Hey Long Island District Attorney: Sex workers don’t deserve to be murdered

Screen shot of news article with headline Scarborough Mother's Murder 'Direct Result

Actually, no one does, regardless of their work.

Tell that to the Long Island District Attorney’s office, who just released a statement about the four bodies that were found in sand dunes in Long Island last week.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota says Waterman’s work as a prostitute led to her death. “We believe that each of the four victims met their pre-arranged client or clients shortly before their deaths and that their deaths are a direct result of their business as prostitutes,” said Spota.

Actually, District Attorney Spota, their deaths are a direct result of being murdered.

The fact that these women were likely targeted because they were sex workers should bring awareness to the violence that sex workers face, and the lack of protections available to them.

Instead, this language implies that it was their fault, and that if they simply weren’t working in the sex industry they would have been fine. Unacceptable. It just perpetuates the idea that sex workers don’t deserve to be protected simply because they are sex workers.

Imagine if the headline were about date rape, and the statement instead said “Woman’s rape is a direct result of her revealing outfit.”

For more about combating violence against sex workers check out this piece in On the Issues.

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