spreading the impact of $pread magazine

a deeper look at 2000s-era New York print magazine that published stories by and for sex workers.

Apr 12, 2025

“Sex workers [are] real people, rather than mythical beasts who only come to life when someone drops a quarter into a slot,” Raven Strega—co-editor of $pread Magazine—tells Rachel Kramer Bussel at The Village Voice.1 According to Strega, mainstream media often fits sex workers into two categories: “…glamourous, highly paid call girls, or drug-addicted victims without agency.”2 Without any outlet to tell their stories, these norms have pigeon-holed the experiences of sex workers. In 2004, three women recognized this gap in the media landscape and set out to change it, creating $pread Magazine.

Operating from 2005 to 2011, $pread Magazine was a paper publication based in New York. Rebecca Lynn, Rachel Aimee, and Raven Strega envisioned the zine after conversing about the frustrating representations of sex workers at a Prostitutes of New York (PONY) benefit in 2004.3 “We recognized the need for a space where sex workers could write about their experiences in an accessible format…that could be easily distributed among sex workers from a wide range of backgrounds,”4 Aimee, Eliyanna Kaiser and Audacia Ray write in the introduction to their book, $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, published from The Feminist Press in 2015. Many of the workers at $pread were “…current or former sex workers…[or] allies who care for the[ir] rights,”5 further encouraging $pread employees to candidly showcase this profession.

*$pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution* / The Feminist Press⁶

6 To gain this insight, the editors had open calls for submissions, spreading the news to their contacts within the sex industry and distributing “Write for $pread” flyers at New York sex work locations.7 Receiving many stories within their first few weeks, the editors realized the importance of these voices. The publication created recurring columns in their quarterly issues, which ranged from public opinion “On the Street” articles on elements of the sex industry, to open dialogue between sex workers about their profession, called “Positions,” to activist columns that provided allies insight on how to aid sex workers, titled “No Justice, No Piece.”8 The publication did not want to take itself too seriously, though, and also featured the humorous side of sex work – such as product reviews for “false eyelashes to anal lube.”9 In one “Indecent Proposal” article, another recurring column that details the weirdest requests sex workers encountered, one worker describes a client’s desire to have sex with an anarchist.10 As Anna Cofolla from Vice writes, “$pread provided a smart, funny platform for sex workers to make their voices heard in a publication that spoke at, about and for them.”11

“Until you provide living wage alternatives and affordable housing for everyone in the sex industry, don’t even dare claim you know what’s good for us.”

Will Rockwell – $pread Editor

Creating a community for sex workers was critical for $pread’s editors. As Aimee tells Vice, “Many sex workers are isolated because they often have to hide their work from friends and family, [so] $pread helped sex workers to see that there were others out there like them.”12 To keep this accessibility, the editors decided on a print publication, despite the emergence of the internet at the time. “Many of us had experience in the sex industry ourselves,” the editors wrote, “[so] we knew that sex workers who work indoors spend a lot of time flipping through magazines while waiting for clients.”13 Staying in print allowed the magazine to be accessible to workers, as the editors “..imagin[ed] a magazine that strippers would flip through in dressing rooms…[or] a porn performer would browse while in a clinic waiting to do his panel of STI tests.”14

$pread reached sex workers across America and Canada because the magazines were sold in independent bookstores. $pread’s reception was not all positive, though, because of feminists’ complicated relationship with sex work. The $pread editors explain that feminists often view sex work in two ways: an “inherently degrading…and exploitative [practice] for women…[or] an empowering way for women to use their bodies.”15 Due to this dichotomy, some feminists found $pread abrasive and unethical, with one hate-mail writing to $pread that “…a true feminist works to secure the dignity and safety of all women, while you only care about yourself and your ‘liberation.’”16Other feminists recognized and applauded the work of the publication, with feminist magazine, Bitch, including the magazine in their pages.17 As Will Rockwell-a $pread editor in 2010-tells Titania Kumeh at Mother Jones, “…$pread provides a forum for sex workers to speak for themselves…[so] until you provide living wage alternatives and affordable housing for everyone in the sex industry, don’t even dare claim you know what’s good for us.”18

To candidly share the diverse stories of sex workers, $pread decided to remain neutral on political opinions. As the editors write, “We would take no positions on political or ethical issues…[because] the magazine would belong to all sex workers by making space for the full range of experiences and opinions.”19 Politics aside, active readers shared their gratitude of the publication to the $pread team, with one reviewer stating they “…feel like [they’re] hanging out with [their] best sex worker friends every issue,” and another noting that “$pread is like finding one person who speaks your language in a foreign country.”20

21 Despite $pread’s efforts, the $pread editors encountered disparities in their intersectional analyses on sex work. The majority of $pread readers and contributors were cis-gender, white women, sometimes with a post-secondary education, which troubled the $pread team’s hopes of an all-encompassing publication.22 To help combat this, the magazine began distributing “thirty percent of each print run to mobile vans, shelters, and needle exchanges, reaching sex workers who couldn’t otherwise afford $pread.”23 Moreover, $pread published “The Race Issue,” which was ultimately their final issue, to feature commentary on racism in the sex industry. As the $pread editors explain, “…In featuring mostly the voices of white sex workers, the magazine manifested the racism and perpetuated the exclusionary practices that exist everywhere, including in the broader sex workers’ rights movement.”24 By using a new team of editors, the “…Race Issue…presented a multidimensional portrayal of the sex workers’ rights movement and inspired critical thought on the intersection of race, racism, and community organizing with the sex trades.”25 As the editors explain, this issue allowed the team to demonstrate the missing aspects of their publication “…not to delegitimize the voices present in the issue, but to recognize the challenges of creating a ‘representative issue.’”26

$pread announced on their website in 2010 that they were shutting down because “an all-volunteer magazine is simply unsustainable in the current publishing climate.”27 Despite their closure, their edginess and sincerity catapulted forums for sex workers. Tits & Sass started shortly after $pread’s closure, a “group blog run by sex workers… [to] call/ out pop culture fails [and] celebrat[e] sex worker culture.”28$pread also opened the doors for bloggers around the world to share their experiences in the sex industry, including FeministIre29, Mistress Matisse30, and Maggie McNeill31. Scholars also call $pread “an important artifact of the sex workers rights movement…[because] the [stories] advance/ the accounts of those working in the sex industry and brings to the foreground voices and perspectives that are often ignored or disregarded in feminist debates.”32

Overall, $pread magazine was a community-building publication designed to shut down stigma on sex work and bring together silenced voices. The publication was an opening for sex workers to discuss the reality of their industry and relate to the experiences of others. As the $pread editors write, the magazine illustrated “how sex workers with a range of viewpoints and lived experiences can come together through the pages of a magazine to listen to each other; and how by doing this, we broaden our sense of community.”33 34

Kramer Bussel, Rachel. “Whore Pride.” Village Voice, 11 Jan. 2005, web.archive.org/web/20081208195112/www.villagevoice.com/2005-01-11/people/whore-pride/2.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution. The Feminist Press, 2015, p. 17.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 17.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution. The Feminist Press, 2015.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 18.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 21-22.

Kumeh, Titania. “‘it’s Not Selling Your Body, It’s More like Controlled-Access Rental.’” Mother Jones, August 15, 2010. https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2010/08/spread-sex-worker-will-rockwell-interview/.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 39-40.

Cofolla, Anna. “Remembering ‘$pread,’ the Magazine That Gave Sex Workers a Voice.” VICE, 20 Feb. 2015, www.vice.com/en/article/bn5973/pread-magazine-provided-a-smart-funny-lifeline-for-sex-workers-around-the-world-069.

Cofolla, Anna. “Remembering ‘$pread,’ the Magazine That Gave Sex Workers a Voice.” VICE.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 18.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 12.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 28.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 29.

Kumeh, Titania. “‘it’s Not Selling Your Body, It’s More like Controlled-Access Rental.’” Mother Jones.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 29.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 32.

“$pread Magazine: The Money Issue.” Omeka RSS. Accessed April 7, 2024. https://gallery.lib.umn.edu/exhibits/show/a-womans-place-women-and-work/resist-active/spread-mag-money-issue.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 24.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 25.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 26.

Kumeh, Titania. “Update: Rip $pread?” Mother Jones, August 24, 2010. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/update-spread-dead/.

“About Us.” Tits and Sass, February 7, 2015. https://titsandsass.com/about-tits-and-sass/.

“What We Are.” Feminist Ire, April 11, 2016. https://feministire.com/about/.

Matisse, Mistress. Mistress Matisse. Accessed April 7, 2024. https://mistressmatisse.blogspot.com/.

McNeill, Maggie. “Introduction.” The Honest Courtesan, 2010. https://maggiemcneill.com/about/.

Comella, Lynn. “Revisiting the Feminist Sex Wars.” Feminist Studies 41, no. 2 (2015): 437–62. https://doi.org/10.15767/feministstudies.41.2.437.

Aimee, Rachel, et al., editors. $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Started Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution, p. 33.

Gardiner, Karen. “Remembering Sex Worker Magazine $pread a Decade Later.” ANIMAL, March 6, 2015. https://animalnewyork.com/2015/03/06/remembering-sex-worker-magazine-pread-decade-later/.

References