From Desiree Alliance 2013 Program Description: Supporters of sex workers' rights movement often emphasize how the illegal status of prostitution contributes to harm to sex workers, and how legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution might make it safer. But those of us who are street-based, immigrant, transgender, underage, people of color, etc. know that the law against prostitution plays only a small part in our experience of pervasive surveillance and criminalization in our lives. It is not that we are targeted and criminalized because prostitution is against the law; the prostitution became illegal because we are already targeted and criminalized. This workshop explores a possibility for an anti-criminalization movement, which goes beyond legalization or decriminalization of sex work and addresses social and economic justice more broadly in the face of pervasive state violence, whether they take the form of Prison Industrial Complex or anti-trafficking "rescues." Our discussion will build on the work of women and queer people of color with histories in the sex trade, and how they have successfully built coalition with radical women of color activists outside of the sex workers' rights movement, for example during the campaign against Prop. 35 in California.

1. AGAINST
CRIMINALIZATION:
beyond “legalization” vs. “decrimnalization”
emi koyama
emi@eminism.org
for desiree alliance 2013
live tweet @emikoyama #DALV13

2. Overview
1. languages
2. the “prostitution debate”
3. anti-trafficking discourse
4. impact on social services
5. against criminalization

3. LANGUAGE

4. “Sex Work/Worker”
coined by sex worker activists to unite people
working in various fields of sex industry (e.g.
escorts, dancers, porn models, etc.) and to assert
their rights as workers
also used internationally by various sex workers’
rights groups around the world
nonetheless, many people in the sex industry are
unfamiliar with the term, or do not identify
with it

5. “Sex Trade”
generally refers to exchange of direct sexual contact
for money or other things of value
a value-neutral term that describes what people do,
as opposed to who they are
particularly useful when we are talking about young
people who trade sex, or those who may be trafficked
people first language: when referring to people,
use “people in the sex trade” or “people who trade
sex”

6. “Survival Sex”
often used instead of “sex work” to describe
exchange of sex for basic survival needs—i.e.
doing what one has to do to survive
it may be infrequent and only when absolutely
needed, or it may be ongoing
there is no clear line between “survival sex” and “sex
work”: most of us work in order to survive, after all

7. “Sex Trafficking”
official definition of human trafficking:
act (recruitment, transportation, etc.)
means (force, fraud, coercion, etc.)
purpose (labor or commercial sexual exploitation)
any commercial sexual exploitation of minors is
considered sex trafficking whether or not there is
force, fraud, or coercion

8. “Criminalization”
social, legal, political processes that transform
certain acts into crimes, and people into criminals
not just about what is legal or illegal; it is also about
who is targeted for surveillance and control
people of color
immigrants
homeless people
drug users
queer and trans people …among others

9. THE “PROSTITUTION
DEBATE”

10. The “Prostitution Debate”
legalization: government regulates the sex trade
decriminalization: no prosecution of consensual acts
criminalization
“Swedish model”: buyer is criminalized while seller is
treated as victims
we are very familiar with this “debate” in the sex
workers’ rights community
all of these approaches center on adjustments to the
status of prostitution in the criminal law

11. Beyond Prostitution Law
not all sex workers are targeted the same way by the
criminal justice system
for some, prostitution law is the main problem; for
others, it is a small part of the bigger problem of
pervasive surveillance and criminalization
in order to address criminalization of sex workers, it
is inadequate to only address prostitution laws

12. ANTI-TRAFFICKING
DISCOURSE

13. Anti-Trafficking Rhetoric
pre-2000: human trafficking was viewed as an issue
of development, irregular migration, and labor
exploitation (ILO, IOM)
2000: human trafficking is now considered primarily
an international criminal enterprise
2008: focus shifts to domestic minor sex trafficking
(DMST), or youth in the sex trade
2011: law enforcement defines DMST as a primarily
gang-related problem

14. Sex Trafficking Frameworks
trafficking as law and order problem
trafficking as immigration problem
trafficking as all prostitution
trafficking as urban gang problem
trafficking as sexual morality problem
trafficking as “rescue women and children”
all of these frameworks call for surveillance and
criminalization as the solution, instead of policies
addressing social and economic justice

15. Push & Pull
when looking at the problem of violence and
exploitation in the sex trade, it is important to
understand both push and pull factors
push: things that make people vulnerable, such as
poverty, racism, homophobia/transphobia, unjust
immigration laws, and the failure of child welfare
system
pull: things that draws vulnerable people into site
of violence and exploitation, such as the presence
of human traffickers and exploiters
anti-trafficking discourse focuses almost exclusively
on the pull side of the equation

16. Anti-Trafficking Policies
“rescues” — i.e. raids and sweeps
“safe harbor” law — involuntary “services”
“end demand” pseudo-economic approach
further surveillance of suspected gang members,
immigrants, homeless people, and others
entanglement of social service with the law
enforcement: reversing of harm reduction
approach to public health and advocacy

17. “Rescues”
data released by FBI for Operation Cross Country 1-6
date cities “rescues” “pimps” all arrests
1
2
3
4
5
6
06/2008 16 21 389
10/2008 29 49 73 642
02/2009 29 48 571
10/2009 36 52 60 700
11/2010 40 69 99 885
06/2012 57 79 104

18. “The FBI has rescued 79 teens held against their will
and forced into prostitution from hotels, truck stops
and stores during a three-day swoop on sex-trafficking
rings across the country … The teenagers, who are all
U.S. citizens, were handcuffed and held in police custody
until they could be placed with child welfare
organisations.”
The Daily Mail, June 26, 2012

19. a Backpage ad flagged as a potential sex trafficking case

20. things that can get an ad flagged for DMST
Possible Minors
! Ads tagged for being minor
! Subjects in the photos had physical indicators of youth (baby-
fat on cheeks, little to no curve at the waits, feet/legs outturned
when standing, gangly arms/legs)
! Environment where the photo was taken had features
indicative of common juvenile behavior (writing on mirror,
stuffed animals, posters on walls, etc...)
! Subject intentionally trying to look young (pig tails, knee high
socks, holding school books, etc...)
! Ad indicated the subject of the photo was potentially a juvenile
through the use of verbiage (barely legal, just turned 18, first
time)

21. Involuntary Services
“safe harbor” laws: minors are always (supposedly)
treated as victims, not criminals, for being involved
in the sex trade
in practice, safe harbor law does not stop young
people from being criminalized anyway
involuntary “services” may involve lockdown or
remote facilities; long-term involvement of child
welfare system that many had to run away from
adults are also offered “services” as diversion
program or probation condition (failure to complete
the program results in arrest and imprisonment)

22. End Demand
targeting clients through prosecution, public
shaming, and education
drives sex trade further underground
reduces income, bargaining power, and safety
of sex workers
“end demand” policies often increase penalty for
sellers as well
shifts client demographics
racial and gender profiling
not endorsed by actual economists

23. For Nerds Only…
Dh
Dl
S
Ph
Pl
F(Lh)F (Ll)
if you are turned on by these charts, please see
http://eminism.org/blog/entry/340
to read why “end demand” does not work, and how it can
even increase (rather than decrease) prostitution

24. Case of Club 907
“hostess club” in Los Angeles was raided for
suspicions of prostitution, sex trafficking, and labor
rights violation in November 2010
80+ women working as “hostesses” were placed on
immigration detention and/or deportation
proceedings
club owners simply posted ads to hire replacement
workers the next week

25. IMPACT ON
SOCIAL SERVICE

26. What is Harm Reduction?
simply put:
it’s not your job to “save” people
non-judgmental approach; watch out for our own
assumptions
people who are affected set priorities and agenda
provide what people need to increase autonomy,
safety, and well-being

27. Subverting Harm Reduction
youth treated as “children”: supporting youth in the
sex trade could be construed as enabling human
trafficking
people in the sex trade as victims needing “rescue”
instead of respecting their autonomy
victims and other people in the sex trade as
“witnesses” rather than clients or service recipients
some safety measures people use, such as working
with others, can be construed as “promoting
prostitution”

28. Youth are sometimes
arrested, sometimes not,
but they are all detained.
Youth either agrees to
stay at the specified
shelter, returns home,
or else he or she must
be involuntarily
institutionalized

29. Christianity Today magazine, November 2011
Tagline: Leading [Portland’s] effort
to halt child trafficking is a network
of dedicated Christians. Just don’t
go advertizing it.
pictured left to right: police officer,
youth service director, fundamentalist
pastor, and Christian lobbyist.

30. from a national law enforcement webiner
clinicians, social
services, etc.
embedded into
law enforcement
information
gathering

31. from a national law enforcement webiner
treating condom as
evidence threatens
health of people in
the sex trade

32. Threats to Advocacy
increased collaborations between the law
enforcement and social service agencies (e.g. police
ride-alongs) through “rescue” missions
funding shifted away from empowerment-based
advocacy to involuntary “services” and “diversion
programs”
targeting and closure of grass-roots peer-led
organizations by and for people in the sex trade
(e.g. Young Women’s Empowerment Project)

33. outreach material created
for SAVVY, a collaboration
of Outside In and Portland
Women’s Crisis Line
of course it’s defunded.

34. AGAINST
CRIMINALIZATION

35. Critiques of Criminalization
prostitution laws are only part of the structures that
criminalize people in the sex trade; we need to
challenge the full spectrum of the machinery of
criminalization
opportunities for coalition-building:
communities of color, immigrant communities,
homeless communities are sometimes conservative
about sexuality, but they understand the horrors of
pervasive surveillance and criminalization
an example: multi-racial coalition against
Proposition 35 in California

36. Lessons from DV Advocacy
things domestic violence advocates understand:
victims stay in abusive or dangerous circumstances
for many reasons; advocacy requires a long-term
commitment to supporting their autonomy
third parties can be invaluable source of support,
but relationship building is necessary
calling the law enforcement may not be a safe
option for many survivors
many people in the sex trade have negative
experiences with social service agencies and medical
facilities as well

37. my case worker
thinks that my
boyfriend is pimping
me but it’s not true.
my teacher does
not respect my
gender identity or
call me by the name
i want them to use.
bus driver said my
service animal was
just a pet and didn’t
allow me to ride. i
think it’s because i
am/look homeless.
doctor at the clinic
asked me why i was
so upset about being
raped if i’ve had sex
with people i don’t
know for money
before.
when i went to
emergency room, the
nurse told me that it
wasn’t a shelter and
i wouldn’t be sick if i
wasn’t using drugs.
police searched me
at a bus stop, and
questioned why i
was carrying two cell
phones, or if i was
selling drugs.
Are your
support
“SYSTEMS”
working
for YOU?
SYSTEM
FAILURE
ALERT!
systemfailurealert.tumblr.com

38. System Failure Alert!
based on “Bad Encounter Line” from Young Women’s
Empowerment Project in Chicago
shares “system failures” (problems in social service,
medical service, police, and other institutions that
are supposed to help) experienced by street youth
and other people through zines, online, and in public
events; also share how we fight back and survive
uses stories to hold service providers accountable
and transform institutions
creates resources to help all of us take care of
ourselves and our friends

39. Support YWEP Leaders!
Young Women’s Empowerment
Project is closing after 12 years
of movement building, research,
leadership development, and
life-changing social justice
organizing
grass-roots fundraising is ongoing to provide
financial support to YWEP leaders as they move
forward, and to hold a closing ceremony to honor
the work of YWEP members and allies
more info & donation link: http://goo.gl/KASW6

40. emi koyama
emi@eminism.org
www.eminism.org
facebook.com/emigrl2
@emikoyama
emigrl.tumblr.com