Tag Archive for "sex workers’ rights"

Posts Tagged sex workers’ rights

The way we talk about sex work is changing, but the way we treat sex workers is not

As I reflect on the The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, which was on December 17, 2 Chainz comes to mind.

I listen to “I Luv Dem Strippers” everyday. Seriously. It took me more than a few listens to realize, however, that the lyrics (aside from the chorus) have absolutely nothing to do with strippers. The song is about how rich 2 Chainz and featured artist Nicki Minaj are. One has to wonder how we got to this point? Stripping is the new black and the exchange of sex(uality) for money is becoming a more glamorous narrative everyday.

In the kind of consumer culture where luxurious goods mean everything and nothing at the same time, the way we are ...

As I reflect on the The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, which was on December 17, 2 Chainz comes to mind.

I listen to “I Luv Dem Strippers” everyday. Seriously. It took me more than ...

By Jos Truitt • 11 years ago

Condom searches are being used to profile sex workers

You may remember the feminist blogosphere talking about laws that said carrying condoms could get you arrested. A new report from Human Rights Watch examines the issue: sex workers and people profiled as sex workers, especially trans women, are being targeted by the cops with condom searches in Prostitution Free Zones. This puts sex workers at risk, as they’re then reluctant to carry condoms. From the report:

In four of the nation’s major cities—New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—police stop, search, and arrest sex workers using condoms as evidence to support prostitution charges. For many sex workers, particularly transgender women, arrest means facing degrading treatment and abuse at the hands of the police. For immigrants, ...

By Katie Halper • 12 years ago

The real secret service scandal: NOT paying for sex

The Secret Service debacle has been politicized, sensationalized and commodified. Spirit Airlines has launched a “more bang for your buck” ad, with an “upfront payment is required” warning. The Republicans have made it an Obama issue, the president is angry and the press has covered it as a salacious scandal. Meanwhile, neither the politicians nor the press have covered the real transgression. This was not about U.S. government workers paying for sex; this was about refusing to pay for it. In Colombia’s “tolerance zones,” the sex trade is legal. And yet, a U.S. citizen and government worker thought it was all right to break the law by giving a sex worker $30, less than a twentieth ...

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

Louisiana ends sex offender registration for sex workers

Women With A Vision Executive Director Deon Haywood.
Image via The Louisiana Justice Institute.

A law that branded many sex workers in Louisiana as sex offenders has finally been changed. From The Louisiana Justice Institute:

Governor Jindall’s office announced today that he had signed into law a bill, sponsored by Louisiana State Representative Charmaine Marchand Stiaes, that effectively moves prostitution convictions back to the level of misdemeanor.

Previously, police officers and prosecutors in Louisiana had a choice between charging accused sex workers under the prostitution law, which was a misdemeanor, or under Louisiana’s 200-plus year-old “Crime Against Nature” law, a felony. That law was interpreted to apply specifically to solicitation for oral or anal sex, but ...

Women With A Vision Executive Director Deon Haywood.
Image via The Louisiana Justice Institute.

A law that branded many sex workers in Louisiana as sex offenders has finally been changed. From The Louisiana Justice ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Protect, Don’t Prosecute: Amnesty for Long Island Sex Workers

Many of you may have heard the the awful details of a case on Long Island in which the remains of a total of ten people who were killed while apparently doing sex work were discovered on a beach in Long Island. Four identified bodies were women, but they haven’t disclosed the sex of the remaining six bodies.

My colleague Audacia Ray has launched a campaign requesting amnesty for all prostitution related offenses. Amnesty needs to be promised for all sex workers for people to be able to come forward with information about this case.

She offers the following statement and opportunity to act:

In the week leading up to December 17, 2010 – the International Day to End ...

Many of you may have heard the the awful details of a case on Long Island in which the remains of a total of ten people who were killed while apparently doing sex work ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Sex Workers Protest Discrimination on the World Stage

Photo Courtesy of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects

As you all may know (because we like to talk your ear off about it here on Feministing), the United States currently endorses an explicitly discriminatory policy against sex workers, via PEPFAR, our international HIV/AIDS aid policy that contains an anti-prostitution pledge requirement. This requirement states that no funds “may be used to provide assistance to any group or organization that does not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking” which basically means that life-saving materials like condoms, contraceptives, and even information about sex and sexuality can’t legally be distributed to sex workers by any international agencies that accept US funding (domestic ...

Photo Courtesy of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects

As you all may know (because we like to talk your ear off about it here on Feministing), the United States ...