Cox, though, has vocally advocated on behalf of decriminalizing sex work since at least 2014, long before such a stance was remotely mainstream. The actor herself noted this with a short video posted to Twitter.
“If we talk about trans women of color’s experiences, I think we have to talk about sex work. It’s the reality for far too many of us, and we have to talk about decriminalizing,” said Cox in the clip, in which she’s speaking on stage in front of a poster that reads “We Stand with Monica Jones.” The poster refers to the case of a trans woman and sex work activist who was arrested in 2013 by an undercover cop during an anti-prostitution sting. Cox, alongside Janet Mock, became one of the highest-profile names raising awareness for the case and calling attention to the ways that stigma against sex work is inextricable from the criminalization of trans women of color.
“I think quite a few of us remember moments where Laverne has been present for discussions involving more marginalized sex workers (and our realities) in the past,” said Rebelle Cunt, the creator of Heaux History, an archival project centering the histories of “Black, Brown and Indigenous erotic laborers.” “That being said, Laverne deciding to step down from this production after public criticism from sex working community means a lot, and I’m hoping others will follow her lead AND consider lending support to films created by actual laborers of the desire industry (who are disproportionately underfunded).”
“Sex workers, BLACK sex workers in particular, have grown tired of works created about us without us,” Cunt added.
Venus Selenite, creative director and producer for Heaux History, agreed that Cox was right to step back from the project. But xe also noted that “it doesn’t feel as though it was an informed decision made with sex worker communities in mind.”
“This was not a moment to center her feelings regarding her emotional and mental health and that’s disappointing,” added Selenite via Twitter DM. “How can you not be willing to withstand criticism towards being a producer of a project that many sex worker and sex work advocates have objected to?”
Still, others have argued that Cox’s leverage might have been put to better use staying with the production and serving as “an ambassador to sex work communities,” as Horn put it. “The political and cultural struggles of trans women of color are deeply intertwined with those of sex workers,” she said. “Cox did an incredible job behind and in front of the camera with Disclosure, and I wish she could have brought her charisma and power to this project, too.”
Sarah Jones responded to some of the controversy as well, claiming that as a Black feminist artist she has “always centered the stories of traditionally marginalized people, especially women and femmes struggling for liberation and self-determination.” Sex workers, she says, are no exception.
But as both Horn and Rebelle Cunt mentioned, sex workers have always been capable of telling their own stories. People just haven’t been paying attention.
“Sex workers are not metaphors, we are people doing jobs,” said Horn. “We have our own stories and subjectivity and opinions. If Sarah Jones, Rashida Jones, Meryl Streep, or anyone else is concerned about women being exploited by an entertainment industry, maybe they should take a critical look at how they’re speaking on behalf of a stigmatized labor force in order to further their own discomfort and confirmation bias about what it means to do that work.”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.’s weekly newsletter here.
