Decriminalize Sex Work

DECRIMINALIZATION IS A NECESSARY STEP TO REFORMING THE SEX INDUSTRY

By Rachel Hale, Culture Editorial Assistant • Design by Channing Smith, Art Director

While its mode of delivery varies, sex has been sold or used to sell products since the beginning of time. From burgers to brothels, fitness models to fetishists and Playboy to pornstars, consumer demand for sex and the illusion of sex will exist as long as the earth spins on its axis. But regulation across the sex work industry is not a one-size-fitsall standard, and legal barriers have forced many sex workers into underground means of work, raising safety, security and health concerns. If we can’t stop prostitution and related work, we should focus on making it safe — it’s time to decriminalize consensual sex work.

While the sale of sex occurs underground in brothels and venues across America, prostitution is currently only legal in eight counties of Nevada.1 In recent years, a rise in activism has led to encouraging legislation and calls for action. In 2003, New Zealand became the first country to decriminalize sex work, and Amnesty International called on all governments to

1 Michelle Rindels, “The Indy Explains: How Legal Prostitution Works in Nevada,” The Nevada Independent - Your State. Your News. Your Voice., May 27, 2018. do the same in 2016, asking legislators to include “sex workers in the development of laws that affect their lives and safety.”2 Last year, a group of New York lawmakers went a step further by introducing a bill that would terminate prior convictions on account of engaging in prostitution.3

Decriminalizing sex work is beneficial from a safety, regulatory and economic standpoint. After Rhode Island accidentally legalized prostitution, allowing it to occur legally from 2003 to 2009, rape and STIs decreased sharply throughout the state,4 in addition to a 30% decrease in reported rape of sex workers.5

Research indicates that decriminalization could avert

2 “Amnesty International Publishes Policy and Research on Protection of Sex Workers’ Rights,” Amnesty International USA, May 24, 2016 3 “New York State Assembly,” Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly, June 10, 2019 4 Cunningham, Scott, and Manisha Shah, “‘Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health’” (National Bureau of Economic Research) July 2014. 5 “Is Sex Work Decriminalization the Answer? What the Research Tells Us” (New York City, NY: American Civil Liberties Union, 2020), pp. 6. between 33% and 46% of all HIV related infections in the next ten years.6 Moreover, decriminalizing sex work would mitigate the worries that stop many prostitutes from going to the police about abusive behavior from clients or even law enforcement themselves due to the risk of a criminal record. Regulation could also enforce the use of condoms, vetting of clients and routine safety checks within brothels, keeping prostitution out of the streets and away from underage clients or workers. Furthermore, decriminalization could rid court systems of the massive time and cost of enforcing criminal penalties for prostitution, which some studies show costs roughly $64,000 a year per sentence.7

Many opponents to legalization bring up the dangers of sex work, and rightly so: as one of the most dangerous professions in the world, sex workers are at a high risk of abuse, sexual

6 Pamela Das Das and Richard Horton, “HIV and Sex Workers: Bringing Sex Workers to the Centre of the HIV Response” The Lancet, 2014. 7 Juhu Thurkal and Melissa Ditmore, “Revolving Door - An Analysis of StreetBased Prostitution in New York City” Global Network of Sex Work Projects, 2003.

exploitation, rape and stigma from clients, gangs and law enforcement. Nearly 55% of all prostitutes start underage,8 and New York City’s Legal Aid Society’s Exploitation Intervention Project found that 80% of those trafficked entered the industry at 21 or younger.9 But using criminal penalties for prostitution ignores the root causes of the industry’s problems with underage workers, which stem from a lack of education, impoverished street culture and a lack of stability or safety at home, often compounded by discrimination like racism or homophobia.

Sex work advocates also warn against conflating the legalization of sex work with the legalization of exploitation via human trafficking, which has occurred previously at international agreements and within media.10 Notably, in 2018, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) penalized websites for advertising consensual prostitution services or human trafficking, but also led to more dangerous working conditions for sex workers in the process by taking away online vetting options for clients.11

In a U.S. study of online-based sex workers, 33% reported an increase in violence from clients since the SESTA/FOSTA restriction; another study found that 60% of surveyed sex workers reported a need to take on riskier clients since the legislation.12 Despite arguments from those that oppose it, legalizing online sites and decriminalizing sex work would have the opposite effect, increasing safety by allowing workers to negotiate fees or

8 Meredith Dank, Jennifer Yahner, and Lilly Yu, “Consequences of Policing Prostitution” New York City: Urban Institute, 2017. 9 Ibid 10 “Sex Work Is Not Trafficking” Global Network of Sex Work Projects, 2011 11 “Is Sex Work Decriminalization the Answer? What the Research Tells Us” (New York City, NY: American Civil Liberties Union, 2020), pp. 1 12 Ibid conditions prior to meeting with a client, mitigating the need for pimps and encouraging sex workers to report cases of abuse.

Furthermore, a significant amount of the danger surrounding sex work comes from law enforcement itself, making it rare for crimes against workers to be punished, and nearly impossible for sex workers to report instances of abuse. A study of street-based sex work in New York City found that 80% of respondents had been threatened with or experienced violence while on the job, with 17% experiencing sexual assault from police officers themselves,13 and a D.C. based study found that nearly 80% of sex workers surveyed had gone to the police with problems, “but in many instances officers refused to assist them or made the situation worse.”14 With a lack of violence accountability from police and a dearth of employment resources and housing services, many workers find themselves trapped in a cycle of violence and vulnerability that could only be fixed with regulation efforts.

Sex work is nicknamed “the oldest profession in history” for a reason — prostitution is mentioned as far back as Hammurabi’s code and brothels date back to 5th century B.C. Greece. But in recent years, new venues for sex-work related content, such as OnlyFans, an Instagram-like platform for racy pictures, have changed the game forever. Launched in 2016, the web platform has over 50 million registered users and a million content creators, who might dress up in kinky costumes or make posts catered to their users’ desires.15

13 Juhu Thurkal and Melissa Ditmore, “Revolving Door - An Analysis of StreetBased Prostitution in New York City” Global Network of Sex Work Projects, 2003. 14 Saunders, Penelope, and Jennifer Kirby. “Move Along: Community-based Research into the Policing of Sex Work in Washington, D.C.” Social Justice 37, no. 1 (119) (2010): 107-27. 15 “OnlyFans Statistics – Users, Revenue and Usage Stats,” Influencer Marketing Hub, December 14, 2020 While the average influencer earning from the platform is about $180 a week, top creators can rake in numbers upwards of millions. Jem Wolfie, a top Australian fitness model on the platform, disclosed that she was hauling in an average of $30,000 a day from her audience, a majority of which are young men.16 Accessibility and anonymity have combined to create the top-performing industry that is pornography, which comes in at $15 billion a year by conservative estimates.17 Strip clubs are another key player in the business, bringing in roughly $8 billion a year in revenue.18 If the selling of →

16 Ben O’Shea, “How Jem Wolfie Built an Insta Empire,” PerthNow, April 9, 2019 17 “Porn Could Be Worth More to the US than Netflix or the NFL,” Porn could be worth more to the US economy than Netflix, the NBA, or the NFL - Quartz, June 21, 2018 18 Jeremy Moses, “US Specialized Industry Report: Strip Clubs,” IBIS World, December 2019

sexual content is legal on all other fronts, it is only a natural extension that the act itself should be legalized as well.

Even among workers within the community, in-person sex workers are often at the bottom of the industry’s theoretical hierarchy that is sometimes referred to as “lateral whorephobia,” experiencing stigma at a higher degree than cam girls or exotic dancers.19 While there is undeniably a dangerous aspect to sex work, activists argue that lots of sex workers choose to come to the industry purely because they enjoy the work. Many are students, aspiring professionals or work another job. In order for workers to gain access to the same healthcare and legal amenities provided in other industries, it is crucial to get rid of the view that all sex workers are victims who need rescuing.

But while sex work is a mode of empowerment for some, who may refer to themselves by names like dominatrix or sugar baby, for others, pushed out of more traditional jobs, it is still a mode of survival. That is the case for many who are at significant employment and housing disadvantages due to their racial, gender or sexual identity, in turn leading to sex work as a means of making money, especially among youth populations.

Moreover, Black sex workers are arrested at a significantly higher rate than white workers, with nearly 40% of those arrested for sex-related crimes in 2015 being Black.20 Having a criminal record is another obstacle to getting a job when this group is already at the most significant employment and housing disadvantage, making it hard to leave the industry. Trans workers face the most dangers and disadvantages within the community, with a Washington DC survey on sex work finding that 36% of trans

19 Andrew Poitras, “What Constitutes Sex Work?,” Hopes&Fears, December 16, 2015 20 Jasmine Sankofa, “From Margin to Center: Sex Work Decriminalization Is a Racial Justice Issue,” Amnesty International USA, December 12, 2016 respondents reported being unemployed compared to 9% of other DC residents, and over 40% of those surveyed “had been denied at least one job due to being perceived as trans.”21

Decriminalization is an intersectional problem, deeply intertwined with systemic oppression in America. If more educational, safety and employment resources were available to young marginalized groups, fewer workers would feel pressure to get involved in the industry.

People pay for sexual content in a multitude of other ways, so the moral argument that the premise of sex work is unethical is not only incorrect, it’s outdated. Men who pay for prostitution, sometimes nicknamed “Johns,” are more common than many realize. From the common man to the famed, those who buy sex could be your colleagues, doctors or favorite actors. To put it simply: without demand, the sex industry wouldn’t exist. Pushing an already unsafe industry further into the dark, away from regulations and protections, isn’t working — keeping prostitution illegal on moral grounds only gives pimps and human traffickers a chance to take advantage of sex workers who can’t turn to law enforcement for help.

Previous efforts to curtail prostitution have failed because the sale of sex is a two-part equation, requiring decriminalization of both the sale and purchase of sex; our current system fails to protect workers from exploitation, abuse from clients and law enforcement, and health problems. At its core, decriminalization is a feminist, racial justice and human rights issue, and through a combination of legalizing sex work and improving resources for marginalized communities, we can finally give sex workers the respect they deserve. ■

21 Edelman, E.A., Corado, R., Lumby, E.C., Gills, R.H., Elwell, J., Terry, J.A., & Emperador Dyer, J. Access Denied: Washington, DC Trans Needs Assessment Report. DC Trans Coalition. 2015.

At its core, decriminalization is a feminist, racial justice and human rights issue, and through a combination of legalizing sex work and improving resources for marginalized communities, we can finally give sex workers the respect they deserve.