MAY 2013
WesternIndependent
13
FEATURES
Oldest trade wants new laws Goiran says the 2011 Prostitution Bill, introduced by former Attorney General Christian Porter, proposed changes to the Prostitution Act 2000 but had lapsed when the WA election was held. “The Premier is on record as stating that this is a new government and that lapsed bills will not simply be reinstated on to the notice paper,” he says. “It is clear from answers given in parliament that the police remain hamstrung by the failure of the public prosecutor to enforce existing laws against organised prostitution.” Stardust says she would not want the current laws enforced. “Evidence shows that rather than acting as a deterrent, these laws would force sex workers underground to work illegally,” she says. “It will reduce our access to essential services, occupational health and safety, human rights and industrial rights.”
Holly Broockmann
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n Sydney, Kings Cross has provided a neon-lit haven for prostitutes for the best part of 100 years. Perth, however, has no equivalent. That is because, in Western Australia, prostitution remains illegal. Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory have all licensed the ‘oldest profession’, while, in the ACT and New South Wales it has been decriminalised. Despite efforts from advocacy groups, sex workers in Tasmania, South Australia and WA are forced to flout the law to ply their trade. It does not seem to put them off. While it is almost impossible for police to keep tabs on all of WA’s sex workers, the most recent available figures suggest there are more than 1200 of them.
“When all is said and done, no model will ever eliminate the existence of prostitution”
“We want the same work rights and protections as everybody else” Some, however, have not given up the fight to have their occupations decriminalised. The policy officer at Australia’s top sex workers’ organisation Scarlet Alliance, stripper Zahra Stardust has worked in the sex industry for almost a decade. She says it is time for change. Previously a lawyer, Stardust has three degrees and did her Masters thesis on feminist striptease. She has worked with the United Nations in both Australia and Africa on sexual health and development issues and has spoken at events for International Woman’s Day and The Feminist Conference. She says the best legal framework to ensure sex workers’ safety is to legalise their work. While almost one-third of WA respondents to the most recent University of NSW sex worker survey said a client had pressured them to do something they didn’t want to, most were hesitant to complain to police
PERTH PROTESTORS: Sex workers and supporters protest to decriminalise the sex trade.
about assaults and threats. Stardust says sex workers cannot afford to fear the authorities. “A decriminalised system removes barriers to HIV prevention, amplifies opportunities for health promotion and magnifies capacities for peer education,” she says. Local sex worker advocate Rebecca Davies went to Parliament House, in Perth, on May 18 to protest against WA’s prostitution laws. “We want the same work rights and protections as everybody else,” Davies says. The Coalition Against Trafficking Women in Australia, however, favours a different model altogether.
Spokesperson Sheila Jeffreys says her group wants the State Government to copy the Swedish system, under which the crime is committed by the person who purchases a sexual service. “The [Swedish] legislation sees prostitution as a form of men’s violence towards women, punishes the perpetrators and decriminalises the women,” Jeffreys says. “Legalising prostitution increases the size of the industry and subjects more women and girls to its harms. “It creates trafficking by increasing demand for women. There is authoritative research in Europe to show this now.” South Metropolitan Liberal MP Nick
PHOTO: Supplied.
Goiran says there is evidence of organised crime and trafficking of women in legal brothels in those states which have licensed or decriminalised sex work. He also backs the Swedish system, saying it has been effective in reducing the number of prostitutes and in making pimping and human trafficking less profitable. Jeffreys says any reduction in the incidence of human trafficking would be welcome. Women in the sex industry could even become victims of ‘debt bondage’, which is a form of slavery. “Women who have been trafficked do not have much choice of exiting the industry,” she says.
She says the lapsed 2011 Prostitution Bill would have posed great danger to sex workers. “The Bill [would have] required all sex workers, managers and operators of sex industry businesses to be licensed, and clearly display a license with their legal names at all times in the workplace,” she says. “This is despite evidence that there are serious implications for sex workers when our legal names and identities are made know, including harassment and vilification. “Decriminalisation creates increased transparency and allows migrant workers experiencing labour exploitation to get access to services and industrial rights in a way they cannot under criminalisation.” Goiran says the WA division of the Liberal Party of Australia is divided on proposed brothel laws. “The Premier has recognised this by readily granting a conscience vote on the issue,” Goiran says. “When all is said and done, no model will ever eliminate the existence of prostitution.”
Women travel for plastic surgery Alicia Campbell
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here are silver sliding doors, a big modern foyer and a concierge. You even have your own private room. This, however, is not a five star hotel — this is the Loh Guan Lye Specialists Centre in Penang, Malaysia. The clinic is one of many overseas locations through which thousands of young Australian women pass while on exotic holidays. These women expect their buffet breakfast with a side of boob job. According to University of Technology Sydney senior lecturer Meredith Jones, about 15,000 Australians seek cosmetic surgery procedures overseas each year and 80 per cent of them are young women. They spend a combined total of about $300 million. Jones has launched an interdisciplinary project to study cosmetic surgery tourism through the use of surveys, video diaries and in-depth interviews.
Her targets have been men and women from Australia, China and Japan, but she has also looked at the people who provide the services. The project, titled Sun, Sea, Sand and Silicone: Aesthetic Surgery Tourism, aims to broaden the understanding of the entire phenomenon. The final report reveals Malaysia and Thailand are among the most common destinations because procedures can be half the cost of the same procedures in Australia.
“There is a lot of hypocrisy in that industry coming from Australian cosmetic and plastic surgeons” According to Jones, the women she interviews are almost always 100 per cent happy with the care they received overseas. None of the Australian women she interviewed were unhappy. She claims Australian cosmetic and plastic surgeons are deliberately
smearing the reputations of overseas clinics. She says it’s because they have a vested interest. “They put out all of these press releases like ‘you’re risking your life, you’ve got no insurance’. That’s all true, but what they don’t say is that you’re risking your life when you go to one of them [in Australia] as well,” she says. “There is a lot of hypocrisy in that industry coming from Australian cosmetic and plastic surgeons.” Queensland plastic surgeon Craig Layt says, however, that he sees up to four cases a week where women develop problems after having plastic surgery overseas. Layt, previously president of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, has more than 10 years of plastic surgery experience. According to Layt, many prospective surgery tourists only hear of success stories because patients with ‘botched boob jobs’ are too scared to speak out. “There are a significant number of patients who are having issues. It’s a common thing,” he says. Layt says women need to be aware they are paying for quality medical care in Australia. He warns them against making comparisons purely by price.
“We pay our nurses appropriate Australian wages and we have all these quality control measures we need to live up to, and insurance,” he says. Layt says patients need to realise the decision to have plastic surgery is a complex process. They should have the support of a qualified surgeon and experienced medical staff. He also warns about the lack of insurance cover at overseas facilities.
“...I hope that young women take the time to research and find a surgeon they are comfortable with” Jones says about 20 Australian companies have created surgery packages for Australians, some of which involve travelling with a group of patients in an effort to provide a bonding experience. “Agents set up these packages where you get your flights, surgery, tourism, shopping, sightseeing and
you do it all in a group with other young women,” she says. Jones says some of those who travel end up becoming promoters for the companies after their surgery, sharing their success stories and photos with others who are considering surgery. Jones also says she is not an advocate of plastic surgery tourism, nor any form of plastic surgery for that matter. “But, honestly, our research shows that people that go overseas for their surgery are just as happy if not happier with their results as people who stay here,” she says. A family friend encouraged dental technician Laina Stagoll, 22, to have a breast augmentation at Loh Guan Lye. “I’m only 22 and I still feel that is quite young to be having surgery so I hope that young women take the time to research and find a surgeon they are comfortable with,” she says. Jones says anyone considering surgery should be aware that they only last about ten years. After that, they will need some form of revision – either a lift or a complete replacement. “They’re kind of a ten-year investment, so, for someone who is twenty, doing that means that she’s putting herself down for six more operations,” she says.