SITPS Presents: Sex Work, Trafficking and Human Rights

Read this first

The Editors — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:12:34 -0800

Important information about our special forum on sex work, trafficking and human rights:

CLICK HERE to read the announcement describing the forum.

Invited participants are free to comment without moderation. All other comments will be moderated. In fact, because of technical limitations on the site, for this week only, all comments from anybody who was not an invited "presenter" in this forum will be moderated. If you are a regular member of the site, that restriction will be lifted at the end of the forum. I apologize in advance for the inconvenience. (Any Drupal developers out there who want to volunteer some time with us? We've got work for you!)

If you would like to be invited to participate for the remainder of the week, please send Elizabeth an email with your account name and some information about your background in sex work advocacy, or to posts elsewhere in which you've discussed the harm reduction/human rights perspective on sex work or migrant labor.

Rough sex help

psyco340 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:08:17 -0700

so me and my girlfriend decided we were in to a lil rougher sex but she had only had sex a few time in her life prior to this but we went ahead anyways and afterword the next morning she was bruised could barely walk and had a swolen sternum. Also she through up the next day and pee'd a little blood, i was just curious if this is normal or if mabey we should tone it down a bit.

Speaking of media representation of trafficking...

Amber Rhea — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:29:30 -0800

If anyone wants to try their hand at dissecting this article , go for it. It certainly exemplifies a lot of the problems we've been discussing this week.

I have a lot of thoughts about the article, but I'm too disillusioned with Creative Loafing (some of you know my history w/ them, including their most recent offense w/ their representation of Steve Gower) to feel up to exerting the effort to write something.

I will say, though, that Rusty and I turned down a potential web development job from Innocence Atlanta (the organization mentioned in the article), because the language on their web site conflated voluntary adult sex work with child sex trafficking. The worst offender for me was a sentence that talked about ways business owners can help, and one of the things mentioned was "hire a reformed stripper."

Winding down and moving forward

Elizabeth — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:11:17 -0800

As the forum is winding down I can't help but look back at Stacey Swimme's forum post and think about how well it lays out some of the broad themes that unite discussions of sex work and trafficking but that the mainstream media is constantly diverting our attention from. Our wideranging discussions this past week only touched the tips of so many proverbial icebergs.

Her title, "Smoke and Mirrors," is particularly apt. Many of us do work that is directed at refocusing attention onto these complex issues of class inequality in the US and globally, of labor markets and consumer economies, of sensationalistic media outlets that all but ignore our issues unless something scandalous can be paraded in front of viewers/readers, and of politicians who prefer moralism to evidence.

Migration, sex, work, and policy

Elizabeth — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:43:14 -0800

Its interesting that we've largely gotten away from the "trafficking" part of the original discussion, and maybe that's partly because it's even harder to talk about than sex work is.

Sex work, media, activism, and privilege

audaciaray — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:56:35 -0800

I've got three different pieces of media swirling around in my head, making me think thoughts that maybe aren't perfectly developed, but definitely a good jumping-off point for conversation: Kerwin Kaye's post on Class, Race, and sex worker activism , the recent conversations about Susanah Breslin's working girl and john blogs, and a book I recently read, and had my ass kicked by - Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry (you can watch the Live Girl Review video about it here).

Reconciling labor issues and individual freedom

Elizabeth — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:17:10 -0800

A really interesting conversation about labor issues, collective interests and personal freedom started in the comments on Amber's post about how destigmatization could reduce profits for some sex workers.

I think it started with this passage from a comment of KerwinK's regarding a "labor speed up" of sorts in strip clubs in San Francisco:

Class, race, and sex worker activism

kerwynk — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:05:39 -0800

Hi again,

Journalists who challenge moralism

Elizabeth — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:10:14 -0800

A few days ago I suggested (in response to Roy Kay's suggestion about contacting supportive journalists to write stories from a human rights perspective) that we should have a forum where we can collect names and references for such journalists. At the end of the forum I'll put together some resource pages but for now we can collect the information here.

In the comments please leave the names of journalists you know who have demonstrated a willingness to challenge the dominant, moralistic approach to stories about trafficking and sex work. If possible, links or references for stories would be great!

Would sex work be so profitable if it weren't stigmatized or criminalized?

Amber Rhea — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:35:55 -0800

This is a question that's been bouncing around in my mind for a few days:

"Would sex work be so profitable if it weren't stigmatized or criminalized?"

Example:

Sex work is often an attractive option for single mothers, because they can earn more money and (sometimes) work fewer hours than they would at a retail or other service industry job, thereby allowing them greater economic stability and more time with their children. But to what extent is this attributable to the stigmatized – and, with prostitution specifically, criminalized – nature of sex work?