Decriminalize sex work.
Happy Friday! I became quite passionate about today's topic after hearing Layleen Polanco's story, and the injustice she suffered after being arrested for prostitution and drug charges in NYC. Meanwhile, solicitation charges against Robert Kraft were dismissed yesterday in court. The sex worker industry disproportionately harms communities of color and other marginalized populations. Ebony walks us through the relationship between consensual sex work and law enforcement below.
Also, many of you noted some strange link issues with the social graphics. Not sure why. Hopefully, they're fixed now, but know that we also post them on Facebook and Instagram each day (in fact, we share more images than we include here)!
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– Nicole
TAKE ACTION
1. Tell your senator to oppose the EARN IT (Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies) Act, which will implement dangerous online censorship that will disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Learn more and sign >
2. Do your research and see how your state representative voted for SESTA/FOSTA and other prostitution-loitering laws.
3. Support organizations such as Sex Workers Outreach Project, Helping Individual People Survive (HIPS), and Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP), who are actively fighting for sex workers’ rights.
GET EDUCATED
By Ebony Bellamy (she/her)
Note: This article discusses sexual assault and violence against sex workers. Please be aware this content may be triggering. Read with care.
Sex workers are regularly targeted, abused, and profiled. And marginalized communities suffer the most from this. Of the 41 sex workers who were murdered in the US in 2015, 17 were Black, and 12 were transgender women (Amnesty International).
In 1985, in Los Angeles, the L.A.P.D. knew a serial killer targeted Black women in the South Central community, yet waited until 2007 to alert the public about the murders (Vanity Fair). The killings were occurring for 22 years before the general public knew about it. To keep these crimes secret, police officers allegedly used “the unofficial acronym ‘N.H.I.’ (“no humans involved”) to describe the slayings of prostitutes and drug addicts” who were the main victims of the serial killer (Vanity Fair).
Between 2012 and 2015, the State Division of Criminal Justice Services reported that 85% of the individuals arrested in New York for loitering for prostitution were Black or Latinx (Survivors Against SESTA). At that time, anti-loitering policing was highly concentrated in Bushwick, Belmont/Fordham Heights, East New York, Hunts Point, and Brownsville because their residents were predominantly people of color (The Village). And approximately 68.5% of arrests for loitering prostitution* were made in those communities, with a vast majority being women.
In Calfornia, Black women made up 42% of all prostitution-related arrests in 2015, despite representing only 2.8% of the state’s population (Survivors Against SESTA). In Chicago, 90% of all prostitution-related arrests in 2017 were connected to selling sex, and 8% were for buying sex (Chicago Reporter). This means women of color are more likely to be arrested for sex work than men who receive their services.
This stems from loitering laws being based on whether or not an officer believes someone is “loitering for the purpose of prostitution” (Chicago Reporter). Police can make prostitution-related arrests even if they don’t have evidence the person committed a crime. In NYC, officers have regularly cited a woman’s clothing as evidence of her engaging in prostitution (The Village). And everything from tight leggings to a bra strap showing has been listed as evidence.
“When you have factors like an article of clothing or the fact that you are one gender and you are talking to people of another gender, you have to expand your view and ask, where is this happening that’s not being policed? And our answer with the loitering case is, everywhere, except these places when the police decide these are the arrests they are going to make.”
Sarah Mogulescu, a survivor of anti-loitering policing via The Village
These arrests happen so frequently that in 2015, the FBI reported more than 30,000 prostitution-related arrests. And of those, 39.9% of arrestees were Black, and 18.7% were Latinx (FBI). But, when violence is committed against sex workers, police often neglect or ignore these cases (Amnesty International).
According to a 2015 report conducted by the DC Trans Coalition, approximately 23% of Black transgender individuals were physically or sexually assaulted by the police because they were perceived as transgender and involved in the sex trade (Amnesty International). This interaction has made transgender sex workers weary to ask for help. About 27% feel somewhat uncomfortable, while 32% feel very uncomfortable (31.8%) seeking help from the police (Meaningful Work).
This community is heavily policed because officers assume transgender women of color are involved in the commercial sex industry (Chicago Reporter). Commercial sex work includes stripping, street prostitution, brothel prostitution, paid domination, and sexual massages, among other things (National Association of Social Workers). And this belief has caused officers to frequently police places they know transgender women socialize at (Chicago Reporter).
Police even target people with prior arrests for prostitution, despite their charges being dismissed. They often follow these individuals around until they catch them engaging in prostitution-related acts such as “approaching a vehicle” and “beckoning to multiple vehicles passing by with male drivers” (The Village). This, unfortunately, creates a cycle of arrests and incarcerations for transgender women, whether they’re involved in the sex trade or not (Chicago Reporter).
And this level of policing will only intensify as bills such as SESTA/FOSTA continue to be passed. Introduced in 2018, this group of bills was meant to curb online sex trafficking. However, many sex workers say SESTA/FOSTA has significantly affected their ability to make a living in consensual sex work because it has prevented them from advertising (Rolling Stone). It has also removed the online safety networks they used to vet potential clients and has driven them into the streets, which increases their chances of experiencing violence and sexual assault (Rolling Stone).
Between SESTA/FOSTA and anti-loitering laws, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community are continually being targeted by the government for being different. It’s time to shift the way people think and support sex workers trying to earn a living like everyone else. And we can start this work by decriminalizing sex work because sex work is work.
*The term prostitute/prostitution is considered a derogatory phrase by many in the sex worker community. We use it here only in law enforcement related terminology.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. In New York, between 2012 and 2015, 85% of the individuals arrested for loitering for prostitution were either Black or Latinx (Survivors Against SESTA).
2. 90% of all prostitution-related arrests in Chicago in 2017 were connected to selling sex, and 8% were for buying sex (Chicago Reporter)
3. The FBI reported more than 30,000 prostitution-related arrests. Of those, 39.9% of arrestees were Black, and 18.7% were Latinx (FBI).
4. Approximately 23% of Black transgender individuals were physically or sexually assaulted by the police because they were perceived as transgender and involved in the sex trade (Amnesty International).
5. SESTA/FOSTA is a group of bills created to curb online sex trafficking but has severely affected the way sex workers conduct their business.
RELATED ISSUES
9/20/2020 | Make the justice system more diverse.
9/3/2020 | Support mental health response services.
8/27/2020 | Help decriminalize drug possession.
8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.
8/23/2020 | Support those incarcerated and impacted by COVID-19.
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