Comments on: Will the “Washington Madam” Scandal Help Destigmatize Sex Work?

By: SITPS.org: A Labor Day Call to Johns « Sex in the Public Square

SITPS.org: A Labor Day Call to Johns « Sex in the Public Square — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:07:02 +0000

[...] remember what I’d written about. My breath caught in my throat when I found that I’d written this, also about Deborah Jeane and about my speculation that perhaps the exposing of high profile [...]

By: Perverted News Roundup #3 at Literate Perversions

Perverted News Roundup #3 at Literate Perversions — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:55:50 +0000

[...] Will the “Washington Madam” Scandal Help Destigmatize Sex Work? (Sex in the Public Square): Elizabeth Wood shows less schadenfreude in the demise of the abstinence king’s public career, and looks in a more practical manner at what it could mean in the long run for the dignity of sex workers. A lot of the modern-day gains for gays and lesbians, after all, came about because massive numbers of gays came out of the closet or were outed. And, she points out, while legalization of prostituion would be a step in the right direction, true dignity for sex workers will never come about while the stigma attached to their work allows society to mark them as disposable. [...]

By: baconeater

baconeater — Wed, 09 May 2007 01:33:06 +0000

-Access to health care and education
They have the same access as everyone else right now. If they can afford it, they get the good stuff. Otherwise they rely on the emergency room/free clinic model just like the rest of us.

-The right to organize and join unions
Yeah, good luck with that one! I believe the phrase “herding cats” might apply here.

-Zero tolerance for coercion, violence, forced labor or child labor.
Great idea, but to enforce it we will need to have an OSHA inspector at every sex act. Or possibly we will have to regulate where the acts take place so we can video tape each one. In other words – how on earth would you reinforce this in the sex room? If you are talking about violence, coercioin and forced labor outside the sex room, those are completely and totally illegal right now, but prostitutes won’t report pimps and johns.

-Access to legal assistance when necessary to enforce one’s rights
Already exists for prostitutes just like it does for everyone else.

-Safe working conditions and fair pay
Again, how will this be enforced? You would need to have work places inspected and certified. We can’t even get our food inspected and certified. No matter how legal you might wish it to be, it will never be a priority to spend tax dollars making prostitutes lives nicer when our schools and hospitals are falling apart.

Wish it were not so, but it is.

By: Elizabeth Wood

Elizabeth Wood — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:56:17 +0000

Mollishka, your clarification really helps. I haven’t studied the question myself but I’d be very confident in guessing that those who are under 25 and who get arrested and jailed for prostitution are more representative of a subset of prostitutes than they are of prostitutes in general. For example, I’d guess that drug-addicted prostitutes are more likely to engage in behavior that is more likely to result in arrest than are non-drug addicted prostitutes (e.g., working on the street, for example, making drug buys as part of their prostitution exchanges). Does that correspond to your experience with the population you mention?

By: mollishka

mollishka — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:08:27 +0000

*shrug*. I’m sure there are, in fact, a multitude of reasons, but in my experience those are the two main reasons people jailed for prostitution under the age of about 25 cite for getting into it.

By: belledame222

belledame222 — Tue, 08 May 2007 02:36:01 +0000

mollishka: uh, no: i believe the most biggest reason is because of, y’know, the money.

and, what EW said.

btw, do you know this blog?

http://deepthroated.wordpress.com/

By: Elizabeth Wood

Elizabeth Wood — Sun, 06 May 2007 17:19:56 +0000

I am as surprised to read that there are only two reasons people get into prostitution as I am to read that prostitution is always akin to slavery or abuse. I think the reality is much more complicated, and that it is obscured when we separate sexual labor from all other kinds of labor. People work at demeaning jobs that are not sexual in nature, and not all prostitution is equally demeaning or abusive. An upscale call girl or escort and a homeless street prostitute do not have the same working conditions.

I take the call to help poor women — and poor people more generally — as a serious call. The limitations on agency and freedom that the poor face are serious and require lots of social changes in order to eliminate them. My suggestions are very much in line with those of the International Union of Sex Workers, mentioned by Audacia Ray in her comment above. Namely:

-Access to health care and education
-The right to organize and join unions
-Zero tolerance for coercion, violence, forced labor or child labor.
-Access to legal assistance when necessary to enforce one’s rights
-Safe working conditions and fair pay

These are conditions that all workers, regardless of industry, should have as a matter of course. Specific to sex workers, I also support decriminalization and destigmatization. If the conditions in which sex work is performed are conditions that support workers’ autonomy and safety, then it becomes a more reasonable option as a chosen occupation.

By: mollishka

mollishka — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:24:47 +0000

Listen, the two reasons people go into prostitution are because they have a drug habit to support or because they *gasp* like sex. Clearly, the first reason is a problem because it means the workers don’t like their work and are more likely to allow themselves to be treated like crap. The reason “no one wants their child to grow up to be a prostitute” is because, in a place where it is illegal, there is a great amount of shame and ridiculous thinking associated with it. Yes, people with drug addictions who go into prostitution because they will do anythin get the money—that is clearly an external problem that needs fixing at the source. But sex workers who have their jobs because they like them? Quite a different scenario.

By: noidont

noidont — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:27:51 +0000

I don’t know what you all are smoking, but NO this will not de-stigmatize prostitution. Prostitution is the buying and selling of human beings and as a country and a culture, we are opposed to it, hence the stigmatization.

If you truly care about women, please please work on alternatives for poor and desperate women. Then you can tell me women “choose” prostitution.

Trying to fight for better working condistions for prostitutes is like trying to get better working conditions for slaves – it doesn’t help the underlying condition.

In fact, you are contributing to the continuing abuse of these women by trying to convince us that it is just “work”. If you have been anywhere near actual prostitution, you know it is not work and you are perpetrating a huge lie by calling it that. When you have the 5th man in a row in your mouth that day, and he is calling you degrading names, it is far beyond work, it is abuse.

Making it legal will not stop the pain and humiliation. De-stigmatizing it will not stop it either. No one wants their child to grow up to be a prostitute. (unless they truly hate their child). There is a reason for that. It is an awful thing to go through.

I doubt you will publish this comment since it doesn’t fit in with your consensual hallucination that abuse and humiliation is fun and games. But I really beg you to consider the damage you are doing to real women when you call their abuse “work.”

By: Audacia Ray

Audacia Ray — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:20:41 +0000

I’m sorry I didn’t see you/get to chat with you on Tuesday night, but I hope you enjoyed the opening.

You might be interested in the work that the International Union of Sex Workers (http://www.iusw.org/) is doing. They are primarily active in the UK as a part of the GMB, which last fall helped a phone sex worker win back her job after they found that she’d been fired illegally.

In addition to unions, I think the legal system can sometimes be used in powerful ways for sex workers – at least, for those who do legal work. In the upcoming issue of $pread, there is an article about an exotic dancer who has successfully sued several clubs for back pay and gotten back her stage fees ($ dancers pay per shift to work). There are also strong unionizing efforts in Australia, where some forms of prostitution are legal. Women in strip clubs there have recently gotten things like sick pay and maternity leave.

So its possible – just more possible for those in legal professions to organize. Excerpt for maybe the porn industry, which seems pretty hopeless.

By: The SmackDog Chronicles » Blog Archive » The DC Madam Scandal: Linkage To Some Sex-Poz/”Whore’s Eye” Perspectives

Thu, 03 May 2007 03:48:03 +0000

[...] Elizabeth Wood (Sex In The Public Square): Will The "Washington Madam" Case Destigmatize Sex Work? [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 02 May 2007 00:45:46 +0000

I think it may depend on how those that used the escort service react. I can’t see the current one who resigned helping much; he basically slinked away in shame. What we need is for one of the politicians to say “I used the service, they were great.”
The only way this will help is if the outed politicians don’t treat the whole issue with shame. Hopefully the public will follow those politicians lead.

By: akargbo

akargbo — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:23:19 +0000

Excellent post!! Here in DC, a group that advocates on behalf of trafficking victims in moving to the the DC city council to pass measures protecting victims that will work in parallel with the federal law.