Watch the video of panel discussion with Rachel Lloyd.
Then, go to the prostitution research network and read up.
Then, check out the blog entry that talks about and explains "sex-positive" feminist ideas.
Then, read this open letter to the feminist movement. Or, read about the International Sex Worker Union.
Visit the Sex Workers Rights Advocacy Network to see what they add to the conversation/
Want to keep reading on this? Go to Elisa Glick's 2000 essay "Sex Positive: Feminism, Queer Theory, and the Politics of Transgression" in JSTOR.
Patricia Parker's link for the hip-hop article.
Another perspective...Are we thinking about this???
ReplyDeleteSome sex workers rights groups think current laws are adequate to prosecute victims of abuse and exploitation, and they are afraid the revised bill would increase criminalization of sex work.
“We agree there need to be more resources for prostitutes, but this would say every prostitute is a crime victim, and resources should come out of crime victim money,” said Juhu Thukral, president of the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center. “We don’t believe every person involved in the sex work sector is the victim of a crime. You’re changing federal law to say every act of prostitution or persuading someone into prostitution now constitutes this crime that can be prosecuted as sex trafficking.”
Thukral said many advocates are worried the law could be used to launch serious trafficking charges against sex workers just trying to make a living.
“Say I am working tonight and I ask a friend, ‘Do you want to work with me?’ for safety reasons,” said Thukral. “Now I could be prosecuted for encouraging prostitution.”
The Young Women's Empowerment Project, a Chicago group of youth in sex work, said their experiences with police -- who often demand sexual favors -- and the court system give them no faith that abuses can be addressed through the justice system.
"Making more laws and hoops to jump through will not change this situation," the group said in a collective statement. "If adults really want to support young women who trade sex for money, they will keep us away from the criminal legal system -- away from cops and courts and social workers. They will ensure that we have the documentation and the skills that we need to achieve our goals, and they will offer us concrete assistance (jobs, housing, transportation -- where we set the terms of the assistance) rather than roping us in to a larger system that hurts us."
Raphael said that while she supports the expanded legislation, she doesn't think law enforcement is the key to ending domestic trafficking.
"Communities themselves have to say this is not acceptable," she said. "This has been normalized in many communities; that needs to change. Change has to come from the bottom up."
http://www.alternet.org/story/84748/satisfied_sex_worker_or_domestic_trafficking_victim/