If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation. – Abigail Adams
As I’ve explained before, there are three major days observed by sex worker rights activists: the Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers (December 17th, the anniversary of the 2003 sentencing of the Green River Killer); Sex Worker Rights Day (March 3rd, the anniversary of a 2001 festival in Kolkata attended by over 25,000 Indian sex workers despite efforts from prohibitionist groups who tried to prevent it by pressuring the government to revoke their permit); and today, Whores’ Day, the anniversary of the 1975 protest in which over 100 French prostitutes occupied the Church of St. Nizier in Lyon. In a very real sense, today is the birthday of the sex worker rights movement; though Margo St. James had already founded COYOTE two years before, the French protests were the first ones large and vociferous enough to gain media attention, and led to the formation of the French Collective of Prostitutes (which in turn inspired the founding of the English Collective of Prostitutes and a number of other, similar organizations). And had its growth not been stunted by the unwelcome arrival of AIDS (and its attendant demonization of anything sex-related), decriminalization might very well have been the rule among advanced countries by now rather than the exception.
The harm done by plague-hysteria was less in countries with more tolerant policies, so they were the first to recover; starting in 1988 a number of jurisdictions in Europe and Australia either removed or reformed laws criminalizing prostitution or attendant activities such as brothel-keeping and solicitation. Then around the turn of the century the movement seems to have reached critical mass, probably due in no small part to the power of the internet: Germany reformed its laws in 2001, New Zealand decriminalized in 2003, and sex worker organizations all over the global south (starting with Kolkata’s Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, founded in 1992) began to gain momentum in their struggle against traditional stigma and recently-imposed laws designed to cater to American prudishness. But the prohibitionists were by no means asleep; as I wrote in “Awakening”,
…they noticed that there had been a sea change in public opinion against interfering in private sexual arrangements between consenting adults, and so created the “sex trafficking” hysteria as a means of rallying the public behind criminalization again. As the “Nation Strategy” of Swanee Hunt’s Demand Abolition organization states, “Framing the Campaign’s key target as sexual slavery might garner more support and less resistance, while framing the Campaign as combating prostitution may be less likely to mobilize similar levels of support and to stimulate stronger opposition.” In other words, “since people now recognize it’s wrong for the government to stick its nose into private bedrooms, we have to pretend this is really about something else.”
Nor did it take the busybodies long to set their scheme in motion; the hysteria began in earnest in January of 2004 thanks in large part to a sensationalized New York Times article named “The Girls Next Door”, which was similar in tone, content and effect to William Stead’s 1885 “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon” (the article which kicked off the previous panic over “sex trafficking”, or “white slavery” as it was called at the time). And though the crusade was rooted in American Protestant notions of “pure and pious womanhood”, it also proved popular with Western governments as a means of restricting migration without appearing racist or xenophobic.
Because of this, it is the poorer countries of the developing world which have borne the brunt of this jihad; it is they who are invaded by white Westerners playing at being saviors of childlike brown folk, they whose governments are pressured into enacting oppressive laws, and they whose women are abducted, beaten, robbed, gang-raped, starved and forced into sweatshops run by the garment industry which (coincidentally, I’m sure) bankrolls at least one of the biggest “rescue industry” icons. So it is both appropriate and encouraging that the most outspoken and effective activism in the world is being done by the sex workers in those countries, especially India, Bangladesh, Korea, Cambodia and Thailand. African sex workers are not far behind them, and their courage and persistence has won them allies both inside and outside the governments of South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The sex worker rights movement was born in the West, but it has come of age in the East and South, and it is their example which is most heartening to those of us struggling under the near-constant persecution of our profession in the United States.
It seems to me that the “Human Trafficking” hysteria, in addition to persecuting sex workers, trivializes any actual slave trade that is going on. I say this because I have watched other hysterias trivialize the real trauma that my Lady (a survivor of sexual abuse) went through. It gives the hysterics a great Cause, allows them to impose their will on others, and carefully avoids having to take on anything hard, like facing the truth about the treatment of women in certain (*cough*Islamic-fundamentalist*cough*) cultures. It also puts anti-crusaders crusaders such as Maggie in a position where their assertions that most of the Crusade is hogwash can be misinterpreted (deliberately) as assertions that it ALL is. Then, in a few years, when the laws have lightened up and coerced sex-workers can go to the police for help, the few that do can be pointed to by the hysterics in order to start the whole cycle again.
I don’t know how much “trafficking”actually happens. I do know that there are too many places on earth where being poor and female leaves you with little recourse against an abusive male. It would not surprise me to learn that there is a fair amount of “trafficking”; just not where the Crusaders are directing our attention. I would also be astonished if the law the Crusaders push would help one iota.
Awesome analysis … I’ve often said … “If there are truly “slaves” out there – then lets load the helos and go smoke ’em!” – I’m even willing to lead that mission and be the first off the helo.
For traffickers though – it’s not about saving anyone – it’s about control. If they truly wanted to save someone they’d “triage” the effort and make FORCED SLAVERY a priority instead of going after NYC cab drivers and internet escorts who drive Cadillac Escalades.
Long night at the bar … and I’m not too articulate at this point! I would never say “let’s smoke ’em” in reference to sex slaves. It’s the people who enslave them that I want to get. For instance – this thing where little girl’s virginity is sold at auction in India. I really don’t know if it even actually happens but, flat out I tell you – the people who are responsible for it should be harshly punished. I’m willing to do that … human trafficking scaremeisters – not so much.
Why so skeptical regarding news reports of little girls in India being sold at auction for their virginity? It’s as if you don’t want to admit that child abuse exists. Just because a particular topic – such as child abuse – is unpleasant doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
krulac isn’t saying it doesn’t happen. He’s saying he doesn’t have any other information about it that the one source. In other words, he is expecting those who assert that it has happened to make their case. If more people did this, we’d have many fewer witch hunts, moral panics, and other similar misguided crusades.
… THAN the one source
AND
… similarLY misguided
Ach! Grammar. And Spelling too!
My grandfathers motto … “Never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”
And EVERYTIME I go against that credo – I get fucked!
Not saying it doesn’t happen though. If it does – prove it and lets fire up the helos. What the fuck is the point in giving money to celebrities and TIP “salvation” organizations that do nothing but take people’s money and run off at the mouth?
Action – not words. If you care about child abuse – you’ll give more than money to stop it.
If you care.
Why so skeptical?
A long history of scare stories about dirty foreigners doing horrible things that have failed to pan out. Oh there are some awful cultures out there – *cough* FundamantalistIslam *cough* – but the stories about little sex slaves in China, India, Russia, etc. have been part and parcel of the whole White Slavery panic since at least the 1870’s.
I wouldn’t automatically buy the stories about stoning and so forth out of the Islamic countries, except they seem pretty well documented, and some of them come from Islamic news outlets.
Given the context, anybody who didn’t understand what you meant by the “smoke ’em!” comment isn’t worth the time or effort clarifying it for them.
“since people now recognize it’s wrong for the government to stick its nose into private bedrooms, we have to pretend this is really about something else.”
Exactly. I see this all the time, especially with evangelical Christians. The idea of rescue is so patronizing.
Also, I listed you as a Very Inspiring Blogger! http://sexandthestate.com/a-very-inspiring-blogger-award/ I so love what you’re doing.
Hi Maggie,
Another point of interest where the child trafficking case that the Feds have pursued in Nashville seems to have only returned one solid conviction – that of a reluctant witness.
I don’t know the details, but given that the Feds settled for pleas based on false statements on residency papers, I’m gonna go with the notion that they didn’t have a very good case to begin with. Anyway, here are two links. The first is a review of the overall case, the second, about the conviction of the prosecution witness.
http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/year-review-blockbuster-sex-trafficking-case-has-yielded-few-convictions-so-far
http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/reluctant-witness-in-tenn-faces-prison-time/article_c2129b9d-9e0d-5e7f-95b5-88563e36d8d7.html
Of particular interest is the last line of the St. Louis Today piece.
“So far, every defendant who has gone to trial has either been acquitted or had their conviction thrown out.”
Now these guys might have been as black as the Feds painted them, but it appears that if they were so evil, the Feds were incompetent in their case presentation. And given the propensity of Federal prosecutors to range far afield in their “Acquitted Conduct Sentencing” one wonders if they just went for the low-hanging fruit and then piled on with ACS. For those of you who don’t know what ACS is, that is where you can be sentenced on charges for which you are acquitted if a single felony charge against you has been sustained. This is also one reason why prosecutors love to pile on the multiple charges. If even one of them results in a conviction, they can drop the whole load on you at sentencing. Here’s one defender of the practice and his take on the approach.
Note what is going on here. Prosecutors are shucking their responsibility to prove the charges brought by plucking the low-hanging fruit and then having you sentenced on the basis of charges they most likely knew they could not prove, but piled on anyway; firstly for intimidation to coerce a plea deal and secondly to punish you for not taking that plea deal and going to trial even if, or, dare I say it, especially if you were innocent of the charges brought. This is a prime example of that approach where child trafficking suddenly becomes misrepresentation on a filed report. I wonder if the bad paper brought child-trafficking magnitude sentences with it.
I was just re-reading this after I posted it, and it occurred to me that this defender of ACS is actually even more egregious in his defense of the practice that I had thought.
Note the bolded portions. The only way that this guy’s logic remotely follows is if one assumes that all such conduct would rebound to the side of the defendant. Apparently only defendants benefit from bad prosecutors, disappearing evidence, old-fashioned perjury. So such things as abusive prosecutors, conveniently failing police dash cams, disappearances of evidence courtesy of the “thin blue line” and testilying don’t exist.
I wonder if the prosecutors would be as happy to have the boot on the other leg. All charges which are not proved result in a monetary, civil or criminal penalty attaching to the person of the prosecutor himself – as prima facie evidence of prosecutorial abuse.
Maybe I’m paranoid, but I interpreted the prosecutor’s words you quoted as essentially this:
“I’m not afraid to prosecute a vulnerable person for a politically sensitive crime even when I know my evidence will not measure up to the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard. It’s a great career move for an ambitious prosecutor like me. If you win, your career will take a great leap forward. The best part is you can’t lose. Even if the defendant is acquitted, the public will blame the jury.
More than that, one found guilty by public prejudice will eventually be found guilty in the court room. This makes legal harassment in such cases most profitable. So why not make it more profitable by allowing the court to consider acquitted conduct at sentencing? Tax payers will be pleased to see that we are tough on crime, and prosecutors like me will be served justice for all the extra work that stubborn defendant made us go through for rejecting our reasonable plea bargain the first time.”
Nope, I don’t think you’re paranoid. I think that that is the mindset of most prosecutors. I think that it arises from the political incentives you mention as well as the complete immunity they enjoy for their bad acts.
Two things:
1) One reason I read your blog is because I like reading about sex worker history and activism. It helps me so much to put my experience into context, and I derive great succor from that.
2) When I started doing professional BDSM work, I denied that I was a sex worker. Because I did not undress or offer traditional sexual services, I thought that I was in an entirely difficult category than prostitutes or even strippers.
Now…my perspective is entirely different. Prostitutes and strippers and massage girls and peep-show-booth workers offer different services, but we are all subject to the same vulnerabilities and discrimination I will NEVER fundamentally differentiate myself from a prostitute again. I am DONE with whore-archy (sp?).
The collective social hatred toward us drives me nuts. I hate it so much that men use our services and then look down upon us for providing them. That rank hypocrisy.
That is all. Thank you, Maggie.
You’re very, very welcome, Margo. 🙂
I’m sure some men pay sex workers then look down on them. Politicians and corporate execs strike me as the type.
But I’d say the more common is pay them and avoid defending them. Too much to lose at a personal level.
I’m a very outspoken liberal (of the individual liberties variety) so I feel like I can get away with: “I’m sure they are just normal women working a difficult and stigmatized job”.
But beyond that I risk my career or even worse risk embarrassing my wife. I’m more open wirh her, but discretion and lack of discussion is the agreement between us.
I feel that this is common based on private discussions in small groups. But ultimately it’s the same, sex workers are thrown under the bus by inaction by the majority in the face of persecution by a loud minority.
Wish it wasn’t that way. But I’m man enough to anonymously admit I’m throwing you under bus. Sorry
erm, If I knew how I too would list you as a very inspiring blogger. Maggie, I truly enjoy all of your writing. You always make me think and I always feel better for it.
🙂
It’s kind of a long story how I found your blog, but I continue to be both impressed and enlightened. Thank you.
[…] International Whores’ Day. […]
Maggie, I am thrilled you read my comment! I’m glad you know that I like your blog. It really is a superlative, superior blog.
Dave;
I dunno, buddy. I appreciate your comment and I think that you are right that many men hire sex workers at don’t think poorly of them. But, at least in my experience, a great number of clients think there is something very “wrong” with sex workers. Mostly, I think, this is their own projection bc they feel guilty about engaging in the experience. Others just feel contempt. I have “normal” straight jobs that utilize my academic credentials and I’ve worked in minimum-wage service-sector jobs, and I’ve never seen the rage or contempt I’ve seen whilst working in my sex-work BDSM job.
When Maggie writes about the clients that orgasm and almost get into a panic trying to get the woman out the door, I think that is an example…but a fairly benign one. Of course, it says much more about him that it does about her. But…
The majority of my clients treat me with decorum, whether they truly respect me or not (I have no way of knowing). Some seem to be sincerely affectionate. And I care about some of them. I truly do. I like them. I won’t see clients who give me a bad feeling twice.
But if you want to see the anger and hatred directed at sex workers, just go to any old free porn station like xhamster or pornhub or whatever it’s called, and look at the comments the men leave. They are vile and full of shaming. It’s appalling. I’ll never understand that cruelty.
Margo
I’m sure you are right. You’ve certainly have way more firsthand experience.
Maybe it’s like virulently antigay men being gay.
But it strikes me as an odd way to treat a female companion.
Reblogged this on Ladysnowblood99's Blog.
The arc is bending, but not only does it not always bend at the same speed, not only does it sometimes take a bend in the wrong direction before getting back on track, but it doesn’t always bend the same amount everywhere.
But on this particular issue, it’s more and more bending in the right direction, and in more and more places. And I’m glad to see that.
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