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“Dragged Off By The Hair”: An Indian Sex Worker Recalls a Raid

By
Parker
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VAMP members after the raid (Photo by Dale Bangkok, courtesy of Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers)
VAMP members after the raid (Photo by Dale Bangkok, courtesy of Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers)

Sitting in a warm room in Phnom Penh with several other women from the Asia Pacific region, Kamalabai Pani, a sex worker and a board member of Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP, Prostitutes’ Collective Against Injustice) in India, became visibly upset when discussion turned to the efforts of U.S.-led feminist groups to discredit several United Nations bodies’ recommendations to decriminalize sex work in support of HIV prevention. These recommendations have been welcomed by sex worker-led groups as they believe criminalization endangers not only condom use but their very livelihoods.

In their writings and speeches, Western feminist groups have used the tactic of labeling sex worker collectives—essentially a form of trade union—as “promoters of prostitution” and “traffickers.” This lack of logic infuriates sex worker union advocates and the impact on sex workers’ lives is far more severe.

A warm woman with a demeanor of quiet strength, Pani spoke with anger recalling the raid on the VAMP community on May 20th, 2005. “These guys came to our brothel area and gave out contraceptives and sweets. Then they asked us details about the girls, how much they studied and things like that. The next day, a Friday, then came the police. There were about 40 people in plain clothes, 20-30 police in six vehicles that came to the red light area of Gokulnagar. They blocked off about five lanes and the houses. They did not ask us anything, they just came in.”

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“The Higher End of the Community”: John Scarpa and Solidarity

By
Emma Caterine
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RIP Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar (photo via the Gothamist)
RIP Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar (photo via the Gothamist)

There are John Scarpas everywhere. There is a John Scarpa in every department of the federal government. There is a John Scarpa in every police department. Every four years, a John Scarpa is nominated to run for president. Our world is full of John Scarpas. The difference is that, unlike his doppelgangers, the actual John Scarpa stated the ethical beliefs that underlie the transphobia, whorephobia, and HIV criminalization policies carried out at every level of government around the globe out loud.

For those who missed it, John Scarpa was a Queens-based defense attorney for Rasheen Everett, the murderer of trans sex worker Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar. And while Everett acted out the hate in his heart by killing Gonzalez-Andujar for being transgender, his attorney acted out his own hate by way of his defense. From The Gothamist:

…defense attorney John Scarpa caught the ire of the judge when he argued against the victim’s character. “Shouldn’t that [sentence] [twenty five years] be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain classes of individuals?” he reportedly asked, adding, “Who is the victim in this case? Is the victim a person in the higher end of the community?”

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Trafficking Laws: Abetting Violence Against Sex Workers

By
Tara Burns
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nobadwomenTerra Burns runs the informative Sex Trafficking In Alaska site, which provides information on how Alaska’s sex trafficking laws harm the people they are supposed to protect and those who are in the sex industry by choice. This is a speech she will be giving today, December 17th, the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

In Alaska, independent prostitutes and actual trafficking victims have been prosecuted under state and federal trafficking laws. Keyana Marshall, one of the featured cases on Terra’s site, is a victim of violent sex trafficking who was convicted under federal law of conspiring (with her trafficker) to traffick. You can listen to Keyana tell her story here.

A few years ago I was visiting a friend in Canada, where prostitution is basically legal. She was working with a collective of escorts—they worked together and shared the expenses of a workplace, advertising, and security. In the United States, they call this a sex trafficking ring and the women involved would be called felons, but in Canada they just call it common sense, more fun, and more safe.

So, we’re sitting around and the phone rings. It’s a woman who had been part of the collective but she’d gotten back together with a boyfriend and no one had heard from her in a while. She said she only had a minute to talk, that her boyfriend had just stepped out and he would hurt her if he knew she called. He had been keeping her in a hotel room, feeding her drugs, pimping her out and taking all the money.

This is the sort of sex trafficking that people need protection from.

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Xin’Ai: Chinese Sex Workers Helping Each Other

By
Lanlan
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lanlan1
Lanlan conducting legal training conducted at Xin’Ai’s office. Photos courtesy of the author.

Willa Dong reached out to us as a translator/liason for Chinese sex worker activist Lanlan, who founded the Xin’Ai Home. We’re very happy to have Lanlan’s account of working to create and grow an NGO from the ground up. For more information on detainment of sex workers in China, as well as general background, read this report by Asia Catalyst, an organization that has worked with Lanlan in the past and to whose blog Dong has contributed to.

“Let us face disease, discrimination, the police, love, and family together because we are sisters. Let us welcome the rain, and embrace the sunshine!” –Excerpt from Xin’Ai’s blog

In May 2008, four sex workers established the Xin’Ai Home, a not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, in the Dongli District of Tianjin, China. The organization was founded with the aims of promoting self-confidence and self-love, as well as fostering solidarity and mutual aid, to uphold the rights of female sex workers, eliminate violence against women, and increase awareness of women’s health. This organization primarily serves low-income female sex workers, including providing HIV/STD prevention workshops, health care referrals,  training in vocational skills, violence prevention, and women’s legal issues. As of now, over 90% of female sex workers in Dongli District have received services from Xin’Ai, and around 3000 people in total have been reached. All of Xin’Ai’s staff members are women, and currently there are three full-time staff, two part-time staff and ten volunteers.

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The Week In Links—December 13

By
suzyhooker
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RIP sex worker murder victim Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, pictured with friend Barbara Vega on the right. (Photo via tgforum.com)
RIP sex worker murder victim Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, pictured with friend Barbara Vega on the right. (Photo via tgforum.com)

The New York Times ran an editorial endorsing the pending legislation in France to criminalize the clients of sex workers. The editorial qualifies its opinion by stating: “Nine out of 10 prostitutes in France are reported to be of foreign origin, and many are presumed to be victims of sex traffickers.” Um, source? Let’s join in on the fun! It is the esteemed opinion of the editorial board at Tits and Sass that the New York Times is severely lacking competent fact checkers. Nine of the 10 fact checkers at the New York Times are actually just plush Furbies masquerading as copy editors. The staff has yet to notice.

Melissa Gira Grant responded to the editorial. She even defended her argument with something called “evidence.”

In good sex worker news, California’s Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board voted to overturn the odious provision that prevented sex workers in illegal sectors of the sex industry from receiving victims’ compensation for sexual assault. The policy denied compensation to anyone engaged in an illegal activity at the time of their assault.

Sex workers in Bangalore are sick of getting harassed and assaulted by police officers.

Hey strip club owners, figure out how to legally classify dancers before you get yourselves sued.

New York attorney John Scarpa suggested that a sentence of twenty five years was too long for his client to be sentenced for killing trans sex worker Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar: “Shouldn’t that be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain classes of individuals?” Thankfully, Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter wasn’t buying it: “This court believes every human life in sacred. It’s not easy living as a transgender, and I commend the family for supporting her.” Look forward to more on this story from contributor Emma Caterine as part of Tits and Sass’ International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers coverage.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, the murderer of Ece, an Izmir trans sex worker, was judged not guilty and freed by the local courts this week.

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