Why I voted for Brexit
By Elizabeth Swan on
I was going to stay out of politics this time. It makes no sense business wise. But I had to write this as every time I go on my timeline I see the viciousness directed at the 17 million of us who voted leave. Far more vicious than anything I have ever seen in my hometown of Stoke-on-Trent who voted to leave by a majority of 81,563 to 36,027 to remain. http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/how-stoke-on-trent-and-staffordshire-voted-in-the-eu-referendum/story-29439155-detail/story.html I moved away from Stoke because I wanted more options. I wanted to live in a place that had hope. To live somewhere where people don't tell you to keep your dreams at a realistic level. To know your place and not to reach too high. When I was at college studying performing arts my teacher told me not to bother to audition for drama school as I wouldn't get in. For a long time I believed him. Then eventually I auditioned for four and got into two. After that I moved to London. I loved it. The diversity and multicultural aspects. The culture that I soaked up. Here was a place where nobody told you that dreams were just that. And in the anonymity of it all I felt at home. Until now. Before the vote I had people being rude to my face about my decision. What was I thinking? I obviously don't know all the facts. And I would patiently explain that my main reason was that I believe the EU to be undemocratic. They would nod. Everybody knows that it would seem. Then they would shrug with a 'but what can you do?' Well here is an idea...let's leave! Then I would say that the EU is for criminalisation. As in, making all of the men who pay any sex worker a target of the police. http://m.europarl.europa.eu/EPMobile/en/news/product.htm?reference=20140221IPR36644&l=en If you are reading this then you might have given me money in the past. Now I really wouldn't want any of you to lose your families by being fined and dragged through the courts. You think that can't happen? Ask the French as they passed the criminalisation law this year http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35982929 So those are my two reasons. Not because I am racist or stupid. I care about my friends in London and it makes me sad to find out what they think of me. A middle class ex friend of mine told me once that I wasn't working class anymore as I had middle class values. I didn't understand that comment at the time. But seeing the vileness on Twitter and Facebook over the last three days I think I understand her. She couldn't bear the idea of being friends with a working class person so she felt the need to polish me, to make me more like her. I am proud of my roots. And I care that every time I go back to Stoke I see a lot of very poor people who can't even afford a takeaway let alone a tapas (“what the fuck's a tapas?” one man once said to me) We all had our reasons to vote the way we did. Do not make the mistake of thinking that your reason is more valid than mine or the 'what the fuck's a tapas?' man. But now there is currently a petition going around demanding a new referendum so some people obviously do. It strikes me as strange that those people who call us bigots and racists are the same who are signing this petition. Isn’t the definition of bigotry ‘a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race’* By signing it you are saying that your vote is worth more than ours. That you are superior than the people who voted leave. I find that so disgusting that I had to write this even though I know it will cost me some of my clients and the respect of some of my fellow sex workers. I don’t care. Some things are more important. Soon you may find me in the smug free, smog free (due to a dead pottery industry) city of Stoke with the rest of the working class people. Getting angrier… * http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bigotElizabeth Swan