Bring darkness into light–On Sex Trade

Author: Aliyn Song

the sex trade, Sandy Nubauer, an advocate against legalization reveals the main concerns of most opponents: “We should not even think about legalizing something that promotes violence, trafficking and the abuse of underage girls.”[1] While prostitution has been linked to these offenses, past data reveals that the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany, received “top marks” in the Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S Department of State soon after legalizing the sale of sex, meaning they have a lower risk of trafficking.[2] Therefore, the statement from Nubauer is flawed. It fails to take into account that the real danger is not the sex trade itself, but the horrors of the total unregulated sex trade under illegality. Because of the lack of legal means to safeguard their rights, many sex workers have to be silent and obediently let their rights be violated. The United States, as a country that prohibits the sex trade in most regions, possesses data on the health and safety impacts of criminalization. For example, in a 1994 study of violence and prostitution, 85% of sex workers surveyed in Minnesota had been raped. In New Jersey, 57 percent of sex workers are HIV-positive.[3]

 

Will these problems worsen or ease after the legalization of selling of sex? Expert analysis and research, as well as data from some countries where the sex trade has been legalized, have brought about an unexpected result: the safety and health conditions of sex workers can be improved when the sex trade is legalized.[4] After New Zealand legalized the sex trade, a national survey showed that 70% of sex workers would more likely to report violence through legal means, such as asking the police for help to defend their rights.[5] In addition, the legalization of the sex trade also benefits women who do not work in this industry. When the selling of sex is legal, people are more likely to meet their sexual needs through safe and legitimate channels. A study from Rhode Island, where lawmakers accidentally decriminalized the selling of sex through the deletion of key statutory language, showed a correlation between decriminalization of the sale of sex and a decline in rape cases. From 1980 to 2009, local rape cases decline by 31%.[6] “The more you try to put down prostitution, the higher will be the incidence of crime against innocent women,” said Khushwant Singh, an Indian author, journalist, and lawyer.[7] Abuse by the police could also be reduced if the sex trade were legalized. The selling of sex is still a crime in Ireland, with one study estimating that 30 percent of abuse reported by sex workers comes from the police.[8]

 

Although some claim that decriminalization of sex trade triggers human trafficking, reports and studies refute this view with data. The Nordic Model of sex trade, which criminalizes those who buy sex but does not penalize sex workers, is widely used in European countries. However, according to the report published by the U.N. Human Rights Council from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, “The criminalization of clients has not reduced trafficking or sex work, but has increased sex workers’ vulnerability to violence, harmed HIV responses, and infringed on sex workers’ rights.”[9] This reveals that, in the eyes of the United Nations, the continuation of the Nordic Model is currently insufficient to protect sex workers’ rights. Meanwhile, data from Germany, a country where sex trading is fully legal, tell a different story. In Germany, the selling of sex was legalized in 2001, and its trafficking cases fell by a remarkable 10% from 2001 to 2011.[10]

 

Decriminalization of the sex trade could also further safeguard the right to health of sex workers. In places where the sex trade is illegal, sex workers are more vulnerable to STDs because of the lack of access to the various testing facilities provided by the government to sex workers when prostitution becomes legalized. Additionally, there is little chance for the government to intervene to prevent people from engaging in high-risk sexual behavior by using condoms or other protective means in the sale, which is illegal in itself, further spreading sexually transmitted diseases. This claim has endorsed by a variety of powerful international voices. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly recommends that countries decriminalize sex work to improve women’s health.[11]

 

In a WHO report “Addressing Violence against Sex Workers,” “Violence against sex workers is associated with inconsistent condom use or lack of condom use, and with increased risk of STI and HIV infection. Violence also prevents sex workers from accessing HIV information and services.”[12] According to the International AIDS Conference in Australia, HIV transmission among sex workers could be significantly reduced by 33 to 46 percent if sex trade were decriminalized.[13] Editors of The Lancet, a known British Medical Journal, profess that in order to protect sex workers from sexually transmitted diseases, there is “no alternative” other than legalizing sex work.[14]

 

More interestingly, although the decriminalization of the selling of sex has been mostly considered to expand the sex trade market by encouraging more people to become sex workers, the data reveal the opposite result. In fact, in 2003, when New Zealand just decriminalized the sex trade, the estimated number of sex workers was 5,932. Four years after decriminalization, however, the number had fallen to 2332.[15]

 

       Another argument against legalizing the sex trade is that sex workers are often treated as sex items, so the sex trade actually objectifies women and infringes on women’s equal rights and female independence. In today’s increasingly liberal world of sex, this statement is increasingly untenable. There is no denying that in the era of extreme inequality between men and women, women were often forced to become sex workers, being violated and oppressed by their male costumers. However, in our current society, in which women’s rights and interests are gradually acknowledged and protected, the sex trade itself is gradually getting rid of the shackles of female inferiority. On the contrary, the right of women to freely choose their profession should be valued. In 1988, WHO defined the selling of sex as “dynamic and adaptive sex work, involving a transaction between a seller and buyer of a social service.”[16] Similarly, in 1996, an article in the Annual Review of Sex Research published pointed out that sex workers “simply another category of workers with special problems and needs.”[17] The real pursuit of gender equality cannot be reflected in blindly opposing the legalization of sexual services. Rather, in order to repudiate gender stereotypes, feminists should gradually emphasize that the sexual service itself is a “sexless” industry. Maybe it is still too early to equate sex workers simply with those who sell other services, such as housekeepers. However, a hundred years ago few schools even offered lessons on sex education; even talking about sex in a public setting was strictly taboo. The fact that people have become more open to sex and relevant industry will be emphasized with the progress and development of the times.

 

The legalization of the sex trade, of course, does not represent the birth of a high-risk industry that lacks regulation and order, because the government needs to, and must, establish a complete regulatory process and relevant restrictive laws. In countries that legalize the selling of sex, sex workers still need to pass health checks and other necessary procedures before obtaining licenses. In addition, in order to protect the rights and interests of women and children, a certain minimum age is required to gain certificates for the occupation of the sex trade. For example, Germany issued The New Prostitute Protection Act in 2016, which stipulates that all sex workers need registration certificates, and children under the age of 18 and women who are “pregnant and will give birth within the next six weeks” cannot obtain permission to obtain the certificates.[18] The act also mentions that “a condom must be used during all sex acts” in the context of protecting the right to health of the sex workers.[19] Background checks for business owners are also important, and all the taxes from this new-born industry after legalization will allow countries to further optimize the regulatory conditions and facilities for the industry itself.

 

At a time when people are becoming ever more connected and increasingly concerned with the legal and social well-being, a proper debate about whether or not to legalize sex selling has already taken place, stimulating insightful thought and urging people to improve on our inadequacies—but at the same time, it’s now necessary for us to abandon naivete. When we are too eager, struggling to pursue the light of ideality in reality, it becomes common for us to lose sight in sunless places, just as there always have people who simply oppose the sex of sale because they think it is “wrong” or “immoral” without further reconsideration, being unwilling to look down at the so-called unilluminated corners of humanity where 42 million sex workers live: when a problem exists, and will last in the future, the intelligent would choose to face it. The selling of sex, as “the oldest profession in the world”[20], has existed almost even since the beginning of human civilization, and we have to face the fact that it will always exist. As long as there is a demand, there will be a market.

 

If the shadow cannot be completely erased, why don’t we just bring it to the side where the light shines? Legalizing the sale of sex may never be an end in itself, but an important means to a better protection of women’s rights. “There is a crack in everything……that’s how the light gets in,” Leonard Cohen sang in his song Anthem.[21] Despite limitations and deficiencies, the era is gradually moving towards openness and progress, so people should follow its tide rather than go against it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

1. Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) (2017, July 1). The new Prostitute Protection Act (Das neue Prostituiertenschutzgesetz). https://www.bmfsfj.de/blob/117624/ac88738f36935f510d3df8ac5ddcd6f9/prostschg-textbausteine-en-data.pdf
2. Cohen, L. (1992, November 24). Anthem. https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-anthem-lyrics
3. Das P. & Horton R. (2014, July 21). Bringing sex workers to the centre of the HIV response. The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61064-3/fulltext
4. David A. Feingold is the international coordinator for HIV/AIDS and Trafficking Projects for UNESCO Bangkok. Feingold, D. A. (2009, October 20). Think again: Human trafficking. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/20/think-again-human-trafficking/
5. General Comment No. 22 (2016) on the Right to sexual and reproductive health. (n.d.). Escr-net. https://www.escr-net.org/resources/general-comment-no-22-2016-right-sexual-and-reproductive-health
6. Hogan C. (2014, July 21). Decriminalization of sex work could reduce HIV infections. (2014, July 21). Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decriminalization-of-sex-work-could-reduce-hiv-infections/2014/07/21/890a3f8e-110c-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9_story.html
7. Johnson, C. (2000, September 22). Prostitution: Not a Victimless Career Choice. Women’s Enews. https://womensenews.org/2000/09/prostitution-not-victimless-career-choice/
8. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2009). UNAIDS Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work. http://www.unodc.org/documents/hiv-aids/publications/guidance_note_English.pdf
9. Kipling, R. (1899). In Black And White. New York City: R. F. Fenno & Company.
10. New Zealand Government (2008, May). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. http://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/report-of-the-nz-prostitution-law-committee-2008.pdf
11. Nubauer, S. (2015, July 28). Top 10 Reasons Prostitution Should Be Illegal. Listland. https://www.listland.com/top-10-reasons-prostitution-should-be-illegal/
12. Reisenwitz, C. (2014, August 15). Why it’s time to legalize prostitution. The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-its-time-to-legalize-prostitution?ref=scroll
13. Rhode Island lawmakers inadvertently deleted crucial language from Rhode Island state law in 1980, and this mistake was not noticed until 2003. Ehrenfreund, M. (2014, July 17). When Rhode Island accidentally legalized prostitution, rape decreased sharply. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/07/17/when-rhode-island-accidentally-legalized-prostitution-rape-and-stis-decreased-sharply/?arc404=true
14. Singh, K. (2002, September 28). How a rapist should be punished. The Tribune. https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020928/windows/above.htm
15. ie Victimisation Survey (2013, October). Crime and Abuse Experienced by Sex Workers in Ireland. https://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ugly-mugs-ireland-survey-september-2013.pdf
16. N. Human Rights Council. (2013, May 10). Written statement submitted by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status. http://www.gaatw.org/statements/GAATWStatement_05.2013.pdf
17. United Nations (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
18. United Nations General Assembly (1979, December 18). The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1249 United Nations Treaty Series 13 at Art. 29 (Dec. 18, 1979), http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3970.html
19. WHO (n.d.). Addressing Violence against Sex Workers. https://www.who.int/hiv/pub/sti/sex_w
20. World Population Review (2020). Countries where prostitution is legal 2020. World Population Review website. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-prostitution-is-legal

[1] Nubauer, S. (2015, July 28). Top 10 Reasons Prostitution Should Be Illegal. Listland. https://www.listland.com/top-10-reasons-prostitution-should-be-illegal/

[2] David A. Feingold is the international coordinator for HIV/AIDS and Trafficking Projects for UNESCO Bangkok. Feingold, D. A. (2009, October 20). Think again: Human trafficking. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/20/think-again-human-trafficking/

[3] Johnson, C. (2000, September 22). Prostitution: Not a Victimless Career Choice. Women’s Enews. https://womensenews.org/2000/09/prostitution-not-victimless-career-choice/

[4] New Zealand Government (2008, May). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. http://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/report-of-the-nz-prostitution-law-committee-2008.pdf

[5] New Zealand Government (2008, May). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. http://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/report-of-the-nz-prostitution-law-committee-2008.pdf

[6] Rhode Island lawmakers inadvertently deleted crucial language from Rhode Island state law in 1980, and this mistake was not noticed until 2003. Ehrenfreund, M. (2014, July 17). When Rhode Island accidentally legalized prostitution, rape decreased sharply. Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/07/17/when-rhode-island-accidentally-legalized-prostitution-rape-and-stis-decreased-sharply/?arc404=true

[7] Singh, K. (2002, September 28). How a rapist should be punished. The Tribune. https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020928/windows/above.htm

[8] UglyMugs.ie Victimisation Survey (2013, October). Crime and Abuse Experienced by Sex Workers in Ireland. https://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ugly-mugs-ireland-survey-september-2013.pdf

[9] U.N. Human Rights Council. (2013, May 10). Written statement submitted by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status. http://www.gaatw.org/statements/GAATWStatement_05.2013.pdf

[10] Reisenwitz, C. (2014, August 15). Why it’s time to legalize prostitution. The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-its-time-to-legalize-prostitution?ref=scroll

[11]WHO (n.d.). Addressing Violence against Sex Workers. https://www.who.int/hiv/pub/sti/sex_worker_implementation/swit_chpt2.pdf

[12] WHO (n.d.). Addressing Violence against Sex Workers.  https://www.who.int/hiv/pub/sti/sex_worker_implementation/swit_chpt2.pdf

[13] Hogan C. (2014, July 21). Decriminalization of sex work could reduce HIV infections. (2014, July 21). Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decriminalization-of-sex-work-could-reduce-hiv-infections/2014/07/21/890a3f8e-110c-11e4-98ee-daea85133bc9_story.html

[14] Das P. & Horton R. (2014, July 21). Bringing sex workers to the centre of the HIV response. The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61064-3/fulltext

[15] New Zealand Government (2008, May). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Operation of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. http://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/report-of-the-nz-prostitution-law-committee-2008.pdf

[16] Johnson, C. (2000, September 22). Prostitution: Not a Victimless Career Choice. Women’s Enews. https://womensenews.org/2000/09/prostitution-not-victimless-career-choice/

[17] Johnson, C. (2000, September 22). Prostitution: Not a Victimless Career Choice. Women’s Enews. https://womensenews.org/2000/09/prostitution-not-victimless-career-choice/

[18] Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) (2017, July 1). The new Prostitute Protection Act (Das neue Prostituiertenschutzgesetz). https://www.bmfsfj.de/blob/117624/ac88738f36935f510d3df8ac5ddcd6f9/prostschg-textbausteine-en-data.pdf

[19] Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) (2017, July 1). The new Prostitute Protection Act (Das neue Prostituiertenschutzgesetz).  https://www.bmfsfj.de/blob/117624/ac88738f36935f510d3df8ac5ddcd6f9/prostschg-textbausteine-en-data.pdf

[20] Kipling, R. (1899). In Black And White. New York City: R. F. Fenno & Company.

[21] Cohen, L. (1992, November 24). Anthem. https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-anthem-lyrics