Glenn Kessler is on a roll debunking the hysterical claims of prohibitionists, and this week he slams the “average age of entry into prostitution is 13” stat with four Pinocchios.
In the latest example of anti-trafficking laws destroying futures rather than saving lives, we have two Oregon teens, one of whom is expected to be sentenced to four years in federal prison, after which she can’t access FAFSA or expect most jobs to hire her.
So, if disabled men also pay for sexual services, what happens to them when paying for it becomes a crime? Good question!
Last week’s episode of Carte Blanche, a South African reality show, introduced Gita November, site co-ordinator for South African sex work organization SWEAT, without any condemnation and in fact called her “inspirational.”
The production team behind 8 Minutes says they weren’t expecting the independent sex workers they got, which is still no excuse for how they treated them—and, as the article notes, they weren’t equipped to help trafficking victims either, so it’s just good all around that the show got cancelled.
Last week was the annual Red Umbrella March, which carries new urgency in Vancouver as Canadian workers face End Demand repercussions, although Vancouver police have stated they will not be enforcing the new law.
Faisal Riza, a queer sex worker in Indonesia, is doing harm reduction outreach and education among Indonesian sex workers. Although the climate in Jakarta is less oppressive and homophobic than in the past, it’s an ongoing struggle.
Sex workers from all over Europe, many representing hundreds of thousands of workers in unions, gathered in Lyon to lobby for decriminalization and against the End Demand model, which threatens their lives as well as their livelihoods.
And sex workers in Hyderabad have become empowered, through local outreach and education efforts, to advocate for themselves about safer sex and their rights, giving them a better quality of life.
A court in Japan echoed what every sex worker already knows: paying for sex is not adultery.
Sex workers in Northern Ireland are feeling the pinch of criminalization, as End Demand policy began to be enforced last week.
Laura Lee bravely endured the ignorant antics of a hostile and uneducated radio host to talk about the negative effects of End Demand.
A former escort is mining her past sex work for comedic gold in her new project as a stand up comedian. Lord knows it gives us enough material!
The solid income and flexible schedule offered by sex work have been invaluable to this English mother of four, who refers to her work as a job and [delightfully] to her vagina as commodities. 😀 Same!
Despite this sensationalist and reductive headline—”Addictions Keep Sex Workers On Waterloo Streets”—this article says absolutely nothing new, and in fact contradicts the headline in its very first sentence: sex workers work for money to buy necessities, as everyone does. Glad that got cleared up.
Yet more on the new status of many Nicaraguan sex workers as judicial facilitators.
Australian workers talk about the patchwork of laws governing sex work in the different states of Australia and the ever-increasing threat of End Demand, while New Zealand’s decrim approach remains internationally recognized, particularly for its quelling effect on HIV transmission.
And community mobilization efforts remain the best way to fight against HIV transmission in sex working communities. Now, if only we weren’t criminalized, imagine how much a decreased fear of police could do to empower sex workers to insist upon their right to safety.
i just wanted to say i was 19 when i got into sex business i have no regrets