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One-third of all sex workers unable to call 911 due to fear of repercussions from cops: study. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/one-third-of-all-sex-workers-unable-to-call-911-due-to-fear-of-repercussions-from-cops-study
Reading this after someone shared a proposed addition to the TVPA for the next reauthorization that would prioritize funds to places planning to use them to target those that pay for sex. And - folks - just how long are we gonna do this?
And by “this” I mean allow moral posturing to drown out actual data and evidence? This more than anything makes me want to abandon the field I’ve spent the last 13 years in.
In what realm does it make sense to toss money at chasing “demand” when people are being evicted and survivors can’t find living wage jobs? What evidence do we have that this has any impact?
I’m so tired of the arguments in favor, pretty much all of which boil down to loyalty to a theory. In THEORY it works! Supply and demand, blah blah blah. Or worse, some utopian pipe dream - “Can we really be ok knowing how exploitative sex work is? We have to take a hard line!”
But we don’t live n a theoretical world. And we can 100% work for improving worker conditions without forcing bright lines. When’s the last time YOU snapped your fingers and overnight poverty ended? Hard lines don’t work when dealing with real people.
ALSO - back circa 2012 I supported the Nordic model. I was young & naive. I was working for Boston Police. I saw a lot of really bad things, & worked in a unit that cared deeply about victims. To this day I appreciate that experience and my colleagues. And - It colored my view.
It didn’t take long after I moved on from BPD to start feeling uncomfortable - like something was missing. The difference? I was working with victims then, seeing a much much more nuanced view of their lives and experiences.
I can’t actually criticize LE much for believing in the Nordic model - they will always want to find a bad guy. What I can do is criticize the rest of us that have sold them and the public a lie, that going after buyers is a solution.
And I can also criticize everyone out there that continues to silence and infantilism sex workers and treat them as acceptable collateral damage along the path to their theoretical utopian dreamscape.
We have to be better at this. The very thing NM folks sold as a solution has DECREASED reporting to police. Which was both predictable and should give everyone pause.
