Once upon a time, the women we now call "sex workers" wore sacred jewelry, not shame.
Long before terms like “escort” or “stripper” were whispered behind closed doors, sexual labor was respected, ritualized, and even divine. In ancient Sumeria and Babylon, temple priestesses engaged in ceremonial sex act; not as scandal, but as sacred duty. Known as sacred prostitutes or hierodules, they served the goddess Inanna (later Ishtar), the divine embodiment of love, war, and fertility. In many ways, these early sex workers were the first spiritual guides, bridging the mortal and divine through pleasure and power.
In India, the devadasi; female temple dancers and courtesans were revered artists and sexual companions to kings, moving fluidly between court and shrine. In ancient Greece, hetaerae were elite courtesans: educated, politically aware, and often wealthier than some of their male counterparts. They weren’t just lovers; they were influencers, philosophers, and muses.
So what happened?
The Shift from Sacred to Scorned
The demonization of sex work didn’t begin with immorality;it began with power control. As patriarchal religions took hold and empires centralized authority, women's bodies became battlegrounds. Sacred sexuality, once seen as a portal to the divine, was rebranded as sin. The church labeled sexual women as “fallen,” while empires taxed and punished them,unless their services were for the ruling class, of course.
In medieval Europe, brothels were often state-sanctioned, but their workers were discarded as “unclean.” The rise of Christian morality, colonial expansion, and the Victorian obsession with purity locked in the narrative: sex for money was filthy, sinful, and punishable.
It’s no coincidence that this shift also came as women’s roles were forced indoors and under male guardianship.
“Sex Work Has Always Existed..So Has Its Rewriting.”
“People forget that sex work is one of the oldest professions, because the truth has always made society uncomfortable.”
— Alicia Garza, activist and Black Lives Matter co-founder
In truth, sex workers have been healers, entertainers, confidantes, and conduits of cultural power for thousands of years. The stigma didn’t come from the work itself,it came from systems that needed to control it.
Now, as workers reclaim their narratives and decriminalization gains momentum worldwide, the pendulum may finally be swinging back toward dignity.