Tag: Sex Work

If I’ve said it once, I’ve probably said it 123,675.2 times:  The Sex Industry is not a monolith.  People will often argue this point with me endlessly, but that does not actually make it a monolith, and when one is looking at the topic from a harm reduction based realm of activism, making it a monolith is actually very counter productive for one very simple reason:  If the assumption is the industry is a monolith, and the problems therein are also monolithic, well, you’re not really going to be able to help much of anyone, because needs and concerns vary wildly. 

The point, you see, is it is not all the same, and treating it as if it were fixes absolutely nothing.   Decriminalization (within the US) is a good example.  Strippers, pro-Dom/Subs and pornography performers/pornographers do not have the pressing issue of their jobs being illegal like prostitutes do.  And that is the mere tip of the iceberg as it were.  While all aspects of the Sex Industry might be sex based, the many layers of the industry are very different, and the people involved?  They do not want or need the same things.  How do I know this?  Well, I ask, and I listen…which is what anyone interested in actually helping should do.  Oh, wait, there is one thing almost all sex workers can agree on:  safety.  They’d like their jobs to be safer.  Safer working conditions, safer ways in which to deal with clients/customers, safer sex practices, more recourse with law enforcement, and yep, sure enough, safer from the judgments and hate thrown at them by society in general.  That seems to be something everyone wants.

After that, it gets pretty diversified.  Needs are different.  A contract porn performer is not going to need the same things a street based worker is going to need.  A stripper will have different concerns than a male escort.  There is no one plan, one course of action, one set of needs that can be applied in a monolithic fashion to people in the sex industry, because they do very different things for very different reasons in very different settings and with varied levels of acceptance, autonomy and legal standing.   You can’t help with anything until you determine what actual wants and needs are, and making the sex industry a monolith does not assist in that.

Hence, my repeated mantra of not a monolith.

Just something to ponder…

Okay, so, here we are.  Decriminalization.  That is what I support.  Not full out legalization (at this point), and certainly not keeping any form of sex work illegal.  This is also probably the one of the things I feel most  strongly about, and yep, I will tell you why.

Sex workers who are involved in illegal aspects of the business get treated like utter shit by law enforcement and the court system, and actually fear what will happen to them with law enforcement should they be victimized.  They get raped, beaten, robbed, stabbed, sodomized, so on, and because they are involved in an illegal industry, very rarely do they get the justice they deserve…if they even bother to report it out of fear for what they might be charged with.  Women workers get told they deserved it (Theft of Services, anyone?), Men workers get told they should have defended themselves or they should just “take it like a man”.  Transworkers get told both.  A person can take someone to court and get justice if another person kicks their dog these days, but if you sell sex illegally, you get less consideration.  After all, the dog wasn’t fucking for money!

So long as certain areas of sex work are illegal, those in those aspects of the sex industry, willingly or not, have very little legal recourse at all.  They do not have the same avenues via the law that every other person out there has.  And guess what?  That pisses me off.  When I hear about a worker who got knifed in the face and the police laughed at her?  Yeah, that shit makes me real angry.  When I hear that she got beat down & robbed some weeks later and did not even bother because she figured she’d just get laughed at and brushed off again?  It pisses me right the fuck off.

And just setting aside this absolute attrocity with the legal system for a moment, there are other reasons I fully support decriminalization, and here they are…

If one leaves an illegal aspect of the sex industry and goes to get a straight job, having a prostitution bust on your record makes that a hell of a lot harder.  And having to explain why you have no work history or references can also be a real field day.

If one leaves an illegal aspect of the sex industry, or while even still working in it, and attempts  to get into an educational institution or job training program, having a prostitution bust on your record makes that a hell of a lot harder.

If one involved in an illegal aspect of the sex industry wishes to rent or buy a place to live, or a car, or get a credit card, well, that can be a real goat rodeo.  After all, people will look at you oddly and decline your applications if you write “Hooker” on the line designated “Occupation”.

Being a sex worker of any type comes with a whole lot of social stigma.  Being a sex worker who is also considered a low-life criminal by a great section of society comes with even more. 

Most sex workers involved in illegal aspects of the industry are generally considered to be unfit parents, and surprise surprise, many of them do have children.

And once again, do I think decrim would solve every problem there is with the business?  No.  And it does lead to questions of then how then would one regulate the industry?  Would all work have to be done in brothels?  Would health checks for the workers be required?  Would any of these potential requirements actually discourage illegal activity at all?  Those are questions I don’t have answers to.  I don’t like the idea of all work having to be done in brothels.  I don’t like the idea of required health inspections.  I don’t know if it would discourage illegal activity…I don’t even think that it would, in the minds of many, give sex workers any sort of “real human” status.

But I do think it would go a long way in forcing law enforcement and the courts to treat sex workers currently involved in illegal aspects of the industry like people with, oh, legal rights and recourses, and that’s a damn sight better than the way things are now.

And because I know someone will bring up trafficking… yes, trafficking is a very real and horrific problem.  Germany will be mentioned, and countered with New Zealand (which I think has the right idea).  Stats and studies may very well be thrown around.  I suspect the Swedish Model might be mentioned  (Sweden will probably get it’s own post at some point), and yep, everything will refute or counter everything else. 

My theory is really rather simple, actually.  If prostitution is fully decriminalized, well, then how much more time, money, and effort could law enforcement then allot for going after traffickers? How much easier will it be for people to help sex workers/prostituted people in the ways that they need?  Vice stings on the local stroll or busting brothels does very little to stop traffickers or help sex workers…so which would be far better time and money spent?

Well, you can probably guess where I stand on that one.

Feel free to discuss, of course.    

Okay, so, since I set up my overview yesterday, I guess it’s time to get to the nitty.  So, I’m going to start with harm reduction, which, yes, I advocate.  Here is where I am coming from with the term, because it is not a solid thing that everyone sees the same way.  So, here we go, this is my manifesto, I suppose you could say…

 

When taking on a harm reduction stance, one:

 

-Accepts, for better and for worse, that the sex industry is part of our world and chooses to work to minimize harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them.

-Understands the sex industry as a complex, multifaceted thing encompasses a vast range of activities, and acknowledges that some aspects of the sex industry are clearly more dangerous than others, and those working in the sex industry may have vastly different needs.

 

-Calls for the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of services and resources to people who are involved in the sex industry and bases those provisions around the wants and needs of the sex worker/ prostituted person.

 

-Ensures that sex workers/ prostituted people and those with a history in the sex industry have a real voice in the creation of programs and policies designed to serve them.

 

-Affirms sex workers/prostituted people themselves as the primary agents in setting the course of their lives, and seeks to empower them to share information, support strategies and resources which meet their actual needs.

 

-Recognizes that the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, education, abuse and other social inequalities affect both people’s vulnerability to harm and capacity for independent operation.

 

-Does not attempt to minimize or ignore the real potential harm and danger associated with the sex industry.

 

-Does not attempt to minimize or ignore the choices and agency of those involved with the sex industry.

 

And there you have it, because simply put, I do not think the sex industry is going anywhere anytime soon, so thusly, I (personally, me here) think that focus should be placed on the people in it…and there is much that needs to be done and can be done from a harm reduction perspective.  It is simple fact that prostitutes working in places like Chile have difficulty gaining access to something as simple and potentially life saving as a condom, and it is a simple truth that many of them will go ahead and work with or without them because they have to, so I figure it’s best to try and see that they have them.  For me there is no moral or feminist thing here, it’s a matter health and welfare…I’d rather have that prostitute working with a condom than dead, or spreading potentially deadly diseases, and that is exactly what can happen when such basic things are denied. Yes, one should then go further and see that such people have access to other resources, including towards working to transition out of prostitution if that is their desire, but basic needs must be met first.  And yes, it goes way beyond that, in every level of the sex industry.

 

I had the opportunity to attend a sex workers conference in Chicago this summer, one which had a wildly vast assortment of sex workers at it, from all aspects and levels of sex work, and two things became apparent immediately:  we all have needs, and they are vastly different.  The white, middle class professional domme working out of her home as a second job in Ohio is going to have vastly different needs and faces vastly different harms than the transwoman of color who works a stroll in Baltimore (and yes, I met several people that fit both those kinds of descriptors there).  Male sex workers have different needs than female or trans sex workers.  But, since we’re all…you know…working? Needs need to be met.   And something I had always believed was proven as solid fact for me there…in the here and now, while there is sex industry, treating it or the people in it in a monolithic fashion does nothing to help anyone.  Harsh?  Perhaps.  True, yes, I do think so.  And I was not alone in that observation.  The needs of a porn performer are not the needs of an erotic masseur are not the needs of an independent escort are not the needs of a street based worker are not the needs of a stripper are not the needs of trafficked person forced into an illegal brothel.  But all those people are working, and it’s my stance that we should make that work as safe as possible, while helping those who wish to transition out to do so, hence, I embrace the harm reduction mode, because frankly, it seems to be what sex workers…and no, not just me…want in place.  And yes, most harm reductionists seem to support decriminalization, but we’ll go there later today or tomorrow… ‘cause that’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax and controversy, isn’t it?

 

 

 

Is harm reduction 100% effective?  No, but nothing is.  However, people involved in the sex industry are people, with different needs and concerns, pretty much like everybody else, and (to me) the harm reduction mode seems to be the one, perhaps the only one, that most recognizes that, especially in a time in the world where the elimination of the sex industry seems about as likely as the Stanley Cup being held in Hell.  Also, err, ahem…with harm reduction, while some might see it a bit like putting a band-aid on a shotgun wound, there is, at least…

 

 

 …a plan. 

 

 

At the end of the week, I shall be posting a list of Sex Workers Rights groups, many of which hold  harm reduction stances, and why yes, I do encourage you to check them out.

 

 

 

And now, as I am wont to say, fin and fire at will.

I am one of those people who often believes in “never say never”.  So, as such, I can’t say that maybe, one day, there will be no sex industry.  Could be in the future there won’t be one.  Who knows?  I do not posses the ability to gaze into what has yet to be.  So, as such, I look at the here and now when it comes to the sex industry and the people in it.  All of ‘em.  And in the here and now sense I do what I can do, with other folk who do the same thing.  Hence, that whole sex workers outreach thing.  And yep, there is a lot to talk about here, and it is not something that can be done in one sitting, so yes, over the next few days I will be breaking it up and throwing stuff on out there for consideration and discussion.  I do want to say now though, because as this topic is really near, dear, important, and personal to me, I really would prefer it if shit stayed civil?  I know, fucking shock of shocks coming from me, but these really are emotionally charged topics with real people behind them, and I will go ahead and state a few things so people have a general idea of where I’ll be coming from and what I will probably be posting on, just to avoid as much confusion and potential strife as possible.

 

And oh yeah, I am pretty sure this sort of thing is why I was asked to guest blog here.

 

I come from a position of harm reduction.

 

I am for decriminalization.

 

I do not see the industry as a monolith, thus aid and activism has to work on a need based agenda. 

 

I believe there are people involved in the industry both willingly and unwillingly; hence, there are both sex workers and prostituted people.

 

I believe keeping any aspect of sex work, which involves adults, illegal is dangerous to the people involved in it.

 

I believe there is a great need to address the underlying causes which lead to forced or unwilling sex work, including drug addiction, class and racial bias, poverty, lack of education and job training, adequate living conditions and child care, and access to other opportunities.

 

I do believe that the people involved in the sex industry are marginalized.

 

I do think it is important to listen to the voices of all people in the industry, no matter their experiences, and that no one of us ever speaks for all of us. 

 

And I do think something needs to be done.

 

So yes, that’s where I’m going to start, and it’s also the overview of what I am actually here to talk about.  Yeah, I’m open to questions and stuff, but there’s my basic guest-blogging agenda!