Sex Workers Anonymous

Sex Workers Anonymous is a twelve-step support group focused on helping people who want to leave the commercial sex industry or address harms and difficulties associated with their experiences in it. The organization was originally known as Prostitutes Anonymous and was founded by Jody Williams in Los Angeles, California, in August 1987. Its identity is therefore rooted less in a commercial consumer brand than in a peer-support and recovery framework. The group states that it is open to people regardless of gender, age, race, religion, or nationality. Its support model has included telephone assistance, group meetings, correspondence support, and written recovery materials, including a recovery book and a guide to the program’s steps. These channels are intended to provide relatively accessible help to people who may not be ready or able to engage with conventional social-service systems. The program’s stated focus is the individual’s decision to seek support, rather than a general policy position for or against the sex industry. In this sense, Sex Workers Anonymous presents itself as an exit-oriented recovery organization while seeking to assist people regardless of how they entered commercial sex. The organization has been associated with outreach and support activity in several United States locations, including reporting about meetings and assistance for people attempting to leave prostitution. Public accounts have described its work in the context of churches, local recovery networks, prostitution-related public policy, and debates over policing and criminalization. These references indicate that the group has operated within a wider ecosystem of faith-based, community, and recovery-oriented services, although the available material does not establish a comprehensive formal network of chapters or affiliates. In 2025, the organization began using both Sex Workers Anonymous and its former name, Prostitutes Anonymous. The stated reason was that internet filters and online platforms can block or suppress one of the relevant keywords, potentially making it harder for people seeking help to find the organization. The dual naming is consequently a discoverability and access measure rather than evidence of a change in the group’s stated recovery purpose. The organization has also described plans to expand internationally. Publicly available information does not provide a complete list of international locations, staffing, membership, or operating budgets. Nor does it establish a conventional corporate ownership structure, public listing, or parent organization. The group remains best understood as a named support and recovery program whose principal offerings are peer meetings, telephone and written support, and program literature. Its public profile has been shaped by its long operating history, its original name, the personal leadership of founder Jody Williams, and its effort to make exit support findable for people affected by commercial sex.

Sex Workers Anonymous began in Los Angeles in August 1987 under the name Prostitutes Anonymous. It was founded by Jody Williams as a twelve-step support program for people who wanted to leave prostitution or deal with the consequences of participation in the commercial sex industry. The program’s emergence placed it within the broader recovery and mutual-aid tradition associated with twelve-step organizations, while its subject matter connected it to social-service, faith-community, and public-policy discussions about prostitution. From its early years, the organization’s purpose was framed around individual recovery and exit support rather than advocacy for a general position on whether the sex industry should exist. The group has stated that it assists people regardless of how they entered commercial sex and welcomes people without restrictions based on gender, age, race, religion, or nationality. Its support structure has included telephone contact, meetings, correspondence, and written program materials. These services have enabled the organization to reach people who may be isolated, ambivalent about leaving, or reluctant to approach government agencies, law enforcement, or conventional treatment providers. Contemporary and archival reporting in the late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s placed Prostitutes Anonymous and related exit-support work in several local conversations. Coverage referred to programs and meetings in places including Las Vegas and California, and discussed the involvement of churches, former sex workers, recovery groups, and organizations attempting to help people leave prostitution. The reporting also situated the group amid disagreements about prostitution enforcement, policing, the role of religious outreach, and the social conditions that can make exit difficult. These accounts provide evidence of public-facing activity and local visibility, but they do not establish a complete list of formal chapters, membership figures, or a single centralized service network. The organization’s public identity later shifted as internet search and content-filtering systems made some terminology difficult to use or discover. In 2025, it began using both Sex Workers Anonymous and Prostitutes Anonymous. The dual-name approach was described as a practical response to keyword blocking and intended to help people locate support. It did not represent a stated change in the program’s core purpose, which remained assistance for people seeking to leave the industry or recover from its effects. Sex Workers Anonymous has also described international expansion as an ongoing objective. The available source material does not identify all countries served, provide a detailed organizational chart, or document a formal corporate parent. The organization is therefore best characterized as an active support-group brand and service program rather than a conventional commercial company. Its historical continuity rests on the original 1987 foundation, the leadership association with Jody Williams, the use of twelve-step recovery methods, and the maintenance of multiple access channels including meetings, telephone support, correspondence, and program literature.

• 2025

  Dual-name usage introduced

  [1]Sex Workers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  The organization began using both Sex Workers Anonymous and Prostitutes Anonymous to reduce the effect of internet keyword filters on people searching for help.

• 1990

  Support program reported in Las Vegas

  [2]Breaking Away: Program for Prostitutes Opens in Las Vegasmcall.com

  Press coverage described the opening of a program for prostitutes in Las Vegas, reflecting the organization’s wider public and local-service presence.

• 1987

  Founded in Los Angeles as Prostitutes Anonymous

  [1]Sex Workers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  Jody Williams founded the twelve-step support group in Los Angeles, California, to assist people seeking to leave prostitution or recover from its effects.

An exit-oriented, twelve-step peer-support program for people seeking to leave the commercial sex industry or recover from its effects. The organization emphasizes accessibility and nonjudgmental eligibility across gender, age, race, religion, and nationality, while avoiding a general institutional position on the sex industry itself.

• Support service · 1987

  Peer-support meetings

  Group meetings form the central peer-support component of the program. They are intended for people who want to leave the commercial sex industry or work through its effects. The available material describes the meetings as open to people across gender, age, race, religion, and nationality, without providing a complete schedule or location directory.

• Helpline

  Telephone support

  Telephone assistance provides a direct contact channel for people seeking information, encouragement, or recovery-oriented support. Public sources identify phone support as one of the organization’s established services, but do not provide verified current operating hours, staffing, or service-volume data.

• Recovery literature

  Recovery book and step guide

  The organization makes written recovery material available, including a book and a guide to its twelve-step approach. These materials support individual reflection and participation in the group’s recovery framework. The sources do not specify publication dates, editions, pricing, or circulation.

• Correspondence support

  Mail support

  Correspondence support extends the program beyond in-person meetings and telephone contact. It is intended to provide an additional route for people who cannot attend meetings or who prefer written communication. Current delivery procedures and geographic coverage are not specified in the available material.

• 2025

  Adopted dual naming for search accessibilityStrategy

  Background

  The organization reported that internet filters and online systems could block or reduce visibility for keywords associated with its former name, making it harder for people to find support.

  Action taken

  It began using both Sex Workers Anonymous and Prostitutes Anonymous in public-facing identification.

  Aftermath

  The dual-name approach was intended to preserve continuity with the former identity while improving access and discoverability; broader results were not reported.

  Source

• 2025

  Sex Workers Anonymous adopts dual naming to improve online discoverability[1]Sex Workers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The organization began using both Sex Workers Anonymous and Prostitutes Anonymous after internet filters and platform restrictions were reported to interfere with searches for the group’s former name.

• 2025

  Organization continues plans for international expansion[1]Sex Workers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Public information described an effort to expand the support program internationally, although specific locations and implementation details were not provided.

1. 1Sex Workers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Breaking Away: Program for Prostitutes Opens in Las Vegasmcall.com
3. 3Churches Helping Prostitutes Walk Awaylasvegassun.com
4. 4Ex-Prostitutes Who Proselytizephoenixnewtimes.com
5. 5The Politics of a Prostitution Stinglasvegasweekly.com
6. 6Official Says Prostitution Thriving in Citymcall.com
7. 7Los Angeles Times coverage of prostitution-exit supportlatimes.com
8. 8Sex Workers Anonymous official websitesexworkersanonymous.net