Sex workers rights are directly linked to women's rights, LGBTQ rights, workers rights and other vulnerable communities. Since their work is criminalized , sex workers are vulnerable to sexual assault and violence, which bars them from law enforcement protection or legal recourse in cases of discrimination. In the US, Nevada is the only state that permits any form of sex work, but there are strict limitations. Internationally, there are 69 countries where sex work isn't a crime, but even in legalized countries sex work isn't treated the same way across the board.

It's been called the oldest profession in the world, but despite centuries of labor sex work still gets a bad rap. Whether or not you agree that sex work should or shouldn't be happening: It is. There is increasingly more evidence to support the decriminalization of sex work and that people engaged in the commercial sex trade are entitled to the same protections guaranteed to other workers.

Cyndee Clay is the Executive Director at HIPS, a small DC-based nonprofit that provides harm reduction services and advocacy for sex workers and drug users. According to Clay, community advocates and law enforcement formed the organization in 1993 to end the abuse of women in the streets.

"We realized our original mission was too narrow, and our judgments [were] getting in the way of actually helping people," Clay told VICE Impact. "Individuals who had been engaged in the sex trade helped us change our programs and information to be more successful in addressing violence, coercion and criminalization of people on the streets."

Sasanka Jinadasa, the Community Engagement and Technical Assistance Manager at HIPS, explained that the organization has a harm reduction model rather than an anti-sex work stance.

Check out some more video from VICE:

"The kind of issues that sex workers face are really extensive," Jindasa told VICE Impact. "They're enhanced by the stigma that sex workers face and things you'd see of people who live in poverty or people who live without housing, but also enhanced by this myriad of identity factors and work choices."

HIPS provides their clients with social services like food, hygiene, clothes, medical access, legal counsel and housing assistance. The group also has a needle exchange program for many of their clients who are either trans and on hormone therapy, or those who may be intravenous drug users.

"It's much easier to think that people trade sex for money because someone is forcing them to, than to acknowledge that our economy, education system and criminal justice system is simply failing, and that is forcing people into sex work."

People of all genders, sexual orientations and ages become sex workers to support themselves financially, but the back alley hooker-pimp transaction sensationalized by the media isn't the reality that all sex workers face.

"It's much easier to think that people trade sex for money because someone is forcing them to, than to acknowledge that our economy, education system and criminal justice system is simply failing, and that is forcing people into sex work," said Clay.

Like most aspects of the workforce, the sex trade has evolved to take place in front of a computer screen. Lana Rain, a 21-year-old cam girl based in New York City, dresses up in cosplay costumes to live stream adult content to her audiences. Despite the stigma that is often associated with sex work, Rain feels empowered by her decision to work in the industry.