writing on the site, don’t worry! We are sometimes organising content month/s in advance. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Guidelines
- We will not publish any kind of discriminatory content. This includes content which is racist, transphobic, homophobic, whorephobic, fatphobic or otherwise discriminatory. This includes stigma against other kinds of sex work, rate shaming, and outing workers.
- You may choose to work and publish under a pseudonym we just need to verify your working identity
- Once a piece is submitted, it will be run by our editor. If there are any major edits we’ll let you know, otherwise we’ll go straight to publishing.
- Articles focused on identity must be written by a person who holds that identity. For example, an article about trans male sex workers must be written by a trans male sex worker.
- We will not accept articles generated by AI
- Articles must not be previously published. You own the copyright of your piece; we have a three month exclusionary contract, after which you can publish it elsewhere. Original source must be attributed.
- Articles must not expose information about safety procedures, for example “How to screen” etc.
- Self promotion must be minimal. We do not allow irrelevant links to personal websites, affiliate links etc.
- Please ensure you are linking to or citing any source material used in your piece
- Content must not be defamatory
- We can’t accomodate time sensitive articles - we are a small team so pieces can take 2-5 weeks to be published
How to submit
To pitch us your work, please follow the below pitch guide and send your pitch here.
Pitch Guide
- Introduce yourself.
- Introduce your article idea and establish your angle/perspective.
- Expand on your article idea in under 300 words.
- Include a 200-300 word sample of the piece you are pitching. Google doc link, attached document or included in the body of your email.
- Link to any previous relevant published writing (if you have any).
If you are submitting finished work without a pitch, please follow the below Spec Guide and send your work here:
Spec Guide
Font: Times New Roman
Size: Point 12
Spacing: Single Spacing - Not Double Spacing
Formatting: No indents. Line Breaks For Paragraphs. Margin Size 1 inch/2.5 cms
Punctuation: Limit unnecessary brackets. Inverted commas (“) for direct quotes. Italics for emphasis. Max Caps for titles.
Style Guide: Use Acronyms and Abbreviations Sparingly - at first use please use full terminology followed by bracketed abbreviation, ie. Sex work exclusionary radical feminists (SWERFs).
Clearly indicate all headings and subheadings, do not use all caps for subheadings. All medical, legal and scientific claims should be referenced either with a hyperlink or chicago style footnote citation.
Please obtain consent to mention any one else in your work, or anonymise them (this may not apply to celebrities).
