Originally conceived as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington, it has evolved into an annual international event. The day calls attention to AIDS, hate crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe as well as the need to remove the stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by custom and prohibitionist laws that has made violence against sex-workers acceptable.
The red umbrella has become an important symbol for Sex Workers Rights and it is increasingly being used on December 17: “First adopted by Venetian sex workers for an anti-violence march in 2002, red umbrellas have come to symbolize resistance against discrimination for sex workers worldwide.”
They are sometimes mistreated by their clients but they cannot report abuse to the police. The sex workers in this video claim that they are even abused by the police.
Sex workers are among the vulnerable populations in Jamaica and the nature of their work makes them vulnerable to contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Because the trade they are involved in is illegal, they have very little recourse available to them to seek redress when they are exploited or otherwise wronged.
It sometimes also prevents them from seeking medical attention if they become hurt or ill while plying their trade as they fear retribution and the violation of their trust if they divulge to medical practitioners what they do for a living.
This video was developed under a media fellowship awarded to Jamaican journalist, Carol Francis of Jamaica News Network, a cable television subsidiary of Television Jamaica and is based on the publication, "Oral Testimony of Jamaican Sex Workers" which was published by Panos Caribbean in November 2010.
The term sex workers' rights encompasses a variety of aims being pursued globally by individuals and organizations that specifically involve the human and labor rights of sex workers and their clients.
The goals of these movements are diverse but generally aim to destigmatize sex work and ensure fair treatment before legal and cultural forces on a local and international level for all persons in the sex industry.
Discrimination and stigmatization
In most countries, even those where sex work is legal, sex workers of all kinds feel that they are stigmatized and marginalized, and that this prevents them from seeking legal redress for discrimination (for e.g., racial discrimination by a strip club owner overseas, dismissal from a teaching position because of involvement in the sex industry), non-payment by a client, assault or rape. Activists also believe that clients of sex workers may also be stigmatized and marginalized, in some cases even more so than sex workers themselves. For instance, in Sweden, Norway and Iceland, it is illegal to buy sexual services, but not to sell them (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).
Common arguments for the legalization/decriminalization of prostitution
The legalization of sex work often entails additional restrictions and requirements placed on sex workers as well as registering with official government offices. Additionally, many activists favour decriminalization over legalization. Decriminalization involves a focus on laws which protect the rights of sex workers, such as those against coercion into or to stay in sex work, while all consensual sexual contact between adult sex workers and adult clients would not be criminalized. But given our buggery law and the religious imperative to keep it on the books male sex workers find it doubly difficult to survive coupled with homophobia and rejection from even within the LGBT community surprisingly.
Roanld Weitzer, a well-known proponent for the legalization/decriminalization of prostitution, stated that the use of nonscientific evidence about prostitution has contributed to a "moral panic" because opponents commonly use the argument that prostitution is inherently violent and unable to be regulated. However, he also claims that other governments have been able to reject this notion and find ways to regulate it and uses Nevada as an example
Arguments for the legalization/decriminalization of prostitution
Below are some of the main premises that the pro-legalization and pro-decriminalization of prostitution movement rests upon.
Prostitution is a crime where no one is necessarily harmed and the adults are consenting adults.
Prostitution is a free choice for women.
Sex work is no more moral or immoral than other jobs.
Sex trafficking and coercion into the industry can be effectively prohibited if sex work is legalized and/or decriminalized.
Decriminalization and/or legalization can protect women from violence.
The spread of diseases can be hindered through the legalization and/or decriminalization of prostitution.
The rates of rape could decrease if prostitution were legalized and/or decriminalized.
Sex work could become a legal business that is able to be regulated and human rights would be able to be enforced.
Prostitution can be a career option in which the free market is being taken advantage of and women’s claims over their own bodies.
The criminalization of prostitutes only exacerbates problems that prostitutes are already facing. Therefore, the decriminalization and/or legalization can be a starting point to addressing these issues.
Legalization/ decriminalization in the Netherlands
A study by Janice Raymond states that there can be many detrimental consequences to legalizing and decriminalizing prostitution. One consequence mentioned was that prostitution can been seen as a suitable and normal option for the poor. Therefore, poor women can be easily exploited when there is a lack of sexual services which does not lead to their empowerment. Melissa Farley supported this idea with an analysis stating that most women do not rationally decide to enter prostitution rather the decision is made as a survival choice and that there are certain circumstances can drive women into the field of prostitution, leaving them with a choice that is more along the lines of voluntary slavery. Thus, it is merely used as a surviving strategy.
Furthermore, Raymond states that businesses in the sex industry are able to offer services to any men which has led to more gender inequality because women have to accept that prostitution is a new norm. She supported this by saying that even disabled men are able to receive sexual services and their caregivers (mostly women) are required to take them to these establishments and assist them in engaging in sexual acts. Another consequence Raymond mentioned was that child prostitution has increased in the Netherlands. She suggests this is because the Netherlands has created a prostitution-promoting environment through laws concerning children that make it easier for abusers to use children without penalty. She also adds that the distinction between voluntary and forced prostitution could be detrimental because it can be argued that the thought of someone being forced into prostitution can be exciting for some men because it may be a part of clients' fantasies. Finally, another study states that the legalization and/or decriminalization can be detrimental because studies that surveyed sex workers where it is legally concluded, violence is accepted as part of the job with the universal experience of molestation and abuse.
The arguments for abolitionism/criminalization of prostitution
Many proponents of abolitionism and/or criminalization of prostitution commonly use ten reasons based on studies done on the effects of prostitution in countries where it is legalized and/or decriminalized.
Prostitution is a gift to pimps, traffickers, and the sex industry.
Prostitution promotes sex trafficking.
Prostitution expands the sex industry instead of controlling it.
Prostitution increases clandestine, illegal, and street prostitution because many women don’t participate in health checks or registration and don’t want to be controlled by businessmen.
Prostitution increases child prostitution.
Prostitution doesn't protect women in prostitution.
Prostitution makes it socially acceptable for men to buy sex and women are viewed as sexual commodities that men are encouraged to partake in.
Prostitution does not promote women’s health because the condom-use policy is not strictly enforced.
Prostitution does not enhance women’s or man's choice.
Prostitutes do not want the sex industry legalized or decriminalized
Dangers of sex work
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
In countries where sex work is either criminalized, illegal, or both, sex workers face many potential threats of violence. One major threat of violence is the risk that they may contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) due to their labor and context-dependent barriers that can be either structural (government) or individual (fear) in nature. Since violence in the streets can be commonplace, this further increases their susceptibility to contracting a disease due to factors such as coercion or rape. Therefore, they lack the ability to demand that a condom is used or to refuse service. In addition, the World Health Organization states that sex workers have been known to be refused health services when seeking out disease prevention and treatment because of their job.
In countries where sex work is either criminalized, illegal, or both, sex workers face many potential threats of violence. One major threat of violence is the risk that they may contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) due to their labor and context-dependent barriers that can be either structural (government) or individual (fear) in nature. Since violence in the streets can be commonplace, this further increases their susceptibility to contracting a disease due to factors such as coercion or rape. Therefore, they lack the ability to demand that a condom is used or to refuse service. In addition, the World Health Organization states that sex workers have been known to be refused health services when seeking out disease prevention and treatment because of their job.
Furthermore, sex workers are also afraid to seek out health services for problems because of structural barriers that prevent them from knowing about and utilizing services that could teach them better prevention methods. A particular example of the disease threats sex workers are faced with can be demonstrated via a study conducted in Cambodia where the rate of HIV has increased over the years. This report studied the prevalence of HIV among a group of indirect sex workers of Cambodia called beer promotion girls, women employed by distributors to promote and sell beers. The study found that they have the highest rate of HIV because they often sell sex as a means of supplementing their salary. This report also found that among indirect sex workers the condom usage rate is lower because they may be getting paid more for sex without condoms. It concluded by explaining how disease prevention campaigns often target direct sex workers such as those who work in a brothel and neglect the women in other areas of sex work who are also at risk of contracting STIs.
Thus, advocates of the legalization/decriminalization of prostitution believe policies need to be made that targets anyone who may be in vulnerable positions such as theirs.
Physical violence
Likewise, the World Health Organization report says that criminalization creates an environment where women are less likely to report crimes against them and accept the possibility of violence such as rape, murder, beatings, and kidnapping as a part of the job description. The report also states that sex workers are even at risk of being harassed, humiliated, and coerced into sex with local law enforcement. Although these are some of the common threats that both decriminalizing/legalizing and criminalizing/decriminalizing prostitution hope to address and reduce, another study concludes that the rates of victimization of prostitutes are not nearly as high as some studies claim.
Strip club employment issues
Dancers in strip clubs are independent contractors that face many problems that they are unable to rectify because of their inability to organize to challenge the current systems of strip clubs. There are some outreach groups who have a presence on the circuit mainly SWAJ and sometimes the Ministry of Health through its HIV prevention programs via the regional health authorities.
Advocacy
Sex worker activists and advocates argue that sex workers should have the same basic human and labour rights as other working people. Catherine Healy, a sex workers' rights activist from New Zealand, has co-edited a book Taking the Crime Out of Sex Work which argues decriminalization has resulted in better working condition for prostitutes in New Zealand. SWAJ locally has been active in the field and making headway in securing funds to properly formalize its operations to serve the community on a whole.
For example, the Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour calls for the legalization of sex work, the elimination of state regulations that are more repressive than those imposed on other workers and businesses, the right to recognition and protection under labour and employment laws, the right to form and join professional associations or unions, and the right to legally cross borders to work.
Also, the legalization of sex work would allow it to be carried out in better organized circumstances (e.g., legal brothels), where standard industry practices (e.g., practicing condom use and regular health checkups for sex workers) could reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Sex Workers Association of Jamaica the Kingston Chapter has been doing ground work in bringing the issues to public attention, in 2010 PANOS released a report on CSW: ORAL TESTIMONIES OF JAMAICAN SEX WORKERS
A male sex worker's point of view
The lure of easy money, peer pressure, economic difficulties and lack of education and training seem to be the factors which prompted most of the interviewees to begin sex work. Boy Blue regards his entry into the industry as responding to a higher calling although he hints that none of his previous jobs was as lucrative as sex work. A few of the oral testimonies reveal that early sexual abuse combined with economic hardship helped drive some young women into sex work,
The sex workers have had mixed experiences regarding working conditions in the sex industry. Some of the women lived on the same premises where they worked. Most have worked in bad conditions as well as in good places where they were satisfied with the treatment they received. Violence is mentioned as a constant threat to sex workers and some shared their experiences of this. They also speak of exploitation at the hands of both club bosses and clients, and of some employers who keep strict control over their actions. Some sex workers feel the police make no effort to protect them as citizens or to respond seriously to any complaints they make.Boy Blue’s oral testimony is in stark contrast to those of the female sex workers. He sees himself as the star of his own show. He says he negotiates what he does and where. He travels as he likes, chooses what acts he will perform and most importantly enjoys the sexual intercourse (unlike most female sex workers interviewed who said they were careful to separate business from pleasure).
The sex workers have had mixed experiences regarding working conditions in the sex industry. Some of the women lived on the same premises where they worked. Most have worked in bad conditions as well as in good places where they were satisfied with the treatment they received. Violence is mentioned as a constant threat to sex workers and some shared their experiences of this. They also speak of exploitation at the hands of both club bosses and clients, and of some employers who keep strict control over their actions. Some sex workers feel the police make no effort to protect them as citizens or to respond seriously to any complaints they make.Boy Blue’s oral testimony is in stark contrast to those of the female sex workers. He sees himself as the star of his own show. He says he negotiates what he does and where. He travels as he likes, chooses what acts he will perform and most importantly enjoys the sexual intercourse (unlike most female sex workers interviewed who said they were careful to separate business from pleasure).
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