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OPINION
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from page 15 Disproportionately, women around the world in prostitution are members of socially disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups. You don’t choose to be born into a disadvantaged racial group or lower caste. The majority of prostituted women worldwide are there because of poverty. Prostituted women tend to come from disadvantaged backgrounds and from families with high rates of interpersonal difficulties. They are more likely to have suffered physical abuse, to have left home and school early, have lower qualifications and fewer work opportunities. Being born into poverty is not a choice. It is common for a prostitute to have been sexually or physically abused prior to entering prostitution. A Stockholm University report says between 55 and 90% of prostituted women have been subjected to sexual abuse as children. An Adelaide study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies of young people aged 12 to 23 living on the streets indicated that 80% of young women and 27% of young men, involved in sex work, had a history of child abuse. 75% of sex workers in Sydney’s Kings Cross reported some form of child sexual abuse. A research project with 30 Melbourne young people working in the sex industry discovered that 16 of them had been in the state care system, while 13 had left home because of physical or sexual abuse or neglect. No one chooses to be abused as a child. Can we continue to turn a blind eye to the vast majority of those caught up in prostitution who are
not there by choice, but because they had no other choice? The US State Department in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report states that Australia is a destination country for girls and women subjected to sex trafficking, predominantly from South East Asia. This exploitation, and the involvement of organised crime, is found in NSW. Sex trafficking would not exist without the demand for commercial sex. This is a violation against human rights in every sense. The Australian Christian Lobby and other groups such as Coalition Against Trafficked Women Australia and Collective Shout support the Swedish approach to prostitution legislation which has also been adopted by many progressive countries including Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Canada. It is also being considered in France, Israel, Ireland, Scotland and Lithuania. This approach recognises prostitution as undermining women’s equality and a form of violence against women. The Swedish approach directly addresses demand for prostitution by criminalising sex buyers and third parties who profit from prostitution, while simultaneously supporting victims and survivors. Prostitution is harmful to women. It is overwhelmingly purchased by men, from women, and is founded on inherent inequality between the sexes. This inquiry is an opportunity for NSW to lead the way with important, progressive reform. Wendy Francis, QLD State Director, Australian Christian Lobby
My tough journey out of prostitution from page 15 I was blind to their emptiness. I wanted out so much. I had initially thought I’d do this only until my student debt was paid off. But two years into prostitution, I read a Bill Hybels book given to me by a university friend. “How can an educated woman be a Christian?” I asked myself. You may be a radical atheist like I was, or perhaps you might be angry at the church. But not all churches are “the” church. And faith is not “the church”; it is about a person’s personal relationship with God. But then, a day comes when the joy of knowing Jesus cannot be held inside your heart anymore. This is the day when you feel no shame in sharing the goodness of having accepted his heavenly father as your saviour. This is the day when Jesus becomes the answer to your pain, and when you truly want others to also feel this incredible relief it brings to know him, to know that he carries all our sins onto his hands, onto the cross, where he died, just for us. Through secular organisations’ support, and intense, regular prayer and counselling, I found a mainstream job in 2009 and was healed from the oppression I was a victim of. I never looked back. 2010 was the year I became prostitution-free. My healing continues as I support others in their marathon effort to transition out. With time, pain fades away. Jesus was and is a warrior for social justice. With him there is no more fear, no more anxiety, no more need for revenge, no more
OCTOBER 2015
Geneviève Gilbert-Quach from Pink Cross Foundation Australia hatred, no more shame in our hearts. Just love. Through God we learn to love others and ourselves, sacrifice some of ourselves, forgive, see the light and express anger in healthy ways. This is me. This was and this is still my prostitution rehab. I now volunteer for Pink Cross Foundation Australia and I speak to numerous former or current prostituted people and addicts as well as those who call themselves “sex workers”. It looks glamorous at the start but the ongoing use of our bodies without consideration for our mind and soul is extremely destructive for a person’s life. I don’t want any woman in this lifestyle going without knowing
there is support, and real options, available instead of selling sex because they are coerced or for survival. God has clearly spoken to me to carry my cross like Jesus has. The stigma that prostitution carries makes this cross very, very heavy. I do need help to carry it. I want to be a voice for those who don’t have one, and to serve them the way Jesus served others. My vision to help others also stems from radical feminism, where we oppose the sexualisation of women’s bodies and raise public awareness about rape and violence against women. Don’t ostracise me, don’t label me, don’t censor me. Please, don’t shoot the messenger.
Full time ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE PRIMARY TEACHER
We are looking for a committed, flexible and caring Early Childhood or Primary teacher to team teach within a bi-literacy and bi-cultural program in a multi-age classroom in North East Arnhem Land. This is an opportunity to be an integral part of remote Indigenous parents achieving their vision for their children towards ‟independent lives of dignity on our ancestral estates”. Mӓpuru Christian School has the capacity to employ a teaching couple to work within our small school. To apply, download the application form from the NT Christian Schools website. Submit your application along with a written response to the selection criteria and required documentation to:
Human Resources NT Christian Schools PO Box 228 KARAMA NT 0813
Phone 08 8920 4355 email human.resources@ntcsa.nt.edu.au Position commences 14th January 2016 Applications close 2nd November 2015