So when the ABC's 4 Corners decided to air their anti-sex work sensationalist propaganda (see http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/flesh-trade-four-corners-teaser-2680739.html), sex workers were pretty much ignored. Here's my response :
| Sex Workers Say: Anti-trafficking Crusaders are Not Our Friends |
Friday, 14 October 2011 12:24
A grieving mother, international organised crime,
sensational re-enactments and dramatic music.
Oh and a good dose of sex. It seems like all the right ingredients for a
compelling story, one that enthrals the public eye. The ABC’s 4 Corners and the
tirade newspaper articles focussed on the so-called “sex trafficking” are
demanding everyone’s attention and if you think this stories are affecting,
imagine the emotional assault they afflict on sex workers. But what’s driving
the hysteria? “While it’s very popular to talk about human trafficking at the
moment, it seems the agenda that’s really being pushed is anti-sex work” said
Christian Vega, sex worker and advocate for sex worker rights in Victoria.
“Being anti-sex work can be divisive in Australia,” Mr Vega
explains, “The community wants to support the rights of workers, they want to
have compassion and understanding of vulnerable people and it’s not within our
culture to immediately take an abolitionist approach. All these things are a challenge for the
anti-sex work lobby. In order to get around them, campaigners have conflated
‘human trafficking’ with sex work in order to gain funding and broad based
support.”
Mr Vega considers the true motivation of the supposed
“anti-trafficking” agenda. “Some tax-payer funded organisations and individuals
who claim that their goal is to end ‘human trafficking’ are disproportionately
focussed on sex work. Yet, we know human trafficking happens in other
industries. The obsession with brothels makes it clear: challenging actual
exploitation is secondary; they just want to shut down the sex industry.”
Mr Vega continues, “They have successfully diverted funding,
community support and political attention away from other instances of actual
trafficking in order to bolster their moral crusade against us, sex workers.
While brothels are raided every other week to find scant exploitation,
sweatshops in Australia operate unchecked, migrant staff in hospitality wait
for someone to notice their substandard working conditions and people desperate
to migrate to Australia are entering abusive marriages in order to secure what
they think will be a better life. So
long as sex work abolitionists hog the spotlight, the human rights of many go
begging. ”
Mr Vega reflects on the outcomes of such a prohibitionist
approach, “The overreaction of the Victorian Minister of Consumer Affairs further
illustrates how the human rights of sex workers are not a priority.” He refers to the increase of police powers to
prosecute non-compliant operators in the sex industry, “To jump on the
trafficking bandwagon and say the police are the answer to any human rights
crisis is the same as saying carrying firearms increases one’s safety. History,
evidence and plain common sense tells us: it’s delusional and absolutely ill
informed.”
“It can be overwhelmingly frustrating that we, sex workers,
not only have to demand our human rights but also have proposed sound, socially
just, evidence based solutions and, yet, are totally ignored.”
Mr Vega gives some examples, “We know that granting working
visas for migrant sex workers will bust the business model of people traffickers,
who are taking advantage of the fact the Australian government refuses to allow
these workers to enter our country like any other worker. We know decriminalising sex work will bring
its regulation, industrial relations and occupational health and safety
standards more in line with the expectations of the community. We know that resourcing us as sex workers to
support each other is the most effective way of empowering us against
vulnerability and exploitation in our workplaces. We know all of this, yet the government
flounders, chasing its tail to the tune of those who would rather see us out of
business.”
“Sex workers need rights not rescue. We’re not criminals or powerless victims- we
are sick of being stereotyped as such.”
Mr Vega closes, “Sex workers are not the problem but we can be part of
the solution.”
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