The Pros And Cons Of Sex Work Harm Reduction

The sex work industry has changed and is changing over the years, similar to controversial issues such as, gay rights and abortion. Hence, there will never be a ‘black and white’ solution due to the distinct views of what prostitution entails versus what the law intends to do about it. Decriminalization is the removal of criminal penalties from an act formerly defined as crime (Weitzer, 2012, P: 49). Prostitution should be decriminalized so the government can regulate public safety and the safety of sex workers. This paper will also, examine how the government can regulate the prostitution business and reinforce the feminist ideology. In effort to best present my arguments this paper will be divided into different paragraphs, whereby each paragraph presents a different argument of why

Statistics Canada says sex trade is job that is at a high risk since 2000. Homicide in Canada report had said that since 1991, 73 sex workers were murdered on the job. Sadly, this trend remains today. In 2007, 15 sex workers were reported “killed as a direct result of their profession, up and average of 7 per year for the previous decade”.1 Research has proven that the murder scale for sex workers “represents roughly 60 to 120 times the murder rate of adult women in the general Canadian population”.2

Society pushing these women into this sex industry is severally impacting how these women daily lives are being lead. For example, the article written by Carmen Logie states "In multivariable analyses, paid sex and transactional sex were both associated with: intrapersonal (depression), interpersonal (lower social support, forced sex, childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, multiple partners/polyamory), and structural (transgender stigma, unemployment) factors. Participants reporting transactional sex also reported increased odds of incarceration perceived to be due to transgender identity, forced sex, homelessness, and lower resilience, in comparison with participants reporting no sex work involvement." This reveals to the readers that sex work extremely affects these women's lives. This sex industry has a major negative impact on these women's lives. The quote reveals that this industry that a large majority of transgender women are exposed to can lead to things like jail, homelessness, and abuse. Yet, no one acknowledges that societies stigma against these women is what is pushing these women into this extremely dangerous industry. Participating in sex work can even affect these women's health they can acquire HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. These diseases are extremely detrimental to these women's health and can even lead to their death. Women in sex work more also likely have mental

With no government control or regulation, work-place violence, harassment, and medical care are not monitored or concerned, even though this line of work is the most vulnerable to all three conditions. In fact, nearly seventy-five percent of sex-workers experience work-place violence. For this, “decriminalization could be the best means to protect the rights of sex workers and ensure that these individuals receive adequate medical care, legal assistance, and police protection” (Amnesty International). Along with Amnesty International, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world, the World Health Organization, UN Women, Global Commission on HIV and the law, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Foundations also support the decriminalization of prostitution in the United States. Criminalizing prostitution will not end prostitution. Instead, the only plausible solution is government regulation. With government support, clients can be tracked through credit cards and any violence or harassment will be able to be reported and taken care of, on a legal level. The sex-work industry also has alarming statistics involving STI’s and STD’s. The men who control the women, or the ‘pimps’, force the women to have oral, vaginal, and anal sex without any kind of contraception, if that is what the client prefers. The Porn Industry,

People may not believe that there is a positive outcome of prostitution when first thought of. In fact, there are multiple ways that prostitution can benefit the sex workers, society, and even the economy. A quantitative and qualitative study was made by Lutnik and Cohan in San Francisco on prostitutes in the area. Although the sex workers that were interviewed are not part of the Canadian society, the United States is also part of the Western Civilization and the results reflect those of Canada as well. In the study, women spoke about the beneficial factors of having “police protection, the ability to build community with other sex worker, and obtaining rights as workers” upon the legalization of prostitution (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 41). Overall, the prostitutes that were surveyed preferred the “removal of statutes that criminalize sex work in order to facilitate a social and political environment where they had legal rights and could seek help when they are victims of violence.” (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 39). This research provides evidence that majority of people in the sex worker industry would like to feel safer as they are working as every person is entitles to feel safe when they go to work. Considering the health of the sex workers, a study was presented at the International AIDS Conference in Australia which showed results of the transmittal of HIV/AIDS among sex workers would decrease by 33-46% if prostitution is either legalized, or at least decriminalized (Listland, 2014). Another factor that is considered regarding sex workers and the legalization is the diminishing of violence and sex crimes. In the same research study conducted by Lutnik and Cohan, it was found that 91% of prostitutes desired laws that protected their rights in specific, and they also wanted more police protection, create safe houses, and would be safest under a regulated system (Lutnik and Cohan, 2009: 41, 43). Lastly, a

The first chapter of this book details what Raymond believes to be the most dangerous myths surrounding sex work, or prostitution as she refers to it. The first point she makes is that “Prostitution is Inevitable.” She claims that this is “the most senseless argument in defense of maintaining the system of prostitution” (Raymond, 2013, p. 2). Raymond backs her claim by explaining that this idea stems from the patriarchy from a time when women were objects. Raymond then continues on to berate the mindsets that say that sex work cannot or should not be banned because the safety of the worker has to be taken into consideration. She compares the “harm reduction” mentality to the same mentality that tobacco industry claimed to be using filtered cigarettes.

Amy, a long-term worker at the legally regulated Moonlight Bunny Ranch, was once part of the Air Force but made $500,000 a year working at a brothel (Shrager, 2016). While only 15% of prostitutes who go into sex work to survive, most women who become sex workers choose this path and are content with its financial stability and flexibility (Burgmann, 2017). Although there is potential for a sex worker to become wealthy, a prostitute’s “appearance and activities are attacked, limited, and kept in line by the threat of “sluthood” and “whoredom”” (Thorn, 2010). Without knowing Amy was a prostitute, people would thank her for her service to the country. But because there is the persistent “whore stigma” revolving around sex workers, prostitution’s continued illegality hampers the dignity and respect of the women as they are treated as outlaws by society. In the Canadian Review of Sociology, 22 prostitutes from Vancouver were interviewed on how the industry changed their lives. In one anecdote, Cheryl had been in her professional job for 5 years, but as soon as her manager knew about her promiscuous past, “he joked that a nameplate on her desk read ‘pubic relations.’ When Kayla started a new job, a police officer informed her boss she was a former “prostitute and a junkie.” Kayla lost her job and went back to sex work. (Canadian Review of Sociology). What is

The sex industry is highly divided between those who call themselves “sex workers”, and former prostitutes who call themselves “survivors” (Glazer 340). Women should have the right to choose what they do for a living, including prostitution. The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.

In the book, Sex Work Matters: Exploring Money, Power and Intimacy in the Sex Industry by Melissa Hope, talks about how, “changing attitudes and an increasingly sexualized culture have pushed more consumers to accept the consumption of sexuality as a legitimate market transaction. ”(Hope pg.13) As of lately, people are starting to realize that some workers actually enjoy what they are doing and see this line of work as a real job. In the article within the book, The meaning of “whore”: How Feminist Theories on Prostitution Shape Research on Female Sex Worker by Juline A Koken, talks about how, “in the United States and many other nations, sex work remains criminalized, fostering working condition which are often exploitative and unsafe.

Sex trade work is one of the oldest occupations in the world, dating back to the days prior to Christ; and despite its age, it is a prominent part of modern society. This report will be presenting why sex trade work is an issue, how it is overlooked and unaddressed, and what can be done to mitigate the current situation.

Sexual favours in return for money, just the thought of this has people cringing, although laws have deemed to move forward with the idea of prostitution it seems although socially there has not been much progress. The idea of prostitution still scares, or one could even go as far to say it disgusts people. The lack of knowledge and awareness of the details of sex work create this ongoing hate towards sex work, which continues to stigmatize sex workers. Regardless of changing laws, regardless of changing policies, why is it that sex workers are still afraid to proudly announce that their job is in fact the job of a sex worker? Unfortunately, it seems as though the idea of sex work that seems to be such a terrible one is not what bothers sex workers the most, it is the social misconception of what sex work is like that leads these individuals to feel highly stigmatized (Van der Meulen and Redwood, 2013). The primary harm for of prostitution seems to be the stigma against prostitution, women involved in prostitution are considered socially invisible as full human beings (Farley, 2004). Why is it that our changing and progressing laws are still unable to remove this stigma from the lives of sex workers? This paper will argue that prostitution laws continue to produce stigma around sex work. It will argue this through revisiting the historical laws, examining present laws and ongoing laws at this time.

One policy proposal could be focused on reducing the adverse health consequences that often accompany underground sex work. Focusing on implementing policies and programs to ensure safer sexual engagement will benefit the sex worker, client, or unpaid partners of the sex worker. This

Sexworkers face a unique set of oppressions and stereo-types which has led to outside intervention often doing more harm than good. Social movements for sexworkers are most helpful and effective when created and organized by sexworkers with a focus on the issues of the most marginalized individuals, which in this case would be the transgender sexworkers. This allows the movement to not only be an example of the rights they wish to gain within society but also to properly identify and address the problems that they face. It is often believed by state officials and the general public that the sex trade is immoral, and the women and men must be either “saved” or “rehabilitated”. The lack of knowledge among the public and state officials has made it impossible for outsiders to create an effective movement for the workers. Often times projects meant to help are actually harmful as they try to control the lives of the sex workers. For example, laws have been put in place which make it more difficult for the sex workers to conduct business in a safe environment or even report crimes committed against them. Sex workers have realized that they must be the ones to provide the solution for their community. This has led to movements being organized by and for sex workers to advocate for their labour and human rights, as well as work to provide much needed resources.

Whether a movie star or a plumber, each of us must work to earn a living. Sex work, also known as prostitution, has been a part of virtually every society in human history (Lerner, 1986). So why has the work regarded as the world’s oldest profession been labelled as illegitimate (Watson, 2015)? In this essay, I will demonstrate that sex work is a legitimate form of work that should be protected by the state.

One of the oldest known jobs in history is Prostitution, otherwise known as the sex labor industry. It is a major part of our society as an illegitimate source of income and employment. The prohibition of Prostitution creates a larger number of issues in society. Before, prostitution was a more individual decision, where countless women picked it as a last resort in emergencies; whereas now these women are coerced into the industry and experience abuse, murder, etc. The involvement and trauma prostitutes experience results in mental disorders. Furthermore, I investigate how the prohibition of prostitution has greater drawbacks on our society and introduce three policies that may help resolve the social issue within sex workers. Some policies I believe will provide the most benefits are first, the legalization of prostitution, second, enforcing and strengthening the law enforcement for human trafficking, and third, development of availability of medical resources.