Today I am very happy and validated, because I found a rare article in the liberal news media that actually supports the sexualised violence industry: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/26/pop-up-brothels-inquiry-one-sided-sex-workers-criminalisation-nordic-model Yay! ^_^

“An investigation into “pop-up brothels” – short-term lets in which people sell sex – was launched by the all-party parliamentary group on prostitution on Monday…
From its outset the inquiry has distanced itself from the living,
breathing people who sell sex. The UK’s estimated 80,000 sex workers are
reduced to “prostituted women”, their work seen solely as “commercial sexual exploitation”. There seems little room for nuance.”

How dare the government reduce empowered, independent sex workers to mere victims or survivors? Suggesting that any of us suffer violence or don’t consent to our careers is offensive! I love my job, and no amount of trafficking victims and their lived experience can ever erase that.

“The UK desperately needs further inquiries into the sex industry. We
need to know the extent to which austerity is driving women into
prostitution, we need to look honestly at whether immigration policies
create the conditions for trafficking. There is a still a huge gap in
knowledge around the basic makeup of the industry; we need statistics on
who works, where they work, and how.”

Weeell, that’s maybe going a bit too far. How are we supposed to celebrate everyone’s free choice to enter the industry if we investigate whether or not some people are forced into it by poverty or trafficking? (And anyway, how would it affect me? I don’t care whether or not other people are forced into it, that’s their problem.)

In fact, the inquiry’s terms of reference indicate that it is interested
only in “pop-up brothels”, in particular those run by criminal gangs.

That’s better. If we’re interested in finding out about pimping or trafficking, we shouldn’t be looking into criminal gangs. I used to work for a so-called “criminal gang”, and I consented to everything we did! Apart from a couple of times when Sid “The Snake” made me do a hit that we hadn’t agreed on

By narrowing the goalposts of who will be deemed representative of the
industry, the parliamentary group has ensured the vast majority of
workers are silenced.

See? The vast majority of workers don’t work in pop-up brothels or for criminal gangs! I don’t know when this research was done (given the huge gap in knowledge around the basic makeup of the industry) but it’s good to know.

Sex workers don’t use the cringeworthy, hipster term “pop-up brothel”,
but working from short-term lets is common. Either independently or for
managers, sex workers travel for work.

The author is a good ally. I’m always pleased to see the correct language being used, “manager” instead of “pimp” or “handler”, and “sex worker” instead of “trafficking victim” or “stranglewank hitman”.

“Pop-up brothels”, in as much as they exist, are so demonstrably an
effect of criminalisation, this inquiry has already shot itself in the
foot.

This is exactly the reason I have to keep moving to new safehouses, to avoid arrest and prosecution for committing murders. And my clients are always having to pay off or avoid the police, to stop them arresting them for hiring me! Clients who pay for murders, and clients who pay for sex under economic coercion, should be decriminalised!

That exploitation happens in sex work is disputed by no one, least of all sex workers. And danger only increases when people are unable to work from a stable base.

Not to judge our clients or anything; they’re perfectly nice people who shouldn’t be criminalised. But yes, sometimes they do try to “silence” me, or threaten to break my legs if I don’t do a job for them, or refuse to pay me. That still doesn’t mean they deserve to be criminalised though! Really, to blame any one group of people in particular for the danger and exploitation would be wrong. I wouldn’t want anyone to think badly of our clients, managers or agencies. (Though if you’re going to blame someone, blame the mean, bitchy, dried-up old “feminists” who want to send those nice people to prison!)

Worryingly, the parliamentary group has not made links with any
sex-worker-led organisations, and no current sex workers have been
included in framing the initial terms of reference.

I’ve been saying this for a long time now. If someone’s not currently involved in the industry, they have no stake in the issue, since it doesn’t affect them any more. Being a sex worker doesn’t cause any lasting harm, so why should it still affect them?

Each member is strongly in favour of criminalisation in the form of the Nordic model – in which anyone paying for sex is a criminal, and sex workers bodies’ become, by definition, scenes of a crime. This despite sex-worker-led organisations around the world
criticising the approach. The Nordic model adds another layer of
criminalisation to the transaction – so anyone who supports it supports
criminalisation.

Emphasis mine. If you support criminalising me and my clients, you support criminalising my targets! I’m sure everyone agrees it would be ridiculous to criminalise a murder victim, so why would you criminalise me for committing it or my clients for hiring me? Same goes for all crimes, you can’t criminalise the perpetrator without criminalising the victim. That’s just how the legal system works.

We need balance not bigotry. Not one member of the parliamentary group
will be affected by the results of this inquiry, but thousands of sex
workers will. Why, yet again, are so many being excluded?

Well, fortunately, I frequent many of the same clubs as Members of Parliament and drink in the same bars, so hopefully I’ll be able to influence them a bit!
😉 

And if any sex workers want to criminalise their clients (e.g. workers who are trafficked or economically coerced or addicted to drugs or underage), perhaps they could also write a nice article for The Guardian, or use their influence and contacts to put both sides of the issue to the government.

Thank-you for your allyship!
🤗

I’ll do my best to influence the government to support decriminalising our lovely clients!