Sex Workers and Social Media Activism: A Personal Account

Technology is changing not just how researchers interact with the public, but also how marginalized research populations interact with researchers. Sex work and other human rights activists have used social media to discuss research, educate researchers, and impact research at an institutional level. Twitter, FaceBook, and blogs have been used to recruit research participants, refine research and research possibilities, and rally email campaigns to IRB boards to stop harmful research. This presentation will be a personal account of how sex workers and activists are using web 2.0 tools to interact with researchers, push back against research they perceive as harmful, and revolutionize research that describes their lived experiences.