Through a sweet gesture of love, Las Vegas resident Joy Hoover shows respect for one of Sin City’s largest industries.
As founder of The Cupcake Girls, Hoover and her staff distribute signature cupcakes crafted by a local pastry chef to adult entertainers in and around the valley.
“Cupcakes are just a really trendy way for us to connect and share who we are,” Hoover said. “A lot of times, it just brightens their days.”
The nonprofit, 3110 S. Valley View Blvd., Suite 201, recently celebrated its fourth anniversary of providing adult entertainers and sex workers with links to community resources, such as medical and dental care, legal advising, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and more.
Ninety-nine percent of the group’s clientele are genetic women. The group is also open to transgender women and men in any aspect of the adult industry, including strip clubs, brothels, escort work, pornography and webcamming.
“People don’t understand us sometimes, and we end up getting portrayed as heroes that come to rescue people in strip clubs,” Hoover said. “These individuals are not victims that need rescuing. We are just resources and support. When needs arise, as they do in any industry and (a) person’s life, we’re here for them.”
This year, the group has lofty goals of doubling its budget to secure a safe house, expand the resource center and create outpatient programs.
“Our outpatient programs would cover addiction, trauma recovery and education in career development,” Hoover said. “The safe house and resource center would provide everything in-house for physical, emotional, mental and, if people wanted, spiritual support.”
I’m not alone in finding Cupcake girls offensive and demeaning. You don’t have charities going into schools to help female teachers find addiction and trauma recovery resources or go into hospitals to help female nurses connect with education in career development programs. Sex work is real work and as long as people, even well intentioned people, continue to see it as anything else, sex work will never be accepted as a legitimate career choice by cognizant and capable women. Insert any other profession in when they mention adult work and see how ridiculous they sound: “The safe house and resource… Read more »
While I cede that the cupcake part may be viewed as condescending, as cupcakes are for children, the remainder of your analysis is faulty. Your analogy to teachers/lawyers etc is silly because teaching and lawyering are not criminalized and stigmatized the way sex work is. As you are no doubt aware, when a society forces individuals underground, and makes them criminals by fiat, they usually encounter predators and dangerous or otherwise unhealthy situations. It is for that very reason (among others) that sex workers generally favor decriminalization (as do I). Nowhere does this organization claim that sex work is not… Read more »
Ridiculous and short sighted. Sex workers are a marginalized group- we DO need resources. I have gotten many from the CCG; they have been invaluable in my life.
Rights not cupcakes
And in the meantime, what? No resources? Sex workers should suffer on principle? I have the greatest respect for you, Maxine, but that’s ridiculous. Solutions not slogans.