'Sex Work' Is Nobody’s Job

There are many organizations that push for legitimizing sexual exploitation as “sex work’’. Those advocating for full decriminalization present prostitution as a job like any other, but that’s deceptive. Systems of prostitution thrive on gender inequality, deeply rooted social injustices as well as force, fraud and coercion.

Systems of prostitution exploit vulnerability. Many people in systems of prostitution suffer from vulnerabilities and marginalization. Common adverse experiences that are pathways to prostitution include childhood sexual abuse, homelessness, and poverty. Other factors associated with prostitution involvement include a history of foster care, not having a high school degree, an immigrant, as well as “entry” into prostitution as a child (i.e., sex trafficking). Systems of prostitution prey on and exploit these vulnerabilities. 

Prostitution Increases Sex Trafficking. Brothels, illicit massage parlors, escort agencies and online platforms are overlapping systems of prostitution and sex trafficking occurs in all of them. Cross-national studies have found higher levels of human trafficking in countries with legalized or decriminalized prostitution. Research has also found 100% of convicted sex traffickers support full decriminalization of prostitution.

Prostitution is not a substitute for social security safety nets. Some people argue that prostitution is necessary because it provides income for poor and marginalized populations. This view turns prostitution into a faux social security system that requires the sexual exploitation of poor and minority individuals—especially women since the vast majority of people in prostitution are women. This is regressive, misogynist and dystopian. Governments should never reduce economically insecure people to a state of sexual servitude because they are poor.

Prostitution creates trauma. Prostitution is inherently harmful. Prostitution results in a wide range of devastating physical harms and/or psychological trauma to those sold in it. Sex buyers inflict grave physical and psychological harm on those they purchase for sex. The lived experiences of people in the sex trade around the world reveal the abuses, harms and chronic traumatization intrinsic to prostitution. Survivor experience and research reveal that sex buyers are responsible for serious psychological harm, as well as sexual assault, rape and murder. For example: Survey data from more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women across six countries showed sex buying was strongly associated with non-partner rape and using physical violence against female partners; Data from five countries found men who reported ever buying sex were more likely to report engaging in sexual violence compared to men who never purchased sex; In a matched sample of 101 sex buyers and 101 men who had not purchased sex, sex buyers reported committing more crimes including felonies, misdemeanors, crimes associated with violence against women, assaults, crimes with weapons, crimes against authority, burglaries, and substance abuse-related crimes.

Prostitution is a horrendous violation of people’s physical and psychological health and safety. The elements of Prostitution which is often paraded as “sex work” include: “routine verbal degradation; threat of physical assault and a wide array of physical injury; extreme risk of sexual assault and rape; being groped, pinched, licked, bitten and breathed upon by people who pay to use you; serial utilization of one’s orifices as a receptacle for male genitalia and other objects; likely acquisition of drug/alcohol addiction; likely acquisition of post-traumatic stress disorder; likely acquisition of any number of (potentially incurable) STDs; and possible premature death as the result of homicide.” Prostitution is abuse and should not be raised to the level of “work.” 

Thus there is need for deliberate efforts to deal with both the demand and supply forces of prostitution.

Sources:

• Arina O. Grossu and Sean Maguire (November, 2017), The Link Between Pornography, Sex Trafficking, and Abortion: Family Research Council
• National Centre on sexual exploitation (January, 2022), 10 Reasons to Oppose Full Decriminalization of Prostitution: Confronting Disastrous Public Policy Normalizing Sex Buyers, Pimps, and Brothel Keepers”
• National Centre on sexual exploitation  (May, 2022), Why Sex Buyers Must Be Stopped and How to Do It
• The Social and Legal Challenges that Fuel Trafficking in Women and Children