I think one of the very important things is to be able to communicate with customers what you will and will not do, and negotiate your terms—where you want to be taken, where you don't want to be taken—in a way that you can do it thoughtfully and you don't have to be rushed, and you can use your senses—your eyes, your intuition—to really take your time to consider if this is safe or not.
When a person is forced to jump into a car, then you are almost trapped in that car and you have no options, and then it can turn into a dangerous situation.
When you're not able to communicate exactly what is going to transpire, that's when the dangerous situations occur. But the client may have thought, because I'm talking vaguely, because of the law.... If I can't say exactly what I'm going to do, they may think I'm going to do something else and I'm not willing to. There have to be very clear negotiations to help keep you safe.
That, for me, is the number one safety thing about the communication law.
Also, to be able to work indoors with others is another safety mechanism that sex workers should be able to have at the forefront. We can help each other in many ways in creating our own safety. When you're indoors you have control over your own environment. I need control of my environment, so that will help keep us safe.
I think there is a great distinction we need to make: the difference between predators and a client. A predator is no longer a john or a client. He is just that—a predator. Predators have a plan. They've done this before. They know what they're doing.
Looking back on my experience, I had very violent episodes happen to me many times. I didn't see cues to assault because the predator had a plan. This was all planned out.
So people can learn these kinds of things and we can learn about our safety, too. I wish I could educate more sex workers about their safety before, during, and after sex work, and what they can do to help negotiate terms and to be safe and to be able to defend themselves.