The Defense of, "Decriminalization is an Abrogation of Responsibility."

It has been a while since someone wrote on this blog. That is mostly because I'm the only person writing right now, and University is pretty busy. In my last post, I quickly argued against legalizing prostitution; quickly, because I was studying for my exams. My argument did not encompass everything I should have said. But I didn't expect anyone to take it as my full argument. Seeing as this is the internet, I should have known better.

This is a response to you, randy (without a capital r). First, you said I was full of shit. I think that was unnecessary. I would not speak to you like that if I met you in person. But this is aside from the issue, really. We are debating the legalization of prostitution.

The first actual argument you made was that I had no facts. As stated above, I did have facts, and I probably should have provided them or not posted at all. So here are my facts. STAR, one of the organizations you mentioned, has published guidelines on how to slip a condom on an unwilling John without him noticing, and how to avoid anal sex in the same situation, without being assaulted. True, this is from an organization in a country where prostitution is illegal. So instead I will cite publications from the Australian government, a country where prostitution is legalized. There are online safety tips for women working in the legalized escort industry which involve: checking for too many cars or lights, which indicate the possibility of a gang rape; concealable weapons such as pens or sprays which allow one to get away quickly; and keeping their belongings in a pile by the door in order to escape quickly without losing their clothes. There are other OHS (occupational health and safety) guidelines which betray the danger of their legalized occupation, but I don't think I need to list them all here.

Time for some hard facts. Germany legalized prostitution in 2002. Since then, legal confirmed cases of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (zum Zweck der sexuellen Ausbeutung abgeschlossen) went from 289 in 2002 to 482 in 2008. That is from the Federal Report on Human Trafficking 2008, compiled by the Federal Police.

The following citations are from the book, The Industrial Vagina, by Sheila Jeffreys. I will use the citations she used to show you where she got her information. Australia, as stated above, also has legalized prostitution. Even after legalization, organized crime has stayed heavily involved in prostitution. The Chief Commissioner of Police in Victoria told a Parliamentary committee that there are 93 legal brothels and over 400 illegal brothels in the state. Motorcycle gangs in Sydney coerce brothels, or buy the using fronts, to distribute drugs (Sylvester, 2007). Illegal escort services account for 75% of Queensland's sex industry (Corkill, 2005). Germany and the Netherlands, two European nations which have legalized prostitution, have the highest rates of trafficking. Anywhere between 50-90% of sex workers in Germany are trafficked (50%=150,000) (Monzini, 2005)and 70-80% in the Netherlands are foreign (Expatica, 2007). There are over 10,000 women working as prostitutes in Amsterdam, but only 2000 are working legally, protected by the system (Shared Hope International, 2007). Trafficking is a problem in Australia as well, with an estimated 300 women trafficked into the country a year and 1000 women held as, "sex slaves," at any given time (Kotnick et al., 2007 Project Report). Not only that, but the women are told by traffickers not to complain to the police because the business is legal, so they have no grounds for complaint (Fergus, 2005).

Lastly, the personal attacks. You said I don't care about the women; I just want them visible and miserable. That could not be further from the truth. In previous posts I have argued for the decriminalization of prostitution and the criminalization of procurement. I also believe, though I haven't argued for it yet, in punishing those who create the demand. It's sound economic sense to punish those who create the demand for something illegal, and for a full discussion of why it is sound economic sense please read Super Freakonomics by Steve Levit. Proof of the effectiveness of said technique is the prostitution rate in Sweden, where it is applied. The rate is 0.3 per 1000 population, while in Germany it is 3.8 per 1000 population. You are right in saying some women would benefit from legalization; but, in my opinion, too many would be hurt. I know case studies of women and groups of women who have found sex work to be rewarding and and profitable. However, I also know of the countless women who have been hurt by the sex trade, legal or not, and do not believe the balance lies towards legalization. And that is from the facts.

Decriminalization is a Abrogation of Responsibilty

Some say that decriminalizing prostitution is a way to reduce the harmful effects of prostitution.
Here is a link containing this opinion. It would reduce the effects of crime in communities, and increase the safety of sex workers by allowing them to work from the home.

I disagree. I could cite disciplines such as microeconomics and sociology to prove my point, but instead I will be concise and appeal to human decency. This method is merely a way to keep the effects of prostitution out of sight and out of mind. You can not tell from looking at a house that there is a woman inside being raped. If she is working on a street corner, prostitution is far more evident. Legalizing prostitution is just an abrogation of responsibility. Instead of helping sex workers get out of the trade and provide for themselves with dignity, we would hide them. We would legalize this abuse so that we don't have to see and think about it. If we were to legalize prostitution, we would be saying to all sex workers: "We do think we are better than you. We are not going to bother giving you a hand up, as decent human beings would. We are going to legalize what you do so some may benefit from it and we don't have to see it." Do you want to say that?

Anti-Procurement vs. Anti-Prostitution

I would like to start this post by establishing that this group is not an anti-prostitution group, but an anti-procurement group. You may be asking yourself, "Are they not the same thing?" I say no, and there is a very crucial difference.

In writing this blog, I have hesitated in using the term anti-prostitution alongside the term anti-human trafficking. Anti-human trafficking implies exactly what it means: strong sentiments against those who traffick in human beings and a desire to take action against them. This is one of the primary goals of this group. Anti-prostitution, however, can imply more than an abhorrence of the practice of prostitution. It can also imply strong sentiments against the women who work as prostitutes. That is not what this group is about.

As I've mentioned before, prostitution is not something women just do. They are often forced into it, if not by an individual, than by poverty and lack of education. No little girl dreams of working the street in skimpy clothes in the middle of winter, hoping to entice a John so she can buy groceries for her children. That is why this group is Anti-Procurement. Procurement is the technical term for being a pimp/madame. The great PC machine of our time has not yet found a unisex term for those who engage in procurement.

I recently read an excellent article by a law professor from Michigan discussing how laws should not penalize prostitutes, but those who benefit from their work. I implied that in a previous post, but did not discuss it in length. In our letter writing/parade campaign, that must be one of our key goals. The Canadian criminal code must change to protect and help the women engaged in prostitution, and to punish those who benefit from their suffering. I would like to thank Jon for the link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/25/carr.human.trafficking/index.html . If anyone is interested in checking his blog, it is at http://jvd897.blogspot.com .

In a closing note, we must forget that men suffer in prostitution for the same reason as women. I often omit this in my posts, due to my hetero-centrist view of the world. In my defense I come from a small town, and have only made openly gay friends since coming to university. Gay men in the sex-trade face great silence around their plight, with the social stigma of homosexuality added to being a prostitute. I will do my best to include a more holistic view in future posts, and ask any members of the gay community reading this blog to hold me to this.

Are You A Cold and Timid Soul, or a Daring Soul?

Today, I would like to share with you a quote from, in the opinion of many, one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history: Theodore Roosevelt. A man for whom the difficulty in resolving an issue was of minor consideration, the reason in tackling the problem being of greatest importance, he is an individual we would do well to emulate. The portion of his speech Citizenship in a Republic at the Sorbonne in 1910 known as The Man in the Arena encapsulates this virtue better than I can.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and wh, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Human trafficking and prostitution are problems which we can not let be in good conscience. It will not be an easy task. We will not see an end to our work in a year. We will not see an end to our work in a decade. We very likely will never see these problems cease to be an issue demanding public attention in our lifetime. But, as Roosevelt said our place, “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” We will spend ourselves in a worthy cause! We will fight in the arena, so that others will see our example, and fight on after we are gone, until no more women are held captive by force or poverty and used for their bodies!

We Are Not Guiltless

In decrying the actions of those who force women into prostitution and smuggle them across the world for a fistful of dollars, we forget our own inaction. This inaction is in no way less deplorable, and contributes to the suffering of women in a manner no less tangible. We forget that not every woman who works as a prostitute is physically coerced to do so. Some have no choice because it is the only way they can provide for themselves. There are some who are addicted to horrible drugs, and their only means of feeding their addiction is selling themselves. Others are simply absolutely poor, uneducated and lacking any skills leading to meaningful employment. Forgotten by society, they are left to fend for themselves the only way they can. Such a situation is more prevalent in economic downturns like the one we are experiencing now, so all the more pressing is this problem.

The example I would like to share with you comes out of the Gorbals from another time of economic scarcity; The Great Depression. The Gorbals was a slum in Glasgow, and the greatest in Europe at the time. You may think that our recession is no where near as severe as the Great Depression, that I am blowing the issue out of proportion. Read on, and you will understand.

Ralph Glasser, a Scot who grew up in the Gorbals and went on to Cambridge University, wrote down a conversation he had with a friend of his when he was still an industrial worker in Glasgow. They were walking home through the Saltmarket, an area known as a haven for prostitutes. His friend seemed to want to talk. So, Glasser asked him if he had, “one of them,” before. His friend told him yes, that he was just thinking about the first prostitute he had been with when he was 15. He went on to pour out his soul to Glasser. He told him of how, walking home from work on a payday, she had pulled him off the street, held him tight and told him she would show him, “somethin’ wonderful.” She was so skinny, and so cold, dressed only in rags. She asked him for a shilling for fish and chips. She went and bought them, and waited to eat them until she got back. She huddled against him for warmth as she ate the meal, as if, “she hadnae had anythin’ tae eat fer days.” He went on to explain that she had made him feel as if he was somebody, and what they were doing meant something.

Having descended into silence, Glasser asked his friend if he had ever seen her again. His reply was surprisingly emphatic: “Seen her? Ah wish ah could have stayed wi’ ’er fir ever!” The woman lived in the building next to his family, with an abusive alcoholic husband who didn’t work. Her eyesight had been ruined working as a button-holer, not likely helped by the abuse wrought on her face by her husband. She couldn’t work, and had children to support. He ponders if her sight had been better, she would have recognized him and, “left me alane. Anyway, bein’ hungry an’ cauld, whit can ye say? She needed that shilling.”

She needed that shilling. As do many women, with no other way to earn it. As we wage battle with forces who profit from forcing women into sexual slavery, we can’t forget the marginalised women in our own neighbourhoods, so easy to forget, who are not forced into prostitution by an individual’s actions, but our inaction. No effort to force change can ignore these neglected souls, or we commit a crime as grave as those we mean to combat. We must ask: will we be judged by our valiant actions, or our ignoble neglect? Will we be heroes to women across the globe, yet the accomplices to the oppression of our own abused and marginalized women?

A New Effort

Unfortunately, the numbers required for the previously planned protest have not materialized. There is also the fact that it may have been illegal, but the lack of numbers dooms that effort irregardless. So, the question arises: what can we do to actively combat human trafficking and raise awareness?

Letter writing campaigns have merit in pressuring politicians to act, but have minimal effects on awareness. Public demonstrations carry much more force in informing the public of an issue's existence. I'm hesitant to drag up an overused cliché, but two heads are better than one. What of we can combine the two? I propose that, at the very least, we march from a point in K-W to the office of the local M.P., Peter Braid, and deliver the letters by hand. Hopefully, marches in other communities across Canada can be organized. This would serve the double purpose of generating media coverage for this cause and impressing upon our government... what?

What will be the subject of our letters? I am open to suggestions, but one problem I see with our laws concerning human trafficking and prostitution is the lack of or weakness of minimum sentences. I will give one example, as I cannot do justice to the material in this discussion. Someone who lives on the avails of the prostitution of a person under 18 is subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, and no less than 2 years. Again, I say 2 years. So I ask you to tell me, by e-mail or a posted reply, what you think these letters should contain.

To learn more and become involved, please join the Facebook group for Daring Souls and invite your friends. We have strength in numbers, for those who have none.

The First Protest

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