The Week In Links–April 12th

The Root and the Daily Beast ask porn perfomers whether the industry is racist—the answer is a resounding NO DUH.

A Westminster Council study shows that the recession puts sex workers under a greater risk of violence. This is yet another reason to  adopt the Merseyside model in which crimes against sex workers are treated as hate crimes in court.

The Scottish Trade Union Congress forbade the Sex Worker Open University from using their site to have a Sex Worker Worker’s Rights Conference at the last minute, claiming that the Congress supported sex workers organizing but also supported the Swedish model of criminalizing clients. (Maybe we need to write a primer on how those two positions are functionally contradictory.) The Scotsman reports that this didn’t put a damper on the attendees’ protest—they protested *outside* the Scottish Trade Union Congress in opposition to the Swedish model, chanting, “Rhoda [Grant], don’t erode our rights!” (Rhoda Grant is the Labour MSP behinds the push to criminalize clients.)

Despite the usual moral panic in that regard, here’s yet more evidence that teen prostitutes are not languishing on the streets of New Zealand.

The Sabotage Times explores Brazil’s new upmarket hipster brothels. Apparently, nothing can escape  being tarred by a hipster brush.

Freakonomics hosts an interview with Maxine Doogan of  the Erotic Service Providers’ Union, on the term “sex work” and the disadvantages of legalization vs  decriminalization.

The New York Times reports yet more dangers New Yorkers can run into while walking while trans. Make The Road New York, a community organizing group which works with Latinos, issued a report last fall which shows that in a 300 respondent survey they took, while 24% of straight residents reported being the subject of a stop-and-frisk in Jackson Heights, 54% of LGBT respondents reported such an encounter. Those subject to such treatment are often arrested on suspicion of loitering for the purposes of prostitution, whether condoms-as-evidence are involved or not.

The English in this deteriorates rapidly and hilariously, and the attitudes displayed are disturbing, but it’s worth reading if simply because we’ve never read anything about Tanzanian sex workers before.

The Supreme Court of Canada is poised to strike down all laws criminalizing activities associated with sex work as unconstitutional. The Sex Professionals of Canada and other sex worker groups are cautiously optimistic.

Tuppy Owens, the creator of TLC-Trust, a service which connects disabled people with a network of sex workers willing to work with them, wrote an op ed in the Guardian celebrating these sex workers’ efforts.

RH Reality Check is covering the Argentine Congress’ adoption of two new bills, one which criminalizes the buying of sex from victims of trafficking, and one which criminalizes the buying of sex, period, making no distinction for voluntary sex work. UNAIDS has carried out studies showing that rescue industry efforts like brothel raids that treat all sex workers as victims of violence contribute to decreased safety for sex workers by forcing many of them to move constantly from one place to another, undermining the social networks that can help to keep sex workers safe. Governments like Argentina should have a more nuanced approach to sex work, one that puts stock in the voices of sex workers themselves.

In Nigeria, HIV workers lament that the continued arrests of at-risk groups like sex workers, men who have sex with men, and IDUs hamper anti-HIV efforts.

A surprisingly non whorephobic piece of coverage in the Las Vegas Sun seems to take pride in Las Vegas coming up number 6 in a SeekingArrangement.com list of  Best Places to Find a Sugar Daddy.

A West Australian legislators has spoken out against legalizing brothels in that county. Without any evidence to back his arguments–what, was anyone expecting any?–he claims  that legalization leads to ” a mushrooming of the sex industry and generally creates a massive problem of trafficking in women,” as well as encouraging ” organised crime.”

A Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of the PEPFAR anti-prostitution loyalty oath has NGOs split down the middle opinion wise. Of course, no sex worker run groups were quoted in this article.