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Rudy Giuliani, personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, went off on Stormy Daniels in a recent interview.

Appearing at a summit in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 6, the former mayor of New York City fielded a question about Daniels by saying she's not a credible person and suggesting she's lying about having had an affair with Trump.

"Because the business you were in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight," he says, referencing her work as an actress in adult films. "I'm sorry, I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who ... isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation."

[rebelmouse-image 19533776 dam="1" original_size="500x281" caption=""I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance." GIF via AP/YouTube." expand=1]"I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance." GIF via AP/YouTube.

Naturally there was some immediate backlash, with people slamming Giuliani's comments as misogynistic and demeaning.

Giuliani doubled down. "If you're involved in a sort of slimy business, (that) says something about you — says something about how far you'll go to make money," he told CNN's Dana Bash. "Our real point about her is that she's not just generally un-credible, she's un-credible from the point of view of wanting to get money. She's a con artist."

On the June 7 edition of "The View," hosts Meghan McCain and Whoopi Goldberg explained exactly what's wrong with saying someone lacks credibility because of a career in sex work.

— (@)

"A lot of [sex workers] have put their kids through college; they have had incredible lives and gone on to do all kinds of stuff," Goldberg said. "So, the mere fact that you [Giuliani] would make such a blanket statement about someone you don't know, who does something you seemingly know nothing about, seems kind of shocking. ... I feel like you need to grow up. Grow up."

One of the better deconstructions of Giuliani's comments came from porn performer Sydney Leathers.

In a sarcasm-laden blog post for Washington Babylon, Leathers took jabs at Giuliani for talking about women as though we've traveled 50 years into the past.

"A porn star can still be a career woman/woman of substance," Leathers wrote. "To imply otherwise is narrow minded and misogynistic. Rudy and Trump are not men of substance so I'm not sure where they get off judging others on this."

Giuliani's views are, unfortunately, pretty common. But they don't have to be.

Sex work is work. Whether or not a job is "glamorous" or not is beside the point. Imagine applying that standard to any other industry, asking accountants how they can take part in an industry that doesn't have "glamour" or chiding someone for taking a data entry gig "just because they need the money." But misconceptions of sex work — that porn must be bad because it doesn't live up to some arbitrary standard or assuming people involved in the industry are unsuccessful, unsophisticated, and uneducated — are pervasive in our culture.

"It's not only common for people in the sex industry to be underestimated, our deaths are routinely used as punchlines," Leathers says. "Literally right now I'm sitting here watching season 4 episode 1 of 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' and they kill off a stripper for a cheap laugh."

— (@)

She goes on to list Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and Patton Oswalt as ostensibly progressive comedians who've used the death of sex workers as punchlines.

"Imagine if these jokes were made about the deaths of any other group of people," Leather says, frustrated. "And we are a group that is killed at an alarmingly high rate, so it's really not a joke, and it's not funny. It's unacceptable."

She adds, "I'm sure some people will read 'sex workers are murdered at alarmingly high rates' and think, 'Wow, women shouldn't get into sex work then!' But maybe men just shouldn't kill us? It's like the 'don't wear a short skirt if you don't want to get raped' argument."

Photo courtesy of Sydney Leathers.

Changing this culture of condescension begins with the media we consume.

"I think the biggest thing people could do [is] stop laughing at those kinds of jokes. Stop retweeting those jokes. And tell the writers of that type of content that it's not funny and it's not OK," Leathers says.

"The View" segment gave her a bit of hope. It was just five years ago that Leathers was one of the women involved in a political scandal people were talking about on TV, and when she made the decision to pursue a career in porn, the reaction was negative.

A few years ago, she notes, that segment wouldn't have happened. "Thomas Roberts called me batshit crazy live on MSNBC for deciding to do porn, and no one said a word," says Leathers. "So there is a cultural shift starting to happen now — even though there has been recent legislation targeting sex work. We just need to keep standing up whenever people are being blatantly disrespectful and damaging."

There's nothing wrong with porn or the people who work in the industry.

Giuliani's statements are sexist and he's using his platform to diminish sex work. We'd also probably be a lot better off if we could stop making "dead hooker" jokes. Easy enough, right?

For more reasons for why porn is actually OK, we've published a whole list.

'The Deuce' actress echoes activists' push for decriminalization in a recent interview.

Fresh off her role as a sex worker in Showtime's 70s-era drama "The Deuce," Maggie Gyllenhaal thinks it's time we decriminalize sex work.

In an interview with Elle, Gyllenhaal shared her thoughts on the industry portrayed on the small screen, saying, "My instinct is to say decriminalize it and make sure everybody's safe, healthy and taken care of."

Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images.

It was a passing remark in Gyllnhaal's interview, but for many activists, the fight to decriminalize sex work is central to their own well-being and human rights.

In 2015, human rights organization Amnesty International came out in favor of decriminalizing sex work, noting that the continued criminalization of the industry fosters a culture of a sort of permanent societal underclass filled with workers who are regularly assaulted and discriminated against in housing and healthcare.

The following year, Amnesty International published a full policy recommendation, stressing that they support decriminalization of sex work that doesn't involve coercion, exploitation, or abuse — this is key, given that opponents of decriminalization often conflate willful, consensual sex work with human trafficking.

"We want laws to be refocused on making sex [workers'] lives safer and improving the relationship they have with the police while addressing the very real issue of exploitation," wrote Tawanda Mutasah, senior director for Law and Policy at Amnesty International. "We want governments to make sure no one is coerced to sell sex, or is unable to leave sex work if they choose to."

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In 2012, the World Health Organization came out in favor of decriminalization, arguing that existing anti-sex work laws prevent workers from accessing necessary healthcare, and in effect, contribute to increased risk of HIV/AIDS within that population. This conclusion was later backed up by a 2014 study published at The Lancet, which suggests that decriminalization could "have the largest effect on the course of the HIV epidemic."

Blogs like the sex worker-run Tits & Sass and groups like the New York-based Red Umbrella Project and Canada's Safe Harbour Outreach Project shine a light on the struggles and injustices faced within the industry — many of those injustices coming as a direct result of criminalization.

There are a lot of really good reasons to decriminalize sex work, and it's good to see that Gyllenhaal is on the right side of this issue.

She may not be a sex worker (she just plays one on TV), but at least that's helped give her the perspective and empathy necessary to lend her voice to support those who are and have been.

'I was a sex worker when I was young. It was hard but well paid. There's no shame in it.'

There's been a lot of talk about sex work recently — what it is, who's doing it, and how society and the government should treat people who make money from sex work.

It's a sensitive debate, and advocates on both sides of the issue have strongly held beliefs. But one group that too often gets left out of the conversation? Actual sex workers.

Sometimes that's because sex workers choose to keep their identities hidden because of safety and legal concerns. But often, the stigma against sex work also silences their voices.

Comedian Margaret Cho had a few things to say on Twitter about that shame and stigma.

You probably know Cho because of her amazing standup comedy (this one is a must-watch). Or maybe you'd seen her in the ABC sitcom "All-American Girl" back in 1994 when Asian-American representation on TV was pretty dismal. She's also a fierce activist for LGBTQ rights and racial equality.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Margaret Cho! Photo by Sebastien Nogier/AFP/Getty Images.

But before all of that, she was also a sex worker.

"I support sex workers because I was one and I know that it's a job that's needlessly shunned by society when frankly we should be worshipped," she tweeted in late October.

She then published a series of tweets about her sex work, sparking a dramatic conversation on Twitter.

Sex work is simply work. For me it was honest work. I was a sex worker when I was young. It was hard but well paid. There's no shame in it.
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) October 29, 2015

I chose to do it. I'm not ashamed of it and I don't expect praise for my choices. Just know that your biases hurt. X https://t.co/IgepsJUoBw
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) October 30, 2015

Sex work is not degrading - it didn't degrade me. Rape was degrading. Not sex work. Sex work is honest work. https://t.co/JzaRe9nql8
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) November 1, 2015

I left because I became a successful comic. I didn't have time. Your tone is ugly as is your attempt to shame me. https://t.co/KEyn8zTw7h
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) October 31, 2015

Cho also tweeted that she believes that sex workers shouldn't be shamed; instead, they should be protected by the law and allowed to unionize.

This isn't the first time Cho has opened up publicly about her history with sex work.

Earlier this year, she talked with Anna Sale from the Death, Sex & Money podcast about how working on phone-sex job allowed her to be financially independent as a young person.

"I did phone sex for quite a time, but this was so long ago, it was phone sex that was recorded. And there was a class system because the whiter you sounded, the more apt you were to do the recordings then talk to people on the phone. So if you didn't sound white, I guess as I do, you were relegated to another room where actually had to talk to people who called you. But because I sounded white I was able to get the good job."

The question of sex work's legal status is a huge one, and it has only become more pressing during the past year.

In April, journalist Melissa Gira Grant investigated a startup that helps police officers track sex workers. This summer, Amnesty International decided to advocate for decriminalizing sex work, a move that celebrities like Lena Dunham and Meryl Streep criticized. Then in September, Rentboy, a site for LGBTQ sex workers, was raided and forced to close by the Department of Homeland Security.

All of this has thrown some new light on what it really means to sell sex. And it's an important conversation to have because even though sex work is a reality in the U.S. and across the world, it's not a topic that gets much airtime at all.

Why? I'd venture to guess that the shame surrounding the idea of sex work prevents us from talking about the real issues that sex workers face. This is what Cho believes, too.

And that's why Cho wrote that series of tweets — to lift up her voice as another advocate.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.

She acknowledges that sex workers don't deserve to be shamed and that they need to be better protected by the law.

No matter what you think about sex work, Cho's decision was a brave and necessary one.

When it comes to issues like sex work, it's important to hear from the people who will be directly affected by the laws in place — in this case, sex workers themselves. So thank you, Margaret Cho, for sharing your experiences and sparking such an important conversation.

sex work

Rudy Giuliani's smear against sex workers is more common than you think. Let's fix that.

Rudy Giuliani, personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, went off on Stormy Daniels in a recent interview.

Naturally there was some immediate backlash, with people slamming Giuliani's comments as misogynistic and demeaning.

One of the better deconstructions of Giuliani's comments came from porn performer Sydney Leathers.

Giuliani's views are, unfortunately, pretty common. But they don't have to be.

Changing this culture of condescension begins with the media we consume.

There's nothing wrong with porn or the people who work in the industry.

Playing a sex worker on TV gave Maggie Gyllenhaal a new perspective on the industry.

'The Deuce' actress echoes activists' push for decriminalization in a recent interview.

Fresh off her role as a sex worker in Showtime's 70s-era drama "The Deuce," Maggie Gyllenhaal thinks it's time we decriminalize sex work.

It was a passing remark in Gyllnhaal's interview, but for many activists, the fight to decriminalize sex work is central to their own well-being and human rights.

There are a lot of really good reasons to decriminalize sex work, and it's good to see that Gyllenhaal is on the right side of this issue.

Before Margaret Cho was a comedian, she was a sex worker. And she's not ashamed.

'I was a sex worker when I was young. It was hard but well paid. There's no shame in it.'

There's been a lot of talk about sex work recently — what it is, who's doing it, and how society and the government should treat people who make money from sex work.

Comedian Margaret Cho had a few things to say on Twitter about that shame and stigma.

This isn't the first time Cho has opened up publicly about her history with sex work.

The question of sex work's legal status is a huge one, and it has only become more pressing during the past year.

And that's why Cho wrote that series of tweets — to lift up her voice as another advocate.

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