A sweet girlfriend of mine and I recently represented swop-chicago.org in a panel discussion 21 year old think tank type group called Open University of the Left. www.openuniversityoftheleft.org . Kari Lyderson*, a Midwest bureau staff writer at The Washington Post joined the panel. Miss Lydersen recently wrote the following article on the potential effects of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA, also HR 3887) for sex workers as well as sex trafficked victims. Article – Satisfied Sex worker or Domestic Trafficking Victim?
I thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss issues that affect the lives and livelihood of sex workers – in particular the current controversy surrounding trafficking victim legislation – and the moralistic and dangerous crusade against prostitution. Here is the recently observed Washington Post article on TVPRA; Article – Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence.
As the pressure to criminalize sex work increases, acts of violence against sex workers are on the rise. Without the protection or recourse from violent acts committed against us, society tolerates violence against sex workers because of the stigma and myths that surround prostitution. Sex workers and their allies seek to stop the violence and correct these falsehoods, change the context for current legislation, and to legitimize sex work.
We at SWOP-Chicago, Sex Workers Outreach Project Chicago, a grassroots organization, seek to improve the lives of current and former sex workers in the Chicago area. SWOP-Chicago produces the CAN-TV program Red Light District Chicago.
We discussed decriminalization and countries which have various levels of success including the Netherlands, Austrailia, the UK and various states and counties in the US. We discussed Unionizing sex workers as an alternate or next steps from decriminalization as well as the moralistic myths of sex work. We talked about the right to reproductive health for both prostitutes and the customers who see them. We talked about the classism and elitism of various regulation systems the corruption by law enforcement effects the success of programs designed around harm reduction. We also exposed anti prostitution groups and their conservative agendas and how many conservative womens anti-prostitution groups are serving their own agenda with using TVPRA as a front to discriminate against prostitutes, specifically girls who work on the streets.
I will be discussing these issues in detail through this medium over the next few days. Thanks for listening to my babble
XOXOX
- Jasmine
* Kari Lydersen is a Midwest bureau staff writer at The Washington Post and writes for publications including The Chicago Reader, In These Times and the Progressive. She is the author of “Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-US Immigration in the Global Age” (Common Courage, 2005) and co-author of the forthcoming book “Shoot an Iraqi: Life, Art and Resistance Under the Gun” (City Lights, Sept. 2008). She is a youth journalism instructor with We the People Media.
