Submitted by Priscilla Alexander, Aug 16, 2007 10:39

In her article entitled "Fumigating New York's Weeklies," Ms. Skenazy accepts, without qualification, New York City NOW's statement that "many women in New York's brothels are trafficking victims," as justification for their campaign to intimidate New York's weekly newspapers into refusing to carry ads for massage parlors and escort services.

While it is true that most of those ads are for prostitution, which is illegal in New York State (but completely legal in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands, and only partially illegal in most of the rest of the world), it is not true that most, or even many, of the women working in organized establishments are there by force. Some would be a better characterization, and I applaud all efforts to make sure that none are there by force. However, the majority of sex workers have made a conscious decision that they are willing to engage in sex to earn a living. And, for the most part, they earn more than they could at the kinds of jobs available to people with their level of education and/or fluency in the language of the country where they work.

There are two movements current on this issue, the anti-prostitution movement led by people who agree with Dorchen Leidholt, of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, and the sex workers' rights movement founded by Margo St. James in 1973. Both movements are international. The anti-prostitution movement tends to be allied with the same fundamentalists who elected George Bush, while the sex workers' rights movement tends to be allied with the Democratic party in the United States, the Labor party in Great Britain, and similar parties in other countries.

What the sex workers' rights movement wants is decriminalization of all consensual prostitution, including organization of sex work businesses, the enactment and enforcement of occupational safety and health regulations appropriate to each type of sex work venue, and the rigorous enforcement of laws against rape, involuntary servitude, murder, and all other acts of harm perpetrated against sex workers.

Ultimately, we consider prostitution to be a job, and although it is not the same as any other job, it is equally vulnerable to economic exploitation, sexual and racial harassment, and generally bad working conditions. With other jobs, we regulate and require employers to adhere to basic standards. With prostitution, however, we primarily arrest the people the anti-prostitution movement describes as victims.

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