I absolutely support a model "That Prioritises the Protection of Sex Workers". The very fact that it is necessary to have such a policy shows that sex work is different from other work.
"Women working in prostitution experience higher levels of violence against them than women working in other fields.[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-:6-1> In 2004 the homicide <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide> rate for female sex workers in the United States was estimated to be 204 per 100,000, although this figure mixes illegal work with legal work.[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-FOOTNOTEPotteratBrewerMuthRothenberg2004-2> This figure is considerably higher than that for the next riskiest occupations in the United States during a similar period (4 per 100,000 for female liquor store workers and 29 per 100,000 for male taxicab drivers).[3] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-FOOTNOTECastilloJenkins1994-3> The prevalence of violence against prostitutes varies by location. A study of female prostitutes in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada over the age of 14 who used illicit drugs other than marijuana found that 57% of prostitutes experienced some form of gender-based violence over an 18-month period.[4 ] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-4> " (Wikipedia) Andrew says "In the Global South where sex workers are afforded a level of civil liberties . . ." What is actually meant by that? To continue the section in Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-4> "A study of 1,000 female (both cisgender <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender> and transgender <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender>) sex-workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh> found 93% of women surveyed had been the victim of rape in the past year.[5] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_prostitutes#cite_note-:1-5> Prostitutes in the "Global South" are amongst the most horrifically treated of all. $100 for a lapdance might be tempting for a woman in a desperately poor country like Cambodia (I'll take your word that a lapdancer in Cambodia gets a hundred bucks for that) but that's a statement on the distortions of global capitalism, not the normality of sex work. One lapdance a month equaling the average wage for the same period says more about what's wrong with capitalism than what's right with prostitution. Of course the criminally unjust nature of work under capitalism drives some women to prostitution. But please, I am not a Victorian moralist for not buying the line that the Happy Hooker is anything but a caricature completely unrepresentative of reality for many many women and girls around the world trapped in prostitution by addiction and violence. Protection for sex workers, absolutely! But let's not pretend that this is normal work when sex worker advocacy groups themselves recognise the exceptional nature of the work and the high risk of violence involved. What other occupation can you name where the worker needs routine special protection from being assaulted by the client? https://www.nzpc.org.nz/pdfs/WHAT-TO-DO-A-guide-for-sex-workers-who-have-experienced-sexual-assault.pdf What other occupation has its own advocacy group hosting advice on exiting the profession on its website? https://www.nzpc.org.nz/pdfs/Mayhew-and-Mossman,-(2007c)-Exiting-Prostitution-Models-of-best-practice.pdf A walk down certain streets in my home city makes it pretty clear that the industry has not been revolutionised in the way Andrew describes. There are plenty of vulnerable young women out at night. When I was taxi driving a few years back, the women I'd be driving home after they'd finished for the night didn't strike me as " fully-functional self-operated business" owners. And that was in an environment of legalisation, with specific provision in the law for "Soobs", "Suburban Owner Operated Brothels". Comradely, John On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 2:21 PM Andrew Stewart <[email protected]> wrote: > Policing Prostitution - The Merseyside Hate Crime Model That Prioritises > Protection of Sex Workers > > > https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ruth-jacobs/prostitution-law-merseyside-model_b_4731381.html > > > https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/dec/22/merseyside-police-sex-workers-protect > > > -- "All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks." Sarah Moore Grimke, abolitionist (1792-1873) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1498): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1498 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76809884/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
