Sex, Tech, and Sci-Fi

This article applies a queer sex worker feminist lens and Sara Ahmed’s concept of orientation to examine two recent science fiction graphic novels about sex workers, Red Light (2023–24) and SFSX (SAFE SEX) (2019–21). Sarah Cho’s Red Light features an AI-powered sex worker, “Lacy,” in a high-tech brothel chronicling her attempt to escape, while Tina Horn’s SFSX follows the former sex worker “Avory” and a group of underground queer sex workers battling their dystopic totalitarian government. SFSX (Safe Sex) and Red Light deliver powerful stories about sex workers fighting to gain autonomy over their labor and livelihoods. By putting Red Light and SFSX into conversation, this work makes speculative explorations into the subversive potential of “queer sex worker sci-fi comics” and the construction of a queer sex worker feminist imagination.