TORONTO — Samantha Jones emailed YNOT in a fluster. Jones, a Hustler Beaver Hunt centerfold based in Toronto, has been an activist for the rights of sex workers and adult performers for many years. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she joined other models and mainstream small business owners advocating for their status as “essential” workers.

We began our conversation very frankly. Jones made it clear that she isn’t against people getting vaccinated and that sick people with COVID-19 need to get the treatment they need. Like much of the world, Canada fell into a recession due to implementing ‘safer at home’ policies that keep non-essential businesses closed until the pandemic numbers improve.

To Jones, the lockdown forces performers into other means of content distribution and entertaining via outlets like OnlyFans or actual porn shoots. For her and others, this shift to meet demand is extremely challenging and potentially terrifying. The ‘safer at home’ model for protecting people across North America has been effective, according to research from public health practitioners and infectious disease physicians.

Ever since the global declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization, analyses on the impact of ‘stay at home’ orders have proliferated. One study from a research team of economists looking at search data concluded that lockdown policies initially had a positive association with happiness, but the association became negative as the pandemic and associated lockdown policies lingered on.

“As regards to the factors that are related to happiness after the lockdown was implemented, we found searches for alcohol (tobacco), the number of tweets, and uncertainty about the future job market to be negatively related to happiness,” the researchers concluded. “In contrast, stay-at-home orders are positively related to happiness. Interesting is the negative and statistically significant squared relationship between new COVID-19 deaths and happiness, indicating that this relationship initially was positive but became negative over time.”

While Jones doesn’t discount the risks of the COVID-19 virus, she’s still fed up with how ongoing limitations on non-essential work coincide with a wider struggle. For months now, Jones and other models and dancers have been engaged in activism outside clubs in Canada to represent all sex workers who have been affected by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

“Much of my business is on hold, it would appear, as people are just scared. Not to mention financial issues from all this,” Jones said in an email. “I have switched gears to more online like everyone else, but if one of my regulars wants to see me I am happy to accommodate.”

Jones was emotional, to say the least, relating how the inability to work has negatively impacted performers all over the province. Reportedly, five performers in Barrie, Ont., have taken their own lives.

“It’s somewhat understandable, as with over a year of strict lockdowns and restrictions, with no end in sight,” she said. “It can be very saddening. We do love our work and our clients.”

Jones added that the extent of the lockdowns has proceeded into negative territory.

“I feel the lockdown measures are becoming unjust,” she said. “Better protocol could’ve been taken when restrictions were eased.”

She also took issue with the amount of the economic stimulus payout to employed and self-employed Canadians, saying that the “government payout doesn’t even cover our rent” and that working in other mediums like camming can’t be as sustainable as what she was earning as an in-person adult entertainer at a variety of clubs.

I feel the need to defend Jones here, since many times pushback against lockdowns can be interpreted as science denial, or lead people to lump the person criticizing the lockdowns in with conspiracy theorists. Certainly, there needs to be more consideration for how lockdowns have negatively impacted economic strength for individuals and businesses. Another study published in the summer of 2020 highlights the need for policymakers and public health professionals to consider the long-term impacts of COVID-19 ‘safer at home’ policies.

“The economic shock caused by efforts to contain SARS-CoV-2 is larger than that arising from the 2007-09 financial crisis,” notes the study. “It is therefore critical that models that aim to understand the effect of COVID-19 policies on health also consider lives lost as a result of the economic consequences of the response to the pandemic to avoid portraying a false choice between the economy and health.”

Performers in Nevada are facing a similar situation. Consider it for context. Award-winning producer and choreographer Jennifer Romas says that she and her critically acclaimed Sexxy Burlesque Show hosted at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club in Las Vegas is being unfairly targeted by the state COVID-19 reopening guidelines.

“We don’t know why we can’t perform the show as is and especially why we can’t perform the show topless here,” said Romas in an interview with ABC 13 KTNV’s Joe Bartels. COVID-19 restrictions restrict nudity for certain business licenses. Romas, who usually produces and puts on the Westgate Las Vegas Resort show, said that the Hustler Club permits a retooled show that accommodates the distancing restrictions. However, the COVID-19 restrictions on adult entertainment in Nevada are controlled by the state leadership. While COVID-19 response leaders recognize the nuance and variety of adult entertainment available in Las Vegas, the reopening guidelines are still significantly broad.

Luckily, the state will soon transition reopening guidelines for adult entertainment venues to local control. That said, Clark County and the City of Las Vegas would have the final say. Canada, on the other hand, has seemingly more restrictive policies.

Candles photo by Irina Anastasiu from Pexels