Category: DSW Newsletter #43 (December 2022)

Earlier this month, the Cabinet of South Africa approved the publication of a decriminalization bill for public comment.

The new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill would establish the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work in South Africa, and its publication for public comment has sparked a new wave of interest in decriminalization throughout the country.

Katelego Rasebitse, a South African human rights activist and sex work sector leader at SANAC, said:

“If the bill is passed, it will mean that both the buying and selling of sex is [decriminalized]. Sex workers will have a voice: they will be able to speak out against police brutality and client abuse. We also hope there will be less stigma attached to sex work. Sex workers are people who are living among us, and we need to protect them.”

The idea of decriminalizing sex work is nothing new for South Africa.

In 2017, The South African Law Reform Commission released a report on “adult prostitution,” which stirred opinions on the subject nationwide.

Decriminalization has been publicly supported by powerful South African organizations such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Commission for Gender Equality.

In 2019, Human Rights Watch published a lengthy report on the urgent need to decriminalize sex work in South Africa.

To keep up with the decriminalization of sex work in South Africa, follow the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT).

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW) was proud to participate in the inaugural New England Sex Work Summit (NESWS) in Manchester, NH. It was hosted by New England sex work advocacy groups ELA One and The Ishtar Collective. According to The Ishtar Collective, the NESWS’s goal was to bring together “sex workers and their allies for a weekend of networking, learning, and celebrating.”

The NESWS featured a series of workshops for both allies and sex workers focusing on advancing policy reform and sex worker wellness, as well as a private community brunch honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance.

DSW members in attendance included Staff Attorney Becca Cleary and Community Engagement Consultant Henri Bynx, who is co-director and co-founder of The Ishtar Collective. They both took part in panels during the summit.

Bynx, along with David Mickenberg and Palana Belken, spoke about the role of storytelling in advocacy and policy, self-regulation in confrontational situations, and building allyship in government spaces.

Cleary’s panel, which included Savannah Sly, focused on the role that incremental state and local policies play in the health and safety of sex workers. They also discussed upcoming legislative efforts and innovative new policymaking that the community can look forward to.

When asked about their experience, Bynx said:

“The NESWS provided a sense of siblinghood that I feel is sorely missed outside of sex work organizing. It made space for sex workers to feel seen in their authenticity in a society that lends itself to polarizing character portraiture.”

Learn more about The Ishtar Collective.

On November 25, 2017, New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers raided a Flushing, Queens massage parlor as part of a sting operation against consensual adult sex work. Amidst the panic and brutality of the raid, a massage parlor employee named Yang Song fell from a window on the building’s third floor.

Song sustained fatal injuries and died the next morning. This week marks the five-year anniversary of her death.

In the aftermath of her passing, Song’s family shared that she had been sexually assaulted by an undercover police officer after she was arrested for prostitution just a few months prior. Song had faced relentless harassment from the NYPD as they blackmailed and attempted to coerce her into being an informant. The harassment and threats grew increasingly ruthless the more she refused until she was finally targeted in the sting operation that ultimately led to her death.

Song’s story galvanized hundreds of local decriminalization advocates, who immediately organized protests and vigils in her honor. It was among these activists that the organization Red Canary Song was born. Originally founded with the intent of helping Song’s family pay for legal support and healthcare expenses, Red Canary Song now fights to promote the well-being of Asian and migrant sex workers through labor rights, mutual aid, and advocating for the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work.

Unfortunately, Song’s story is only one of countless instances of law enforcement targeting and brutalizing sex workers for their profession. The criminalization of sex work regularly enables situations like these, where immigrants and sex workers are powerless against law enforcement for fear of arrest or deportation.

Police stings are violent, brutal, and traumatizing. Asian-owned massage parlors are frequent targets of these raids, where law enforcement claim to be saving “victims of trafficking” by arresting them. However, as demonstrated by Yang Song’s tragic story, it’s clear that this isn’t the case. In fact, rarely, if ever, do these stings actually uncover human trafficking.

All they do is enable police to freely brutalize and assault sex workers.

The only way to create an environment where sex workers don’t have to fear law enforcement is by decriminalizing sex work.

Only then will sex workers be safe.