Lindsay is a sex worker who participated as a Book in the Human Library project put on by the Ottawa Public Library, the Canadian War Museum, and CBC Ottawa on Saturday, January 28. Lindsay is currently working on an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies at the University of Ottawa and holds an undergraduate degree in archeology and the classics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Why did you choose to be part of the Human Library project?
I am big on breaking stereotypes. Anything that I can do to change people’s minds [about stereotypes] is moving in the right direction.
How did you get into sex work?
I had been living in Ottawa for a year after I graduated. I didn’t speak French and I didn’t want to do archeology anymore. So I was working lame retail jobs and I didn’t like it. At the time I was seeing this guy and I did not have much time for him, so he offered to pay me to stay with him. So I said, sure if you want to start paying me for what I was previously doing for free. It just seemed right once I started doing it. Sex work is one of those jobs where you work as much or as little as you want to. It has provided me with a means to go back to school without having to take out too many student loans.
Read the rest of the interview here