tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/sex-workers-20031/articlesSex workers – The Conversation2024-02-12T14:14:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221682024-02-12T14:14:27Z2024-02-12T14:14:27ZKenya’s sex workers have solutions to their problems, but international NGOs aren’t hearing them<p>In Kenya, rights organisations run by sex workers have gone into numerous partnerships with international organisations over the past decade. In <a href="https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/making-noise-sex-worker-led-organising-and-knowledge-politics-in-">recent research</a>, I set out to understand whether these relationships worked in favour of the sex workers and their organisations. My research focused on an organisation in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, that supports male sex workers. </p>
<p>Kenya’s laws punish activities related to <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/CallEndingImmigrationDetentionChildren/CSOs/RefugeeConsortium_of_Kenya_Annex2.pdf#page=57">sex work</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/CallEndingImmigrationDetentionChildren/CSOs/RefugeeConsortium_of_Kenya_Annex2.pdf#page=59">same-sex relationships</a>. These laws, along with societal prejudice, force the men in my study to <a href="https://www.northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/IJGSL/article/view/1264">operate in the shadows</a>. </p>
<p>This exposes them to various types of violence. In response to their everyday experiences, more than 70 Kenyan organisations led by sex workers are doing what they can to achieve social justice. </p>
<p>Following interviews and conversations with 99 sex workers between 2018 and 2022, I found that in most cases, sex workers’ knowledge – based on their daily experiences – was sidelined. Donor organisations, despite having good intentions, sometimes fell short of their objectives because they didn’t draw on the knowledge held by marginalised communities. </p>
<p>By ignoring sex workers’ knowledge, development partnerships keep power imbalances unchanged. This leaves many issues that sex workers face – including insecurity, poverty and mental health – unresolved.</p>
<p>My findings illustrate that policies, services and support should include sex workers’ experiential knowledge and needs. </p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>Between 2018 and 2022, I conducted a 10-month study as part of my PhD project. I investigated how international NGOs worked with a community-based organisation led by Kenyan sex workers. Their collaborations were aimed at improving health and human rights outcomes. </p>
<p>My focus was how more powerful organisations, such as international NGOs, include sex workers’ knowledge and expertise in these partnerships.</p>
<p>I identified two primary issues affecting the relationship. </p>
<p>Firstly, international development agencies prioritised their own expertise over that of the communities they set out to help. This was despite NGO employees believing they had taken the perspectives of sex workers into account. They didn’t realise they weren’t listening to what sex workers were telling them. </p>
<p>Secondly, because it relied on statistics and frameworks, the development aid system made it difficult to incorporate other kinds of knowledge into intervention programmes. </p>
<h2>The gaps</h2>
<p>Development partnerships tend to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dech.12758">sideline the perspectives of sex workers</a>. </p>
<p>For example, NGOs asked the sex workers in my study to provide input on outreach strategies for HIV prevention. But they had already decided what they thought would work best – peer educators and a drop-in centre.</p>
<p>As one respondent in my research put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(We ask them), ‘How do you plan to do outreach work; how do you plan to make the DICE (drop-in centre) more attractive to peer educators?’. And then we work around that. So, they get the idea, and then we fine-tune it with the team.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This approach limits sex workers to providing local contacts rather than shaping the agenda based on their priorities. </p>
<p>This tokenistic approach leaves sex workers frustrated. They recognise their crucial role in the success of programmes but <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2020.1842499?role=tab&tab=permissions&scroll=top">are excluded</a> from the decision-making. </p>
<p>This has led to a strong programmatic focus on sex workers’ sexual health and HIV. But they’d like to address other issues too, like insecurity and mental health. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Can the community get more services on mental health … condoms and lubes we can buy; you have empowered us enough. Now get to know our story, our sad moments, the violence we have faced and how it has affected us. How trying to make a living, get a job, a house has been the struggle and how we cope. That’s what we need.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The focus on scientific evidence, professional knowledge and statistical data makes it difficult to discover and share what sex workers know. This knowledge comes from the experience of what it means to do sex work and <a href="https://theconversation.com/queerphobia-in-kenya-a-supreme-court-ruling-on-gay-rights-triggers-a-new-wave-of-anger-against-the-lgbtiq-community-204575">live as queer in Kenya</a>. </p>
<p>One respondent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now, most (of what) they are doing is health services, but you see the sex worker has been beaten, has been raped, so still the HIV prevalence wouldn’t really go down … They are talking about how to reach targets but this sex worker is still being violated, still being raped, still being beaten.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s difficult to integrate such perspectives into the evidence-based policies typical of the international development aid system. Interviews with NGO employees illustrate that requirements for accountability add to the challenge.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They (headquarters) have set out goals and strategies towards epidemic control and everything we do is guided in that context. We work within the context … and then we try … to take into account the more structural issues.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What can be done</h2>
<p>The sex workers in my study wanted their knowledge to be included in development partnerships. They identified three things they’d want development organisations to consider.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take sex workers’ experiential knowledge more seriously. Acknowledge that their insights are as important as academic and professional knowledge. </p></li>
<li><p>Acknowledge the leadership, creativity and expertise of marginalised communities. Allow these groups to design programmes based on their unique desires and needs. <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/60520/9781000843309.pdf?sequence=1#page=58">Community-led research methods</a> can help make this a reality. Support communities to address what they – instead of others – consider important and liberating.</p></li>
<li><p>Recognise and disrupt the power dynamics in the international aid system. Dominant actors need to unlearn the power differences in their relationships with communities, which are often uncritically perceived as natural. Critically examine assumptions and practices. Question the legitimacy of the expertise of donors in community collaborations, and see whether there are gaps created by sidelining sex work-related knowledge.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lise Woensdregt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sex workers have a deep understanding of their needs but development partnerships tend to prioritise scientific knowledge.Lise Woensdregt, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137262023-10-02T12:38:37Z2023-10-02T12:38:37ZHIV self-test kits are meant to empower those at risk − but they don’t necessarily lead to starting HIV treatment or prevention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550089/original/file-20230925-29-kvx1ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3058%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regular testing for HIV protects you and those around you.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/focus-on-an-hiv-self-test-with-seronegative-result-royalty-free-image/930075664">pixinoo/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>HIV self-test kits were developed to make it easier for people to access HIV testing. However, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7RB_bZUAAAAJ&hl=en">our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=weevnFsAAAAJ&hl=en">research</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oluwaseun-Badru">team</a> has found that many people who use self-test kits <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04162-5">do not go on to receive needed HIV treatment</a> or start preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to prevent future infection.</p>
<p>In 2016, the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-CDS-HIV-19.36">recommended HIV self-test kits</a> as a way for people to confidentially test for HIV in their homes or other private places. Each kit contains detailed instructions on how to administer the test and read the results without the help of a clinician. However, the instructions advise confirming results in a health facility to improve access to care, especially for those with a positive reading.</p>
<p>Our team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published research and data to understand how HIV self-testing influences access to HIV care and sexual behavior. Specifically, we looked at whether a positive test result led someone to seek care in a hospital or health facility to start treatment and whether a negative test result led someone at risk of contracting HIV to take preventive measures. We also looked at whether test results affected the number of sexual partners, engagement in anal sex without a condom and frequency of condom use.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D_IHm3p8RW0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">HIV self-test kits provide quick results.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on the 15 studies that met our criteria, we found that while HIV self-testing increased a person’s chances of finding an HIV clinic or doctor by 8%, many people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04162-5">did not initiate HIV treatment or PrEP</a> following self-testing.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04162-5">Female sex workers</a> who used HIV self-test kits were 47% more likely to seek medical care, but this did not reduce the number of clients they saw per night.</p>
<p>For <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04162-5">men who have sex with men</a>, using HIV self-test kits may have increased the amount of condomless anal sex they have, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000001709">one U.S. study</a>. Those who use HIV self-test kits were more likely to have condomless anal sex with HIV-positive and HIV-negative partners, as reported by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-022-03804-4">one Chinese study</a>.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Many people are living with HIV and receiving treatment. However, some HIV-positive people are unaware of their HIV status and are at risk of infecting other people. Routinely checking your HIV status is important to prevent the spread of HIV.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, HIV testing is low in many regions of the world. Researchers from <a href="https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhivmed.v22i1.1273">South Africa</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009480">Netherlands</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2020.1766663">United States</a> have reported a lack of HIV testing among different parts of the population, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/men-who-have-sex-with-men-originated-during-the-hiv-pandemic-to-focus-on-behavior-rather-than-identity-but-not-everyone-thinks-the-term-helps-189619">men who have sex with men</a>. There are many barriers to HIV testing, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01590-0">lack of knowledge about HIV</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2020.1742867">fear of</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-living-with-hiv-face-harmful-stigma-daily-dababys-rant-was-just-more-public-than-most-165443">stigma and discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the availability of HIV test kits, many people at heightened risk have never been tested for HIV. As our research shows, some of those who test positive don’t receive treatment. Nor do all those who test negative but are at risk of infection receive preventive treatment or change their sexual behavior.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Clinician handing patient condoms" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550092/original/file-20230925-29-e1or2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public health officials recommend talking to a doctor about HIV self-test results.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-doctor-advised-the-young-man-to-prevent-royalty-free-image/1210961713">Wasan Tita/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We found only one study that looked at how HIV self-testing influences PrEP use among men who have sex with men. </p>
<p>More research is needed to better understand the link between HIV self-testing and HIV prevention.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Our next step is to understand why people did or did not receive care following HIV self-testing. We plan on interviewing HIV self-test kit users about their experience using the self-test and whether they went on to receive care.</p>
<p>We hope the results of this study will help us build an intervention to increase access to care following an HIV self-test. This will contribute toward the national plan to <a href="https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/ending-the-hiv-epidemic/overview/">end the HIV epidemic by 2030</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeagbo Oluwafemi Atanda receives funding from University of Iowa and National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Engelbert Bain Luchuo and Oluwaseun Abdulganiyu Badru do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many people at heightened risk for HIV have never been tested. Those who have self-tested for HIV often don’t go on to receive care or change their sexual behavior.Oluwafemi Atanda Adeagbo, Assistant Professor of Public Health, University of IowaEngelbert Bain Luchuo, Senior Research Associate, University of JohannesburgOluwaseun Abdulganiyu Badru, Ph.D. Candidate in Community and Behavioral Health, University of IowaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2139482023-09-25T20:58:22Z2023-09-25T20:58:22ZSex workers’ rights: Governments should not decide what constitutes good or bad sex<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/sex-workers-rights-governments-should-not-decide-what-constitutes-good-or-bad-sex" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>An Ontario Superior Court justice has dismissed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sex-workers-1.6970016">a constitutional challenge to Canada’s sex work laws</a>, saying that the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/annualstatutes/2014_25/page-1.html">Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)</a> does not violate sex workers’ Charter rights. </p>
<p>A coalition of 25 sex workers’ rights groups organized a challenge to the legislation, arguing that sex workers are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/superior-court-hearing-decriminalization-of-sex-work-canada-1.6604546">harmed by the partial criminalization of sex work</a>. Anti-prostitution groups argued that the law discourages men from buying sex and reduces commercial sex, in line with the goals of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/debating-sex-work-9780190659899">Nordic or Equality Model</a> of sex work. </p>
<p>The judge ruled that while he believes the laws don’t violate the Charter — which is what he was asked to rule on — <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-court-dismisses-sex-workers-charter-challenge">regulation and decriminalization might be better policy options</a>. But, he wrote, it is up to Parliament to make those decisions, not the judiciary. And it is about time the government did so.</p>
<h2>Canada’s laws on sex work</h2>
<p>The current law was developed by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. PCEPA makes buying sex illegal while selling sex is legal in some circumstances. This asymmetrical model still leaves sex work in a legal grey area because one side of the transaction is legal and the other is not. </p>
<p>Much research has been done on the benefits of decriminalizing sex work, including work done by <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/womens-rights-gender-justice/blog-setting-the-record-straight-on-protecting-the-human-rights-of-sex-workers/">Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/18/eu-harmful-prostitution-resolution-passes">Human Rights Watch</a>. These are not fly-by-night organizations. They based their stance on solid research about the harms of criminalization. They are against trafficking and against the abuse of sex workers and they have policies against both. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.wsanz.org.nz/journal/docs/WSJNZ312Schmidt35-49.pdf">the example of New Zealand</a>, which has decriminalized sex work and uses health and labour laws to regulate the industry. I won’t reiterate the <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/ten-reasons-decriminalize-sex-work">arguments</a> here in favour of <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/topic/its-time-to-decriminalize-sex-work">decriminalization</a> because there is <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">so much research</a> already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13178-021-00636-0">out there</a>. </p>
<p>What I want to discuss in this article is the very conservative (perhaps unconscious) sexual beliefs that underlie many people’s negative view of sex work. The issue is a complicated one, and I recognize how it can be easier to believe that all female sex workers are victims and all male clients are predators, instead of taking a more nuanced view. </p>
<p>That was certainly my opinion before I did <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">interviews with working escorts</a>. Meeting women who sell sex and do so with respect and dignity changed the way I viewed sex work.</p>
<h2>Conservatism and sex</h2>
<p>Sex has historically been separated into “good sex” and “bad sex” because of what is called the heterosexual conjugal bond, or more colloquially, traditional marriage. Those who defined what was good and bad sex <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sexuality-a-very-short-introduction-9780199298020?cc=ca&lang=en&">were often men</a>.</p>
<p>Traditional socially conservative views see acceptable sex as being with one person, only after marriage, heterosexual and relational, meaning that even masturbation was taboo. Scholars have outlined the detrimental effects of the <a href="https://canadianscholars.ca/book/politics-and-sex/">heterosexual conjugal bond</a> on women and sexual minorities. </p>
<p>Canada has liberalized its laws significantly since <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-allyn/make-love-not-war/9780316039307/">the 1960s sexual revolution</a>. Gay sex, premarital and extramarital sex and polyamory are more acceptable than they once were, but the vestiges of this conservative ideology remain. Recent protests against sex and gender identity education <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9972437/anti-lgbtq2-rallies-canada-counter-protests/">in the school system</a> illustrate this. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-parental-rights-movement-gave-rise-to-the-1-million-march-4-children-213842">How the 'parental rights' movement gave rise to the 1 Million March 4 Children</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two pairs of feet on a bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549839/original/file-20230923-17-skg2pr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Personal moral beliefs about what constitutes good sex should not determine public policy regarding sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most feminists would reject the idea that they are complicit with ideas that harm women or LGBTQ+ people because they have no problem with gay sex, premarital sex or extramarital sex. But anti-prostitution activists draw the line at commercialized sex for essentially moral reasons. Sex work remains bad sex.</p>
<p>As the director of an anti-trafficking group <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">said to me</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I don’t believe that every aspect of being a human being can be reduced to labour, to work. I think human sexuality is that part of ourselves, that part of being human that should not be for sale, should not be turned into a commodity that can be bought or sold, so on that front we don’t recognize sex as work so we don’t call anyone a sex worker.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In this view, sex should not be commercialized. And to many people that is common sense. If you are raised in any kind of organized religion, you are likely to believe that sex is special and should be limited to heterosexual marriage. But that is a moral argument based on personal views of sex, and not necessarily what we should base public policy on. </p>
<h2>The value of sex work</h2>
<p>The sex workers I interviewed saw the value in sex work. They felt they were helping people, and providing a service and giving others pleasure was a part of that.</p>
<p>This is vehemently rejected by anti-prostitution activists. As one such activist <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">told me</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you are disabled or in some way unable to have a normal, sexual relationship with another person, so you think that the right way is to buy it? Well, my answer to you is that unfortunately due to your illness and your disability you cannot have sex with another person.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So those who might have problems accessing sex because of disability, age or physical attractiveness are simply out of luck. </p>
<p>But if there are women and men who get meaning out of their sex work and see value in what they do, why are we preventing them from doing this work? Why are we creating laws in a way that makes it less safe for them to do so? </p>
<p>If anti-prostitution activists don’t acknowledge that many women do choose to engage in sex work, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95947-1">denying the agency those women clearly have</a> and this speaks to a paternalism and saviourism that needs to be faced. </p>
<p>Protections must, of course, be in place for those who don’t consent to sex work and harsh penalties should be taken in place for traffickers. But we do not need to criminalize consenting adults and their expressions of sexuality. We already have laws against sexual assault, trafficking, force, fraud and coercion. We should not want personal morality and religious beliefs being imposed on our public policy.</p>
<p>Many women can and do sex work with respect and dignity. Governments should be looking at those conditions and ensuring that those who sell sex, female and male, cis and transgender, are doing so under the safest possible conditions. </p>
<p>Whether it is a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-sex-workers-plan-co-op-brothel-1.681434">co-op brothel, as was tried in British Columbia</a>, or women working together in their homes or working online, there are many ways to work safely. <a href="https://www.wsanz.org.nz/journal/docs/WSJNZ312Schmidt35-49.pdf">New Zealand has shown through their health and safety regulations</a> how governments can make sex work safer. If the current courts are unwilling or unable to make sex work safer, then Parliament needs to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Ralston has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Laws regarding sex work should not be legislated based on personal moral beliefs. They should prioritize the safety of sex workers and their clients.Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102352023-07-28T12:52:42Z2023-07-28T12:52:42ZBank account closures don’t just affect ‘politically exposed persons’ – sex workers have struggled with financial exclusion for years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539559/original/file-20230726-29-q9sqyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=208%2C126%2C5830%2C3884&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stressed-broke-young-asian-woman-having-2237736495">BongkarnGraphic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fallout over the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account has shed light on how financial institutions handle “politically exposed persons”, whom they may view as high-risk clients. </p>
<p>Farage, the former Ukip leader, who held a bank account at the NatWest-owned private bank <a href="https://www.coutts.com/">Coutts</a>, obtained and published a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/19/coutts-full-dossier-on-nigel-farage-closed-bank-account/">dossier</a> showing that the bank closed his account after identifying him as a reputational risk. The internal report stated that Farage’s views “do not align with our values”. Two executives at NatWest banking group – CEO Alison Rose and Peter Flavel, head of the bank’s Coutts division – have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66328666">since resigned</a>.</p>
<p>But people who occupy prominent public functions are not the only ones to be affected by loss of access to financial products.</p>
<p>For people working in commercial sex, the often unexplained closure or denial of bank accounts is an all too frequent occurrence. And their experiences hardly attract the same quick <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/city-minister-summons-bank-bosses-to-protect-customers-from-being-de-banked-after-farage-account-closure-12926362">government intervention</a> and response from banks as Farage.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-politically-exposed-person-and-why-do-the-likes-of-jeremy-hunt-and-nigel-farage-claim-the-status-prevents-them-getting-bank-accounts-209658">What is a 'politically exposed person' and why do the likes of Jeremy Hunt and Nigel Farage claim the status prevents them getting bank accounts?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Escorts, in-person sex workers, cam and pornography performers, sexual products business owners and others operating in adult entertainment have discussed their financial exclusion ordeals on <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/appalling-australian-sex-worker-samantha-x-reveals-huge-banking-blow/news-story/e0d1676aa12c1472ea8c039897ef892c">social media</a> and in various <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/16/sex-discrimination-why-banks-shun-workers-in-adult-entertainment">news outlets</a> around the world for years. More recently, <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/Summary%20Regional%20Reports%20Economic%20Empowerment%2C%20NSWP%20-%20November%202015.pdf">sex worker organisations</a> and <a href="https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clr/vol26/iss1/4/">researchers</a> have begun collecting evidence of the extent and impact of this discrimination.</p>
<p>What is evident from the <a href="https://www.northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/IJGSL/article/view/1258">expanding research</a> is that, even though their commercial sex practices are legal and earnings legitimate, sex workers and adult entertainers are frequently denied or revoked access from financial products. This can include <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/banks-refusing-services-to-sex-workers-were-easy-picking/N7N74KJGK2SH6TSJQDVQOBLDPY/">business</a> and <a href="https://columbianewsservice.com/2023/02/01/sex-workers-say-they-face-hurdles-to-banking-access/">personal bank accounts</a>, <a href="https://nationaluglymugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BDSW_final.pdf">overdrafts</a>, <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/banks-blamed-for-sex-worker-slut-shaming/2f4e11bf-e7d8-4719-9237-259a0a8f3bf5">mortgages</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-56758745">loans</a>, <a href="https://www.investordaily.com.au/markets/46043-nab-treated-me-like-garbage-sex-worker-says">merchant banking services</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55551300">credit card services</a>, <a href="https://survivorsagainstsesta.org/platforms-discriminate-against-sex-workers/">e-wallets, e-payments and more</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://nationaluglymugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BDSW_final.pdf">2021 report</a> from <a href="https://nationaluglymugs.org">National Ugly Mugs</a>, a UK charity fighting to end violence against sex workers, shows evidence of financial discrimination by various UK-based financial institutions. </p>
<p>The report highlights the experiences of sex workers who were explicitly told by banks that the decision to withhold their services was based on their involvement in the adult industry. Others received no justification for the closure or denial of bank accounts, but did not inquire further about the reasons of their exclusion, for fear of being denied accounts elsewhere.</p>
<h2>‘They do not want you at all’</h2>
<p>My ongoing research on sex work and financial exclusion with colleagues from the University of Nevada shows that people working in the legal adult entertainment industry in the US experience similar exclusions. As a sex worker operating in a legal Nevada brothel told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once the bank figures out you’re a sex worker, they don’t want to offer you any services at all whatsoever. They do not want you at all. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant told us that such exclusions can persist even after leaving sex work. She spoke of a friend who had been out of the legal brothel industry for more than a year, but was still unable to open a bank account. </p>
<p>Financial services are indispensable for carrying out most professional and personal activities. But our respondents felt they were not in any position to challenge the exclusions they faced. One told us that the fear of being permanently denied access to financial products stops them from speaking up:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Generally banks don’t exactly say why, [and] we don’t exactly say why either because it’s so dangerous.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also described being “thankful that it’s not worse than that”, after having a bank account closed – but not having her funds seized.</p>
<p>Most of our respondents reported long-term freezing or loss of funds, specifically when dealing with online payment services. As most adult entertainment services are now <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1468-4446.12493">facilitated online</a>, access to digital financial infrastructure and e-payments is ever more important. </p>
<p>But many online payment platforms have a <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/what-is-paypal%E2%80%99s-policy-on-transactions-that-involve-sexually-oriented-goods-and-services-help384#:%7E:text=We%20don%27t%20permit%20PayPal,or%20appear%20to%20involve%2C%20minors.">ban on “sexually oriented goods or services”</a>. As Natasha Tusikov, an expert on crime, technology and regulation describes, this is a form of <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1521-613620210000026005/full/pdf">sexual censorship</a> that leaves people with limited digital payment options, many of which charge high fees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Photo of Nigel Farage speaking at an event, against a dark background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539763/original/file-20230727-17-ltpufz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not everyone has the political or media power to speak up about their bank account closure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newport-wales-uk-september-21st-2019-1551047501">ComposedPix/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The toll of financial exclusion</h2>
<p>Having to hide their occupation, living in a constant state of fear of being “debanked” (losing access to bank accounts) has a heavy toll on sex workers’ lives. This even more so for undocumented migrants, or others who face discrimination on the basis of their race, class, gender and sexuality. </p>
<p>Financial exclusion is not only a source of anxiety and depression, but has harmful <a href="https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/files/FinancialDiscriminationandtheAdultIndustry.pdf">ripple effects</a>. It prevents people from accessing loans and mortgages, it reduces opportunities to save, plan finances for the future or change occupation. It can lead to homelessness and loss of financial autonomy. </p>
<p>As one of our respondents told us, missing a rent payment and getting evicted can lead to suicide: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When someone is debanked, people die, and I want to say this bluntly. This is a deadly issue.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sex workers and organisations who advocate for their rights are challenging these practices. In 2021, a group of UK-based sex worker-led organisations <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GQCV62TnDfq8Pibn9GaRKghIOYCP3u90/view">wrote an open letter</a> demanding the end of financial exclusion by financial institutions. In the US, <a href="https://www.acceptancematters.org">sex workers</a> and civil rights organisations have been campaigning to stop payment platforms from <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/paypal-and-venmo-are-shutting-out-sex-workers-putting-lives-and-livelihoods-at-risk">shutting down sex workers’ accounts</a> without due process, and to challenge the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/how-mastercards-new-policy-violates-sex-workers-rights">exclusionary adult content policies</a> of credit card networks.</p>
<p>But as our participants pointed out, the stigma that surrounds the adult entertainment industry prevents many from coming forward. Some are concerned that publicly challenging financial institutions might result in being permanently banished from them. Unlike well-known political figures, vulnerable people in a stigmatised industry have limited expectations of redress after being excluded from financial services.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabel Crowhurst received funding from the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account for research mentioned in the article.</span></em></p>Escorts, sex workers and other adult entertainers often do not feel they have the power to challenge debanking.Isabel Crowhurst, Reader in Sociology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096562023-07-16T11:56:48Z2023-07-16T11:56:48ZHalifax lawsuit shows why sex workers need legal protections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537379/original/file-20230713-15-r2hlss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=227%2C375%2C3067%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Being in a legal grey area means sex workers are at a disadvantage when they have been the victim of a crime or defrauded.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/halifax-lawsuit-shows-why-sex-workers-need-legal-protections" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A sex worker in Halifax has successfully sued a client who <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-nova-scotia-sex-worker-wins-in-small-claims-court/">refused to pay for her services</a>. The defendant had tried to argue that because purchasing sex work is illegal in Canada, denying payment was not fraud because a contract <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/former-sex-worker-small-claims-court-national-precedent-1.6896597">cannot be enforceable</a>.</p>
<p>However, the court found in favour of the sex worker. The case sets a historic precedent for sex workers to be able to enforce contracts for sexual services, even if paying for sex in Canada is illegal.</p>
<p>This case demonstrates that a contract is a contract. <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/hrm-sex-worker-wins-case-against-client-who-wouldnt-pay-for-services-100870815/">As court adjudicator, Darrell Pink wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If civil aspects of federal tax law are applied to sex workers regarding their business earnings, as they are for all businesses, then the full range of legal principles applicable to a business, including the law of contract, apply to sex workers, along with the remedies for a breach of commercial or contractual obligations.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts have to be honoured as well.</p>
<h2>Flawed legal system</h2>
<p>The ruling also demonstrates how fundamentally flawed Canada’s asymmetrical sex work laws continue to be. The <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36fs_fi/#:%7E:text=Bill%20C-36%2C%20the%20Protection%20of%20Communities%20and%20Exploited,children%2C%20from%20the%20harms%20caused%20by%20prostitution%3B%20and"><em>Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act</em> (PCEPA)</a> was brought in by the Conservative government in 2014. It makes it legal to sell sex, but illegal to pay for sex. This means the law still ensures that sex work itself is in a grey area of criminality. </p>
<p>Being in that grey area means sex workers are at a disadvantage when they have been the victim of a crime or defrauded. It is this grey area that allowed the defendant in this lawsuit to claim there was no contract because <em>his</em> activity is illegal.</p>
<p>However, the adjudicator ruled that the client <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/hrm-sex-worker-wins-case-against-client-who-wouldnt-pay-for-services-100870815/">had accepted</a> the sex worker’s terms. “What was agreed upon was the payment of $300 per hour for the time the claimant spent with the defendant.” The sex worker stayed approximately seven hours and was therefore owed $2,100. At the time, the client paid her only $300 but has since paid her the remainder.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People holding placards protest outside a building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537377/original/file-20230713-17-nnjdgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers and their supporters gather outside the Ontario Superior Court during the launch of their constitutional challenge to Canada’s sex work laws on October 3, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sex workers stereotyped</h2>
<p>The contents of this particular contract might surprise some people who are not aware of the lived realities of many sex workers, particularly escorts. Sex workers are often all portrayed as survival sex workers who are desperate and victimized. Trafficking is a serious issue and does occur in Canada, however, <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814794630/legalizing-prostitution">the majority of sex workers in the western world</a> do sex work voluntarily. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">I interviewed about thirty escorts</a> as part of my research on sex work in North America. Far from being victims, as assumed by Canada’s current laws, the escorts I interviewed had agency, made good money and wanted sex work for consensual adults to be decriminalized fully. They argued laws on prostitution make their lives harder because their so-called “victimhood” is based on a false dichotomy.</p>
<p>As Lucy, an escort from the U.S. midwest, stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I think the unfortunate part of the public perception of sex work is based on two factors and that’s what they see sensationalized either through the trafficking stories and the horrific stories of women or children, you know, being forced to do things against their will or the glamorized, sensationalized, high dollar, hottie, call girl specials, exposes or scandals with politicians… And those are the spectrums, the bottom end and the high end of it, and there’s this huge area in between that we never see.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lucy has many ways of ensuring her agency, safety and payment. She has strict protocols about potential clients. Most are regulars and she has a rigorous screening process involving the client’s personal and credit card information.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I plan in advance and if somebody calls me out of the blue and wants to get together for a date, I don’t accommodate those types of clients… From a liability standpoint, I feel that it’s less likely to have problems with law enforcement if I am scheduling in advance and making them schedule in advance, send me a deposit, that kind of stuff, because most of the time law enforcement is looking for desperate low hanging fruit and they’re looking for people who are going to make mistakes in their screening and usually that’s done at the last minute.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice that her main worry is law enforcement. That was also a common concern among other sex workers I interviewed. Because sex work is in a legal grey area, sex workers do not feel they can go to the police when there is a violent or fraudulent client and they worry about police officers themselves. </p>
<p>As another escort I interviewed, Amanda, explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Two plainclothes police officers called me and another girl to their hotel room, they had adjoining rooms. I had sex with the first person and then they said, ‘hey, you know, you can make an extra couple hundred dollars if you want to switch.’ So we switched and then we were both arrested afterwards. That is illegal… you don’t get to have sex and arrest me, that’s such a violation of my human rights. But it happens all the time.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Decriminalization</h2>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1678234888389169152"}"></div></p>
<p>Many scholars have argued in favour of <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">decriminalizing adult, consensual sex work</a>. However, the federal Liberals (<a href="https://www.nswp.org/news/canadas-liberal-party-votes-support-the-decriminalisation-sex-work">who argued against PCEPA while in opposition</a> because the act replicated the harms of previous laws struck down by the Supreme Court) have little incentive to support decriminalization because of the <a href="https://catwinternational.org/press/an-open-letter-to-prime-minister-justin-trudeau/">vocal opposition of anti-prostitution activists</a>. </p>
<p>There is also little incentive for change because the public only hears the litany of negative stereotypes about sex work. As Lucy said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re conducting adult business behind closed doors in the privacy of our own bedrooms and it’s nobody else’s business. But beyond that, because of the stigma of it, of course we’re also not allowed to talk about it. So even for those of us that have a great working experience… there’s not a lot of opportunities or outlets for us to talk about that publicly with people that are not involved in sex work itself and talk about that honestly. And so no one hears those stories.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Stories like those of Lucy and Amanda need to be told so that sex workers’ rights to bodily autonomy and their right to work are respected. This case will hopefully encourage the government to revise Canada’s prostitution laws to allow all workers the same rights and protections, including sex workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Ralston receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts must be honoured as well.Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059812023-05-20T00:33:07Z2023-05-20T00:33:07ZUnionized bodies in topless bar! Strippers join servers and baristas in new labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527289/original/file-20230519-23-zdmud0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C303%2C5601%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancers at Star Garden in LA have voted for union representation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-star-garden-topless-dive-bar-on-may-18-news-photo/1491335689?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in Los Angeles have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">voted to become the only unionized strippers</a> in the U.S. – joining a <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">growing trend of young employees</a> seeking workplace protection though labor mobilization.</p>
<p>On May 18, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board announced that balloted employees at the topless bar had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/18/business/stripper-union-california/index.html">voted 17-0 in favor</a> of joining the <a href="https://www.actorsequity.org/">Actors’ Equity Association</a>.</p>
<p>It makes Star Garden the first unionized strip club since the now-defunct <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what-it-was-like-to-work-at-the-lusty-lady-a-unionized-strip-club/279236/">Lusty Lady in San Francisco and Seattle</a>. That 1996 union campaign was later the subject of the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264802/">documentary “Live Nude Girls Unite</a>.” </p>
<p>Lusty Lady shut its doors in Seattle in 2010, and three years later in San Francisco, making Star Garden if not the first then at present the only unionized strip club. But given the high-profile nature of the campaign – and the impact of union drives among young staff elsewhere – <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">I believe</a> that there is a high chance that Star Garden won’t be the last strip joint to unionize.</p>
<h2>Rusty nails and broken glass</h2>
<p>Star Garden is the latest in a string of organizing breakthroughs. In 2022, 2,510 petitions for union representation were filed with National Labor Relations Board elections – a <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/unfair-labor-practices-charge-filings-up-16-union-petitions-remain-up-in">53% increase from 2021 and the highest number since 2016</a>. And petitions for union elections have continued to increase in 2023. </p>
<p>Just as at Star Garden, many of the recent union victories have occurred in workplaces that previously seemed resistant to labor drives. Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Apple retail stores, REI, Ben & Jerry’s, Chipotle and Barnes & Noble are among the big-name companies that have seen staff unionize for the first time since workers voted to unionize at Starbucks in Buffalo in December 2021. And evidence suggests that a successful union drive leads to more. Workers at <a href="https://newlaborforum.cuny.edu/2023/03/31/a-model-for-labors-renewal-the-starbucks-campaign/">over 300 Starbucks stores</a> have now voted to unionize, and their efforts have inspired young workers throughout the low-wage service sector. </p>
<p>But in other crucial ways their campaign chimes with that of the other new union drives than have occurred recently in the United States. Star Garden employs the same kind of young, self-assured workers that have contributed to the dynamism of union campaigns at Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and others. Most of the dancers are in their 20s and 30s, and they have proved assured spokespeople for the union during <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/12/1120759940/star-garden-stripper-topless-dancers-union-striking-los-angeles-california">the campaign’s extensive coverage</a> in traditional and social media. </p>
<h2>Youth-driven campaigns</h2>
<p>In contrast to past generations of union drives, it is young employees that are spearheading the new push for unions. And they are doing so independently, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">less outside mobilizing from established union leaders</a>. The Star Garden workers self-organized and repeatedly pressured management to act on their concerns before <a href="https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/articles/1524811/calif-dancers-moving-to-form-nation-s-only-strip-club-union">deciding to petition for a union election with Actors’ Equity Union</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men and women in black T-shirts with 'Starbucks Workers Union' emblems on the front jump in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Starbucks employees and supporters celebrate a successful union drive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UnionMembership/2b391175f2054871aff7d7f752e6f773/photo?Query=Starbucks%20union&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=140&currentItemNo=29">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span>
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<p>Moreover, the issues cited by Star Garden workers as evidence of a need for union protection – sexual harassment by customers, unresponsive management and an unsafe working environment – are in many respects just more extreme versions <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-workers-at-the-nyc-roastery-strike-against-unsafe-work-conditions/">of the problems</a> that have driven many retail and food-service-sector workers to mobilize.</p>
<h2>Anti-union tactics</h2>
<p>In common with workers at Starbucks, REI and Trader Joe’s, the Star Garden dancers concluded that having a union and collective bargaining was the surest way to remedy such problems. </p>
<p>And like many of those other workforces, the Star Garden strippers faced a long battle against management to achieve that goal.</p>
<p>The organizing campaign<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden"> lasted for 15 months</a> as a result of company’s efforts to fight worker organizing and then prevent a union vote. </p>
<p>Workers voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in November 2022, but management opposition prevented the labor board from counting the ballots until last week. Among other tactics, the owners of Star Garden are <a href="https://money.yahoo.com/huge-win-hollywood-star-garden-211500506.html">alleged to have retaliated</a> against workers for protesting an unsafe working environment and claimed that the workers were independent contractors, not employees. Employers also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">filed for bankruptcy</a> – an act that can void a union contract.</p>
<p>But the anti-union tactics failed. When the ballots were eventually counted, they showed that workers had voted unanimously for union recognition. In common with campaigns at Starbucks and elsewhere, the success at Star Garden suggests that traditional <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/union-busting-what-is-it">anti-union tactics</a> may be <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">less effective with today’s younger workers</a>. </p>
<p>There is another common theme in the rash of union breakthroughs in recent years: They have generated headlines.</p>
<p>Star Garden may not have the big-name appeal to media outlets of, say, Starbucks or Amazon. But the nature of the business involved lends itself to widespread media and social coverage. In short, “strippers’ unionize” <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/06/la-strippers-look-to-form-first-exotic-dancers-union-in-decades/">makes</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/18/los-angeles-strip-club-dancers-unionize-actors-equity-association">for</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/business/strippers-union-labor.html">great</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3606699-strippers-at-la-club-move-to-unionize/">headlines</a>.</p>
<p>The high profile of this and other drives is an important part of the story. Widespread social media and traditional news coverage can <a href="https://academicminute.org/2022/02/john-logan-san-francisco-state-university-why-are-unions-suddenly-such-a-hot-topic-and-does-it-matter">raise awareness of the potential to unionize</a> among other young workforces. It conveys to employees that organizing is something they can do, not just something they read about. </p>
<h2>Time for a new corporate strategy?</h2>
<p>There is also a takeaway from union drives by Star Garden strippers and other workers for corporations: The public may be tiring of old-style anti-union tactics, and it may be in their interests to work with employees seeking to unionize.</p>
<p>As Lilith, one of the Star Garden dancers, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fp0fzc">told the BBC</a>: “A union strip club is going to be a novelty in the United States. It will have customers from all over. … I think if both parties come to negotiate in good faith, we can create a really successful business together.”</p>
<p>From my perspective, it does prompt the question of whether it is time for company bosses to embrace unions. With <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">over 70% of the public approving of unions</a> – and a much higher proportion of young workers – companies like Star Garden, Starbucks and REI could potentially benefit from marketing themselves as “good employers” who respect their workers’ right to choose a union. </p>
<p>Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s is one such company seemingly taking that approach. In January, it became the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90890085/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-scoopers-union-fair-election-demands">first major national employer to sign</a> the Starbucks Workers United-initiated “Fair Election Principles,” which would guarantee workers a free and fair choice to unionize. The union recognition process at Ben & Jerry’s is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/17/benjerrys-ice-cream-union/">scheduled for the Monday of Memorial Day weekend</a>. </p>
<p>Star Garden may be the country’s only unionized topless bar. But it is part of a wider trend that is influencing attitudes toward mobilizing in young workforces across the country – from servers to ice cream scoopers and now strippers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young motivated employees are pushing the movement for union representation among US workforces. Is it time for management to get on board?John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022282023-03-30T22:18:00Z2023-03-30T22:18:00ZMass Casualty Commission report details the Nova Scotia shooter’s abuse of sex workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518581/original/file-20230330-18-gk7yku.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C2959%2C2194&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Mass Casualty Commission has released its final report on the mass murder that happened in rural Nova Scotia in April 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission has released its <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/final-report/">final report</a> on the largest mass murder in Canadian history — highlighting how the perpetrator, although known to the police, was able to escape arrest for charges of intimate partner violence and illegal gun possession. </p>
<p>On April 18-19, 2020, starting in Portapique, N.S., <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200730/021/index-en.aspx">a single gunman murdered 22 people</a> over a 13 hour period while dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a mocked up RCMP cruiser. He was finally shot by police officers at a gas station as he filled up a car taken from one of his last victims. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nova-scotias-mass-casualty-commission-calls-for-stricter-gun-control-laws-202808">Nova Scotia's Mass Casualty Commission calls for stricter gun control laws</a>
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<p>The commission’s findings are compiled from submissions, public hearings and police evidence. The final report includes recommendations about how to increase community safety and how to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.</p>
<p>The report also shows how the perpetrator was never held accountable for sexualized violence against women. For example, he was known among sex workers as someone who exchanged dental work for sex and who <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/files/documents/Turning-the-Tide-Together-Volume-3-Violence.pdf">routinely violated marginalized people, including sex workers</a>.</p>
<p>We have both researched sex work for many years in <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/sex-workers-in-the-maritimes-talk-back">Canada</a>, the <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/slut-shaming--whorephobia--and-the-unfinished-sexual-revolution-products-9780228006657.php">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.rienner.com/title/Reluctant_Bedfellows_Feminism_Activism_and_Prostitution_in_the_Philippines">the Philippines</a>. </p>
<p>We were commissioned to do an <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/documents/commissioned-reports/#the-health-and-safety-of-survival-sex-workers-in-halifax-and-truro-nova-scotia">expert report</a> for the Mass Casualty Commission on sex worker safety in Nova Scotia, focusing on why victims of violence (abuse which was documented by the perpetrator) did not report that violence to the police. </p>
<p>Over a period of three months in 2022, we interviewed 19 executive directors and representatives of social service organizations helping sex workers. We wanted to find out what their experiences were of sex worker safety in Nova Scotia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women and a man sit behind a desk facing an seated audience." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518583/original/file-20230330-28-sho3xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From left to right, commissioners Leanne Fitch, Michael MacDonald, chair, and Kim Stanton deliver the final report of the Mass Casualty Commission in Truro, N.S. on March 30, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Victims of violence fear they won’t be believed</h2>
<p>The quick answer to the question of why victims don’t disclose violence is that most victims do not believe they will be helped if they do come forward.</p>
<p>Sex workers, who are already marginalized, often do not trust the police because of their past dealings with them. Their fear of possible arrest, to be further criminalized and possibly have their children taken away by Child Protective Services is not unfounded. <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/files/documents/Turning-the-Tide-Together-Executive-Summary.pdf">As the final Mass Casualty Commission report states</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Many women fear disbelief by others, including the police, do not trust that police will ensure their safety, and are concerned about being criminalized or subject to other state harms. These barriers are heightened for marginalized women survivors.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We heard numerous accounts of victims not being believed when they came forward with stories of abuse, being re-criminalized and not seeing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.1894">police or authority figures as trustworthy</a>. </p>
<p>One of the executive directors we interviewed said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sex worker safety is nonexistent, there is no safety measures for sex workers. It’s been "grandfathered down” not to trust the police. [Our agency] also recently did a survey, and it showed that there was more violence from a police officer than of a perpetrator.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The physical and emotional violence by police was well documented by our interviewees. As one executive director explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"The cops abuse, so how are you going to go to this misogynistic institution to report that you’ve been harmed when you are already known or seen as "less than” and found not really worthy of safety anyway?“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/documents/commissioned-reports/#the-health-and-safety-of-survival-sex-workers-in-halifax-and-truro-nova-scotia">report</a> documents how the stigma faced by the most marginalized sex workers is one of the key factors in understanding how the perpetrator managed to get away with his prior criminal behaviour. </p>
<p>As another executive director told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"What does stigma do? I mean it keeps people in the shadows, it keeps people from coming forward and asking for help.… We don’t respect sex work as legitimate work… People judge sex a lot, and the more you can dehumanize someone, and the more you can deny them basic services, you can deny their social status and respect and rights and a whole bunch of other stuff.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The level of violence and dehumanization faced by sex workers means that they do not feel protected in the community, at health-care facilities or by police.</p>
<p>Violence resulting from dehumanization was a theme in several of our interviews. Another interviewee told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“There’s such a long history of sex workers being on the margins and being treated like whores and sluts and with no value whatsoever. And that long, long history still pervades people’s perceptions of who sex workers are and what sex work is, and I think that those common perceptions run throughout all our systems.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<img alt="A group of people standing and embracing under a sign that reads: mass casualty commission in English and French" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518582/original/file-20230330-22-z8ejlq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The report shows how the perpetrator was never held accountable for his sexualized violence against numerous women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese</span></span>
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<h2>Decriminalization as a harm reduction strategy</h2>
<p>The final Mass Casualty Commission report highlights how “economic marginalization and criminalization heighten the risk of violence against women and girls.”</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://masscasualtycommission.ca/documents/commissioned-reports/#the-health-and-safety-of-survival-sex-workers-in-halifax-and-truro-nova-scotia">report</a>, we make eight recommendations that centre on developing a harm reduction strategy to alleviate the harms criminalized sex work poses. </p>
<p>Our recommendations to federal and provincial governments include:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225783">The decriminalization of sex work</a>.</li>
<li>Coordinating social services for sex workers across Halifax and rural areas. </li>
<li>Providing more funding for organizations dealing with sex workers. </li>
<li>Education to eradicate stigma and dehumanization of sex workers, and to provide anti-racist education. </li>
<li>Decriminalization of illegal substances for personal use.</li>
<li>Providing safe and affordable housing. </li>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315613311">A cultural shift around sexualized violence and sex work</a>. </li>
<li>Poverty reduction and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.37.3.283">guaranteed annual income</a>.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Harm reduction means dealing with people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00576-9">where they are, not where we’d like them to be</a>. Harm reduction means deciding what is the greater <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1767305">social harm</a>: sex workers dying on the job or the public recognizing that violence, addiction, homelessness and extreme poverty dehumanize sex workers far more than the actual work does.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09707-7">Stigma kills</a>, and it denies those who are stigmatized the social supports they need. Harm reduction means that the practice of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00636-0">criminalizing sex work</a> needs to stop in Canada. </p>
<p>By decriminalizing sex work, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00564-z">New Zealand</a> has radically reduced the prevalence of nearly all the social problems we named in this article. It’s time Canada did the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202228/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Ralston received funding from the Mass Casualty Commission for our expert report. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gayle MacDonald owns GM Research Consulting Inc. She has received funding from the Mass Casualty Commission for our expert report. </span></em></p>The mass casualty commission report into the Nova Scotia mass murders outlines the perpetrator’s history of sexual abuse toward sex workers and what should be done to prevent it from happening again.Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityGayle MacDonald, Professor, Women's Studies, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018102023-03-20T19:43:09Z2023-03-20T19:43:09ZSex workers are left out in the cold by Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515815/original/file-20230316-16-jzc793.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4438%2C3218&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino speaks during a news conference on the government's plan to enable expungements for convictions under the Criminal Code for bawdy house, indecency-based and abortion-related offences in Ottawa in March 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government recently announced its intention to amend the <em>Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act</em> to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2023/03/government-of-canada-takes-another-step-towards-righting-historically-unjust-convictions0.html">expand the list of offences Canadians can apply to have struck from their criminal records.</a> The list now includes abortion-related offences and indecent acts in a bawdy house.</p>
<p>We are a group of gay and lesbian historians who study the criminalization of queer communities in Canada. While we applaud changes that allow women and abortion providers to apply to have their records expunged, we question the partial and historically faulty way the government has added bawdy-house offences to the act.</p>
<p>Sex workers charged with bawdy-house offences, for example, remain excluded from accessing the expungement process. </p>
<p>In other words, if a bawdy-house conviction was only about indecency, people can now apply to have their records expunged. But if there are any allegations of sex work related to their convictions, they cannot.</p>
<p>However, police often alleged both indecency and sex work were taking place inside the bawdy houses.</p>
<p>And so in the government’s view, bawdy-house laws may now be historically unjust, but only for some.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A rap sheet lists alleged offences after an arrest of a gay man in 1981." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515848/original/file-20230316-26-dndima.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1981 rap sheet shows how police described a bawdy house arrest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Toronto Police via Freedom of Information request</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Flawed act, limited uptake</h2>
<p>In 2018, the federal government passed Bill C-66, which established a process to expunge the records for those who had been convicted of historically unjust offences. This was part of Prime Minister <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/homosexual-offences-exunge-records-1.4422546">Justin Trudeau’s apology to queer people in Canada.
</a></p>
<p>During debate on the bill, <a href="https://sencanada.ca/Content/Sen/Committee/421/RIDR/briefs/2018-02-05_C-66_Historians_e.pdf">we argued that it failed to fully carry out the prime minister’s apology</a> because it included only two offences — buggery/anal intercourse and gross indecency, a small fraction of the Criminal Code provisions that have historically targeted queer people. </p>
<p>It left out bawdy-house laws, indecency, vagrancy and criminalization for HIV non-disclosure. We also argued the application process was too onerous.</p>
<p>Turns out, we were right. In the first three years of the act, <a href="https://theconversation.com/pride-and-prejudice-with-only-9-lgbtq-criminal-record-expungements-whats-to-celebrate-161308">a paltry nine expungements were granted</a>. This represents an exceedingly small number of those who have been unjustly charged. </p>
<p>According to updated Parole Board information recently emailed to us, the Record Suspension Division has received 70 applications for expungement, with still only nine granted. Sixty applications have been refused, primarily because the convictions were not on the list of eligible offences for expungement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pride-and-prejudice-with-only-9-lgbtq-criminal-record-expungements-whats-to-celebrate-161308">Pride and prejudice: With only 9 LGBTQ criminal record expungements, what’s to celebrate?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>History of criminalization</h2>
<p>The recent changes amend Bill C-66 to broaden the range of expungable offences by adding, in addition to abortion, “indecent acts” committed in bawdy houses. This is possible because the bawdy-house law was repealed in June 2019, <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/JUST/Brief/BR10002313/br-external/HooperTom-e.pdf">something we argued for at the time</a>. </p>
<p>Why, then, has it taken the government so long to add this to the list of expungable offences? </p>
<p>The government decision to specifically exclude sex workers from expungement ignores the fact that in 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the bawdy house law in relation to sex work. It’s also a serious misunderstanding of how marginalized sexual and gender communities have been criminalized and policed historically.</p>
<p>In 1917, <a href="http://activehistory.ca/2016/03/bath-raid-victims-should-also-be-pardoned/">the Criminal Code definition of a bawdy house was expanded</a> to encompass not just prostitution but also other “indecent acts.” This set the stage for the police to use the bawdy-house law to both punish sex workers and arrest men caught up in bathhouse raids.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black-and-white photo shows a man with blood on his face scuffling with a group of police officers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515822/original/file-20230316-22-iegt45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man with blood streaming down his face scuffles with police outside the Ontario legislature in 1981 after about 1,000 gay rights demonstrators marched to protest the arrests of men in four city steam baths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/UPC/Gary Hershorn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the long historical overlap in the policing of sex workers and gay men, the government is making a distinction between the indecency clause of the bawdy-house law and the parts of the law that pertained to the exchange of sex for money. </p>
<p>As historians, we have a deep appreciation for the historical links in the policing and criminalizing of sex workers and gay men. This shared history informs our criticism of the government’s attempt to single out gay men as worthy of expungement while leaving sex workers out in the cold.</p>
<h2>New divisions, old problems</h2>
<p>Because the arrest records of men charged with indecent acts in a bawdy house often include police allegations of sex work in their records, their applications for expungement would be ineligible. </p>
<p>This sets up another division between the deserving and undeserving — between men whose historically unjust conviction makes no reference to sex work and those whose records do, accurately or not.</p>
<p>In addition, those wishing to clear a record of “indecency” must prove the indecent act took place in a bawdy house. However, <a href="https://torontoist.com/2017/03/cruising-history-policing-gay-sex-toronto-parks/">the vast majority of indecency convictions stem from police entrapment of men in public parks and washrooms</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A beach is framed by a willow tree branch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515826/original/file-20230316-18-cof9tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marie Curtis Park in west-end Toronto was a frequent site of police surveillance of gay men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even though men take great care to construct privacy for themselves so as not to bother others, none would qualify for an expungement because the indecency took place in “public” and not in a bawdy house. </p>
<p>The government’s very narrow definition of indecency fails to include most people charged with this offence.</p>
<p>On top of these newly created problems with the Expungement Act, many obstacles in the existing process remain. For example, people who were convicted but received a discharge at sentencing are not eligible for expungement, despite the fact their records continue to hang over them. </p>
<p>What’s more, all the onerous requirements of the expungement application, which place the burden of proof on the applicant, also remain.</p>
<h2>Justice for all</h2>
<p>Back in 2018, the Senate Committee on Human Rights urged that as soon as the Expungement Act was passed, <a href="https://sencanada.ca/en/committees/RIDR/Report/56562/42-1">the government should consult with community members and experts to review remaining discriminatory historical laws</a>. The committee specified “prostitution-related offences.”</p>
<p>Five years later, the government has still not consulted with those who know this history best. Instead, it introduced changes that are historically unfounded, extremely limited in scope and seek to divide sexual and gender communities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1633507750612279440"}"></div></p>
<p>As historians of sexuality, we argue that the historical record supports <a href="http://sexworklawreform.com/media-statement-amendments-to-the-expungement-act-liberals-once-again-pay-lip-service-to-equality/">sex workers’ organizations and their demand that the government include bawdy-house convictions related to prostitution</a> in expungement legislation. These convictions disproportionately affect women of colour, Indigenous women and transgender people.</p>
<p>And so, in 2023, we once again call upon the federal government to provide meaningful access to criminal record expungement for all — queer people, sex workers, trans and non-binary people — who have been convicted of historical offences for consensual sex.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Experts on the history of sexuality in Canada say recent changes to the Expungement Act don’t go far enough, and they urge Canadians to reject attempts to divide marginalized communities.Steven Maynard, Adjunct Associate Professor of History, Queen's University, OntarioGary Kinsman, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Laurentian UniversityPatrizia Gentile, Professor, Sexuality Studies/Human Rights & Social Justice, Carleton UniversityTom Hooper, Sessional Assistant Professor in Critical Human Rights, Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1953812022-11-30T13:43:40Z2022-11-30T13:43:40ZCOVID deepened inequalities in HIV treatment: what we learnt in Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498217/original/file-20221130-12-u3ona4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/closeup-woman-hand-holding-red-ribbon-hiv-world-royalty-free-image/1219095637?phrase=HIV%2FAIDS%20in%20Nigeria&adppopup=true">Suriyawut Suriya/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022 World AIDS Day theme is <a href="https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/events/item/2022/12/01/default-calendar/world-aids-day-2022--equalize#:%7E:text=On%201%20December%20WHO%20joins,under%20the%20theme%20%E2%80%9CEqualize%E2%80%9D.">Equalize</a>. The reason for this focus is that HIV reflects economic and social inequity. People with low socio-economic status <a href="https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/hiv-aids#:%7E:text=A%20lack%20of%20socioeconomic%20resources,et%20al.%2C%202013">are worst affected</a> by the epidemic. Also, the worst impacts of <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---ilo_aids/documents/publication/wcms_120468.pdf">the HIV epidemic are found</a> in the least developed countries and the most impoverished neighbourhoods. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110192">In West Africa</a>, the proportion of people living on less than $1.90 a day jumped from 2.3% in 2020 to 2.9% in 2021 and more than 25 million across the region are struggling to meet their basic food needs. </p>
<p>Nigeria has the <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-12865-y#:%7E:text=Nigeria%2C%20the%20most%20populous%20country,burden%20%5B9%2C%2010%5D.">third highest burden</a> of HIV in the world. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1127055/people-living-with-hiv-receiving-treatment-in-nigeria/#:%7E:text=As%20of%202021%2C%201.9%20million,growing%20in%20the%20past%20years.">As of 2021</a>, 1.9 million people in Nigeria were infected with HIV. About 90% of them were receiving antiretroviral therapy. </p>
<p>The country seems to be moving successfully towards <a href="https://www.pedaids.org/2014/11/20/unaids-issues-new-fast-track-strategy-to-end-aids-by-2030/">the 95-95-95 target for ending AIDS by 2030</a>. This means 95% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status; 95% of people who know their status on treatment; and 95% of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads. The target was launched by UNAIDS in November 2014. </p>
<p>But COVID-19 has threatened the progress that’s been made so far.</p>
<p>We explored this in two studies. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35901294/">One was about</a> access to health services in Nigeria for women and girls living with HIV during the pandemic. It sought to know how easily they could access HIV, tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health services. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36189755/">The second</a> was about food insecurity, financial vulnerability and housing insecurity among women and girls living with – or at risk of – HIV in Nigeria. It set out to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those likely to be worst affected by the multiple epidemics: vulnerable and stigmatised women. </p>
<p>Both pieces of research show that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to essential health services. </p>
<h2>Poor access to HIV services during COVID-19</h2>
<p>For the first research, we recruited 2,076 adolescent girls and women living with HIV in different parts of Nigeria. We then assessed their ease of access to HIV, tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health services during the pandemic. </p>
<p>We found that over 6 in 10 women and girls living with HIV had limited access to HIV services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 2 in 10 had limited access to TB services. And almost 4 in 10 had limited access to sexual and reproductive health services.</p>
<p>Our study showed that because of the closure of HIV services and sexual and reproductive health service points during the pandemic, pre-existing financial and non-financial barriers to accessing services increased significantly. Having no money, having to pay additional unofficial fees and the lack of security on the road to the health facility were the barriers with the greatest impact on access to health services. </p>
<p>Transgender women, women who engaged in sex work and women who injected or used illegal drugs were severely affected. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that some vulnerable populations may have fallen through the cracks despite efforts to improve access to HIV services during the pandemic in Nigeria. </p>
<h2>COVID increases vulnerability of people living with HIV</h2>
<p>Our second <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36189755/">study</a> sought to assess how the pandemic had further created differential food, financial and housing insecurity among vulnerable and stigmatised women in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Women and girls with disability, transgender women, sex workers, persons engaged in transactional sex, substance users and people on the move are all vulnerable. We found that a significantly high proportion of the study population had to deal with food insecurity (76.1%), financial vulnerability (83.6%) and housing insecurity (36.2%). Some women were particularly badly affected by the pandemic: women and girls who transacted sex were more than four times as likely to face housing insecurity and more than twice as likely to face food insecurity and financial vulnerability compared with other vulnerable women and girls who did not transact sex. </p>
<p>This suggests the need to monitor and plan better to avert negative impacts and increased HIV infection.</p>
<h2>The way out</h2>
<p>The results of both studies suggest that people who are affected by inequity may be the worst affected by pandemics like COVID-19. Emergency preparedness needs to happen well ahead of emergencies. It should include mapping out which populations are most likely to need care. </p>
<p>For Nigeria, it’s critical to plan ahead so that people living with HIV – as well as others – can get essential life-saving services. The combined effect of the disruption of access to HIV services and other essential services may have had an overall negative impact on the HIV response in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Emergency preparedness efforts include improving the access of vulnerable women and girls to essential service access. This can be done through active engagement of civil society organisations working with the target populations worst affected by the pandemic. Also, HIV programming in Nigeria needs to include housing, economic and financial insecurity mitigation measures for women and girls living with HIV.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan received funding from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for this research. </span></em></p>Some vulnerable populations may have fallen through the cracks despite efforts to improve access to HIV services during the pandemic in Nigeria.Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan, Professor of Paediatric Dentistry, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1926862022-10-19T12:37:43Z2022-10-19T12:37:43ZMurder of Johannesburg sex workers shows why South Africa must urgently decriminalise the trade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490588/original/file-20221019-18-fd57p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sex workers and their supporters protest outside the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court during the first appearance of a man accused of killing six women.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The decomposed bodies of six women, four of whom were identified as sex workers, were recently <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-16-murder-of-six-women-in-joburg-exposes-safety-hazards-for-sex-workers-in-sa/">discovered</a> at a panel beating factory in Johannesburg. A 20-year-old man has been <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2022/10/18/failed-id-parade-delays-case-against-man-linked-to-6-bodies-found-in-joburg">charged with six counts of murder</a>. The case highlights, again, the risks of sex work for women in South Africa. </p>
<p>It also puts the spotlight on the regulation of sex work. As a commissioner for the <a href="https://cge.org.za/">Commission for Gender Equality</a>, I was involved in drafting its 2013 position paper on sex work: <a href="http://cge.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/CGE-Decr.pdf">Decriminalising Sex Work in South Africa</a>.</p>
<p>There are different ways of regulating sex work. These include criminalisation, legalisation, partial decriminalisation and decriminalisation. Sex work is a crime in South Africa, which means that all sex work that is performed on streets or in brothels is illegal and is policed as such.</p>
<p>This makes it particularly difficult for sex workers who operate on the streets to be safe. They fear being arrested by police, often forcing them into unsafe spaces where clients are free to abuse them. They are also vulnerable to <a href="https://wlce.co.za/police-abuse-of-sex-workers/">police abuse</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-workers-in-nigeria-deserve-fair-treatment-from-the-media-183984">Sex workers in Nigeria deserve fair treatment from the media</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Like the Commission for Gender Equality, I also support decriminalisation. That would, among other things, mitigate some of the risks that sex workers face because of their work being deemed a crime in the country. They are exposed to physical violence, the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies, police abuse, mental anguish and even death. Decriminalisation means that sex workers can choose where to work, and they won’t have to fear arrests, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/southafrica0819_web_0.pdf">police harassment and stigmatisation</a>. </p>
<h2>Criminalisation</h2>
<p>Sex work in the country is regulated through the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1957-023.pdf">Sexual Offences Act 23 of 1957</a> and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2007-032.pdf">Amendment Act, 2007</a>.</p>
<p>These laws were reviewed several years ago by the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/">South African Law Reform Commission</a>, a permanent body that investigates law reform, established under <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/docs_gen/1973_19_South%20African%20Law%20Reform%20Commission%20Act.pdf">Act 19 of 1973</a>. Its <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/reports/r-pr107-SXO-AdultProstitution-2017.pdf#page=29">2015 report</a> called for the continued criminalisation of sex work to prevent people from </p>
<blockquote>
<p>knowingly living off the earnings of prostitution (and) benefiting from the prostitution of another person. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also recommended the continued use of public ordinances to deal with the “public nuisance” of “prostitutes”. Rebutting the argument that poverty is one of the reasons people enter sex work, the report said women should rather seek social welfare interventions. </p>
<p>But this is not a viable option. Given the country’s very high levels of poverty and joblessness, the resources of government to support poor women are spread thin. <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/SASSA_2022-23_Annual_Performance_Plan.pdf">Almost 47%</a> of South Africans now depend on government grants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sexual-and-reproductive-law-for-east-african-countries-is-being-resisted-186954">Why sexual and reproductive law for east African countries is being resisted</a>
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</em>
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<p>The <a href="https://eachother.org.uk/sex-work-and-sex-trafficking-different/">conflation of sex work with human trafficking</a> contributes to the support for the continued criminalisation of sex work. But not all sex work is coerced and not all sex workers are trafficked. Women are often driven to sex work because of economic needs and <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/europe/2022-10-18-women-turn-to-sex-work-to-survive-cost-of-living-crunch/">increasing costs of living</a>, and some women exercise a choice to do sex work. </p>
<p>But they also face serious risks. So, what are the alternatives?</p>
<h2>Other approaches</h2>
<p>Elsewhere legislation makes sex work legal under certain conditions, such as regular medical check-ups, licensing, and registration as a form of state control of sex workers. For example, sex work is legal in the <a href="https://www.government.nl/topics/prostitution/question-and-answer/work-as-a-prostitute-in-the-netherlands">Netherlands </a> and in some jurisdictions in <a href="https://www.catwa.org.au/prostitution-laws-in-each-state/">Australia</a>, <a href="https://catwinternational.org/press/belgium-joins-germany-in-creating-legal-haven-for-sex-trade/">Germany</a> and <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/the-indy-explains-how-legal-prostitution-works-in-nevada">Nevada</a> in the US. Some African countries have a <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-prostitution-is-legal">combination of legality and illegality</a>. Legalisation still does not provide the broader freedom of decriminalisation, which will curb stigmatisation by making sex work <a href="https://www.borgenmagazine.com/benefits-of-legalizing-prostitution">just like any other job</a>.</p>
<p>With partial decriminalisation, the sex worker is not criminalised – their clients are. In other words, the buyer of the service can be arrested, but not the seller. This is called the Swedish model because this is where it was used for the first time <a href="https://www.swarmcollective.org/blog/the-swedish-model">in 1999</a>. While this may sound like a good idea, it actually makes sex workers more vulnerable, because it drives their work underground. It creates a lack of trust between the sex worker and client, reduces her bargaining power and <a href="https://genderjustice.org.za/video/the-swedish-model-why-partial-criminalisation-of-sex-work-will-not-help-sex-workers-or-sa-society/">hampers her ability to negotiate safe sex</a>.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africas-hiv-prevention-programmes-should-include-sex-worker-clients-157264">Why South Africa's HIV prevention programmes should include sex worker clients</a>
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<p>Sex workers on the streets of Sweden have reported harsher conditions since partial decriminalisation was introduced, as well as <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/Issue-Paper-4%5B1%5D_0.pdf">greater stigmatisation and discrimination</a>.</p>
<h2>Decriminalisation</h2>
<p>The South African Commission for Gender Equality’s position paper, mentioned above, calls for decriminalisation. This means a repeal of all laws against sex work, as well as the removal of provisions that criminalise all aspects of sex work. </p>
<p>The difference between legalisation and decriminalisation is that decriminalisation does not come with any state-imposed regulations specific to sex work. Instead the industry is regulated through existing statutes and regulations, particularly labour law. </p>
<p>Sex work becomes recognised as a legitimate business and falls under conventional employment and health regulations. Sex workers will, therefore, have the same rights as other workers and will also have the responsibility to pay taxes.</p>
<p>In her timely 2022 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Policing-Bodies-Work-Desire-Johannesburg/dp/1503629740">book</a> Policing Bodies - Law, Sex Work and Desire in Johannesburg, legal scholar <a href="https://kinseyinstitute.org/about/profiles/ithusi.php">India Thusi</a> makes a strong case for decriminalisation. She clearly shows the complexity of relationships between sex workers and law enforcers, and how criminalising sex work is counterproductive.</p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>In February 2022, John Jeffery, South Africa’s deputy justice minister, announced further consultations on the Law Reform Commission’s report. <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/news/decriminalisation-of-prostitution">He said</a> there was a need to “fully engage” with all stakeholders – including government departments – on the proposed policy options and their implications, given the diversity of views, even though public hearings on sex work had already taken place. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-sex-workers-view-on-south-africas-latest-plans-to-beat-hiv-79355">A sex worker's view on South Africa's latest plans to beat HIV</a>
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<p>The six women whose bodies were found in Johannesburg deserved protection and support, and the right to do their work safely. Decriminalisation would be a powerful step towards honouring their memories – and keeping other sex workers safe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Gouws receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF).</span></em></p>The conflation of sex work and human trafficking fuels support for the continued criminalisation of sex work.Amanda Gouws, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the South African Research Initiative in Gender Politics, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1886342022-09-19T19:12:30Z2022-09-19T19:12:30ZBollywood film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ paints an ambivalent picture of sex workers’ rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484386/original/file-20220913-5031-1p0v15.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C45%2C472%2C254&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The film is loosely based on a chapter from the book 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai.' </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pen Movies/YouTube)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this year, the Bollywood film <em>Gangubai Kathiawadi</em> <a href="https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/box-office-special-features/gangubai-kathiawadi-box-office-collections-day-3-alia-bhatt-starrer-good-weekend-collects-rs-39-12-cr-opening-weekend/">grabbed headlines</a> for its bold portrayal of sex work in India. </p>
<p>The film, which premiered at the <a href="https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive-selection/archive-2022/programme/detail/202204933.html">Berlin Film Festival</a>, has been widely <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/binge-watch/story/gangubai-kathiawadi-becomes-no-1-non-english-film-on-netflix-globally-alia-bhatt-is-speechless-1945444-2022-05-04">viewed on Netflix</a> and garnered <a href="https://newsroompost.com/entertainment/sex-worker-inspired-movie-gangubai-kathiawadi-finds-strong-connection-in-thailand/5120299.html">global attention</a> about how sex work isn’t recognized as a profession by law in most societies. </p>
<p>Unlike <a href="https://www.shethepeople.tv/film-theatre/hindi-films-on-sex-workers-gangubai-kathiawadi-release/">Bollywood films that portray sex workers as women who ought to be rehabilitated into mainstream society</a>, <em>Gangubai Kathiawadi</em> presents them as a group capable of mobilizing social change. </p>
<p>Yet, despite its efforts to champion sex workers’ rights, certain elements in the film portray sex workers as victims and reinforce existing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26788-9_10">cinematic tropes of “shameful” sex workers</a>. This ambiguity in the film resonates with ambiguity also seen in Indian legal discourse related to sex work, such as a recent Supreme Court ruling that recognized sex work <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/indias-supreme-court-recognizes-sex-work-as-a-profession/#">as a profession</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Official trailer for ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi.’</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The continued emphasis on <em>badnam gali</em></h2>
<p>Set in the <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/how-the-sets-of-sanjay-leela-bhansalis-gangubai-kathiawadi-recreate-1950s-and-60s-bombay/">1950s and ‘60s</a>, <em>Gangubai Kathiawadi</em> is <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/gangubai-kathiawadi-real-story-hussain-zaidi-mafia-queen-of-mumbai-7787693/">loosely based on a chapter</a> from <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/MAFIA_QUEENS_OF_MUMBAI.html?id=prwwDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y"><em>Mafia Queens of Mumbai</em></a>, a book by <a href="https://twitter.com/shussainzaidi?lang=en">former crime reporter and author Hussain Zaidi</a> based on research by reporter <a href="https://bluesaltmedia.in/product/mafiaqueensofmumbai/">Jane Borges</a>.</p>
<p>The film narrates the story of Ganga (Alia Bhatt), who accompanies her boyfriend to Bombay with the <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/03/gangubai-kathiawadi-film-review-alia-bhatt-international-critics-line-1234981036/">hope of becoming a Hindi film actress</a>. </p>
<p>Her dreams are shattered when she is sold to a ruthless brothel madam in Kamathipura (a popular red light district). The film traces Ganga’s resilience as she renames herself Gangu and emerges as one of Kamathipura’s revered brothel leaders. </p>
<p>Speaking at a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, the film’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, reflected on how Gangubai “fought for everything she thought [sex workers] rightly deserved <a href="https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive-selection/archive-2022/programme/detail/202204933.html#video-press-conference">in spite of being in the profession</a> … ”</p>
<p>His notion of treating sex workers as resilient individuals, who rise from their marginalized positions, presupposes them as victims.</p>
<p>For example, in the film, while Gangu is presented as a confident woman who educates people about the need to legalize sex work, she repeatedly self-identifies as a woman who resides in <em>badnam gali</em> — a phrase that loosely translates to “disreputable street.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women seen standing in front of a brothel as men walk past." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484410/original/file-20220913-4942-e3mvij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The protagonist’s dreams are shattered when she is sold to a brothel madam in a popular red light district.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pen Movies/YouTube)</span></span>
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<p>While brothels like <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-24530198">Kamathipura were created for the service of British troops</a> who served in India, the women who worked in these spaces were viewed as carriers of venereal diseases. They were forced <a href="http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue28/caulfield_review.htm">by law</a> to undergo medical examinations and detained within “lock hospitals.” </p>
<p>A phrase like <em>badnam gali</em> sheds light on how these sentiments continue to shape discourses of morality, which allows sex workers to be marginalized, and also
signals the overarching structural factors which deprive sex workers of basic rights — yet it also constructs sex workers <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/movies/sanjay-leela-bhansali-recalls-watching-sex-workers-selling-themselves-for-rs-20-when-he-was-a-child-4829447.html">as pitiable</a>.</p>
<h2>Victims of deceit?</h2>
<p>Despite showing the resilience of sex workers, the film presents women as victims worthy of attention because they didn’t choose their circumstances. </p>
<p>By not presenting any images of voluntary sex work, the film unwittingly creates a dichotomy between voluntary and forced sex work. </p>
<p>Sex work activist and researcher Jo Doezema discusses the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315865768-3/forced-choose-jo-doezema">harms of distinguishing</a> between “forced” sex workers, seen as deserving of public sympathy, and “voluntary” sex workers, depicted as those who ought to be punished for transgressions. A “whore/madonna” binary serves to provide new justifications for denying certain sex workers their human rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman seen with hands folded and smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484391/original/file-20220913-4826-8crrgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gangu is celebrated as a leader for her activism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pen Movies/YouTube)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Portrayals of sex work</h2>
<p>Sex worker characters, in Bollywood films, are often portrayed as victims who are shown entering the profession either through force or due to a lack of a better choice. Invariably these characters are rescued by heterosexual marriage or decide to quit working in the sex industry altogether.</p>
<p>In many ways, <em>Gangubai Kathiawadi</em> steers away from such patterns of representation. While associating the brothel with a sense of gloom (depicted through the film’s extensive use of the colour grey) it simultaneously presents it as a space which fosters caregiving relationships among sex workers who <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/gangubai-kathiawadi-alia-bhatt-sanjay-leela-bhansali-spectacle-is-real-7790301/">foster sisterhood and camaraderie.</a> While the film distinguishes older money-hungry brothel madams from younger sex workers, it highlights how women strive to be allies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman is seen seated with a group of girls." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484390/original/file-20220913-4044-4m6y8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The latter half of the film focuses on how sex work ought to be recognized by law and how the children born to sex workers are often denied their right to education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pen Movies/YouTube)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the film repeats the overarching trope of sex workers in need of rescue or through interventions to “save” their children. For instance, Gangu fights for the rights to educate the children of sex workers in a bid to change their lives for the better. </p>
<h2>Viewing sex work from an abolitionist framework</h2>
<p>Months after the release of <em>Gangubai Kathiawadi</em>, the Indian Supreme Court passed a ruling that recognized sex work <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/indias-supreme-court-recognizes-sex-work-as-a-profession/#:%7E:text=India%27s%20Supreme%20Court%20recently%20observed,%27age%27%20and%20%27consent.">as a profession</a>. Prostitution is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/world/asia/india-prostitution-rights.html">legal in India, but sex workers are marginalized and face violence</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484411/original/file-20220913-5073-h3t5hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers and their children, along with activists, shout as they walk in a rally on the eve of May Day on April 30, 2022, marked as International Labour Day, in Kolkata, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bikas Das)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ruling states a concern for <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/explained-the-supreme-court-order-on-sex-workers-laws-on-prostitution-how-sc-order-changes-things-news-198865">sex workers’ basic civil rights</a>, but brothels continue to be subjected to <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/sc-ruling-is-to-protect-sex-workers-not-sex-trade-activist/articleshow/91996649.cms">police raids</a>. </p>
<p>On one hand the ruling prohibits police from forcibly arresting sex workers who have consented to participating in the profession. But it says little on how police will distinguish between “consensual” and “nonconsensual” sex work. </p>
<p>Some sex workers and NGO activists fear <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/30/indias-sex-workers-win-new-rights-still-fear-police-violence/">backlash</a> from police who are looking for reasons to reprimand sex workers.</p>
<p>The inconclusive nature of the law when it comes to sex work echoes the sentiments of the larger global <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/anti-trafficking-inside-job/">anti-trafficking rhetoric</a> drafted by organizations that strive to save women and children (particularly those belonging to immigrant communities) from harm. It echoes abolitionist sentiments that tend to view sex work as a bane to modern society. </p>
<p>Sex workers deserve stories that represent their lives and their profession with more care and authenticity. For this, we need more sex workers included in storytelling processes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rajeshwari Nandkumar receives funding from McMaster University's Graduate Student Scholarship. She was also a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) from 2020-2021.</span></em></p>Despite portraying sex workers as agents of social change, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ presents sex workers as worthy victims because they didn’t choose their disreputable fates.Rajeshwari Nandkumar, PhD Candidate, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892082022-09-14T16:54:05Z2022-09-14T16:54:05ZAn Ontario crackdown on massage parlours continues Canada’s legacy of anti-Asian racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481612/original/file-20220829-24-bwzlnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1024%2C738&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asian migrant massage workers and allies rally against Newmarket's discriminatory licensing crackdown on their workplaces in front of Newmarket Municipal Offices.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/chinatownFOCT/status/1564111055781068800?s=20&t=tzwVpNyuq3s4bDZQ53LMZA">(Friends of Chinatown Toronto)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/an-ontario-crackdown-on-massage-parlours-continues-canada-s-legacy-of-anti-asian-racism" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In April 2022, the town of Newmarket in southern Ontario began a bylaw enforcement crackdown campaign to, in the words of Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh, <a href="https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/local-news/sex-work-debate-continues-as-newmarket-starts-licensing-alternative-massage-businesses-5248547">“drive [sex work] out of town.”</a></p>
<p>The crackdown has resulted in disproportionate illegalization, surveillance, harassment, ticketing and displacement of many of Newmarket’s Asian-owned massage businesses and their workers. </p>
<p>What many people may not know, however, is how Newmarket’s crackdown is representative of a long history of racist bylaws and licensing regimes targeting Asian businesses that hearken back to an era of unapologetic Canadian white nationalism. </p>
<h2>Contentious bylaw</h2>
<p>The Newmarket crackdown relies on a contentious new <a href="https://www.newmarket.ca/LivingHere/Documents/2020-31%20-%20Business%20Bylaw%20-%20Consolidation.pdf">licensing bylaw</a> that requires all massage businesses without Registered Massage Therapist (RMT) designation to obtain a Personal Wellness Establishment (PWE) licence. </p>
<p>The majority of Asian migrant massage workers practise as <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/op-ed-newmarkets-massage-parlour-bylaw-rescue-or-racism">foreign-trained or informally trained holistic health providers</a>. As a result of the new regime, all existing non-RMT massage businesses were rendered illegal by the new bylaw and forced to go to the town to apply for a PWE licence or risk being shut down. </p>
<p>However, the new PWE licensing regime is unabashedly discriminatory. According to the grassroots community group Butterfly, <a href="https://newcanadianmedia.ca/newmarkets-asian-massage-workers-say-licensing-bylaw-discriminates-stereotypes-them/">all of the Asian massage businesses have been rejected or otherwise not approved for a licence</a>. </p>
<p>The new bylaw sets out a vague requirement that applicants must successfully complete “training” from an “accredited educational institution” to the satisfaction of the licensing manager. </p>
<p>But despite repeated requests, the town has refused to define what training and which institutions would be accepted, insisting that determinations will be made on a “case-by-case” basis. That raises serious questions about the arbitrary nature of licence refusal.</p>
<p>Once criminalized, police posted yellow notices on the doors of Asian massage businesses demanding they shut down, <a href="https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/local-news/they-just-want-to-survive-newmarket-sparks-outcry-after-instructing-some-massage-parlours-to-halt-operations-5353229">issued harsh fines of $4,000 a day</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@butterflycsw/open-letter-on-the-newmarket-crisis-32e159d5a52b">subjected workers to undercover police solicitation</a> while denying interpretation and translation services.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1565352165522100224"}"></div></p>
<h2>Warnings of repercussions</h2>
<p>These racially discriminatory impacts are exactly as predicted. </p>
<p>During formal consultations for the PWE licensing regime in spring 2021, numerous directly affected Asian massage workers, community, racial justice and women’s rights organizations repeatedly raised concerns.</p>
<p>They flagged the regressive licensing exclusion, the impact of punitive bylaw enforcement on the safety and livelihoods of Asian massage workers in other municipalities and the racialized violence that could be inflicted on these workers due to stigma. They also point out the harmful conflation of massage work and sex work with human trafficking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A spa is illuminated at night behind yellow police tape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484141/original/file-20220912-18-ohauyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An American massage parlour is seen after a mass shooting in March 2021. The shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlours left several people dead, many of them women of Asian descent. The killer pleaded guilty, said he was motivated by sex addiction and was sentenced to life in prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nevertheless, Newmarket City Council dismissed these concerns entirely, often relying on racialized caricatures of Chinese massage workers as either corrupt villains or helpless victims. </p>
<p>One consultation witness even described Asian women in the massage industry as people <a href="https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/anatomy-of-an-anti-trafficking-policy-campaign">“who [don’t] even speak enough English to consent to sex.”</a> No one from the Newmarket City Council intervened or pushed back against this characterization.</p>
<p>Why do these racist tropes continue to carry so much weight, even in the face of direct political opposition from Asian migrant women themselves? </p>
<p>Part of the reason is that racism against Asian migrant women dates back to the very founding of exclusionary laws in Canada. The first immigration prohibition on the basis of race and/or gender was passed in 1885 and refused landing to <a href="https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/the-chinese-immigration-act-1885">“any Chinese woman who is known to be a prostitute.”</a> </p>
<p>Chinese sex workers were seen as legitimate objects of policing and exclusion due to their supposedly corrupting and immoral influence, proclivity to disease and illness, and passivity and helplessness to subjugation — all narratives evident in Newmarket’s view of Asian massage workers today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Shameful history of Asian business harassment</h2>
<p>Newmarket’s abuse of bylaws and licensing repeats much of what municipalities did to Asian people in this country a century ago during the era of white nationalist exclusion. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.roadtojustice.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Road-To-Justice-Legal-Reference.pdf">Racist bylaws and licensing regimes</a> were deployed from Vancouver to Lethbridge, Toronto, Ottawa and Québec City to control, harass and push out Asian businesses like Chinese laundries and restaurants. </p>
<p>It was common in that era for governments to introduce licensing regimes in sectors where large numbers of Asians worked to immediately render all businesses illegal and use permit issuance to racially filter legal and illegal establishments.</p>
<p>British Columbia implemented such <a href="https://bcredress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/discriminatory_legislation_in_bc_1872_1948-reformatted.pdf">discriminatory licensing regimes</a> between 1881 up until the Second World War for laundries, logging businesses, pool halls, liquor stores and restaurants. </p>
<p>Bylaws were also mobilized to displace the presence of Asian businesses through zoning and location restrictions.</p>
<p>For instance, in 1911, in response to complaints by some white laundry proprietors that Chinese laundries were operating too close to the town centre, <a href="https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4664-0322#:%7E:text=On%201%20January%201911%20Lethbridge,the%20community%2C%20soon%20was%20achieved.">Lethbridge City Council</a> enacted a bylaw restricting Chinese laundries to less commercially attractive areas that were out-of-sight for most residents.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-from-130-years-ago-shows-were-still-dealing-with-the-same-anti-asian-racism-158281">Writing from 130 years ago shows we're still dealing with the same anti-Asian racism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Guard against repeating history</h2>
<p>We must recall this history so as to not repeat it. </p>
<p>The town of Newmarket’s draconian and heavy-handed use of bylaws and licensing to target, intimidate and displace Asian massage workers risks taking us back to a racist past in Canadian history to a time when Asians were seen as moral threats to be run out of “reputable” society. </p>
<p>Now, as then, Asian migrant workers continue to resist and demand equal respect and dignity. <a href="https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-bylaw-taking-unbearable-toll-on-asian-massage-workers-5692790">In the words of the Newmarket massage workers</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We are not dishonourable trash to be cleansed from the city. We are not expendable labourers who can be coerced into the back-breaking, low-paying jobs they think we deserve. We are not helpless trafficking victims in need of rescue. We are human beings who can choose our own path, make our own decisions, and support ourselves with dignity if they’ll only let us.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189208/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Wong previously served as Secretary of the Chinese Canadian National Council - Toronto Chapter and Staff Lawyer at the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic.</span></em></p>Newmarket’s draconian use of bylaws and licensing to target and displace Asian massage workers risks taking us back to a racist past in Canadian history, where Asians were seen as moral threats.Vincent Wong, Assistant Professor of Law, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837732022-08-08T18:48:42Z2022-08-08T18:48:42ZSex work is real work: Global COVID-19 recovery needs to include sex workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474679/original/file-20220718-72671-6vg9qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C0%2C7223%2C4811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Globally, sex workers have been left to fend for themselves during the pandemic with little to no support from the government.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Bikas Das)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/sex-work-is-real-work--global-covid-19-recovery-needs-to-include-sex-workers" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>During the pandemic, business shifted from in person to work-from-home, which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/timbajarin/2021/04/29/work-from-home-is-the-new-normal-for-workers-around-the-world/">quickly became the new normal</a>. However, it left many workers high and dry, especially those with less “socially acceptable” occupations. </p>
<p>The pandemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02124-3">has adversely impacted sex workers</a> globally and substantially increased the precariousness of their profession. And public health measures put in place made it almost impossible for <a href="https://items.ssrc.org/covid-19-and-the-social-sciences/covid-19-fieldnotes/the-covid-19-pandemic-endangers-sex-worker-health-and-safety-underscoring-need-for-structural-reforms/">sex workers to provide any in-person service</a>. </p>
<p>Although many people depend on sex work for survival, <a href="https://www.socialconnectedness.org/the-stigmatization-behind-sex-work/">its criminalization and policing</a> stigmatizes sex workers.</p>
<p>Research shows that globally, sex workers have been left behind and in most cases excluded <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F21501327211031760">from government economic support initiatives and social policies</a>. There needs to be an intersectional approach to global COVID-19 recovery that considers <em>everyone’s</em> lived realities. We propose policy recommendations that treat sex work as decent work and that centre around the lived experiences and rights of those in the profession. </p>
<h2>Sex work and the pandemic</h2>
<p>The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently reported that apart from income-loss, the pandemic has increased pre-existing inequalities for sex workers. </p>
<p><a href="https://esaro.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/condom_programme_strategy_summary-ia.pdf">In a survey conducted in Eastern and Southern Africa</a>, the UNFPA found that during the pandemic, 49 per cent of sex workers experienced police violence (including sexual violence) while 36 per cent reported arbitrary arrests. The same survey reported that more than 50 per cent of respondents experienced food and housing crises. </p>
<p>Lockdowns and border closures adversely impacted <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/03/960848011/how-the-pandemic-has-upended-the-lives-of-thailands-sex-workers">Thailand’s tourism industry which relies partially on the labour of sex workers</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-workers-are-criminalized-and-left-without-government-support-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-141746">Sex workers are criminalized and left without government support during the coronavirus pandemic</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.nswp.org/news/impact-covid-19-sex-workers-asia-and-the-pacific">Asia Pacific</a>, sex workers reported having limited access to contraceptives and lubricants along with reduced access to harm reduction resources. Lockdowns also disrupted <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/334191/seajph2020v9n2p100-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">STI or HIV testing services</a>, limiting sex workers’ access to necessary healthcare. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.nswp.org/es/node/8830">North America</a>, sex workers have been excluded from the government’s recovery response. And many began offering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0020872820962202">online services to sustain themselves</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman stands backlit next to a dimly lit bus that reads 'Thailand' with green lighting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474670/original/file-20220718-72671-s61tih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers stand in a largely shut-down red light area in Bangkok, Thailand on March 26, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Government vs. community response</h2>
<p>Globally, sex workers have been left to fend for themselves during the pandemic with little to no support from the government. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7385-6_15">communities themselves have been rallying</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/together/people/2021/06/13/why-elene-lam-founded-butterfly-a-grassroots-group-that-speaks-up-for-torontos-asian-and-migrant-sex-workers.html">Elene Lam</a>, founder of Butterfly, an Asian migrant sex organization in Canada, talks about the resilience of sex wokers during the pandemic. </p>
<p>She says organizations like the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform are working in collaboration with Amnesty International to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820962202">mobilize income support and resources to help sex workers</a> in Canada. </p>
<p>Organizations in the United Kingdom, Germany, India and Spain have also set up emergency support funds. And some <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sites/default/files/covid-19_sw_cg_prf01.pdf">sex worker organizations</a> have developed community-specific resources for providing services both in person and online during the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Global recovery needs to include sex workers</h2>
<p>The International Labour Organization’s “<a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm">Decent Work Agenda</a>” emphasizes productive employment and decent working conditions as being the driving force behind poverty reduction. </p>
<p>Sociologist Cecilia Benoit <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0950017020936872">explains that sex work</a> often becomes a “livelihood strategy” in the face of income and employment instability. She says that like other personal service workers, sex workers also should be able to practice without any interference or violence.</p>
<p>In order to have an inclusive COVID-19 recovery for all, governments need to work to <a href="https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/ShowWiki.action?id=594">extend social guarantees to sex workers</a> — so far they haven’t. </p>
<p>As pandemic restrictions disappear, it is crucial to ensure that everyone involved in sex work is protected under the law and has access to accountability measures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman stands wearing a mask with a safety vest on in front of a collage of scantily clad women and a sign that reads 'nude women non stop'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474673/original/file-20220718-68563-a8ro42.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer helps out at Zanzibar strip club during a low-barrier vaccination clinic for sex workers in Toronto in June 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>As feminist researchers, we propose that sex work be brought under the broader agenda of decent work so that the people offering services are protected.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Governments need to have a legal mandate for preventing sexual exploitation. </p></li>
<li><p>Law enforcement staff need to be trained in better responding to the needs of sex workers. To intervene in and address situations of abuse or violence is critical to ensure workplace safety and harm reduction. </p></li>
<li><p>Awareness and educational campaigns need to focus on destigmatizing sex work.</p></li>
<li><p>Policy-makers need to incorporate intersectionality as a working principle in identifying and responding to the different axes of oppression and marginalization impacting LGBTQ+ and racialized sex workers. </p></li>
<li><p>Engagement with sex workers and human rights organizations need to happen when designing aid support to ensure that an inclusive pathway for recovery is created.</p></li>
<li><p>Globally, there needs to be a steady commitment towards destigmatizing sex workers and their services.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Despite the gradual waning of pandemic restrictions, sex workers continue to face the dual insecurity of social discrimination and loss of income support. Many are still finding it difficult to stay afloat and sustain themselves. </p>
<p>Societally, we need to recognize that sex workers have agency and deserve the same respect, dignity and aid as any other person selling their labour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Societally, we need to recognize that sex workers have agency and deserve the same respect, dignity and aid as any other person selling their labour.Deeplina Banerjee, PhD Candidate, Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies, Western UniversityAndrea Burke, PhD Candidate, Gender Sexuality and Women's Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839842022-06-20T14:28:23Z2022-06-20T14:28:23ZSex workers in Nigeria deserve fair treatment from the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468191/original/file-20220610-17-xhpq8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Nigerian women's group demands sex workers' rights at a protest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In most African societies today, social, cultural, economic and political forces continually place women in the back seat. While there is much focus on the physical abuse of women, there are other ways through which abuses are sustained. One is how the media represent the realities of sex work and sex workers.</p>
<p>The term ‘sex work’ (derogatorily known as prostitution) was <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203700655-37/inventing-sex-work-jill-nagle">coined</a> by Carol Leigh as a means of creating “an atmosphere of tolerance within and outside the women’s movement for women working in the sex industry”. The growing popularity of the term is a result of the rise of activism among sex workers and advocacy for their rights.</p>
<p>Sex work is abhorred in many African societies. But, “Why is it that a practice so thoroughly disapproved, so widely outlawed … can yet flourish so universally?” <a href="https://www.romolocapuano.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/davis_prostitution.pdf">asks</a> American sociologist Kingley Davis. The sex business has remained with man because it performs a role in society.</p>
<p>There are inconsistent and unreliable statistics about sex work and sex workers worldwide. But by way of comparison, in Germany it has been <a href="https://www.stearsng.com/article/commercial-sex-in-nigeria-is-regulation-an-option">reported</a> that the sex industry is worth roughly €14.5 billion, the equivalent of a third of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. However, while sex work is recognised as work in Germany, in Nigeria, the business is considered abhorrent even though it is thriving, with an estimated population of <a href="http://www.healthnews.ng/nearly-all-sex-workers-and-drug-users-in-nigeria-use-condoms/">103,506</a> sex workers in 2017. </p>
<p>It has been <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/criminology-the-core/oclc/85507836">estimated</a> that women involved in sex work are 60 to 100 times more likely to be killed than the average woman. They suffer crass human rights and sexual abuses. Like most minority groups, they suffer marginalisation and social exclusion.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.arcjournals.org/international-journal-of-media-journalism-and-mass-communications/volume-3-issue-1/3">While</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315672633_Gendered_Portrayal_of_Political_Actors_in_Nigerian_Print_Media_What_Impact_on_Women's_Political_Participation">studies</a> in Nigeria emphasise the general representation of women in a multi-cultural society, there are sparse studies that problematise and address the voice of sex workers within a media context. </p>
<p>It is in view of such gaps that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2022.2065336">our recent study</a> seeks to examine how sex work and sex workers in Nigeria are represented by the news media. </p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>The study sought to identify the different ways in which sex work, sex workers and their clients are constructed and represented. We further wanted to know how the news media orchestrate, coordinate and perpetuate male dominance through the portrayal of the sexuality of men and women. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-19-restrictions-prevent-nairobis-sex-workers-from-accessing-vital-healthcare-153108">How COVID-19 restrictions prevent Nairobi's sex workers from accessing vital healthcare</a>
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</p>
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<p>We sampled 30 news stories that were published between 2017 and 2020, collected from the websites of three newspapers: <a href="https://www.sunnewsonline.com">Daily Sun</a>, <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com">Vanguard</a> and <a href="https://dailytrust.com">Daily Trust</a>. These were selected based on their market segmentation, continuous publication over time and regional pre-eminence of coverage. We also interviewed two male and two female journalists who authored some of the stories we analysed.</p>
<h2>Findings</h2>
<p>The study found that newspapers are used as channels where issues about sex workers and their lived experiences were framed and reframed, their identities negotiated and renegotiated. The Nigerian news media we studied tend to be obsessed with framing female sex workers in negative ways. They were mainly constructed as dangerous to society.</p>
<p>Even though <a href="https://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.de/88402/">studies</a> in Nigeria reveal that there are male sex workers, the news media all framed sex work as a business only of and by women. </p>
<p>The media in our study tended to be vocal about the suppliers of sex while downplaying those who patronise their services. Sex providers, for instance, were described as “women of low virtues” or “ladies of the night” who ply an “unholy trade”. Their male patrons were simply described without pejorative words; as “men”, “politicians”, “clients” and “patrons”. </p>
<p>This suggests problematic journalistic biases that entrench the culture of male-privileging. This is an ideology of double standards that make men feel morally and physically edified, while women are tarnished for violating the same social norms.</p>
<p>Many of the news stories we analysed were illustrated with cropped pictures emphasising female breasts, thighs, legs, lips and buttocks. Seven of 10 stories by Daily Sun used photos in this way to provoke reader attention and stir controversy. A <a href="https://asijiki.org.za/wp-content/uploads/Final-Journalist-Guide_15-Jan-2015.pdf">study</a> by Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa reveals that such use of images undermines “the multiplicity and complexity of sex worker lives and reinforce negative stereotypes”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africas-hiv-prevention-programmes-should-include-sex-worker-clients-157264">Why South Africa's HIV prevention programmes should include sex worker clients</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sex workers face dangers that include physical attack, rape, ritual killing and murder. Their many challenges were sparingly mentioned by the news media. When they were, sex workers were still mainly cast in a poor light. Daily Trust <a href="https://dailytrust.com/abakaliki-market-where-prostitutes-outnumber-traders">reported</a> that in Ebonyi State “prostitutes” and “harlots” were threatened with eviction. The report quotes a government representative:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we don’t (evict them), it means that the whole place … would be threatened by these hoodlums hiding behind the prostitutes in the market.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even though the sex workers were not “hoodlums”, they were treated like they were. The content analysis determined that of the articles sampled, 73.3% were constructed as “bad” (the language used to portray and construct sex work was used in a negative, derogatory way), 23.3% were “neutral” and 3.3% “good”.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Other studies reveal that most government policies have neglected the multifarious needs of sex workers. This makes sex workers vulnerable to violence, poor health and numerous other factors, making it more challenging to move out of their circumstances. </p>
<p>This study reveals a systematic delegitimisation of sex workers through biased and negative representation by news media in Nigeria, entrenching a culture of privileging that pushes these women into deeper marginalisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183984/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Gever Verlumun Celestine works with University of Nigeria, Nsukka</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hashim Muhammad Suleiman and Nathan Oguche Emmanuel do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The study reveals a consistently biased and negative depiction of sex workers by news media in Nigeria.Nathan Oguche Emmanuel, Lecturer/Researcher, Department of Mass Communication,, National Open University of NigeriaGever Verlumun Celestine, Lecturer in Mass Communications, University of NigeriaHashim Muhammad Suleiman, Lecturer in Mass Communication, Ahmadu Bello UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1770732022-04-11T19:56:43Z2022-04-11T19:56:43ZHidden women of history: ‘the Buzzwinker’ Ellen Miles, child convict, goldfields pickpocket and vagrant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447995/original/file-20220223-17-fulyb6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>—Me name’s Miles; Ellen Miles, remarked an old woman at the City Court yesterday.<br></p>
<p>—And you are charged with vagrancy, stated Sergeant Eason. Can you show the Bench that you have means of support?<br></p>
<p>—'How can I support myself when I’m continually in gaol and not a shilling coming into the house? What is it at all? What are us old people to do? There is no institution in the country,’ replied Mrs Miles.<br></p>
<p>—Sergeant Eason: But the country has been keeping you for years.<br></p>
<p>—Mrs Miles: ‘What! the country supporting me. Why, I’m supporting the country. I’ve scattered my money over the colony for the last 50 years. To tell the truth, I’ve spent thousands and thousands of pounds.<br></p>
<p>Accused, who was found sitting on the hospital steps in Little Lonsdale street, late at night, with a bandage over her eye nearly as large as a pillow, was sentenced to three months, as was also a companion named Bridget Jones.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was October 1896 and the accused, Ellen Miles, was almost 70 years old. She had indeed been scattering her money across the colony for 50 years. She would live for another 20, still in and out of gaol and benevolent asylums, until she was too frail to escape the Ballarat institution where she died in 1916.</p>
<p>This was fitting, as it was the Ballarat diggers who years before had dubbed her the “Buzzwinker”, an elaboration of the cant for pickpocket. Later, a locomotive from the Phoenix foundry that moved with a “pronounced waddle” was <a href="https://railstory.org/">named Buzzwinker after her</a>. She matters to us today because hers is a rare and unmediated voice from the criminal underclass of Vandemonian women.</p>
<p>She was a child of the 1830s and lived until 1916. How aware she ever was of the Great World outside her tiny one of back lanes, brothels and bars, we have no idea, but her life spanned the history of Victoria from the discovery of gold to Gallipoli.</p>
<p>She did register to vote in 1903, but hers was an underlife as she waddled around Canvas Town, Romeo Lane, the gold fields, Collingwood – and for one mad adventure, to Adelaide, her copious skirts concealing her latest stolen goods. Wherever there was a lurk to exploit and a lark to celebrate, Ellen was there.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A town of tents against a backdrop of hills in the far distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447999/original/file-20220223-19-1lz7kpf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canvas Town, a coloured lithograph by Samuel Thomas Gill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Copyright Samuel Thomas / Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>'Notorious utterers’</h2>
<p>Her first appearance in the press had been in 1839: Ellen Miles, aged 11, was charged at the Guildhall with passing a counterfeit half-crown to a shopkeeper in Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London. Mr Field, an inspector at the Mint, said that this child was “one of three sisters, all notorious utterers”. </p>
<p>Ellen had already been in custody 30 times and sported three aliases. Her mother was dead. Her <a href="https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t18390812-2240">father claimed</a> he could not control her and that it might be an act of mercy to transport her. As predicted, her second appearance at the Old Bailey in October resulted in transportation.</p>
<p>Her sister Ruth, when before the Old Bailey herself a few months later, gave the game away: their father, Moses Miles, a costermonger (street trader), wanted all his girls transported so as to be relieved of their support. It was he who gave them the counterfeit coins to pass. His daughters had been in and out of St Pancras Workhouse since 1833, when Ellen was six. She graduated at the age of ten after 14 months in the Children’s Ward on her own. </p>
<p>It was there that she may have learnt to read and write, and it was there, among the toughest, roughest females in London, that she learned to survive. Both sisters were fierce, voluble and violent. They followed each other to Van Diemen’s Land: Ellen transported on the Gilbert Henderson in 1839, sentenced to seven years, Ruth five months later aboard the Navarino, with a sentence of 15.</p>
<p>Ellen had her first experience of solitary confinement six months after arrival. She continued to be insolent and to disobey orders. In July 1841, aged 13, she was punished for being in the company of a Richard Nichols. In May 1842, six months was added to her sentence for absconding.</p>
<h2>Wild nights behind bars</h2>
<p>Two months later in July 1842, she was convicted of riot and breaking a table in the Launceston Female Factory, together with Mary Sheriff and Catherine Lowry, two notorious members of the <a href="https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/disciplineinquiry/TranscriptofInquirywithtables.pdf">“flash mob</a>, who:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>always had money, wear worked cap, silk handkerchiefs, earrings and other rings they are the greatest blackguards in the building. The other women were afraid of them. They led away the young girls by bad advice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To have a good time was to keep offending and remain under punishment in the Female Factory, where the women, once locked in at night, could sing and be as lewd as they liked. They could <a href="https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/disciplineinquiry/TranscriptofInquirywithtables.pdf">dance naked and have sex</a> with other women — women they loved and women they bullied. </p>
<p>In January 1852, with her only child dead and her husband, a fellow Cockney, in tow, she was off to gold-rush Melbourne, bedecked in ribbons and ready to make her fortune from the befuddled diggers seeking sex and oblivion. Hers was a public life, lived in open sight of the world. Rarely in her long life did she have a home outside gaol.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-how-lady-swindler-alexandrina-askew-triumphed-over-the-convict-stain-169023">Hidden women of history: how 'lady swindler' Alexandrina Askew triumphed over the convict stain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>On the town</h2>
<p>She slept where she found shelter: in corners of cottages, huts, shanties, outhouses, stables, public houses; in gutters and lanes, and on the banks of the Yarra. She ate where she could and drank whenever she could afford it.</p>
<p><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448001/original/file-20220223-15-7dtcly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The King of Terrors and His Satellites, a watercolour depiction of goldfields Victoria from 1851-1852.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">S T Gill, State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
She paid for her food and drink by theft and pilfering and selling her body. Her sex life, both personal and transactional, was rarely private and often conducted in parks and back lanes.</p>
<p>She would rarely have used a privy, instead relieving herself in the street. She bathed mostly in gaol. Her clothes, probably stolen, lasted until they fell off her in rags. When she was arrested in Little Lonsdale Street, she had that bandage "the size of a pillow over one eye” and soon lost the eye completely. She sought invisibility from the law by changing her name, story and religion at whim.</p>
<p>She never admitted she was a transported convict, but claimed she had accompanied her long-deceased mother on the Gilbert Henderson. She generated criminal records under the names Buzzwinker, Ellen Watkins, Ellen Miles, Ann Myles, Ann Watkins, Ellen Burns, Ellen Grimes, Ellen Johnson and Bridget Brady. She did, at one stage, even claim Spanish birth.</p>
<p>She delivered her final words for posterity in December 1902. Charged under the name of Bridget Brady, born in Ireland and of the Catholic faith, she quickly protested her real self and her good character:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>—Bridget Brady at all. My name is Ellen Watkins and I am a decent woman.</p>
<p>Sergeant Eason — Oh we know all about you, Bridget, you’ve been convicted of all sorts of offences—nine times larceny, six times soliciting.</p>
<p>This was too much for Ellen:</p>
<p>—Soliciting is it? And I’m 82 (Laughter) Tis many a year since I was soliciting, I’m thinking. (Laughter).</p>
<p>Sergeant Eason—Yes, the record goes back over thirty years.</p>
<p>Brady (contemptuously)—Thirty grandmothers (Laughter). Why it must be full sixty years ago man. (Laughter)</p>
<p>Accused was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet McCalman AC does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Transported to Van Diemen’s Land aged 11, Ellen Miles went on to riot in Launceston’s Female Factory, seek fortune in gold-rush Victoria and live to nearly 90.Janet McCalman AC, Emeritus Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1737062022-01-20T18:09:08Z2022-01-20T18:09:08ZJair Bolsonaro’s administration is hurting the lives of LGBTQ+ sex workers in Brazil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441806/original/file-20220120-9530-1e4kucc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C5439%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gives a press conference in January 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Marcelo Chello) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Brazil has achieved accomplishments related to the rights and visibility of marginalized communities in the last two decades — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0169796X20963332">from social innovations to educational change</a>. However, LGBTQ+ sex workers of all genders are <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/brazil-sex-work-lgbtq-jair-bolsonaro-857050/">facing stigmatization and discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>A major cause for this is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/21/if-i-dont-have-sex-ill-die-of-hunger-covid-19-crisis-for-rios-trans-sex-workers">Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president</a>. When he was elected in 2018, the violence against LGBTQ+ sex workers began to be state endorsed, making it much harder for sex workers to do their jobs. </p>
<p>This discrimination is furthered because Brazil is a <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/brazils-conservative-revolution/">predominantly conservative society</a> with a fast-growing <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/pentecostalism-brazil">fundamentalist Pentecostal population</a>. </p>
<p>According to Brazilian anthropologist and professor at Universidade Federal da Bahia, Luiz Mott, every 26 minutes an <a href="https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/mortes-violentas-de-lgbt-no-brasil">LGBTQ+ person was murdered or took their own life</a>, in 2020. Brazil is dangerous <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/violencia-anti-lgbtq-brasil-en">for LGBTQ+ people</a>.</p>
<p>Bolsonaro has said some heinous things about LGBTQ+ people and sex workers. He publicly declared (translated from Portuguese) “<a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/cotidian/ff1905200210.htm">I’m not going to fight or discriminate, but if I spot two men kissing in the street, I’ll beat them up</a>,” and that “<a href="https://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/bolsonaro-em-25-frases-polemicas/">90 per cent of adopted boys are going to be gay and will be sex workers for the couple</a>.” He said in a TV interview on <em>Participação Popular</em> “<a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/cotidian/ff2611201025.htm">[If] the kid begins to look gay-ish, you just beat him up really bad and this will fix him. Right?</a>” </p>
<p>Recently my research has led me to look into the shift occurring at venues where male sex workers, specifically men who have sex with men, labour in Rio de Janeiro and Recife. Rio de Janeiro is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/jul/11/rio-de-janeiro-gay-tourism">an international hub for gay tourism</a> and Bolsonaro’s voting home base. While Recife is becoming one of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150541/">major cities in the northeast for domestic gay tourism</a>, it is one of the cities with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/16/setback-for-bolsonaro-after-poor-results-in-brazil-local-elections">the largest number of anti-Bolsonaro votes</a>.</p>
<h2>Sex work in Brazil</h2>
<p>Sex work and soliciting sex are not criminalized in Brazil, but sex work in general is not regulated. The regulation has been sitting in the National Congress, waiting to be voted on since 2012. It comes in the form of <a href="https://journals.tulane.edu/ncs/article/view/1120">Bill 4211/2012, also called “<em>Projeto de lei Gabriela Leite</em>,”</a> and has been facing fierce resistance from conservative lobbyists in the house.</p>
<p>The debate about sex work regulation was sanctioned by the social demand for public policies during the governments of <a href="https://pt.org.br/mulheres-trabalhadoras-no-brasil-da-pandemia/">Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva</a>. Feminist and LGBTQ+ movements pushed this debate but were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/world/americas/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election.html">repressed with the election of Bolsonaro</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="LGBTQ in Brazil under Bolsonaro's administration" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C952%2C957&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437320/original/file-20211213-10093-6vtgga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wallace Louzada Hansen (pictured) is a sex worker and friend of the author, he has been negatively impacted by Bolsonaro’s administration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wallace Louzada Hansen)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reality for sex workers in Brazil is grim. Through my research I’ve interviewed and met many male sex workers. One of the men I interviewed through previous research told me <a href="https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/7930">it was better to be undocumented, face racism and social invisibility in Canada than to be a sex worker in Rio de Janeiro</a>. </p>
<p>He explained that he left Brazil because he was exposed to sexual, physical and psychological violence at work. When I asked if he ever tried going to the police he replied “because the police are also the ones who could rape me at raids. So, I wanted nothing from them.”</p>
<p>Until Bolsonaro’s election win, sex workers had been gaining rights. His ultra-far-right, homophobic, racist and mysogynistic views have made the reality much worse. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/reportage-2/in-bolsonaros-brazil-sex-workers-are-in-serious-danger/">an interview with <em>Huck Magazine</em></a>, anthropologist Thaddeus Blanchette says brothels were on the decline before Bolsonaro came into power, but now they’re opening back up. Blanchette says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What that means is this whole structure of negotiations with the police, with the law and with judges has to be renegotiated. And of course, in this process the workers have no rights whatsoever. Instead, these brothels are a major income generator for Rio’s police and militia gangs.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bolsonaro’s necropolitical agenda targeting LGBTQ+ people, sex workers and other marginalized people together <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12528">with the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A half torso mannequin decorated with an orange veil hangs from a beam backdropped by donated items, a stove and fridge. The room is covered in grafitti." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440319/original/file-20220111-21166-7bkcgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The squat known as Casa Nem is occupied by members of the LGBTQ+ community who are in self-quarantine as a protective measure against COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2022, I will conduct research that I am sure will reveal a country devastated by the pandemic, with LGBTQ+ people facing social persecution. While the results will no doubt be painful, the research will be conducted during a crucial moment for Brazil.</p>
<p>This year, the country completes 200 years of independence and, more importantly, will have a federal election — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-retains-solid-lead-over-bolsonaro-2022-brazil-race-poll-shows-2021-09-17/">former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads all polls</a>. </p>
<p>The conservative reaction to the possible return of a socialist and LGBTQ+ friendly government is unpredictable and since male sex workers are not well organized — <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/power-of-putas-brazilian-prostitutes-movement-in-time/">unlike their female peers</a> — their vulnerability is a major concern. </p>
<p>Bolsonaro’s leadership has had detrimental impact on the LGBTQ+ community. I’m hopeful that a new government will be elected and the country will be able to get back on track when it comes to regulating sex work, implementing protective bills and improving the lives for sex workers across the country. Because sex work is work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alberto C. B. de Souza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until Bolsonaro’s election win, sex workers had been gaining rights. His ultra-far-right, homophobic, racist and mysoginistic views have made the reality much worse.Alberto C. B. de Souza, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723512021-12-13T16:18:40Z2021-12-13T16:18:40ZSex, taxes & COVID-19: How sex workers navigated pandemic relief efforts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435132/original/file-20211201-17-l4sg71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C2586&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some tools of the trade for sex workers during the COVID-19 pandemic</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ryan Conrad)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As COVID-19 forced Canadians to stay home and many stop working, people across numerous sectors were confused as to which income replacement programs they were eligible for. </p>
<p>Sex workers in particular — with their <a href="http://sexworklawreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Executive-Summary.pdf">precarious legal status and de facto criminalization</a> — did not seem to be accounted for in any of the programs. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://nawl.ca/canada-must-protect-the-rights-of-sex-workers-during-covid-19-by-ensuring-access-to-emergency-income-supports/">progressive organizations</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-workers-are-criminalized-and-left-without-government-support-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-141746">scholars</a> pointed out that sex workers would likely be excluded from new programs like the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the revamped Employment Insurance (EI) scheme. </p>
<p>Both required claimants to have filed income tax in 2019 citing at least $5,000 worth of income. Due to the perception that <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/04/19/sex-workers-say-theyre-at-risk-have-been-left-out-of-canadas-covid-19-response/">sex workers don’t file income taxes</a> because of stigma and fear, <a href="https://www.nswp.org/page/sex-worker-community-responses#Canada">sex worker-led emergency mutual aid funds</a> were created across Canada. </p>
<p>As members of organizations implementing these kinds of emergency economic supports for sex workers ourselves, we saw firsthand the impact COVID-19 had on their economic security. However, as time passed and income replacement programs continued to evolve, we began to question the presumption that sex workers were not accessing these programs. </p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>In collaboration with <a href="https://www.powerottawa.ca/">Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work, Educate, Resist (POWER)</a> we secured a small grant to survey sex workers in the national capital region. We created a short bilingual survey asking sex workers about their working conditions during COVID-19, their ability to access social safety net programs (new and old) and their tax filing habits. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.powerottawa.ca/announcements/announcing-covid-19-research-partnership-with-university-of-ottawa/">launched the survey in June 2021</a> and received 304 completed surveys over six weeks.</p>
<p>A full detailed report on our findings is forthcoming, but we wanted to share some of our preliminary results as they are timely and should inform future policy. As <a href="https://sexworklawreform.com/sex-worker-human-rights-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge/">sex workers fighting to decriminalize the industry</a> are due back before the Supreme Court at any moment and social safety net programs continue to evolve, this information needs to be shared.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mask covers a 5, 20 and 50 dollar bill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436226/original/file-20211207-138695-1citio8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pandemic brought new income assistance programs to Canada, like the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit and the revamped Employment Insurance scheme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sex workers & taxes</h2>
<p>There is a lot of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cerb-sex-worker-access-1.5769650">speculation about whether or not sex workers file income taxes</a> — reasons cited are often fear of criminalization or stigma associated with working in the industry. And unfortunately, data on sex workers’ tax filing habits is difficult to find. </p>
<p>Many researchers focus on sex workers’ sexual health and physical safety, while others conflate sex work with trafficking. A quick look at POWER’s own <a href="https://www.powerottawa.ca/research-repository/">research repository</a> illustrates this. Thankfully, there is a <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">growing body of research</a> on the working conditions of sex workers in Canada to which our study contributes. </p>
<p>Like workers in other sectors, sex workers are a heterogeneous group. Some work full-time, others part-time, or casually as gig workers. Some even operate as small business owners while others work for <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487522490/getting-past-the-pimp/">third parties</a>. </p>
<p>Sex work was the primary source of income for 76.6 per cent of our survey respondents, with 16.3 per cent noting that sex work was supplementary income and seven per cent reporting sex work as an occasional form of gig work. </p>
<p>Our data shows that of these workers, nearly 75 per cent reported filing their income taxes in 2019. While not all sex workers claimed all their income from sex work, the majority of them said they did. These findings are a direct rejection of the anecdotal claims that sex workers don’t file taxes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graph showing who filed income tax in 2019." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435162/original/file-20211201-17-1rc1dnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Percentage of participants who filed income tax in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ryan Conrad and Emma McKenna)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The majority of sex workers in our study said they file their income tax regularly and it is a routine part of their business practices. Some workers note that claiming income has enabled them to access other income-related resources, including social safety net programs like social assistance and mortgage agreements. </p>
<p>For less than 25 per cent of sex workers in this study, claiming income from sex work remains challenging. They said taxes invoke worry, fear and anxiety as many are concerned about the repercussions of filing income associated with legal and illegal activities.</p>
<h2>Sex workers & CERB</h2>
<p>Prior to the pandemic, 41 per cent of survey respondents reported accessing social safety net programs (like EI or disability) at some point in the past. This indicates that a significant number of sex workers have successfully navigated social safety net programs at the federal and provincial levels.</p>
<p>Of those that did access social safety nets or new emergency relief programs between the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 and the close of our survey in July 2021, respondents reported receiving one or more financial supports.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a graph showing who accessed social safety nets between 2020 and 2021" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435138/original/file-20211201-25-16ofrkp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Percentage of participants who accessed social safety nets during 2020-21.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ryan Conrad and Emma McKenna)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While almost half of our respondents (48.5 per cent) accessed CERB at some point in the first year of the pandemic, an additional 54.5 per cent experienced a period of not having any financial support. Overall, just under a quarter of respondents (23 per cent) indicated they never stopped working despite the risk. </p>
<h2>What happens next</h2>
<p>This research shows how diverse sex workers are and how we cannot talk about them as a monolithic group. Working within a sector of the economy that is stigmatized and criminalized takes skills, savvy and nerve. How sex workers have navigated both the pandemic and relief efforts in the Ottawa-Gatineau region shows this.</p>
<p>As the pandemic wears on, many more sex workers will continue to access social safety nets. These workers know their rights, and they demand inclusion in future policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Conrad received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council's Partnership Engage Grant COVID-19 Special Initiative to conduct this research in collaboration with Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work, Educate, Resist (POWER).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma McKenna received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council's Partnership Engage Grant COVID-19 Special Initiative to conduct this research in collaboration with Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work, Educate, Resist (POWER).</span></em></p>Government support programs like CERB and EI provide a safety net. During COVID-19, sex workers accessed various financial support — future policy needs to address the rights and security of sex workers.Ryan Conrad, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Cinema & Media Studies, York University, CanadaEmma McKenna, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Criminology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689402021-11-02T19:06:04Z2021-11-02T19:06:04ZPhilosophy and sex work: how courtesans in Ancient Greece crossed the mind/body divide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426858/original/file-20211018-21-o7bnis.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4234%2C3301&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Attributed to Onesimos (Greek (Attic), active 500 - 480 B.C.) Attic Red-Figure Kylix, about 490 B.C.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the philosopher and historian Xenophon <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0208%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D1">tells the story</a>, Socrates and his friends gathered around a classy sex worker, watching her as if she were a tableau, using her beautiful body to talk about other things that they care more about: desire, love, philosophy.</p>
<p>Then suddenly, the woman they are analysing joins the conversation. Theodote, a rich and beautiful courtesan, asks Socrates a question. Socrates gamely engages her in a witty conversation about the best way to increase desire. Socrates claims he wants to learn the skills of a courtesan in order to attract young men to join his life of philosophy. </p>
<p>While exchanging sexy philosophical chat with Theodote, Socrates had at least one wife of his own at home (possibly <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5">two at once</a>). But his biographers never show him engaging his wives Xanthippe or Myrto in conversation. Instead, we see Xanthippe encumbered by a baby boy on her knee, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170%3Atext%3DPhaedo%3Asection%3D60a">sent away</a> from Socrates’ deathbed in order for the philosophising to begin in earnest among the men.</p>
<p>Socrates can talk philosophically to Theodote and not to Xanthippe because the two women filled very different cultural roles in ancient Greece. Xanthippe’s respectable marriage – even to the controversial vagabond Socrates – placed her in a web of social obligations that prioritised her public silence and her physical obligations of caring for the family’s children and material wealth. </p>
<p>Theodote, on the other hand, made a living by being seductive, through her persuasive rhetoric and her adroitness at caring for her clients. </p>
<p>Her life, and those of women like her, depended on persuasion.</p>
<h2>Participants in the world of thought</h2>
<p>Sex workers in Ancient Greece divided into two somewhat overlapping types. The most common were those who lived in brothels, often enslaved sex workers providing a sanctioned service to the men of the ancient Greek city. The word for this role was <em>porne</em>, from where we get the English word pornography. </p>
<p>Not only did these women lack freedom, but their profession could also be dangerous. Women consigned to this life had no leisure and no expectation of education. </p>
<p>But there was another kind of sex worker who gripped the imagination of writers in the ancient world. These women did not live in brothels, but in their own homes. They granted favours, rather than being bought for a fee, and participated in the language of aristocratic exchange of goods. </p>
<p>They were called “friends”, <em>hetairai</em> in Greek, or, as they came to be known in English, courtesans. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-neaera-the-athenian-child-slave-raised-to-be-a-courtesan-126840">Hidden women of history: Neaera, the Athenian child slave raised to be a courtesan</a>
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<p>These women were seen as having captivating minds, not just captivating bodies. They could be conversation partners and were allowed unprecedented freedom in the ancient world. </p>
<p>Theodote was one of these women. When Socrates sees her, she is sitting next to her “mother”: it was common for courtesans to form female social clusters using the language of family even when the relationship was not biological.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426860/original/file-20211018-15-1wnjwjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These women were seen as having captivating minds, not just captivating bodies, as in this painting of a gathering of Agathon’s friends.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Symposium (Second Version) by Anselm Feuerbach. Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their public status made many of these women notorious. We know a disproportionate amount about women like <a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-neaera-the-athenian-child-slave-raised-to-be-a-courtesan-126840">Neaera</a>, one of several young girls raised to be sex workers by a madam named Nicarete, who called them all her “daughters”; <a href="https://theconversation.com/wise-women-6-ancient-female-philosophers-you-should-know-about-156033">Aspasia</a>, the most famous and controversial courtesan of Classical Greece, whom Aristophanes claims <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0240%3Acard%3D496">ran a brothel</a>; and the plethora of named (albeit fictional) courtesans in <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/motc/motc03.htm">Lucian’s Dialogues of the Prostitutes</a>, including the widow Crobyle who persuades her young daughter Corinna to begin a life of high-class sex work in order to support the family.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wise-women-6-ancient-female-philosophers-you-should-know-about-156033">Wise women: 6 ancient female philosophers you should know about</a>
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<h2>A story told by men</h2>
<p>Stories about philosophical courtesans formed part of elite male fantasy. Athenaeus of Naucratis, in the thirteenth book of his <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0008,001:13">Deipnosophistae</a>, preserves a long speech in praise of such high-class sex workers, put in the mouth of the character Myrtilus. </p>
<p>Myrtilus is in turn relying on an ancient book of witticisms, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41809504">Chreiae of Machon</a> written around 250 BCE, which gathered together the clever sayings of many different courtesans. Educated men thought it worthwhile to record and recollect the witty sayings of such women, who (unlike their wives) led a very public life, often as companions of politicians and philosophers.</p>
<p>Of course, in the ancient world, those who preserved and consumed such tales of witty courtesans were men. Women were excluded from the production of their own portrayal.</p>
<p>The connection between sex work and philosophy had a long life in the western tradition. In the 16th century, Tullia d'Aragona <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3251075">featured as a character</a> in Sperone Speroni’s On Love, is given the role of mouthpiece for the carnal, physical side of love. Like Theodote, the male author of the dialogue used the voice of a female sex worker as an expert on the body and its desire. </p>
<p>However, for the first time in the history of the genre of the philosophical dialogue, the woman who was written into a dialogue replied with her own literary work. Tullia soon wrote her own dialogue, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo3636437.html">On the Infinity of Love</a>, in which she critiques Speroni’s stereotypical portrayal of her. </p>
<p>Renaissance women had means of responding to their portrayal in literature in a way unimaginable to their ancient Grecian sisters.</p>
<p>Ancient male writers fantasised alternatives to their wives: sexy philosophers with sharp tongues. But in the ancient world, such women were just as restricted by their stereotypes as the wives with whom they were contrasted.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-and-the-sisterhood-how-prostitution-worked-for-women-in-19th-century-melbourne-89858">Sex and the sisterhood: how prostitution worked for women in 19th-century Melbourne</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dawn LaValle Norman receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Research Award (2022-2024) DE220100854.
</span></em></p>Wives were not a part of intellectual life – but sex workers were often seen as having captivating minds, as well as captivating bodies.Dawn LaValle Norman, Research Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1677672021-10-07T19:19:49Z2021-10-07T19:19:49ZStudent sex work is happening, and universities need to respond with health services<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424840/original/file-20211005-23-236nvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C94%2C2348%2C1546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Financial strain exacerbated by the pandemic could be driving increased student sex work, whether through apps like OnlyFans or other platforms and avenues.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Tali Arbel) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As university and college semesters unfold, a small but increasing percentage of students will likely also be taking on a largely under-reported and overlooked form of part-time employment: sex work.</p>
<p>Over the past year, there have been multiple reports of a <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/14/onlyfans-covid-19-pandemic-have-spurred-a-new-sexual-revolution/">dramatic increase</a> in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/23/everyone-and-their-mum-is-on-it-onlyfans-boomed-in-popularity-during-the-pandemic">content creators on OnlyFans — a platform that allows fans to pay creators directly for content, which has been popular with sex workers</a>. Some new users say they created accounts to <a href="https://www.insider.com/people-are-creating-onlyfans-accounts-after-losing-jobs-during-pandemic-2020-6">navigate financial hardship during COVID-19</a>. OnlyFans platform reported a huge uptick in users during the pandemic: from 7.5 million users in November 2019 to 85 million in December 2020.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-in-sugar-babies-mirrors-increase-in-student-sex-work-44377">Rise in 'sugar babies' mirrors increase in student sex work</a>
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<p>In Canada, the company Seeking, (formerly known as SeekingArrangement), which calls itself an “<a href="https://www.seeking.com/about-us">elite dating site</a>,” reported in January this year on a page headed “Sugar Baby University” that over 350,000 students in Canada have “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210111201458/https:/www.seeking.com/p/sugar-baby-university-2021/canada">chosen to elevate their university experience by joining SeekingArrangement and dating successful benefactors who help them avoid student debt and secure a better future</a>.” The company also said “the number of college Sugar Babies seeking Sugar Daddies on SeekingArrangement rose nearly three per cent from the previous year.” The company now discourages <a href="https://www.seeking.com/sugar-baby">use of the term “sugar baby.”</a></p>
<p>“Sugar dating” or “sugaring” is an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sugar-baby-relationship-sugar-daddy-what-its-like-2019-8">approach to dating in which one partner provides compensation</a> (often in the form of money or gifts) to the other; the person receiving the compensation is typically referred to as a “sugar baby.”</p>
<p>As we enter a new academic year, higher-education institutions need to take notice and respond.</p>
<h2>What is “sex work?”</h2>
<p>While people might be most likely to think of sex work as prostitution, the reality is that sex work is an increasingly broad occupation that encompasses <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Sex-For-Sale-Prostitution-Pornography-and-the-Sex-Industry/Weitzer/p/book/9780415996051">any form of sexual services being provided for compensation</a>. </p>
<p>While some students may engage in prostitution, they could also be participating in pornography, webcamming, working phone lines, dancing in clubs, sugar dating and so on. With the increase in platforms like OnlyFans and JustForFans, anyone can engage in sex work from their own home or dorm rooms.</p>
<h2>Why are students participating in sex work?</h2>
<p>While we do not know how many Canadian students are participating in sex work, international estimates suggest between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2018.1491922">2.1 per cent</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0476-y">seven per cent</a> of students engage in sex work. </p>
<p>Students look to sex work for many reasons, often as an occupational choice. Sex work can offer an appealing choice for some because it provides a <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.2202/1940-7890.1039">flexible work schedule</a>, <a href="https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/article/view/60991">allows someone to be their own boss</a>, provides <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260500431669">higher wages than service-based industries like retail</a> or because it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017016679331">enjoyable</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2010.00494.x">increasingly liberal social attitudes</a> regarding sex and sexuality may make some students feel more comfortable participating.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman's manicured hands on a cellphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424821/original/file-20211005-27-9mpbaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students experiencing mounting debts, including from higher education, may be particularly motivated to pursue sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Freestocks/Unsplash)</span></span>
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<p>For others, sex work may be less of a choice. Some students may have had negative work experiences elsewhere or <a href="https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/article/view/60991">lack viable employment options</a>. Others may have experienced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2010.00494.x">exploitation, abuse or abandonment</a>, which leads them to believe sex work is their only option. Students experiencing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260500431669">mounting</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0476-y">debts</a>, including from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2012.744304">higher education</a>, may be particularly motivated to pursue sex work. </p>
<p>While there may be the instinct to criminalize sex work or challenge sex work-supportive attitudes based on these factors, the <a href="https://www.cpha.ca/sites/default/files/assets/policy/sex-work_e.pdf">Canadian Public Health Association</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/07/why-sex-work-should-be-decriminalized">human rights experts</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/8/2/20692327/sex-work-decriminalization-prostitution-new-york-dc">sex work</a> <a href="https://www.safersexwork.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/WhyDecrimisConsistentwith.pdf">advocates</a>, and <a href="https://www.understandingsexwork.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/Team%20Grant%20Working%20Paper%201%20CBenoit%20et%20al%20%20September%2018%202014.pdf">researchers</a> all highlight the potential <a href="https://www.actioncanadashr.org/news/2014-03-26-open-letter-300-researchers-call-decriminalization-sex-work-canada">harms of such a response</a>; our energy is best spent addressing the motivations for pursuing sex work than punishing those who participate.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drop-tuition-fees-university-students-face-a-precarious-future-amid-covid-19-129285">Drop tuition fees: University students face a precarious future amid COVID-19</a>
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<h2>International students</h2>
<p>International students may also be drawn to sex work to help pay their tuition fees, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710004501">which are three to five times higher than domestic students on average</a>. Despite stereotypes that international students come from wealthy backgrounds, studies find that many — particularly those who enrol in Canadian higher education <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/the-shadowy-business-of-international-education">seeking a pathway to immigration</a> — <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/covid19-affect-international-students-new-brunswick-1.5924808">often face economic precarity</a>, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1113439">struggle with finding affordable housing</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2017.1393365">experience higher rates of food insecurity than their domestic peers</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, their opportunities for off-campus employment are limited by their visa status, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260500431669">making sex work a potentially lucrative option</a>.</p>
<h2>Why consider student sex work in higher education?</h2>
<p>Despite becoming more common and mainstreamed, sex work also poses risks. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25617011">Sex-working students are more likely to report</a> more sex partners and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2018.1491922">higher prevalence of sexually transmitted infections</a> than their non-sex-working peers, and are also more likely to report higher drug consumption or addiction. Additionally, sex-working students are <a href="http://www.thestudentsexworkproject.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TSSWP-Research-Summary-English.pdf">more likely to seek out support services</a> — particularly counselling — than their non-sex-working peers.</p>
<p>Moreover, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25617011/">2SLGBTQ+</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2018.1491922">people</a> are over-represented in student sex worker populations, which raises questions about how we can best support 2SLGBTQ+ students in higher education. The <a href="https://www.cpha.ca/sites/default/files/assets/policy/sex-work_e.pdf">Canadian Public Health Association</a> also reports that First Nations, Inuit and Métis people are over-represented in sex worker populations more broadly in Canada due to the ongoing effects of colonization, and we might reasonably assume that student sex workers’ demographic breakdown could be similar.</p>
<p>While some student sex workers may feel comfortable disclosing their work to peers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460720922733">and may do so as a way of managing stigma and having control</a>, others may avoid doing so due to stigma against the sex industry, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2202/1940-7890.1039">leading to social isolation and potential dissonance in their identity</a>. It is worth considering how community and cultural values might also influence a student sex worker’s choice to disclose their work, and in turn whether they might open up to student services professionals.</p>
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<img alt="A genderqueer student talks with a health professional." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424820/original/file-20211005-27-1kpcd3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Student wellness centres must factor student sex workers into how they design and implement services.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Gender Spectrum Collection)</span></span>
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<h2>Legal context</h2>
<p>The legal context of sex work in Canada is a bit of a grey zone. Although Bill C-36, the <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36fs_fi/">Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act</a>, does not criminalize the act of selling one’s own sexual services, it does criminalize the purchasing of another person’s sexual services. </p>
<p>This creates quasi-criminalized status for sex work where every time a sexual service is provided for compensation, a crime is taking place, even if student sex workers themselves are not culpable. Bill C-36 raises questions for higher education institutions in terms of what to do should sex work be taking place on campus (such as in a residence) or through institutional resources (advertising sexual services while using the institution’s internet).</p>
<p>Higher education institutions may also have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-018-9443-1">legal responsibilities or liabilities if sex trafficking</a> is happening on campus. However, it is important <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-safe-space-sex-work-not-human-trafficking-1.4984323">not to conflate sex work</a> — a consensual sexual experience and form of work — with sex trafficking, in which someone is forced or coerced into sexual service.</p>
<h2>Harm-reduction approach</h2>
<p>The Canadian Public Health Association advocates <a href="https://harmreduction.org/issues/sex-work/">for a harm-reduction approach to sex work</a>, focusing on addressing the reasons why people may choose to pursue sex work and ensuring that those who do engage in the profession are able to access appropriate supports for their well-being. </p>
<p>This means it is essential that student wellness centres factor student sex workers into the design and implementation of their services, including mental health, substance abuse and sexual health. Similarly, supports that sex workers are likely to access must also be culturally sensitive to 2SLGBTQ+ students and campus supports for 2SLGBTQ+ students must have an understanding of sex worker needs.</p>
<p>As students navigate the costs of higher education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must begin taking steps to address the needs of our student sex workers. From the lens of health and well-being, we need to ensure student sex workers are factored into health promotion programming and responsive health services in higher education.</p>
<p><em>Student sex workers looking for support or more information are encouraged to reach out to <a href="https://www.maggiesto.org/">Maggie’s Toronto</a> or <a href="https://www.butterflysw.org/">Butterfly Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Higher education institutions should also consider how to respond should sex work take place on campus, such as in a residence.Aaron Brown, PhD Student, Higher Education, University of TorontoElizabeth Buckner, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659902021-10-03T12:58:31Z2021-10-03T12:58:31ZWhat the remastered queer film classic ‘Working Girls’ can teach us about sex work today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423464/original/file-20210928-18-1pislmg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C215%2C4317%2C2132&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Feminist queer filmmaker Lizzie Borden’s 1986 indie hit has been re-released by the Criterion Collection. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lizzie Borden/Alternate Current Productions</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Working Girls,</em> the 1986 indie hit film, was re-released by the <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/31084-working-girls">Criterion Collection</a> in July. The film was made by queer feminist American filmmaker <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lizzie-Borden-American-filmmaker">Lizzie Borden</a> at the height of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss434">feminist sex wars</a>. It staked out bold territory by showing sex work as mundane and tedious, but also a viable job choice for some women.</p>
<p>The remastered edition provides a beautifully restored high-definition digitization of the film, a director’s commentary track and several conversations between Borden and others. It also brings the film back into public dialogue as sex work activists in Canada are preparing for yet <a href="https://sexworklawreform.com/sex-worker-human-rights-groups-launch-constitutional-challenge/">another Supreme Court challenge</a> to the laws criminalizing commercial sex. </p>
<p>The timely re-release of <em>Working Girls</em> is a powerful rejoinder to <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/2629.htm">how poorly sex workers have often been represented</a> on screen — and a reminder of how the moralization of sex work in our society has obscured <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24243929">urgent questions about the labour conditions</a> that sex workers face.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OKDIcqv3Kdk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for ‘Working Girls’ Criterion Collection re-release.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Neither glorification nor condemnation</h2>
<p><em>Working Girls</em>, as Borden told me in an interview last spring, was in part a response to the Canadian documentary <em><a href="http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=13558">Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography</a></em> (1981). Representing commonly held feminist ideas at the time, <em>Not A Love Story</em> was both anti-pornography and anti-sex work. <em>Working Girls</em>, however, is neither a glorification nor a condemnation of sex work. </p>
<p>Rather, it is a sober depiction of gender and sexual relations in late 20th-century capitalist societies. The script was <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/111980-i-could-only-shoot-when-i-had-increments-of-200-to-spend-lizzie-borden-on-working-girls-harvey-weinstein-and-changing-perceptions-of-sex-work/#.YUM9Ep1KjIU">based on the real-life experiences of brothel workers</a> whose stories Borden stitched together into a feature film.</p>
<p><em>Working Girls</em> portrays a day in the life of a university-educated artist named Molly (Louise Smith) who funds her photography by working at a middle-class brothel in Manhattan. Viewers first see her, a white woman in her late 20s, preparing for her day in her apartment with her lover Diane (Deborah Banks), a similarly aged Black woman, and Diane’s child. They wake up, eat breakfast, brush their teeth and start the morning commute like everyone else. We soon see that Molly’s commute leads her to her day-time job as a brothel worker whose clientele are well-paying businessmen. </p>
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<img alt="A lesbian couple, one white woman and one Black woman, embrace in bed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422507/original/file-20210921-15-1pz4b2m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Molly and Diane embrace before getting out of bed to start their day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lizzie Borden/Alternate Current Productions)</span></span>
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<h2>Methodical rituals, witty banter</h2>
<p>Throughout the day, Molly repeatedly performs the methodical rituals of hygiene and copulation. This includes showing kindness to and interest in her clients before and after each session. </p>
<p>Viewers are also let in on the behind-the-scenes banter and camaraderie between the day-shift workers. Sometimes the women trick clients into paying more for services they don’t receive, laugh at clients’ odd kinks and cook the books to hide income from Lucy (Ellen McElduff), the controlling yuppie madam who runs the brothel.</p>
<p>The first third of the film takes place during a relatively uneventful and collegial day shift. The money is good, the clients are predictable and the women are friendly with one another. The middle third is marked by the arrival of Lucy, who is highly demanding, micromanages the women and makes the workplace atmosphere decidedly less pleasant. Here, the film showcases the sex workers <a href="https://www.sundance.org/initiatives/womenatsundance/four-decades/working-girls">as being involved in ordinary labour-management tensions</a> that happen across all sectors of work. </p>
<p>The final third of the film is set during the evening-shift where Lucy has pressured Molly into working a double shift. During the night shift, the brothel grows increasingly claustrophobic, the boss acts progressively more controlling and the clients get pushier. </p>
<p>The camaraderie among the women is further strained by workplace homophobia, racism, ageism, a lack of child care and increasing competition for less and less desirable clients. By the end of the double shift, Molly is faced with the decision of continuing to work for Lucy, striking out on her own or quitting the industry entirely.</p>
<h2>Perspective rarely seen in cinema</h2>
<p>Borden’s film is a relative anomaly for its time, but it continues to stick out from the many sex-work-themed films made before and after its release. Catherine Deuneuve in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061395/"><em>Belle de Jour</em> (1967)</a>, Jane Fonda in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067309/"><em>Klute</em> (1971)</a>, Barbara Streisand in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093660/"><em>Nuts</em> (1987)</a>, Julia Roberts in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100405/"><em>Pretty Woman</em> (1990)</a> and Charlize Theron in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340855/"><em>Monster</em> (2003) </a> are all a far cry from Louise Smith’s portrayal of Molly.</p>
<p>By treating <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/lets-call-sex-work-what-it-work/">sex work as a job</a>, rather than framing commercial sex as a moral dilemma or social problem to solve, Borden offers moviegoers a perspective rarely seen in cinemas in earlier decades and now.</p>
<p><em>Working Girls</em> also avoids common stereotypes, like the <a href="https://variety.com/gallery/pretty-woman-25th-anniversary-12-hookers-with-hearts-of-gold/">hooker with a heart of gold</a> or the <a href="https://writingfrombelow.org/happiness/on-the-uses-of-the-happy-hooker-slyfox/">happy hooker</a>. </p>
<p>The film doesn’t use sex workers as mere plot devices either. There are no abused women to rescue from pimps or <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DisposableSexWorker">murders to solve</a>. And instead of psychologizing the women’s behaviour, the film assumes sex workers are rational people making reasonable economic choices given their options.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a white jacket holds a fold of bills while talking with another woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423466/original/file-20210928-26-1d7fmjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Molly pays Lucy, the madam, her cut out of Molly’s own earnings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lizzie Borden/Alternate Current Productions)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Work is work</h2>
<p>The middle-class expectation that people should love their jobs or find their work fulfilling fails to deal with the reality of work. Many <a href="https://thenewinquiry.com/work-sucks/">workers would rather be doing anything else</a> than the labour done in exchange for the money necessary to live. </p>
<p>While sex workers may choose to work in the industry for a variety of reasons, no one should expect anyone to love it or any other job. Work is work.</p>
<p>We can expect that sex work activists in Canada will surely argue again, as Borden did in <em>Working Girls</em>, that the harms associated with sex work are the result of <a href="http://sexworklawreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Executive-Summary.pdf">criminal law, social stigma and poor labour protections</a>, not the industry itself. The question remains, will lawmakers actually listen to sex workers this time?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Conrad is a member of the Research Committee of the sex worker-led activist group Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate Resist (POWER). This is an unpaid volunteer commitment.</span></em></p>The timely re-release of ‘Working Girls’ by Lizzie Borden brings sex work into the public eye as activists in Canada prepare for another Supreme Court challenge to laws criminalizing commercial sex.Ryan Conrad, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Cinema & Media Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588522021-07-29T23:13:43Z2021-07-29T23:13:43ZSex trafficking isn’t what you think: 4 myths debunked – and 1 real-world way to prevent sexual exploitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413825/original/file-20210729-15-1wvkjnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C7%2C5061%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A billboard in Mounds View, Minnesota, put up by the nonprofit National Human Trafficking Resource Center. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that sex trafficking is an urgent social problem is woven into American media stories, from reports of Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/politics/gaetz-probe-public-corruption-medical-marijuana/index.html">alleged trafficking of teenage girls</a> to debunked QAnon conspiracy theories about <a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-us-news-ap-top-news-conspiracy-media-9d54570ebba5e406667c38cb29522ec6">a sexual slavery ring run through online retailer Wayfair</a>.</p>
<p>The common perception of sex trafficking involves a young, passive woman captured by an aggressive trafficker. The woman is hidden and waiting to be rescued by law enforcement. She is probably white, because, as the legal scholar Jayashri Srikantiah writes, the “<a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/inlr28&div=23&id=&page=">iconic victim</a>” of trafficking usually is depicted this way. </p>
<p>This is essentially the plot of the “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/">Taken</a>” movies, in which teenage Americans are kidnapped abroad and sold into sexual slavery. Such concerns fuel <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/california-ikea-trafficking/">viral posts</a> and <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/tiktok-sex-trafficking-hoax-bloodbathandbeyond/">TikTok videos</a> about alleged but unproven trafficking in IKEA parking lots, malls and pizza shops. </p>
<p>This is not how sex trafficking usually occurs.</p>
<p>Since 2013, I have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TVAdU9IAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researched</a> human trafficking in the midwestern U.S. In interviews with law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers, I found that even these frontline workers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/705237">inconsistently define and apply</a> the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request. </p>
<p>So here are the facts and the law.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Small crowd stands on a lawn, some holding signs like 'Free the Children'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators gather May 1, 2021, outside of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, to protest against pedophilia and sex trafficking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-gather-outside-of-the-ohio-statehouse-to-news-photo/1315672937?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-106publ386/pdf/PLAW-106publ386.pdf">Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000</a> provides the official legal definition for sex and labor trafficking in the United States. </p>
<p>It makes “trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age” a federal crime. </p>
<p>In short, to legally qualify as sex trafficking, a sex act involving an adult must include “force, fraud, and coercion.” This could look like someone – a family member, a romantic partner or a market facilitator colloquially described as a “pimp” or “madam” – physically abusing or threatening another adult into sex for money or resources.</p>
<p>With minors, any and all sexual exchanges – that is, trading sex for something of value like cash or food – are considered sex trafficking.</p>
<h2>How common is sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>Data on human trafficking is <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo23044232.html">notoriously messy</a> and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo23044232.html">difficult to measure</a>. Survivors may be hesitant to disclose their exploitation out of fear of deportation, if they are undocumented, or arrest. That leads to underreporting.</p>
<p>One way to approximate how many people are being trafficked in the United States is to consult federal grant reports, as suggested by anti-trafficking nonprofit <a href="https://freedomnetworkusa.org/press-kit/">Freedom Network USA</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the federal <a href="https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/human-trafficking/ovc-efforts">Office for Victims of Crime</a> served 9,854 total clients – some of whom identified as trafficked, others who showed “strong indicators of trafficking victimization” – between July 2019 and June 2020. The Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/otip/otip_one_pager_victim_assistance_fy19.pdf">Office on Trafficking in Persons</a> served 2,398 trafficking survivors during the 2019 fiscal year. </p>
<p>Data from the same office also shows that 25,597 “potential victims” of sex and labor trafficking were identified through calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.</p>
<p>Again, this data is incomplete – if survivors have not accessed these particular resources or called these specific hotlines, they are not represented here.</p>
<h2>What does sex trafficking look like?</h2>
<p>As with <a href="https://www.rainn.org/statistics/perpetrators-sexual-violence">other</a> <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-an-abusive-state">sexual</a> <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-48782-002">crimes</a>, like rape, sex trafficking survivors often experience violence at the hands of someone they know, not a complete stranger. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The 'Taken' movie poster" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Movies like ‘Taken’ – and its many sequels – present an unlikely sex-trafficking scenario in which an American teen abroad is snatched and sold into sexual slavery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ec/aa/cd/ecaacdd90753b8820b68bda76a55dd11.jpg">EuropaCorp</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A study from <a href="https://humantraffickinghotline.org/sites/default/files/Homelessness%2C%20Survival%20Sex%2C%20and%20Human%20Trafficking%20-%20Covenant%20House%20NY.pdf">Covenant House New York</a>, a nonprofit focused on homeless youth, found that 36% of the 22 trafficking survivors in their survey were trafficked by an immediate family member, like a parent. Only four reported “being kidnapped and held against his or her will.”</p>
<p>Often, trafficking victims are younger <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2020.1690116">transgender people</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-07-2019-0056">teens experiencing homelessness</a> who exchange sex with others to meet their basic needs: shelter, economic stability, food and health care. Trafficking frequently looks like vulnerable people struggling to survive in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746414000414">violent, exploitative world</a>.</p>
<p>“They are creating sexual solutions to nonsexual problems,” says San Francisco-based researcher <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/domestic-minor-sex-trafficking/9780231169219">Alexandra Lutnick</a>.</p>
<p>Under U.S. law, these youth are trafficking victims, because of their age. But they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2010.513109">reject the label</a>, <a href="https://theappeal.org/not-a-cardboard-cut-out-cyntoia-brown-and-the-framing-of-a-victim-aa61f80f9cbb/">preferring terms</a> like “survival sex work” or “prostitution” to describe their experiences. </p>
<p>Trafficking victims engaged in survival sex <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12456">may well be arrested</a> rather than offered help like <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281967/control-and-protect">housing or health care</a>. If they cannot prove “force, fraud, or coercion,” or if they refuse to comply in a criminal investigation, they risk shifting from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243203257477">victim to criminal</a> in the eyes of law enforcement. That can mean prostitution charges, felony offenses or deportation.</p>
<p>Such punishments are most commonly used against <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243214524623">Black, Indigenous, queer, trans and undocumented sex-trafficking survivors</a>. Black youth are <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/uclalr62&div=40&id=&page=">disproportionately arrested</a> for prostitution offenses, for example, even though legally any underage commercial sex is sex trafficking.</p>
<h2>What is the difference between sex work and sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>Legally and in other meaningful ways, sex work and sex trafficking are different. </p>
<p>Sex work is <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-worker-rights-hysteria-surveillance-and-threats-to-fundamental-freedoms-120943">consenting adults engaging in transactional sex</a>. In almost all U.S. states, it is a <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sex-work-laws-map">criminal offense</a>, punishable with fines and even jail sentences. </p>
<p>Sex trafficking is nonconsensual, and it is generally treated as a more severe crime.</p>
<p>Most sex workers’ groups acknowledge that sex work is not inherently sex trafficking but that sex workers can face force, fraud and coercion <a href="https://www.hips.org/uploads/6/2/2/9/62290383/hips_statement_swrights.pdf">because they work in a criminalized, stigmatized profession</a>. Sex workers whose experiences meet the legal standards of trafficking may nonetheless fear disclosing that to police and risking arrest for prostitution.</p>
<p>Conversely, sex workers can be mistakenly labeled by police and advocates as “trafficked” and find themselves <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10612-020-09530-4">in the custody of law enforcement or social service agencies</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Street protest of people wearing face masks and holding signs demanding rights" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers march against discrimination, the criminalization of their job and sexual violence in Queens, New York, Sept. 18, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sex-workers-and-supporters-are-are-seen-during-a-news-photo/1273570855?adppopup=true">Joana Toro /VIEWpress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Based on my research, reducing sex trafficking requires changes that might prevent it from occurring in the first place. That means rebuilding <a href="https://doi.org/10.5250/fronjwomestud.41.2.0057">a stronger, supportive U.S. social safety net</a> to buffer against poverty and housing insecurity. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>In the meantime, trafficking victims would benefit from efforts by frontline workers to combat the racism, sexism and transphobia that <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281967/control-and-protect">stigmatizes and criminalizes</a> victims who don’t look as people expect – and are struggling to survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 1624317. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Children are not routinely being snatched from pizza parlors and sold into sexual slavery. Sex trafficking more often looks like ‘vulnerable people struggling to survive’ through sex.Corinne Schwarz, Assistant Professor of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1630642021-07-04T11:28:18Z2021-07-04T11:28:18ZEradicating sexual exploitation in porn should not be at the expense of sex workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408945/original/file-20210629-24-1u4rk04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C32%2C5382%2C3333&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Before drafting legislation that seeks to protect sex workers and minors, law-makers should consult with sex workers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Locher) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conservative MP Arnold Viersen recently introduced <a href="https://parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/bill/C-302/first-reading">Bill C-302</a>, adding two offences to the Canadian Criminal Code regarding pornography: one for making material without written confirmation of performer’s legal age and consent and another for distributing such material. </p>
<p>Curiously, both acts are already illegal. </p>
<p>Canada has some of the most stringent laws in the world around child sexual abuse material and consent to sexual activity. It is <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/page-37.html#docCont">a federal offence to distribute “intimate images” without a subject’s prior knowledge and consent</a>. Rules are stricter with higher punishment if the material depicts a minor, including fictional characters. </p>
<p>This new bill would not enhance existing measures to curb online sexual abuse. Instead, it vastly increases surveillance of porn workers, a highly stigmatized and overly policed group.</p>
<p>There is absolutely a need to prevent online sexual exploitation, but protective measures must extend to everyone — including porn performers. Laws must be developed with meaningful sex worker consultation. Failure to do so risks exacerbating the violence Viersen claims he is seeking to prevent.</p>
<p>Evidence of dangerous policy is clear in the United States, where 2018 legislation — Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) — have resulted in sex workers’ social media accounts being banned and <a href="https://hackinghustling.org/erased-the-impact-of-fosta-sesta-2020/">entire platforms shut down</a>.</p>
<p>Other restrictions have <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7v33d/sex-workers-what-visa-and-mastercard-dropping-pornhub-means-to-performers">discriminated, delayed and outright cancelled payment processes</a> for legal sex workers. A recent U.S. government accountability office report found these laws made life <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162823/sex-trafficking-sex-work-sesta-fosta">significantly more dangerous</a> for sex workers, but have only been applied to <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-385">a single trafficking prosecution</a> over three years. </p>
<h2>The problem with ‘written consent’</h2>
<p>Currently in Canada, it is <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-162.1.html">illegal</a> to circulate in any way “an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct.” Written proof from the person depicted isn’t necessary, ensuring greater privacy for performers. </p>
<p>In contrast, the proposed new bill states that consent “means the voluntary agreement, in writing, of the person whose image is depicted in the pornographic material.” But documentation isn’t voluntary if mandated by law and potentially made public any time a complaint is filed. </p>
<p>Porn studio productions already follow extensive <a href="https://www.freespeechcoalition.com/forms-templates">informed consent</a> and model release documentation processes, similar to other media and performance industry standards.</p>
<p>Nothing in Bill C-302 improves upon those practices. Instead, the expansion of legal powers would be felt most heavily by independent content producers, burdened with having to prove they are not exploiting themselves. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=207%2C172%2C3754%2C2459&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408437/original/file-20210625-9546-1m02sxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Porn studio productions follow extensive informed consent and model release documentation processes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Donald Tong/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such record keeping requirements represent a risk to sex workers who are already stigmatized. <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/impact_of_criminalisation_pb_prf01.pdf">Fear of exposure and harassment</a> can lead workers into illegal or quasi-legal activities where they need not provide identifying information to police or government officials, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00576-9">who have demonstrated little concern with their well-being</a>. </p>
<p>As Conservative Sen. <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/265/sex-workers-demand-rights-and-respect-not-draconian-legislation">Don Plett said in 2014</a>: “Of course, we don’t want to make life safe for prostitutes; we want to do away with prostitution.” </p>
<p>Similar sentiments against pornography persist. </p>
<h2>Sex worker testimony an afterthought</h2>
<p>Deeming sex workers either helpless and incompetent — or immoral and obscene — politicians routinely ignore their expertise on the relationship between porn, online platforms and consent violations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/porn-not-to-blame-for-public-health-issues-82116">Porn not to blame for public health issues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This was clear during the <a href="https://sencanada.ca/en/Content/SEN/Committee/412/lcjc/15ev-51557-e">2014 senate hearings on Bill C-36</a>, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, when sex worker concerns were dismissed by Plett and others. </p>
<p>It happened again in 2016 when <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/89211/motions/8136502">Viersen introduced M-47</a>, a motion for the Standing Committee on Health “to examine the public health effects of the ease of access and viewing of online violent and degrading sexually explicit material on children, women and men.” </p>
<p>Most recently, sex workers were sidelined when Viersen instigated parliamentary committee meetings on “<a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/ETHI/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=11088039">ensuring the protection of privacy and reputation on platforms such as Pornhub</a>.”</p>
<p>Sandra Wesley, director of the Montréal-based sex worker advocacy agency Stella, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7695681/commons-committee-pornhub/">released a statement after their request to speak at those meetings was rebuffed</a>: “The response that I got back is that sex workers are not relevant to this conversation.” Invited to the hearings, however, were <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-exodus-cry-the-shady-evangelical-group-with-trump-ties-waging-war-on-pornhub">American anti-porn activists backed by evangelical Christian organizations</a>.</p>
<p>After mounting a social media campaign, sex worker rights groups were finally included - in the final day of meetings. In <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/ETHI/meeting-31/evidence#Int-11243030">her testimony</a>, Jenn Clamen of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Sex workers] have been organizing for over 50 years against violence and abuse in the industry. It’s why we started organizing …For this reason, sex workers are best placed to be at the centre of this discussion.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bill C-302 fails to recognize the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-new-definition-of-pornography-with-consent-at-the-centre-111994">high standards of consent</a> established by porn industry professionals and activists. This bill isn’t about consent, but eradicating an undesirable sexual citizen: the sex worker. </p>
<h2>Exploiting consent to harm sexual minorities</h2>
<p>Legal scholar <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Law-and-Consent-Contesting-the-Common-Sense/ORegan/p/book/9780367785635">Karla O’Regan</a> notes, while consent is ostensibly about ensuring personal freedoms, it actually entails “a series of unspoken presumptions about what is normal human behaviour,” such that “the availability of consent hinges on the ‘reasonableness’ of the defendant’s conduct.” </p>
<p>Since what is judged reasonable is contained within laws governing morality, some sexualities and acts are considered <em>fundamentally</em> objectionable, falling outside what groundbreaking sexuality studies scholar <a href="https://sites.middlebury.edu/sexandsociety/files/2015/01/Rubin-Thinking-Sex.pdf">Gayle Rubin</a> called the “charmed circle” of heteronormative monogamy. </p>
<p>Anti-sex worker policies, steeped in moralization and infantilization, do not recognize porn performers’ ability to consent to sex work. This reproduces the stigma underlying <a href="https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/3041/pdf_38">systemic cultures of sexual abuse</a> that prioritize “good” victims over “bad” ones. </p>
<p>Consent is too critical a framework to be weaponized by politicians looking to do away with undesirable sexual citizens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Sullivan has received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the University of Calgary Research Grant Committee.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie MacDonald receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, through a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship in support of her doctoral research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie Webber is the Board Chair of PASS (Performer Availability Screening Services), an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and safety of adult industry workers. PASS maintains a working relationship with the Free Speech Coalition, an industry trade association. </span></em></p>Why are sex workers routinely excluded from debates on their own legal and human rights?Rebecca Sullivan, Professor, Women's Studies, University of CalgaryMaggie MacDonald, PhD Student, Faculty of Information, University of TorontoVal Webber, PhD Candidate, Community Health & Humanities, Memorial University of NewfoundlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602382021-05-17T12:26:00Z2021-05-17T12:26:00ZSex work, part of the online gig economy, is a lifeline for marginalized workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400109/original/file-20210511-21-t2945p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C33%2C5646%2C3574&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of sex workers' rights marched in Las Vegas in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SexWorkersProtest/00cb17e99298493e8e9ea622e59370fa/photo">AP Photo/John Locher</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More people are getting involved in more types of sex work, especially with the help of the internet, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-prostitution-be-decriminalized-60086">criminalization of their occupations</a> and activist opposition, some of which <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7bj9w/anti-porn-extremism-pornhub-traffickinghub-exodus-cry-ncose">threatens people’s lives</a>. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zJGXmpAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">My research</a> <a href="https://drangelajones.com/">interviewing a wide range of sex workers</a> finds that <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">more people are involved</a> in the industry, including marginalized people who are finding it a literal lifeline in tough economic times.</p>
<p>The internet has diversified forms of sex work, aided in the industry’s growth and interconnected previously unconnected types of sex work. Demand for amateur, non-studio-based porn has grown, expanding online pornographic industries like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-adult-video-stars-rely-on-camming-104758">camming</a>, in which performers interact with viewers. Online sex workers post content on <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/selling-sexy-men-women-onlyfans-discuss-reality-scenes/story?id=75934010">specialized hosting sites</a>. Other websites connect <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/evew54/phone-sex-women-callers-secrets">phone sex workers</a> with new customers.</p>
<p>Some sites facilitate <a href="https://theconversation.com/sugar-daddy-capitalism-even-the-worlds-oldest-profession-is-being-uberised-109426">sugaring relationships</a>, in which one person gives another money over time in exchange for a relationship lasting beyond a one-time encounter. On other sites, people can even sell <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/02/spoke-women-sell-used-underwear-see-lucrative-seems-7736214/">used panties</a>.</p>
<p>Especially during a global pandemic with more people out of work and searching for job opportunities, the modern sex industry is incorporating many new providers, customers and job possibilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People, including one under a red umbrella, march and shout in the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400374/original/file-20210512-19-17w3v1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activists and sex workers marched in Miami Beach in December 2020, seeking the decriminalization of sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/activists-and-sex-workers-participate-in-a-slut-walk-in-news-photo/1229967377">Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who works in modern sex industries?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/understanding-sex-work-open-society">Sex work</a> has become more appealing to more laborers across social classes. In particular, online sex work has become more popular because it offers physical safety to those working fully online and minimizes risk to those laboring offline, has minimal requirements for employment and offers the potential for decent wages and autonomy. </p>
<p>These conditions create better work experiences. Sex worker <a href="https://triplextransman.com/">Trip Richards</a> said, “as a transgender man, … sharing my work on online platforms has offered me financial freedom and personal happiness I never thought possible and has allowed me to stay safe while pursuing my own goals as an artist, educator and activist.”</p>
<p>Online sex work is a better option than the poorly remunerated work available to some people. Many sex workers, especially those from marginalized groups, have told me they found it difficult or impossible to get or keep jobs in other industries, making sex work their only option to earn a living. People with disabilities and chronic illnesses who participated in <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">my research on the camming industry</a> highlighted online sex work as flexible labor. </p>
<p>In my field, researchers assign first-name aliases to those we interview. One woman whom I call Kim remarked that camming is “easier to work with bipolar disorder.” Amelia explained, “I have Crohn’s and was unable to hold down a regular job. … My parents had no money, and I felt guilty asking them for help.”</p>
<p>The sexual gig economy can be a refuge from the discrimination some people face in the nonsexual labor market. Natalie told me: “It’s hard to find full-time work even at a fast food place as a full-time trans female who is pre-op and not on hormone replacement therapy.” </p>
<p>Not all sex workers come from marginalized social positions. As more people have been struggling before and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sex-work-has-been-affected-by-the-pandemic-160736">during the pandemic</a> to <a href="https://www.insider.com/people-are-creating-onlyfans-accounts-after-losing-jobs-during-pandemic-2020-6">make ends meet</a>, more people are becoming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/23/everyone-and-their-mum-is-on-it-onlyfans-boomed-in-popularity-during-the-pandemic">open to working in sex industries</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands by a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400373/original/file-20210512-24-xpuw94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Allissa Star, seen here in Pittsburgh in February 2021, used to be an in-person sex worker at a legal brothel in Nevada, but pandemic closures left her struggling to pay bills and turning to online sex work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakNevadaBrothels/1cfc0653899748f998564851162cec2e/photo">AP Photo/Keith Srakocic</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><iframe id="784bq" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/784bq/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>What do sex workers earn?</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">my study of the global camming industry</a>, surveying and interviewing workers worldwide, full-time performers could earn US$10,000 a month. But those uncommonly high wages went almost exclusively to young, white, thin cisgender women. “Cisgender” is an adjective derived from the Latin prefix meaning “on the same side as” and refers to people who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. In general, trans men are men who were assigned female at birth; trans women are women who were assigned male at birth.</p>
<p>Most of the top earners are from the U.S., and spent years building a brand. But most cam models work part-time, and median earnings were $1,000 a month overall, with trans women right at that average, but cisgender women $1,250 and cisgender men $350.</p>
<p>Online phone sex workers might charge $2 per minute, earning them $120 per hour, before the platform takes 30%. A model posting content on a subscription site might charge as much as $15 per month, though these sites generally take between 20%-30%.</p>
<p><iframe id="axcO2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/axcO2/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Escorts, who provide companionship offline, often charge the highest rates of sex workers online. But their rates don’t necessarily reflect their earnings. How much an escort might make depends on consumer demand and the number of clients they see each month. </p>
<p>Their schedules vary and they often do multiple types of sex work simultaneously. For example, Lenny told me, “I created an online persona, a profile for the purpose to offering escort services, selling homemade porn video clips, and an additional feature is webcamming, which I utilize by creating live sex shows to replicate what customers could experience during escort meetings face-to-face.”</p>
<h2>What are the benefits of online sex work?</h2>
<p>Like other gig workers, sex workers do not receive benefits such as employer-provided health care, vacation or retirement packages in many countries. And they have to do a lot of administrative work: marketing, messaging with clients, planning shoots or shows, preparing legal forms and <a href="https://www.xbiz.com/news/259207/models-creators-report-issues-with-onlyfans-new-paperwork-policy">dealing with constantly changing legal requirements and stringent websites’ terms of service</a>. However, sex workers describe other benefits.</p>
<p>Among workers in my camming study, 56.2% said they were <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479874873/camming/">not motivated to cam by money only</a>. Carl told me, “The benefits of cam work are much the same as most independent jobs. You work at home on your own schedule and avoid the 9-to-5 daily grind.” Workers like Halona said that being an independent entrepreneur provides autonomy and allows for creativity, describing online sex work as “the job I feel least exploited for my labor.” </p>
<p>For some performers, this labor has allowed them to explore their sexuality, and as several said, they have “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/686758">orgasms for a living</a>.” Others told me the work had helped boost their self-esteem, was affirming and brought them pleasure. As Whitney explained,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have a physical disability [spinal muscular atrophy] … and had recently moved … I wasn’t working, and, honestly, I spent a lot of time at home bored and lonely. I started posting nudes on a social site and fell in love. I can remember being younger, watching porn, and thinking no one would want to see me doing that. With the support of my husband, I started camming. People did want to see me, and I really did love it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman talks with two police officers on a street at night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400372/original/file-20210512-19-19pw1ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tamika Spellman, left, an advocate for sex workers in Washington, D.C., speaks with local police officers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tamika-spellman-speaks-with-dc-police-officers-responding-news-photo/1200854581">J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How has the internet changed working conditions?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12282">The internet has helped improve sex workers’ lives</a>, including by keeping them safer. For those with internet access, escorts can screen clients online, making clients verify identity and provide references. Escorts develop and rely on online client review systems and community web forums, making them less dependent on exploitative third parties. </p>
<p>However, sex workers laboring offline and on the street remain at high risk. <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/scientific-evidence-for-ending-the-criminalization-of-sex-work">Continued criminalization</a> of in-person sex work in the U.S. and other countries and governmental attempts at <a href="https://peepshowmagazine.com/2021/03/05/peepshow-podcast-takes-on-laws-and-policies-that-impact-sex-workers/">regulating sexual commerce online</a>, limit consensual sex workers’ opportunities.</p>
<p>In 2018, a federal law made <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom">internet platforms legally responsible</a> if they hosted user-generated content <a href="https://hackinghustling.org/fosta-in-a-legal-context/">related to sex work</a>, which led free advertising platforms like Craigslist to shut down their personals sections. Other online review forums <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2018/04/02/the-impact-of-fosta-sesta-on-online-sex-work-communities/">shut down</a>. Those changes <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol87/iss5/13/">reduced the ability</a> of internet services to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10020058">keep sex workers safe</a> – even in countries where <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220147">consensual sex work is decriminalized</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Jones is affiliated with Scientists for Sex Worker Rights, the NAACP, and the SUNY Black Faculty and Staff Caucus.</span></em></p>More people are getting involved in sex work, especially online – and it can be a lifeline for marginalized people.Angela Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology, Farmingdale State CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1607362021-05-12T16:16:06Z2021-05-12T16:16:06ZHow sex work has been affected by the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400316/original/file-20210512-17-lalsiu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Challenging circumstances.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/deep-red-almost-infrared-light-bulb-66883996">Vlue</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the months before the pandemic, I was involved in an <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.15648.pdf">extensive piece of research</a> into the sex work industry in the UK. Focusing on the main online market for sex work in the UK, <a href="https://www.adultwork.com/">AdultWork</a>, we analysed the profiles of more than 11,500 sex workers to understand the industry and how it operates online. </p>
<p>The total number of sex workers in the UK <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/26/26.pdf">was estimated</a> in 2016 to be slightly over 70,000, so our sample was a substantial portion of the industry (albeit not necessarily a representative sample). The findings, and follow-up work that I have done subsequently, give some valuable insight into the shape of the sex industry in the UK, as well as some of the changes and challenges experienced by sex workers during the pandemic. </p>
<p>One of the main findings from our study, which was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2021.1901145">recently published</a> in the Journal of Culture, Health & Sexuality, was that more than half of the female sex workers in our cohort were not British. The majority of these non-British workers identified as being from eastern European countries (the next largest was western Europeans, including Spaniards and Germans, but it was a far smaller proportion). Many travelled to the UK for a few weeks of work followed by a return to their home country, where they had family and dependants to feed. Sex work was their main source of income. </p>
<p>We found that eastern European sex workers in the UK charge 30% less than their British colleagues, despite their profiles being viewed by more people on average. The reason for the lower charges <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2017.1330547">has been argued to be</a> because they feel less secure about their job, and because they need a minimum income to cover the cost of hotels, flights and so on and can’t risk ending up with too little. </p>
<p>These workers were often the ones who provided riskier services, such as unprotected sex or extreme BDSM (bondage, dominance and submission/sadomasochism). In many ways, they are also probably the workers who have been most challenged by the pandemic. </p>
<h2>Sex work and the pandemic</h2>
<p>We have heard a lot about how the pandemic has been very difficult for industries that bring people together such as pubs, restaurants and airlines. Sex work has also been severely challenged by the fact that people have not been allowed to physically interact outside their households in the UK and elsewhere during most of the pandemic. </p>
<p>Unlike most other industries, many sex workers <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-54780027">have not been eligible</a> for government support during the crisis. Because many <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/842920/Prostitution_and_Sex_Work_Report.pdf">do not have records</a> of their taxed income they have been unable to benefit from the UK <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme">income support scheme</a> for self-employed people. This is even more likely to have been the case for the many sex workers in the UK whose primary residence is abroad.</p>
<p>Factors such as clients’ health concerns and limited mobility have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/29/uk-sex-workers-rising-violence-hardship-pandemic">reduced demand</a> for sexual services during the pandemic. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52183773">Reports have also noted</a> that many sex workers turned to offering online services. Yet that does not mean that no in-person sex work has been taking place, as we found during follow-up research. Though it is very difficult to produce comprehensive statistics on the volume of sexual transactions, a simple comparison between the daily number of reviews that clients left on AdultWork after receiving services in 2019 and 2020 suggests there has been no substantial decline in the number of encounters – see the graph below. </p>
<p><strong>AdultWork reviews per day, 2020 vs 2019</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing numbers of AdultWork reviews in 2020 vs 2019" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400076/original/file-20210511-22-1egphz3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Taha Yasseri</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Sex work is one of those jobs that has never stopped being demanded and supplied, <a href="https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2021/05/04/the-women-had-saved-the-situation-indian-womens-work-in-war-and-famine/">neither during wars nor famines</a>, so it would be naïve to think otherwise in the case of a pandemic. In fact, the pandemic-induced financial pressure <a href="https://www.thesun.ie/news/6460182/sex-workers-ireland-covid-cases-women-prostitution/">has reportedly</a> made former sex workers return to the sector and many newcomers <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-more-students-are-turning-to-sex-work-during-covid-19-pandemic-12066700">start working</a> in the profession too.</p>
<p>If the level of business has stayed fairly constant in a market in which the supply has potentially gone up, it means that sex work has become more competitive during the pandemic – and even more so for vulnerable workers at the “low end” of the market. A more competitive market is likely to mean that workers either lower their prices or take bigger risks with the services they provide, or both at the same time. My preliminary analysis shows that the gap between the highest and lowest prices has increased during the pandemic.</p>
<p>On top of that, when meeting people outside of your household is illegal, in-person sex work effectively becomes illegal too (<a href="http://www.mash.org.uk/get-support/the-law/#:%7E:text=Is%20sex%20work%20legal%3F,the%20Sexual%20Offences%20Act%202003.">in the UK</a> sex work is normally legal, though various activities, including pimping, running a brothel and soliciting in a public place, are all illegal). This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0020872820962202">is likely</a> to have meant that vulnerable workers have been taking bigger risks while being afraid of the legal consequences of, for example, going to the police to report an assault by a client. </p>
<h2>COVID vaccines for sex workers</h2>
<p>Many countries have been prioritising COVID vaccinations based on people’s age, type of job, and pre-existing health conditions. In <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.15648.pdf">our analysis</a>, we found out that the majority of sex workers, as well as ones most in demand, were aged between 18 and 36, which puts them at the end of the queue for vaccines. </p>
<p>This would only change if governments recognised that sex work has not stopped in spite of the social-distancing restrictions, and considered the health risks that sex workers take in their day-to-day jobs and the benefits of an early vaccination both for them and society as a whole. At a time when sex workers’ usual access to healthcare support such as GPs and sexual-health nurses <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-54780027">has been disrupted</a>, this is something that governments should look into urgently.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taha Yasseri has received funding from EPSRC. </span></em></p>New research into sex work in the UK highlights some of the changes and challenges sex workers have faced.Taha Yasseri, Associate Professor, School of Sociology; Geary Fellow, Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417462020-07-20T21:18:20Z2020-07-20T21:18:20ZSex workers are criminalized and left without government support during the coronavirus pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348475/original/file-20200720-31-1kyk4vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C137%2C2317%2C1594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The red umbrella is a symbol used by sex worker activists to draw attention to the work conditions and human rights of people in the sexual service industry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Paid sexual labour is a form of employment that most people generally don’t think about. From street workers to escorts to exotic masseuses, jobs in the sexual services industry have been disrupted during the coronavirus pandemic — that is, if they wish to keep themselves safe. </p>
<p>These workers have little in the way of job security. Most <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/swap-hamilton-1.5517795">are unable to receive</a> federal income relief and many have to <a href="https://canoe.com/news/national/sex-workers-say-theyve-been-left-out-of-canadas-covid-19-response">continue working</a> despite the risks. During the current pandemic, what happens to people whose job requires physical intimacy?</p>
<h2>Non-accessible COVID-19 relief</h2>
<p>Most sex workers do not qualify for <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html">the Canada Emergency Response Benefit</a> (CERB) because they cannot prove they have <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/sex-workers-coronavirus-cerb_ca_5e9cb5dcc5b60806d73fa781">earned at least $5,000</a> in the past year. Due to <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36faq/">federal criminal laws</a> around prostitution, even those who can provide such proof <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/sex-workers-coronavirus-cerb_ca_5e9cb5dcc5b60806d73fa781">are afraid</a> to apply and draw the attention of the authorities via their <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/taxes/article-the-nuances-of-cerb-are-becoming-clearer-with-time/">CERB application</a> and/or the 2020 tax filing requirement.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-contact-tracing-poses-serious-threats-to-our-privacy-137073">Coronavirus contact tracing poses serious threats to our privacy</a>
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<p>Since sex workers typically are either <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J056v17n01_09">self-employed or work as independent contractors</a>, they are also not able to benefit from the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/covid-19-update/support-employers-cra-covid-19.html">Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy</a> (CEWS). There is no “employee” classification legally available for workers because the employee-employer relationships for this industry violates the “Material Benefit Offence” (s. 286) of the Criminal Code. As a result, <a href="http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/sociology/maticka/star/pdfs/safety_and_security_report_final_version.pdf">workers do not qualify</a> for the rights and protections typically afforded to workers categorized as employees </p>
<p>The exclusions for COVID-19 assistance are an echo of the charter rights violations that the Supreme Court found in <a href="https://www.pivotlegal.org/canada_v_bedford_a_synopsis_of_the_supreme_court_of_canada_ruling">Canada vs. Bedford (2013)</a>.</p>
<h2>Regulating prostitution in Canada</h2>
<p>Before Dec. 6, 2014, the exchange of sexual services for money or other forms of compensation between two consenting adults was legal. The Criminal Code of Canada, however, made it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-618X.2011.01249.x">very difficult</a> for workers to conduct business without running into conflict with the law. In 2013, the Supreme Court <a href="https://owjn.org/2015/10/sex-work-laws-unconstitutional-canada-attorney-general-v-bedford-supreme-court-of-canada-2013/">unanimously ruled</a> that three sections of the criminal code pertaining to prostitution violated <a href="https://www.pivotlegal.org/canada_v_bedford_a_synopsis_of_the_supreme_court_of_canada_ruling">the charter rights of workers</a>. </p>
<p>To address the Supreme Court ruling, in 2014 the Harper government introduced <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36faq/">Bill C-36</a>. The new legislation targeted customers, making it illegal to purchase sexual services for money. Although selling sexual services remains legal, workers cannot <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36fs_fi/">advertise their services</a> nor can they communicate with customers regarding their services in a public place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women, one in a bikini carrying a red umbrella, another in a red tank top, black skirt and red cowboy hat, carry a banner between them that says, 'Sex workers' rights are human rights.' There is a crowd a few meters behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348445/original/file-20200720-92332-1aps99i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Women carrying a banner about sex worker rights in the Capital Pride Parade on Aug. 26, 2012, in Ottawa, Ontario.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Impact of criminal laws on workers’ lives</h2>
<p>Instead of enhancing workers’ rights and safety, Bill C-36 effectively <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-laws-designed-to-deter-prostitution-not-keep-sex-workers-safe-107314">criminalizes prostitution</a>, frames all sex work as <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5970549/canada-sex-work-decriminalization/">exploitative</a> and all workers as victims of trafficking. In my research team’s <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=M6T7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PT221&dq=going+%27round+again:+the+persistence+of+prostitution-related+stigma&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjeofa7ysDqAhV2mXIEHdR1AngQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=going%20'round%20again%3A%20the%20persistence">earlier work</a>, we found that this framing enhances the stigma tied to the industry, making it harder for adult workers to have the legitimacy of their labour recognized. In addition, it <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5970549/canada-sex-work-decriminalization/">increases the dangers</a> workers may experience and makes it harder for them to protect themselves while on the job.</p>
<p>Criminal laws tied to the sex industry also affect the financial security of workers. Under most circumstances, there can be a <a href="http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/sociology/maticka/star/pdfs/money_matters_prnt.pdf">legitimating effect</a> resulting from government recognition of forms of labour, via filing taxes and holding <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552256">municipal licenses</a>, to name a few options. However, to avoid coming to the attention of authorities and the associated risks (for example, surveillance, arrest, fines, jail time, lawyer bills), sex workers are less like to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/even-sex-workers-need-to-file-a-tax-return-vancouver-group-offers-tips-as-deadline-nears-1.4576674">file taxes</a>, which means they cannot benefit from EI, CPP/QPP and now federal COVID-19 relief funds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A neon sign says 'massage' in red capital letters with a green border." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348447/original/file-20200720-133010-mfeule.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Like other workers in the sexual service industry, massage parlour workers are also ensnared by the limits of the CERB and other income support programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock.)</span></span>
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<h2>Impact of failed campaign promises</h2>
<p>Even before COVID-19, <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/red-light-labour">research showed</a> the harmful impact of sex work policies like Bill C-36 that criminalizes customers. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.52.3.285">As I noted</a> elsewhere, “The way to judge the justness of a state and its policies is by looking at how the most marginalized members of society are treated.” Despite a campaign pledge to reform Bill C-36, the Trudeau government <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5970549/canada-sex-work-decriminalization/">has yet to act</a>. </p>
<p>As the economy begins reopening, the federal government is <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/prevention-risks/measures-reduce-community.html">putting an emphasis on plans</a> that protect workers, customers and the greater community from the spread of the virus. But how this applies to sex industry workers is unclear. </p>
<p>Unlike the <a href="http://www.bccdc.ca/Health-Info-Site/Documents/COVID19_SexWorkersGuidance.pdf">B.C. government</a>, which provided COVID-19 work guidelines for sex workers in May 2020, there are no federal government work or return-to-work guidelines for this industry. Instead sex workers are left to fend for themselves or turn to <a href="https://www.maggiesto.org/covid19">local organizations</a> and advocacy groups for assistance. Once again, people working in the sex industry are at the end of the list of government priorities.</p>
<h2>Needed action</h2>
<p>In a country whose populace <a href="http://www.ekospolitics.com/articles/FG-2011-03-23.pdf">values science-based policy</a>, we need to engage in policy development that can better protect sex workers, combating <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stigma-of-sex-work-comes-with-a-high-cost-79657">marginalization and stigmatization</a>, and improving the overall occupational health and safety of those working in the industry. Similar to <a href="http://espu-usa.com/espu-ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/nz-health-and-safety-handbook.pdf">New Zealand</a>, orienting sex work policy around <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1755-618X.2011.01249.x">harm reduction and labour rights</a> will enable us as a country to better address the needs and rights of workers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1266065807710154752"}"></div></p>
<p>The short-sightenedness of Bill C-36 and a <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/governments-have-failed-canadas-sex-workers-and-theyre-running-out-of-patience/">failure to enact promised change</a> by the Trudeau government is more apparent now than ever. By fulfilling their campaign promise to this labour sector, the federal Liberals could deliver protection for people working in the sex industry, broadening the forms of labour protected by federal law. In doing so, people working in the sex industry will have their labour rights protected and will be less likely to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/swap-hamilton-1.5517795">fall through the cracks</a>, especially when government assistance is so urgently needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Lewis has received funding from Health Canada and the Social Science & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>Work in the sexual services industry has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and workers have been left without access to government support.Jacqueline Lewis, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.