Seeing Red: Our New Film on Media Bias & Sex WorkSeeing Red: Our New Film on Media Bias & Sex Work
A Stripper's Guide
Filmmakers and sex workers Delilah Saul and Em Vaughn talk about sobriety, addiction and archiving sex workers’ stories through film, including the documentary Seeing Red on media bias and violence. They share personal experiences of anonymity, safety and stigma while outlining how their new project challenges harmful narratives about sex work.
26:36•24 Sept 2026
Sex Work, Sobriety and Seeing Red About Media Bias
Episode Overview
- Media depictions that frame sex work as inherently exploitative contribute to criminalisation, stigma and real-world violence.
- Sex workers’ own stories, especially around addiction and recovery, are rarely recorded and are often replaced by crude stereotypes.
- There is a critical difference between forced exploitation and autonomous sex work, and collapsing them together harms survivors and workers alike.
- Sex workers face serious safety risks when being publicly identified, so privacy and anonymity practices are essential in filmmaking and events.
- Crowdfunding and in-kind support are central to getting projects like Seeing Red made, with a focus on hiring sex workers and queer crew members.
“Media that promotes the idea that sex work is inherently exploitative does the state's dirty work.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction and kept working in a criminalised, stigmatised industry? This conversation between journalist–filmmaker Delilah Saul and documentarian–sex worker Em Vaughn centres on exactly that question, while lifting the lid on how mainstream media treats sex workers. You’ll hear Em chart their path from southern sex worker to New York filmmaker, driven by a fear that “our stories” might vanish unrecorded.
As Em puts it, “sex workers are not in the room when things are being written… obviously that's going to skew and minimise and degrade the quality and experience of our authenticity.” The film follows people whose lives are deeply shaped by this bias, including former stripper and escort Artina Darkly, who survived forced exploitation before choosing sex work on her own terms, and Nicolette Brainerd Barnes, whose mother Maureen was murdered by serial killer Rex Heuerman and then endlessly sensationalised by the press.
Their short film *Fucking Sober* follows BDSM porn performer Brooke Johnson through addiction, recovery and escorting, pushing back against lazy stereotypes like the “prostitute junkie” trope Delilah quotes from a crime show description. From there, they shift into their new joint project, *Seeing Red*, a documentary about media bias against sex workers. They break down how news, Hollywood and true-crime franchises flatten sex workers into one-dimensional victims or villains, while excluding actual workers from writers’ rooms.
Throughout, Delilah and Em talk frankly about sobriety, secrecy and safety: the emotional cost of staying anonymous, the reality of anti–sex worker violence, and the community-based safety practices that make their work possible. If you’re sober or sober-curious in the industry, or you care about how media shapes public attitudes to sex work and addiction, this episode offers sharp critique, real-life stories and a few Virgo jokes along the way.
Whose version of events do you want shaping the stories you consume?
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