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Headshot of Melissa Gira Grant
Melissa Gira Grant

Melissa Gira Grant is a staff writer at The New Republic, the author of Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work (published by Verso), and the co-director of They Won’t Call It Murder (executive produced by Field of Vision). She was a senior reporter at The Appeal, and a contributing writer at The Village Voice and Pacific Standard.


All Articles
February 27, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
Welcome to the Mean Tweets Primary
How a political culture obsessed with decorum is distorting our understanding of power and its consequences
February 25, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
The Still Incomplete Case Against Harvey Weinstein
A verdict has been rendered, but no criminal case will tell the full story about Weinstein or the women he’s harmed.
February 18, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
The Trump Administration Finally Broke the Anti-Trafficking Movement
The bipartisan movement to “combat trafficking” was built on many of the same superficialities as the First Family, but everyone has their limit.
February 3, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
The False Hope of “Bipartisan” Criminal Justice Reform
Trump's Super Bowl ad was rightly criticized for its political opportunism. It also exposed the limits of current efforts to reshape the justice system.
January 30, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
The New Majority Behind Sex Work Decriminalization
An exclusive look at a groundbreaking policy transformation. There are lessons for the left to learn here.
January 22, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
“Female Monthly Pills” and the Coded Language of Abortion Before Roe
Our future might look much like our past, with pills as a major part of abortion access—and an obsessive target for abortion opponents.
January 15, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
Human Trafficking Prevention Month Is a Dangerous Joke
For more than a decade, the designation has meant very little beyond self-serving press releases and bad reporting.
January 13, 2020
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
Culture War in the Workplace
Inside the court battle over trans employment discrimination
January 10, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
Cash Bail Was Never About Safety
The reaction against bail reform exposes the lie of the old system: It was always about money.
January 7, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
Human Trafficking Courts Are Not a Criminal Justice “Innovation”
Anti-prostitution policing and these intervention courts believe they can racially profile and arrest their way to women's liberation.
December 25, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
How the Democratic Party Learned to Wage Class Warfare
Occupy Wall Street was widely ridiculed by liberals. Now, rage against the one percent is a major theme of the 2020 primary.
December 5, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
The Cops Are Culture Warriors
In the struggle for criminal justice reform, police are playing the victim.
November 21, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
To Lock Up a President
Democrats seem to agree that Trump should be brought to justice. Whether they agree on the precise nature of that justice is an open question.
November 6, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
Fixating on “Cancel Culture” in an Age of Transphobia
Articles about "canceled" or "provocative" writers rarely focus on the people they've harmed.
October 24, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
Liberal Feminism Has a Sex Work Problem
The National Organization for Women opposes decriminalization. Doing so has led it to gaslight sex workers and echo rhetoric from anti-choice groups and the religious right.
October 17, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
Imagining a World Without Prisons
On Thursday, the New York City Council will vote on shutting down the jails on Rikers Island. Should new ones replace them, or is it time to reform criminal justice more broadly?
October 3, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
Not Even the Police Union Could Save Amber Guyger
She has become one of the rare cops to be convicted of murder, despite a system that often works in their favor.
October 2, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
Can We Stop Pretending Prosecutors Are Impartial Now?
Attorney General Bill Barr and ex-prosecutor Rudy Giuliani share the same job: defending the president.
September 26, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
“Clear the Camps!” Is the New “Build the Wall!”
Trump adapts his "immigration crisis" script for homeless Americans.
September 24, 2019
Melissa Gira Grant
The Democrats’ Disappointing Rhetoric on LGBTQ Rights
Some candidates seem to believe that their past support for marriage equality is enough to win the community's support.

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