From left: Tami Kashia Gold, producer, director, and writer of Sex Work: It's Just a Job; Marla Cruz, sex worker featured in the documentary; Bienvenida Matiás, producer, co-director, writer of Sex Work: It's Just a Job.
Many sex workers have found financial security in a line of work that is prone to violence, police harassment, and stigma.
The documentary Sex Work: It's Just a Job explores the movement to decriminalize sex work and examines the racism, sexism, and transphobia that can fuel police crackdowns in the industry.
Co-producer Alex Vitale, a a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, said people involved in sex work often see it as their only viable option.
Vitale noted the difference between sex work and sex trafficking.
"For some people, it's a difficult choice when the options are extremely limited," he said. "In other cases, we've seen people have financed their education by engaging in sex work. It is an economic decision that people are making."
Tami Gold, the film's director and writer, said many of the sex workers who she interviewed were working to reduce incidents of violence in their community.
"Women are so visible to the police," she said. "(We want to) really look at solutions that are outside of law enforcement, outside of thinking that policing is going to solve a problem."
The film recently screened in San Antonio as part of a collaboration between the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, ACT 4 SA, and The Pride Center SA.
Texas Public Radio produced a limited run podcast in 2022 on the history of sex work in San Antonio. Hear the first epidose of Running Red-Lights below: