The only way to stop this will be for those who approve of it to suffer actual consequences, and that isn’t going to happen until all of you clients out there get off of your duffs and fight…gentlemen, I suggest you had better rethink your current silence, unless you want to be the next one with your name and picture splashed across newspapers, TV screens and websites. – “Scrupleless in Seattle”
When one puts as much time and energy into a cause as I have invested in this one over the last decade, it’s gratifying to see support for that cause slowly grow and become more visible to the general public. Despite the fact that I’ve always had a lot of praise and encouragement from within my own community, for a long time it looked like the only people who were listening were those already in the demimonde and our natural allies such as libertarians and human rights advocates. But every Friday the 13th I’ve called for more allies, and I’ve watched the wind gradually shift toward recognition of the fact that criminalization of any aspect of sex work is a gross violation of human rights; I’ve seen universal, credulous acceptance of the “sex trafficking” paradigm crumble, powerful new allies like Amnesty International come on board and the government sabotaging its own propaganda by indulging in ill-considered pogroms like the prosecutions of Rentboy and The Review Board. Over the past year many groups and individuals, emboldened by Amnesty’s stance, have condemned the War on Whores and attacked its dogma-driven underpinnings, while energetic journalists like Glenn Kessler and Elizabeth Nolan Brown have taken up the task of debunking that up until recently I was conducting almost solo, and have brought the government’s anti-whore bullshit to the attention of far more people than this blog ever could.
But until recently, one group of important natural allies was conspicuously silent. Men who pay for sex at least occasionally outnumber whores by a factor of sixty to one, yet (with rare exceptions like Chester Brown and Jim Norton) are almost never heard from. This certainly isn’t hard to understand; the majority of them are married, and so stand to lose their wives and families, plus even their jobs and social standing due to our culture’s increasing sex-negativity. Add to that fashionable “end demand” client demonization and legal persecution, and the fact that some silly whores (who think of activism as a kind of social club rather than a war) actually oppose their support, and one can certainly understand why clients prefer to keep their mouth shut. I’ve been working to change that for a long time, but against such a mountain of stoic silence what can one loudmouthed harlot accomplish? But finally, the seriousness of the situation seems to be sinking in: official persecution of clients has become so aggressive, vicious and sociopathic (especially in cities suckling at Swanee Hunt’s filthy tits, such as Seattle) that clients’ lives are being destroyed by the hundreds in schemes that couldn’t pass constitutional muster even if the judges were all stoned. Christina Slater’s recent telling of a busted client’s story and Dan Savage’s quoting me in calling clients to arms have inspired a group of clients, activists and attorneys to start a new website dedicated to client activism; the group is called Clients of Sex Workers Allied for Change, and their mission statement is below:
This website is for clients of sex workers to share experiences and resources, and to dispel myths surrounding participation in paid sex.
We affirm that sex workers and clients have the same right of sexual expression as other consenting adults.
We support social services that empower sex workers to improve their lives and aid those choosing to leave sex work.
We condemn force, fraud or coercion in any sexual encounter, and we call for safe and effective means for sex workers and clients to report abuses without fear of prosecution.
We condemn efforts to stigmatize sex workers, their clients, and interested third parties.
We join the growing number of diverse organizations calling for the full decriminalization of sex work.
They’ve flattered me by asking for my input in an advisory capacity, and once the site gets well and truly going you’ll be seeing a guest column here from one of the founders. In the meantime, please check the site out; it’s been a long time coming, and I’m damned glad it’s here.
Thank you, Maggie. Proud to be part of this effort. A good beginning for folks to get involved is for sex work clients to share their stories on our site, then peruse the growing list of resources we’re making available.
Hey, it’s me. “The Narcissist”! I’m looking forward to being a client advocating for decriminalization.
Visit the site, post your story (your confidentiality will be assured) and help spread the word!
I’m sorry, but I can’t hold this in any longer. Please pardon the rant.
I don’t see this getting any traction at all, especially not after seeing the story about the FBI in today’s news column. If anyone thinks their confidentiality will be protected on this site (that might as well have a neon sign over the homes of those running it saying “ARREST ME PLEASE!”), then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for them to buy.
Furthermore, how does this jibe with the fact that the internet, and modern civilization are apparently not long for this world? Did the individuals running this website get the memo that they need to burn the system down in order to actually be free again?
That’s what irked me so much about the Dan Savage column that name-dropped Maggie. He shares a story about the battle (and it WAS a battle, complete with real, dead casualties) against the “Mobs of Virtue” and then closes with this: “I’m not suggesting that today’s clients form mobs and attack prohibitionists, cops, prosecutors, and their enablers in the media.”
Such CYA nonsense. That’s EXACTLY what you were advocating just a moment ago, because how else were the authoritarians going to be defeated without demonstrating that if they persisted in abusing their fellow human beings their lives were forfeit?
I’ve been an activist for more than thirty years. Not someone who just believes in issues and nods when he reads or hears something he likes. The kind who has rolled up his sleeves and done the work.
I’ve seen my share of successes and failures, and learned from them. I’ve been warned countless times that “they’re watching you”. I’ve been scoffed at by so many armchair revolutionaries, I’ve lost count.
I’m still here, they’ve all faded away.
When you’ve formed your cell group to smash the mechanism of the state, let me know. Meanwhile, I’m going to keep doing the work as best as I’m able.
Then I’ve no quarrel with you. Furthermore, I commend you on your thirty years of work. You’ll forgive my ignorance of that piece of information, as I honestly could not remember your posting here for very long before this column. Your username is not as familiar to me as that of Shane Shekel, Paul Murray, or even Cabrogal or Krulac (whatever happened to them?)
And if I gave the impression that I was going to go out and form some ‘cell group’ then I apologize. I recognize and make no excuses for my lack of brains, charisma, etc. that such an undertaking would require, even if I thought that was the right path to take (which I don’t). At best, all I could hope to do is just to stay out of the way.
Indeed, you say you’ve been scoffed at by armchair revolutionaries. I’m one to scoff at said revolutionaries, if you will, because like you I recognize they are no more likely to put their words into practice than I am going to be President of the USA.
The words in my third paragraph were admittedly my poor attempt to be sarcastic. It was prompted by my trying to square the positivity of this column with previous ones such as “To the Ground” and “Wildfire,” which widens the scope considerably in terms of what should or shouldn’t happen in the future. I’ve gotten into rather heated discussions on those posts and elsewhere, because quite honestly rhetoric which suggests the need for slaughter on a grand scale as the ultimate conclusion frightens me.
Despite the frustration in my original post, I do hope your project is successful. Unfortunately, that hope is tempered by the knowledge that has come from years of reading the news columns here. If I must now be skeptical, I must be skeptical of everything, including those I want to agree with.
Sorry, slight addendum: I should have said ‘Please forgive my ignorance’ in the first paragraph.
So glad to see this happening. I believe it will only take a small group of clients and sexworkers willing to speak out to expose the entire hypocrisy of our laws which ban sex work and punish clients and providers. Social change will come, just as it has for gays and lesbians, and as is happening right now with marijuana.
Reblogged this on John Oliver Mason.
[…] while back, Maggie McNeill posted about a group called Clients of Sex Workers Allied for Change (CoSWAC) which has a website they […]
[…] Sex work clients, a.k.a. “johns”, “punters” and/or “sex buyers” – Demonized as pathetic losers or sick deviants, the only disagreement among prohibitionists appears to be whether they should be rehabilitated through so-called “johns schools” or just plain locked up. I’m sure that clients have also been accused of being part of the mythical Pimp Lobby, despite the fact that client activism for sex worker rights has only very recently gotten off the ground. […]