NEWSSEX WORK

The New York Post's sensational headline calling the hotel maid who reported being raped by Dominique Strauss-Kahn a "hooker" probably sold a lot of papers. Too bad the claim is completely unsubstantiated, not to mention irrelevant, sexist, and offensive.

As a petition launched against the NY Post on Change.org points out, participating in sex work does not make a woman incapable of being raped, although smearing the "working girl" is a typical tactic used to discredit victims. "Our culture has no sympathy for a woman we consider to be less than pristine," commented National Organization for Women-NYC Executive Director Sonia Ossorio.

"Not only is this abhorrently sexist, but it takes on a grossly racist tone," states the petition. "Black women have been historically cast as 'Jezebels'—a synonym for 'hooker'—which has been used as the reason why Black women could not possibly be 'good' (meaning 'sympathetic' or 'relatable') rape victims."

"I just couldn't stand by and couldn't stand being angry without doing something about it," says Andrea Plaid, who formed the Coalition to Support Sexual-Violence Victims and Survivors and started the petition on Change.org in response to the NY Post article. "Everyone who signs is saying to NY Post that no one has the right to put their hands on anyone else, literally and metaphorically--in the case of NY Post, not journalistically." The petition is supported by SisterSongNYC, Women's Media Center, and End Violence Against Women, which is organizing the New York Slutwalk.

Two hundred-odd years ago, Louisiana decided that oral and anal sex were scourges upon society that needed to be criminalized. Puritanism and homophobia at its best! This week, the state of Louisiana decided that maybe it was time for an update to the lawbooks.

The courts had already struck down the meant of the "Crimes Against Nature" law for unconstitutionally invading people's bedrooms. But instead of dying a long-deserved death, the law continued to be used in another form: to charge sex workers caught soliciting oral or anal sex with felonies, instead of the typical misdemeanor charge for illegal prostitution. And under these felony charges, sex workers were forced to register as sex offenders, alongside rapists and child molesters. I want to know: What makes offering a blow job worse than selling genital intercourse?

Nothing.

That probably explains why the LA state senate unanimously voted to stop this practice (and the state house only had three dissenters), backing a bill designed by the New Orlean's group Women with a Vision. This week, Gov. Bobby Jindal dotted the last "i" by signing the bill into law.

It may be one of the most absurd policies my home state has ever come up with: using carrying condoms as evidence for arrest and prosecution for intent to commit prostitution. It's simultaneously wildly offensive to individuals who opt to be prepared to engage in safe sex and a severe public health danger -- in a city that distributes free condoms to combat sky-high rates of HIV, no less, which makes it doubly ridiculous.

The New York State Legislature is considering doing something about this, with a bill sponsored by Sen. Velmanette Montgomery that would prohibit law enforcement from using condom possession as grounds for arrest and prosecution. Unfortunately, it's been considering doing something about this ludicrous situation for years, with a version of the bill introduced and doomed to die on a regular basis. But this year is the year to change all that, right? And New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin is getting on board with a proposed resolution in support of the No Condoms as Evidence Bill.

Over a year ago, I wrote about a law in Louisiana that treats oral and anal sex as felony "crimes against nature." It's a vestige of extreme homophobia that has been mainly struck down by the Supreme Court, but the law remained on the books and serves a new purpose: putting sex workers behind bars as felony sex offenders. It's oh-so-tricky: it's not the actual act of oral or anal sex that's illegal now, it's the solicitation of that comes with significantly higher penalties than only offering to sell plain ol' vanilla sex, which does not qualify as a felony sex offense.

Jordan Flaherty at Colorlines, who first brought the story to national attention, has followed up with a heartening recent development: a coalition of civil rights advocates, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, have launched a lawsuit against the discriminatory law. Their plaintiffs include transgender individuals (who are disproportionately targeted, along with women of color and gay men), a mother of four, and a grandma.

New York City is a tad schizophrenic when it comes to condoms. Sure, you can pick them up for free in bars and clubs all around the city (they even have an NYC logo), an attempt to combat high rates of HIV/AIDS by promoting safe sex. On the other hand, carrying condoms can get you arrested.

It seems too absurd to be believed, yet law enforcement in New York, as well as San Francisco and Washington, D.C., use possession of condoms as evidence for arrest and prosecution of suspected sex work, an illegal profession in the United States. It's a legal problem that could be fixed by the passage of the No Condoms as Evidence Bill (Assembly Bill A1008/Senate Bill S323), current in the New York State Senate and Assembly Codes Committees. Yet despite the blatant hard-too-believe ludicrousness of criminalizing condoms, the same piece of legislation has been introduced and failed to pass for years.

Since we reported in January on outrageous police policies in Washiginton, DC, New York City, and San Francisco, CA, in which condoms are being used as evidence of prostitution, essentially criminalizing safe sex preparations, a steady stream of Change.org members have denounced the policy. At this time, over 20,000 emails have been sent to the mayors of NYC, DC, and San Francisco telling them that carrying condoms isn't a crime and to direct police and prosecutors to stop treating it that way.

Today, December 17, is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Sex workers are a whopping 18 times more likely to be killed than other women; as Tracy Clark-Flory explores on Salon's Broadsheet, sex workers make attractive targets because they have to work their illegal trade in secret and often fear going to the police to report violence. In addition, police often take crimes against sex workers less seriously, heightening their vulnerability to somebody who wants to kill without having the full force of the law coming down after him.

As Audacia Ray writes for the Guardian, "It is not just violent clients who hurt sex workers." State policies and stigma create the vulnerability these primarily women face, jeopardizing their lives and health. Ray focuses on problems in Uganda in particular, but we don't need to go overseas to see policies harmful to sex workers. I can look right in my own backyard, New York City, and see how we're putting sex workers at risk by criminalizing carrying the items that can protect them against HIV/AIDS.

The Urban Justice Center, which runs the Sex Workers Project, has created a petition pressuring New York State legislators to finally pass a bill (that's been introduced multiple times) that would ban the use of condoms as evidence. Join them and 4,000 Change.org members in protecting sex workers' right to protect themselves against fatal disease as a first step toward improving these women's safety.

Photo credit: uberzombie

What's life like for a transgender woman in Washington, D.C.? It leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Police are charged with routinely harassing transgender women under the "assumption that everyone is a sex worker" who is simply outside or in possession of condoms, according to Sadie-Ryanne Baker of the D.C. Trans Coalition. Amanda Hess reports that a recent sting operation netted six women on prostitution charges, but there are questions about whether the one transgender woman in the group was picked up for her gender identity rather than any evidence of selling sex. This isn't the first time we've faced transphobia in police work and use of condoms to charge women with crimes, an issue 18,000 of you have spoken out against.

Worse, the transgender woman arrested in this operation was not locked up with the other women, but was instead put in a cell with men. Though this is against police regulations, the presence of transphobia amongst law enforcement means that it does happen; while it's unclear how much of this arrest was premised on discriminatory targeting, the fact that this woman was entered into the police report as "male" demonstrates an obvious problem in their treatment of a transgender woman. As Michael A. Jones has written on the Gay Rights blog before, transgender persons also face outright harassment and brutality at the hands of the law enforcement that should be protecting them. These abuses were chronicled in the report Moving Along: Policing Sex Work in Washington, D.C.

Transgender women in D.C. have the right to be treated like other women when arrested. They have the right not to be unfairly targeted as potential sex workers, and they certainly have as much right as anyone else to carry condoms without fearing that being used as evidence against them. And they have the right not to fear police.

Photo credit: Beechwood Photography

I'm not entirely sure when my opinion shifted regarding the legitimacy of sex work, but at some point in my coming to a radical feminist consciousness, I realized that in order to fight for women's rights, I must advocate for the safety and agency of all women, regardless of whether I personally identify with the choices they have made. I now have an intense respect for those who choose to engage in sex work, and see the profession as deeply transgressive. So, I was excited when Audacia Ray, former sex worker and current editor of the International Women’s Health Coalition's Akimbo blog, contacted me about Mariko Passion's Sex Workers Outreach Project campaign.

Mariko Passion is a current sex worker who is concerned about the impact the closing of Craigslist's erotic services will have on folks in the sex industry. Her concerns are that sex workers will lose valuable and necessary income while being driven even further underground, increasing opportunities for their abuse and exploitation. She passionately argues, "Many adult providers who are NOT in human trafficking situations are also mothers, part time workers, students in college, artists, persons who would otherwise be homeless or stuck in domestic violence situations, and many other things. Eliminating Craigslist adult services and moving onto eliminating ads in [other publications'] backpage, where many of us now advertise, will hurt the last bastion of income many of us have."

Sex work isn't illegal in Canada, except when it is. Though Canada hasn't out-and-out prohibited voluntarily selling sex, it has criminalized a slew of aspect of the trade that essentially add up to a sex work ban.

Now, Ms. Magazine's blog reports that a high-level Ontario court has ruled against this de facto criminalization of the legal profession after a lawsuit brought by three current and former sex workers. The women complained that Canada law against working indoors and communicating with potential clients infringed upon their ability to practice in a safe work environment. Justice Susan Himel agreed, citing high rates of violent crime against sex workers as evidence of their vulnerability and need to protect themselves, and stating, "I find that the danger faced by prostitutes greatly outweighs any harm which may be faced by the public."

Critics of the anti-prostitution laws argued that, whatever society's moral feelings toward sex work, keeping people safe should be the government's top priority. While anti-prostitution laws are often touted as beneficial anti-trafficking measures, they can also have the effect of compromising sex workers' rights and safety. Justice Himel determined that, though her ruling would allow a sex worker to report to someone who managed sales and clients, an abusive pimp (or trafficker) could still always be punished under other aspects of Canada's criminal code. Sex workers advocates intend to take this decision and move forward to secure labor rights for their profession.

At 16, F.V. fell under the control of Edward Bagley, who exploited her mental disability to turn her into his slave. For five long years, she was forced to dance at strip clubs, raped by his friends (who paid Bagley in cigarettes and steaks), branded with tattoos symbolizing slavery, and sexually tortured for an online viewing audience. Among the men indicted for paying to see F.V. torture are Nevada's Postmaster General. Yes, even prominent people support the human trafficking and torture business.

As Amanda Kloer warns on End Human Trafficking, "The details of this case are especially disturbing, even for this blog." F.V. was only saved from this life of torment after being suffocated and electrocuted for one of the online sex videos sent her into cardiac arrest, and the doctors wanted to know how exactly a 23-year-old ended up with a heart attack.

Cases like F.V.'s serve as a reminder of exactly why anti-trafficking advocates are so concerned with making sure the force of the internet is used for good, not evil. F.V.'s years of rape and torture were shown via the internet, and F.V.'s trafficker sold her online. While there's no reports currently on what sites Edward Bagley used on the internet to sell F.V., it's no secret that the World Wide Web has made traffickers' job in selling their "product" a lot easier, just like it has facilitated the sale of any product.