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HOW TO REGULATE SEX WORK(ERS)

I decided to do a blog post on how we should be regulating sex work and sex workers in Canada. The answer is, we shouldn’t be regulating sex work and sex workers negatively, but with positivity surrounding the industry, the legal system, the penal system and economic system. We should be challenging the stigmatized narratives surrounding sex work to work with sex workers not against them.

                                          How to Regulate Sex Work

 1.     Anti-Sex Opinions and Legislation

We hear a lot about Anti-sex work(ers). A lot of sex workers have a “rescue industry” complex. As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland. the rescue industry is a mix of NGO’s, government agencies, the criminal justice system and other systems of power and institutionalizations that have the ideology to punish but also protect sex workers. They find surveillance of sex workers a necessity and they over exaggerate surveillance in order to help rescue women who they believe are being trafficked for sex (against or not against) their will. This is extremely problematic because it creates a single story narrative for all sex work and sex workers. This leads to carceral feminism which discussed in class means that protection , which is essentially a sex worker going to jail is seen as the main and best means to get sex workers off the street and out of their industry. Carceral feminism is extremely problematic because it actually makes people more dependant on their sex work career because they now have a record and are now subjected to pay additional fines or attend to classes that are not paid for. We should regulate sex work by not having a rescue industry complex and by regulating the justice system, the penal system and the current laws that we have in place that are saturated with bias. Once we can dissect these laws, we can start creating better ones that don’t regulate but promote safer working environments free from harm or police interrogation.

 2.     The Canada Criminal Code

The Canadian Criminal Code is a set of laws, regulations and rules that relate to certain Canadian Crimes. As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, Canadian laws and policies are the ones that are victimizing sex workers, not helping them. The Canadian criminal code creates legal and illegal people. Therefore, criminalization on the streets due to visibility or at a strip clubs, at a border crossing or airport makes women involved in the sex industry more vulnerable. Sex work is a job and it is a direct result of our canadian economy. Sex work should not be seen as a breach of the Canadian Criminal Code and the code must be re-evaluated to include this notion.

 3.     Class Divisions

Our current Capitalist economy allows for class division. The elite are at the top f the triangle making all of the money, selling everyone else’s labour and in turn creating and maintaining the laws that best benefit them. As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland we discussed two groups that had class tensions. Abolitionist (those that believed sex work was exploitive and victimizing) and sex positives (those that believed sex work was liberating and empowering).

Abolitionist workers felt that circumstances facing women, left women without a choice. Where as, Sex positive workers tried to make sex work legitimate work, showing that it is not always coerced and it is a violation of women’s rights to not have the opportunity to engage in sex work. How we should regulate class division is by making sex work, real work!

 4.     Clothing

Clothing is merely fabricating sewn or stitched together to cover certain part of our bodies. Clothing cannot and should not be used to regulate anyone’s body. Clothing should not be used to regulate bodies or to measure how pure or moral someone is. Clothing cannot do that. So, I suggest that clothing no longer be used to regulate anyone’s body and should not be interchangeably used with morality, ethics or purity. Clothes are clothes, not a modern form of an ethic compass, let it be enforced.

 5.     Colonialism

As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland Colonialism is the tool through which the control of race and gender is used. At one point in history, Sex work became inevitable. At a time when women were dependent on men, their husband’s fathers and brothers to take care of them. Soldiers were not encouraged to be married and homosexuality was also frowned upon. So, they were left to rely on prostitutes to satisfy their needs. We should regulate sex work by having a stronger intersectional lens as to why there is a sex industry, how it is maintained and why some people choose to be sex workers.

 6.     Crystal Jackson

Crystal Jackson is a Feminist author. As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, her thesis is exploring the ways sex workers use Rights-based frames to counter victim frames that conflate sex work and sex trafficking. “This rights-based framing draws on two master frames, labor rights and equal rights, to redefine the criminalization and stigmatization of sexual labor as a social problem, rather than prostitution itself.” Crystal highlights that prostitutes are seen as a social problem and that sex workers are seen as victims of trafficking as two major sources of concern. She mentions that activists have created a counter story against these frames by using right based frames to argue that sex work is work and not a form of violence. She states that “resistance is being exclusively characterizes as victims and contesting the accuracy and validity of stories and data used in mainstream antiprositution, anti-sex and trafficking efforts (Jackson 33-340)”. She also states that “Rights-based frames challenge the idea that sex workers are victims in need of rescue or rehabilitation. The neoliberal politics of protection are less about protection of individual rights and more so about the abilities of the state and state-sanctioned actors to police gender and class (Jackson 29).” This is very true and links to the rescue industry complex. Lastly, Crystal states that “The right to work, and to work safely, and the sociocultural struggle to refute stereotypes are cornerstones of a rights-based frame—and this is at odds with a victim frame of a rescue, rehabilitation, and protection. For example, sex workers want the right to find other work outside of the sex industry, without having to embody a victim who renounces prostitution as inherently violent and bad—largely because the process of renouncing prostitution takes someone through the criminal courts and court-mandated rehabilitation (Jackson 28).” Crystal Jackson does a great way of saying that to regulate sex work, we must regulate single-story narratives as they are dangerous and do not represent everyone that falls under sex work.

 7.     Dominant Framework

As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, the dominant framework surrounding prostitution is that prostitution and sex trafficking are synonymous and that prostitution is violence by men against women and girls. We must regulate sex work by steering clear of this narrative and honour the autonomy of the men and women who choose to join this industry. Choice being subjective as there are economic, gender, social and racial inequalities such as housing issues job scarcity, sexism and racism that provide a path for people to join the sex industry in order to survive and pay their bills, pay rent, have shelter and clothing.

 8. Feminism

As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, Feminism is collective action, ending gender based oppression and incorporating intersectionality to change the political realm. Feminism allows us to make connections among inequalities in order to see patterns that are reinforced by systems of power like patriarchy and capitalism. It allows us to understand these patterns and systems of power and inequality and bring them to light. Bring them to light through discourse, through resistance, through activism, through lobbying in order to make a political change.

 10.  Framing

As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, cultural framing is the ways in which social movement actors strives to communicate actionable goals to their constituents. It is using a certain angle when taking a picture of someone, specific words. Framing is all about pushing one agendas through shaping the words, images and stories that are portrayed in the media. The frame sets the conversation. We should regulate framing by being more critical of the frames surrounding sex work. What is the authors, political activists, judges bias?

 11.  Judith Butler

Judith Butler is a theorists and an author who wrote “Precious Life, Grievable Life”, Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? In her article she discusses what lives are considered Grievable, meaning what lives (b society) are considered important enough to honour when they have left this world. Judith address the topic of life and which lives are valued and matter and which lives do not. She places emphasis on bodies related to war. I want to place emphasis of bodies involved in the sex industry. She discusses the recognizable body and how the body is seen, read and framed by others. She states that “one’s life is always in some sense in the hands of the other,” (Butler 14). What she means is that, how we are framed by others dictates our value. If our life matters and if we are Grievable. She highlights the fact that the bodies and lives that not valued are the bodies that are marginalized and/or disenfranchised in our society. These disenfranchised bodies or more heavily regulated, more disadvantaged and are excluded more. Let’s regulate Grievable bodies, by acknowledging that some bodies may be seen as more important, but that all values are important.

 12.  Legal Frameworks

As discussed in our class lecture on March 29th, 2017 for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland is that legal frameworks have an affect on everyday lives of sex workers. It impacts relationships between sex workers and police, sex workers and their neighbours and neighbourhoods as well as sex workers and their physicians/health care providers. We need to regulate sex workers by breaking down the barriers that legal frameworks have placed on sex work.

  13.  Mary Irvine

Mary Irvine is a theorist. As discussed in our class lecture on for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland, Irvine’s primary concern and thesis, considers the public health merits and consequences of different strategies proposed to combat the spread of HIV as it concerns female prostitution. Prostitution is automatically connected with contagion, which is the spread of disease. This is why we have the association with sex work being dirty or disgusting because it is linked to contagion through the work of the media and anti-sex work activists and theorists. We need to regulate contagion by bringing about awareness to sex-workers. There should be support and clinics, nurses and doctors available. If sex workers choose to be checked, then that should be their decision. If they decide to, there should be no stigma attached to their choice of work, but only professional medical help without bias.

 Mary also discusses three categorical policies related to sex work which are: Criminalization, meaning the prohibition of prostitution and of potential exposure of others to HIV.  Legalization, however still with many regulations governing the profession and Decriminalization, meaning the removal of criminal sanctions regarding prostitution and the transmission of HIV. Under the Canadian Criminal Law, it is a criminal offence to not fully disclose any information about whether you have HIV to other sexual partners. We need to regulate sex work by taking a step towards not only decriminilzaization. But de-criminalizing things surrounding sex work such as forced medical exams, choosing or not choosing to have a john if it is a mutual agreement as well as being arrested for solicitation or advertising.

  14.  Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault is a theorist. He discusses the dynamics of Power and how power is exercised. He uses an example of the prison system and how scientific racism, or in this example, scientific sexism is used to perpetuate oppression. Science is continuously used to confirm that women are docile, passive, submissive and weak. Women can be differently abled than some men and that is not a weakness but a beautiful thing that should ensure team work rather than oppression or a saviour complex among women.

 In the book the “Truth and Power”, The Foucault Reader, Foucault states that power is always around us and that power is what we know Information is power and language is power. Foucault states that Power shapes and frames what we think. He states that power operates through knowledge and thank is why knowledge is power. He also believes that power comes from the state and the Capitalist elite. However, he also believes that power produces freedom and choice.

 Foucault said” the history which bears and determines us has the form of a war rather than of a language: relations of power, not relations of meaning (Foucault 57).” Let this be a reminder that is important to be critical of everything we see, everything that we are taught, everything we hear and everything we know to be true or right. Let’s regulate power and not only question and be critical of inequalities. But find solutions to these inequalities by re-writing history and telling the histories of women, people of color, the indigenous in order to find the truth and to break down stereotypes and stigmas.

 15.  Oppression Paradigm

Donald Waiter is a theorists and author. He stated that “The prohibitionist stance toward sex work is based on a perspective that regards paid sexual services and performances as inherently oppressive and exploitative.” He states that this theory of thought paints prostitutes as the epitome of male domination and exploitation ((Weitzer 2009b).” Women cannot be grouped into a single narrative and although some women may struggle with autonomy of oppression and exploitation within the sex industry, not all women do. Let is regulate thoughts of work like this and not allow for a single narrative story to spread.

  16.  (Personal) Narratives-

Personal Narratives our our own personal experiences told from and by ourselves. If we started to regulate alternative fact news stories and saturated sexist articles on sex work and prostitution and instead focused on sex workers own personal narratives and realities of their lives, we could learn and change so much. Personal narratives can change policies and laws. Instead of regulating sex workers in and out of police cruisers, instead of passing out fines and handing out jail time and sentences. We should listen to sex workers and listen to their personal realities and figure out what in which to provide legal and economic and social reform.

 Crystal Jackson on page 28 of Framing Sex Worker Rights How U.S. Sex Worker Right Activists Perceive and Respond to Mainstream Anti–Sex Trafficking Advocacy  states that “By presenting experiences and knowledge from the standpoint of sex workers and their allies, sex worker rights activists articulate a “counter story” that frames the criminalization and stigmatization of sexual labor as a social problem, rather than prostitution itself (Jackson, Pg. 28).” Let’s regulate narratives by celebrating and sharing narratives that are the reality of the people and discourse we are discussing with the highest regard.

   17.  Zones of degeneracy

As discussed in our class lecture for Women and Gender Studies course Sex for sale: feminist debates on the sex industry taught by Karen Herland zones of degeneracy are defined by the “Urban spaces cut off from the broader society that literally taint the activities of those found within them” Examples of zones of degeneracy in Ottawa would be downtown Ottawa, would the Vanier Ottawa as well as neighbourhoods like Ramsey and Wallack. Other places could be strip clubs, night clubs, gentlemen clubs, pride events that celebrate the LGBTQ community or spaces with majority of people of color.

 These zones of degeneracy are more heavily watched and regulated as well as the people that live within the walls. We must regulate these zones by lobbying to have these zones not saturated with police. The jail system is a form of modern day slavery. Where we take disposable bodies and remove them from society. Lets not allow for zones of degeneracy to remain surveillance and lets protest, stand-up and change laws.

 I wrote this article with a bit of sass and tools to address the regulating of sex work.Sex work is an umbrella of different jobs (video girl, exotic dancer, prostitute, massage parlour, video cam girl and the list goes on), Sex workers can identify as being male, female, transgene, cis gender or anything along the gender spectrum. However, sex work is hard to define because it encompasses so many different things, for so many different men and women and people. However, this Blog post is highlighting some inherently important things to break down barriers, policies, stigmas and laws around sex work. Sex work and how we regulate it, which is to regulate it with care and support and honour. Sex work should be regulated honour, with pride, with love, with respect, with empathy, with compassion, with understanding. What should be regulated is sexism, racism, crooked politicians, law enforcement and judges that do not have the proper (sensitivity and awareness) training. We need opt regulate the systems at power that allow sex work to be the career it is. We need to regulate our economic inequalities, our hosing inequalities to address why people turn to sex work. We need to raise minimum wage, create more affordable housing and more jobs. We need to address and be critical of the issues within our society that allow sex work to feed themselves and their families. We are regulating and focusing on all of the wrong things. We need to dig deeper and we need to raise the root causes. We need to stop regulating women and their bodies and start regulating the politics, the laws behind WHY sex work is an issue. Instead of scrutinizing sex work while all forms of systems of power get stronger off the backs of innocent people.