Sex Workers Rally in San Francisco

Sex workers rights groups are condeming a recent crackdown on prostitution as an attack against poor women. Rachel West, spokesperson for US PROStitures Collective says more than 40 arrests over the past few months have left women sex workers vulnerable to violence on the job.

"Women are forced away from the well lit areas into isolated areas. Often, they don't have time to check out the men they're getting into cars with like they normally would because they're fearing arrests. They're not able to report incidents of violence to the police because they will often get arrested if they go to the police to report violence."

Standing on the corner of Pine and Hyde Streets, where recent arrests were made, sex workers' advocates clashed with some local residents who support the spike in arrests. Lily Subias who has lived in the Lower Nob Hill since 1967 supports the recent crackdown on prositutes working the streets of her neighborhood.

"Absolutely. We the residents here are impacted because then you're bringing in more crime; you're bringing in drugs."

Robert Garcia with San Francisco Save Our Streets, has also lived in the Lower Nob Hill area for more than 30 years. He's disgusted with prostitution in the area.

"Why do they think they can turn our neighborhood into a prostitution zone? This is Nob Hill. They have no right to come into our neighborhood and change the quality of our life and run under age prostitutes all over the place. How would you like prostitutes underneath your window screaming all night. How would you like to walk down the street and have Johns come up and hit on you? Would you like that? Would you like to hear all that disgusting stuff?"

One local resident said neighbors have been working closely with San Francisco Police to crackdown on prostitution. Sex workers advocates say arresting prostitutes is a band aid solution to a deeper economic problem of poverty. No one mentioned sexism. Maxine Dugan is with the Erotic Service Providers Union. She says San Francisco and the Lower Nob Hill had and still have a history of sex work.

"This business of neighbors having say over our work conditions is illegitimate. The history of San Francisco is that we had our own Red Light District. And we were' forced out of work so you can take possesion of our work place. That is the history here."

Dugan adds the city of San Francisco profits off of the criminalization of prostitution, while sex workers suffer. In 1995, the San Francisco Prostitution TAsk Force was created to address prostitution in San Francisco. With recommendations from the Task Force, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in 2000 to support increased funding of social services for sex workers and increased prosecution of violence against women. Betty Traynor is with the Global Women's Strike, a woman's advocacy group that is working with the current Board of Supervisors to make that resolution a city policy.

"When women are arrested they are out on the street again anyway. So its not helping the neighborhood-those that are objecting like some of the peole that are here today. And it's not in anyway helping the women. So why don't we use that money in a more productive, positive way for the women? Because it's an issue of poverty, that's why we want to try to help the women who want to leave prostitution by providing some resources so they don't feel they have to do this."

While not all sex workers rights group support prostitution-they do agree that criminalization of prostitution does little to redress the social problems surrounding prostitution, from poverty to violence and rape against women, to safe working conditions. As for some residents of the Lower Nob Hill, if arresting sex workers gets them out of the neighborhood-it'll do.