A series of Argentinian advertisements for sex workers’ rights has been making a small but well-deserved splash. Prostitution is legal in Argentina but brothels are not, and, without labor protections, sex workers are vulnerable to physical violence and economic exploitation.

Commissioned by the Argentinian sex workers’ union, Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de Argentina, the wheat paste ads cover the corners of buildings. A view from one side displays a woman in a suggestive pose, but the full image reveals a family scene: a mother leading her kids home in their school gear, or a baby pushed in a stroller. The text reminds us that “86% of sex workers are ...