A victimless crime? Sex workers defend
legal prostitution
By Alicia Portillo, Staff Writer UNLV Rebel Yell
Published on September 20, 2007
“Criminalization of sex work and sex workers that are
legal adults and consenting solves nothing,” said Jill
Brenneman of Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) East,
an advocacy group for sex worker rights, at an online
press conference Monday night.
The conference was held by workers and advocates of the
sex industry as a rebuttal to the New York Times article
written by columnist Bob Herbert, and a recent
book-length report by Dr. Melissa Farley, a psychologist
and researcher stressing that the sex industry in Las
Vegas is responsible for the degradation of women and
for sex trafficking.
Bound Not Gagged is a sex worker outreach project with a
blog where participants include prostitutes, escorts,
exotic dancers and pornography performers, and was
developed by Desiree Alliance as an online
resource for sex workers to respond publicly to those
such as Farley and Herbert.
Farley’s book, Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada:
Making the Connection, was published earlier this month
through her organization, Prostitution Research and
Education, and can only be purchased on her website.
Farley was asked to study the consequences of the Nevada
sex trade by John Miller, who was the former head of the
U.S. State Department committee to fight human
trafficking around the world.
The book details Farley’s findings of the working of the
illegal sex industry within Las Vegas. Farley suggests
that Nevada is the hub of North American prostitution
and sex trafficking. She also suggests that those within
the industry are exploited and the industry itself is
harmful and dangerous to women.
“Women’s experiences working in the sex industry are far
more complex and varied than [Farley’s] research or
[Herbert’s] column suggest,” said Lynn Comella, UNLV
assistant professor of Woman’s Studies. Many of the
participants at Monday’s conference claim that Farley’s
research lacks accountability because the research
methods used by Farley discredits and misrepresents
women working within the sex industry. She has been
accused of “ignoring those who do not agree with her
views.”
“I have never been able to fathom how [Farley] could
claim such commitment to the protection of women without
listening to the voices of the very women they claim to
protect,” said Jessica Land, a sex worker, during the
conference.
Sex workers’ rights was a highlighted topic, with many
bloggers stressing for an end of criminalization
involving consenting adults, entitled protection from
coercion, violence, sexual abuse and child labor related
to the sex industry.
In a statement written by SWOP East’s Brenneman and
Ayoola Silvera, “critics will state that youth should
not be in the sex industry, they are correct. However,
this requires more than press releases, position
statements and pusillanimous policies of government.”
The statement goes on to say, “This is a social issue
that has to be addressed at the source.”
Not all participants were proponents of the sex
industry. A blogger by the name of “Josie” stated, “You
do not have a right to do anything you want with your
body in this country. There are other people involved
and impacted by these decisions.”
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a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of organizations,
communities, and individuals across the US working in harm reduction,
direct services, political advocacy, and health services for sex workers.
We provide leadership and create space for sex workers and supporters to
come together to advocate for human, labour, and civil rights for all
workers in the sex industry.
Desiree
Alliance is a Project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a
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