Not so long ago, Guyana persistently stood on the Tier 2 watch list for failing to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons. This would change in 2017 when it was granted Tier 1 status by the United States State Department. For many this was considered good news as performing too badly in the US Trafficking in Persons report often sees countries being cut off from U.S. funding.
Since then, a lot of efforts on the part of civil society and governmental agencies have seen increased trafficking raids and busts becoming a common feature. In the din of the celebratory TIP raids however, we are failing to ask the question of how many of these persons are victims of trafficking and are not in fact sex workers. Many in government and the general public are still unable to accurately differentiate between the two.
It is very important to note that sex work is not sexual assault and it is not sex trafficking. Many sex workers enter the trade voluntarily. When someone enters the sex trade without their consent, then that means that they are being trafficked and this should remain illegal and prosecuted under the law. This common conflation of sex work with violence and trafficking too often ignores evidence and clouds safety issues for sex workers.
A lot of what we believe we know about sex work emanates from religious concerns over shallow patriarchal concepts associated with a woman’s virtue. This virtue we are made to understand should be fiercely protected at all times, given freely only to those we love or fancy. The reason sex is viewed this way is because women are still viewed as objects to fulfill and sooth male desires and egos. When people think of sex workers, they automatically concoct an image of young women in short clothes engaging in penetrative sex on darkened street corners. While that is a large part of it, sex work is much more nuanced and broader than most think it to be. Sex worker services between consenting adults can include phone sex, companionship, escorting and stripping.
Sex workers are also not homologous when it comes to thoughts surrounding their work. The mantra goes, your body, your choice, but when it comes to sex work that choice becomes complicated. While sex work is work, it is not necessarily work that is empowering or harmless. This is not to say that sex work is inherently harmful – as it isn’t – it is the criminalization and stigma associated with sex work that makes it circumstantially harmful. While the empowered sex worker exists, for a majority, this is not the case. Many enter the sex trade to survive against poverty and escape from miserable life circumstances.
Sex work remains one of the only forms of survival available to marginalized communities such as black and transgender women who are often denied access to educational and financial opportunities and resources. Trans sex workers particularly face tremendous danger from the public and the police. Trans women were especially targeted for sex work through use of the now struck down cross-dressing law. Police would frequently pick them up, imprison and assault them based on their work and gender identity.
Sex work prohibitionists believe that the solution to the violence often associated with sex work is to exercise the law as a weapon of moral disapproval. This is done through imprisonment of male customers, pimps and traffickers. This however is no solution as the demand and industry for sex work still exists, but these laws and policies make sex workers more susceptible to abuse from clients and police and forces them to engage in more dangerous activities. In pushing sex work underground, workers’ ability to work in a safe environment is significantly reduced. Removing criminal penalties for sex work would reduce violence against sex workers and increase their access to critical support services.
Criminalizing sex work is a form of state violence and contributes to the high levels of stigma and discrimination sex workers face. Trafficking laws and policies impact sex workers and their ability to be safe. In the US, trafficking laws and policies see thousands of sex workers each year being arrested, which creates barriers to safety due to the constant threat of police harassment, arrest and brutality.
With Guyana abiding by the trafficking objectives of the US, our already inefficient system is now taxed with adhering to the restrictive and moralistic anti-prostitution legislation of the US. There must be movement away from the culture of incarceration and policing that plagues sex workers. It is this criminalization that is the root cause behind the harm and unjust treatment faced, particularly against black and brown women, queer, trans, immigrants and poor persons. If your concern over sex workers lies in concerns over trafficking, then advocate for safe housing, healthcare and community support rather than adding to the stigma that comes with the criminalization of sex work.
