We make sure that every person that lists with us understands, and does not judge those who live alternative sexual lifestyles.
The Three Stages of Screening
1. Contact
When we’re trying to find professionals to join us, we search the web emailing copious amounts of people trying to find organisations, companies, firms, or individuals that are willing to support us by listing with us. Due to the stigma and shame around sex in society, these people can be rare. Check out our article all about this: how the Nordic Model, while not directly criminalizing workers, will make accessing services more difficult: SESTA-FOSTA/Nordic and Access to Services.
And sometimes people just find us, and get in touch.
So in a way, this is actually the first part of the process, and is what anyone else would have to go through to find someone. When someone does respond with interest, we move to stage two.
2. Background/Online Check
Just like any modern company looking to hire, online checks are quite standard. We look for organisations they are a member of, articles they have written, comments they’ve made on social media and work history. And we’re not just looking for sex positive media. We would not list someone that might be pro-sex work, and even pro kink, but make derogatory comments about women, or LGBTQ, or any minority. As this can certainly sometimes be the case; that someone is pro sex work but also quite discriminatory. See our article on In Sex Work Politics, Opposites Attract.
This process usually screens out, or confirms people. For example, if a lawyer has defended sex work in court, or a counsellor that volunteers for kink organisations. That said, we do recognise that even within these worlds, there can be conflict, and this may arise. We therefore have quite full profiles of everyone listed, as well as links to their sites and media. So you can decide if they are the best fit for you.
If after these checks, there are still questions then we move to having further discussions.
3. Clarification
If someone seems to not quite fall into a clear yes or no category, then we get in touch and ask for more information. An example might be someone that is openly religious. So while all their media is very positive, and inclusive, we might want clarification on how they work. Or maybe one person in a firm posted some comments that we feel are inappropriate, but the firm’s overall ethos is very positive.
If they pass all of the above, then we go onto checking professional qualifications, and memberships of professional organisations: Credentials