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SEQUENCE:18860624
CREATED:20140211T032300Z
DESCRIPTION:Routinely, the voices of sex workers and allies are shut out by 
 campaigners, policy makers and feminist groups. Anti-trafficking efforts 
 impact the lives and safety of all sex workers. We are asking for inclusion 
 in the processes that affect us. On Tuesday morning, sex workers will stand 
 in silent protest for an event which exemplifies the discrimination we 
 face, as  the  San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking 
 presents a panel promoting prostitution-abolitionist strategies as a 
 solution to trafficking. 
 (sfgov3.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=6468)\n\n"Strategies 
 developed without the participation of those most impacted are ineffective 
 and are often harmful to those they seek to 'protect'. End Demand 
 (targeting clients of sex workers) has not been shown to benefit victims," 
 explains Ms. R (who recently launched the successful campaign overturning 
 the discriminatory regulation that barred sex workers from receiving 
 victims compensation.) “Criminalization and arrests of sex workers and 
 their clients are policy failures and are making matters worse for victims 
 of exploitation and violence.” \n\n“Despite much research debunking 
 these strategies (1), SFCAHT   and Supervisor Katy Tang present this panel 
 promoting these controversial policies that demean sex workers, further 
 silencing us and creating an atmosphere that discourages our 
 participation,” says Carol Leigh, Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy 
 Network.\n\n"SWOP finds it problematic that the Alameda County DA's office 
 is featured in this closing event. The Alameda County DA's office has a 
 terrible record when it comes to prosecuting men who rape sex workers. Why 
 are they being promoted, when they pick and choose which women deserve to 
 be protected from violence?" --Shannon Williams, member of SWOP, Sex 
 Workers Outreach Project, SF Bay Area chapter\n\nThe research of another 
 panelist, Melissa Farley, has recently been debunked, as the Supreme Court 
 of Canada struck down laws which “created severe dangers for vulnerable 
 women.”\n\nI found the evidence of Dr. Melissa Farley to be problematic. 
 Although Dr. Farley has conducted a great deal of research on prostitution, 
 her advocacy appears to have permeated her opinions … Dr. Farley stated 
 during cross-examination that some of her opinions on prostitution were 
 formed prior to her research, including, "that prostitution is a terrible 
 harm to women, that prostitution is abusive in its very nature, and that 
 prostitution amounts to men paying a woman for the right to rape her." 
 Accordingly, for these reasons, I assign less weight to Dr. Farley's 
 evidence.\n                                                                 
           -- Justice Susan Himel, Ontario Superior Court of 
 Justice\n\n"When addressing trafficking, pro-active efforts should be made 
 by city agencies to include sex workers in the discourse and advisory 
 bodies. Instead they are promoting these insulting 
 prostitution-abolitionist perspectives, while also ignoring a huge body of 
 work of anti-trafficking strategies from a rights based perspective," says 
 Carol Leigh.\n(1) “The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention 
 found no evidence that after a decade in place, the Swedish law 
 criminalising the buying of sex had any significant impact on decreasing 
 trafficking for sexual exploitation in Sweden.”  Swedish National Council 
 for Crime Prevention, Stockholm, 2008. p.79\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/02/10/18750636.php
SUMMARY:Sex Workers and Allies Demand Inclusion-Silent Protest
LOCATION:SF Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA (and Koret 
 Auditorium)-9:30 am
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/02/10/18750636.php
DTSTART:20140211T173000Z
DTEND:20140211T181500Z
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