The Big Question What do Sex Workers Need to Better Control their Working Conditions
TORONTO Most sex work regulation around the world criminalizes harm reduction tools, encourages the overpolicing of immigrant communities, and leads to the assault and murder of more sex workers. Regardless of intent, today's policies only exacerbate the problem of human trafficking. They control sex workers rather than afford them control. Many workers enter the sex industry, like I did, due to what I call "economic coercion," not physical force. I had lost my job, which meant losing not only my income but also my ability to legally work in the country I had made my home. One of the only jobs I could work without papers was in the sex industry. Because of my lack of immigration status, I risked greater criminal penalties, including a lifetime ban from entering the U.S. if I was ever convicted of prostitution. These potential consequences make the stakes too high for sex workers to collaborate with law enforcement to address sexual assault, trafficking, and other violent crimes. The "justice" system is weaponized against us rather than being an ally that promotes our safety. In the U.S. and elsewhere, governments need to remove the threat of permanent deportation for migrant sex workers and create other viable avenues for work and income. In New York, I was part of a coalition of sex workers and allies that won a statewide ban on the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution a hard fought step to promote condom access within our communities and end the prevalent belief that possessing condoms is grounds for criminal prosecution as a sex worker. While