IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE Issue 11
6
Doctors for Life Protest against the Decriminalization of Sex Work by Tanaka, Contributing Editor
AIDS 2016 protesting | Activists at the 2016 AIDS Conference in Durban (Left). Sex worker rights activists rush to counter the Doctors for Life (Right).
It is almost impossible to talk about sex work without talking about morality. This however needs to be addressed with utmost caution. One first needs to define morality and furthermore, explain the grounds of morality. One thing is for certain, there is bound to be conflict as what one person would deem immoral could be another’s morality. Wednesday the 20th of July, which marked the 3rd day into the 21st International AIDS Conference, saw a protest orchestrated by Doctors for Life. This was aimed at denouncing the call for the decriminalisation of sex work. Their arguments were based on religious values and unfounded statements which were totally baseless and intellectually bankrupt to have been drafted by “doctors”. We were minding our business in the Global Village at the SWEAT stand, patiently waiting for Sir Elton John and the Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa to visit us. A colleague from Scotland came running to us with a beautifully designed flyer with these words printed on it: “If you
are female, jobless, homeless and hungry, Sisonke and SWEAT have a job for you. Become a prostitute!” She alerted us that there were protestors outside who were anti-decrim and were handing out these flyers and one that one should not be seen wearing a pro-sex work t-shirts. All members of the Global Network of Sex Workers took their red umbrellas and went out to counter these protesters. There were now two fronts outside the Hilton Hotel with conflicting messages. Thankfully this did not end in a catastrophe as one group could not stand the heat—and that was definitely not the sex workers. First of all, there were no women among these protesters and yet they were voicing concerns on the dignity of women. Furthermore, they claimed that decriminalising sex work would promote pimps and traffickers. I have witnessed sex workers who feared to report cases of trafficking and abuse by clients and pimps because they feared second victimisation under the criminalised system as they too
are labeled as criminals. If one looks at a decriminalised system, sex workers will be free to report such cases without fear. These so called activists for “human dignity” accuse Sisonke and SWEAT of promoting and recruiting females to become “prostitutes”. Here is a breakdown for those who agree with Doctors for Life: SWEAT as an organization that works with sex workers in terms of health and human rights and Sisonke, the only national sex workers’ movement in South Africa, do not recruit women to become “prostitutes”. These two entities ensure that adults of any gender (18 years and older) who choose to engage in sex work are able to access services as any other citizens without being discriminated against. Here’s a piece of advice to the Doctors for Life: Please change your name to something else. You can’t claim to be entities “for life” when you are in support of a system that has seen many sex workers perish around the globe without justice being served.