I'm not like most of the people you'll have heard speaking about prostitution before. 我不像很多之前各位听到过的以卖淫为主题的演讲者。

I'm not a police officer or a social worker.  我不是警察，也不是社会工作者，

I'm not an academic, a journalist or a politician.  我不是学者，不是记者，也不从政。

And as you'll probably have picked up from Maryam's blurb, I'm not a nun, either. 相信大家已经听了玛丽亚姆的演讲，我也不是修女。

Most of those people would tell you that selling sex is degrading; that no one would ever choose to do it; 大部分人也许会说，卖淫是可耻的，没有人会选择去做。

that it's dangerous; women get abused and killed.  同时卖淫也是危险的，女人受虐甚至被杀害。

In fact, most of those people would say, "There should be a law against it!" 事实上很多人呼吁，“应该有法律来制裁卖淫！”

Maybe that sounds reasonable to you.  也许这听起来更合理。

It sounded reasonable to me until the closing months of 2009,  对于我来说合理的是，当2009年的最后几个月，

when I was working two dead-end, minimum-wage jobs.  当我同时做着两份没有出路只拿最低工资的工作，

Every month my wages would just replenish my overdraft.  每个月的工资仅仅弥补了透支时，

I was exhausted and my life was going nowhere.  当我筋疲力尽不知道路在何方时。

Like many others before me, I decided sex for money was a better option. 像很多前人一样，我决定从事性工作。

Now don't get me wrong -- I would have loved to have won the lottery instead. 不要误会，我当然也想通过赢一次乐透来赚钱，

But it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and my rent needed paying. 但是那只是可遇不可求的事，我的房租等着我去付。

So I signed up for my first shift in a brothel.  所以我同妓院签下了我的第一份合同。

In the years that have passed, I've had a lot of time to think. 过去的这些年，我想了很多。

I've reconsidered the ideas I once had about prostitution.  我重新思考了我对卖淫曾经的看法。

I've given a lot of thought to consent and the nature of work under capitalism. 我对于合约和资本主义下的工作本质进行了长时间的思考。

I've thought about gender inequality and the sexual and reproductive labor of women. 我也思考了性别歧视，女性的性劳动和生殖劳动。

I've experienced exploitation and violence at work.  工作中我经历过剥削和暴力。

I've thought about what's needed to protect other sex workers from these things. 我也想过我们需要什么来保护其他性工作者，远离剥削和暴力。