Will Sex Work be Normalized in 2021? The Rewind With Besa

Late last year, Converge Media started chatting with KUBE 93’s Besa Gordon about having her start her very own show, the Rewind With Besa, on Converge. As of 2021, the show—which encompasses both Besa’ passion for entertainment news as well as her desire to dive into deeper, more controversial topics with a panel of guests—has its first show on the books.

Besa, who was born and raised in Seattle, has been in media as a blogger, podcaster, and radio host since 2011, under her own name and with companies like Seaspot Media Group. Since about 2011, she’s been with iHeartMedia, and has worked her way up to become one of KUBE 93.3’s most well-loved radio night hosts. After becoming acquainted with Besa through social media, Omari invited Besa to do her own video show on Converge. 

 “One day he literally just contacted me on Instagram, like hey, have you ever thought about doing like a video show? I know you do radio, but you’d be great on video,” said Besa. “When I wrote [back about] what the show would be like, I was like, you know what, I want it to be entertainment news because I always care about entertainment news, and sometimes I have a very controversial opinion about certain things, or I'm saying the things people are too shy to say.”

The rest is history. The first episode of Rewind With Besa aired on January 30th, 2021, and began with Besa and guest host Alisha exploring what’s hot in the entertainment world. The pair discussed topics including the passing of Tony Award-winning actress Cicely Tyson, rapper Lil Baby’s new Atlanta-based restaurant, and the difference of opinion around Apple Watch’s new Black Unity Collection, which is designed to look like the pan-African flag and to raise awareness about Black history and culture.

Then, about 25 minutes into the hour-long show, Besa and Alisha switch gears and three other fellow free spirits and women to have an open panel discussion around one question—Is sex work going to be normalized in 2021? 

Right off the bat, Besa steers the focus away from sex trafficking and pimps, and emphasizes her desire to explore the misconceptions around sex work and the rights of women who choose to trick out of their own free will. From there, Q Marie Richardson, founder of Girl Gang Mafia, entrepreneur Mosaic Mirage, and Teme Wokoma from King County Equity Now, dive full-force into the first question: “Are Finesse Queens the new age high-end escorts?”

Q takes the first turn, getting clear on the definition of “escort,” and then Teme dives into the importance motive plays in defining the nature of someone’s finesse.

“I think, there’s a difference between doing what you got to do in the dating game to make sure you protect yourself and are dating people who are worth your time, and I’m going out with him just to get dinner, just to get this. I think you can be a certain type of finesse queen—maybe you’re finessing because you need to do certain things to screen [the men] you’re dating. Because the [dating] game is set up for peacocking, you’re liable to get finessed,” Teme said.

In question number two, the gang explores the line between dating and tricking further by actually looking for the line. When does dating becoming turning tricks?

“I think that depends on what coast you’re on. When I was back home [in Seattle] and we’d be at dinner, they’d be like ‘oh, I’m not trickin’, I’m not paying for that,’ but my ex- boyfriend [in Atlanta] bought me a car before I ever slept with him,” said Q. “There’s a cultural nature to that question.”

Mosaic and Teme agree, adding that many Seattle men are about doing the bare minimum, and tend to think even paying for dinner is engaging in sex work. Seattle culture seems to assume that women don’t need “taking care of” in the way that other cultures—particularly in the South—do. 

 “Seattle men in my experience are actually afraid of what it looks like to put their assets out there. Maybe because it’s they don’t have much to show? I’m not saying all Seattle men are like that. This is not a Seattle men bash,” says Teme, “But I think, in the South, men have the mindset that women does need to be taken care of.”

As the show goes on, Besa and company continue to explore these nuanced questions around what sex work is, including whether or not the media glamorizes sex work, the significance of sex-forward social media site OnlyFans, and what sex work can mean—or not mean—depending on your perspective, culture, or location. 

In the end, Besa calls this first official show of 2021 a roaring success—and an experience that illuminated a lot for everyone involved.

“It was a blast. I felt like people were able to get their opinions out, people were able to say things in the comments,” said Besa. “We all didn't have to agree with the comments. The commenters didn't all have to agree with us, but we had our opinion and we were able to set the stage for people in Seattle to be able to have open-ended conversations that I like to say are taboo but I talk about this kind of stuff to my friends all the time.

For future shows, Besa says she’ll continue to explore entertainment news that makes her passionate, as well as those topics that come up with her friends and family. She’s also open to ideas from her audience and is always looking at the comments section during shows and after, for ideas that may add another layer to the topic at-hand or plant the seed for future panel discussions