Feminism & Prostitution: Why Legalization Does Not Work

BLOG POST posted on October 8, 2010 by GuerillaRadio

I would like to attack the idea that regulations are even enforceable because there's a naive belief on behalf of a lot of legalization advocates that the laws that are on paper are the ones that get enforced. It's no surprise that most of the people who make this assumption are white, middle class men. I don't say that as a general slur. I say that because white, middle class men don't have the lived experiences of poor people who often know that the police don't do what they are supposed to. They don't have the lived experiences of people of colour who often know that police don't do what they are supposed to, and they don't have the lived experience of women who often know, particularly in cases of rape and domestic violence, that police don't do what they are supposed to. The conviction rate for rape is notoriously low.

But here is an example that even white, middle class men should be able to understand, prison. On paper prisoners should be the safest members of our society. They have shelter and food provided to them. They have a host of rights which should protect their personal security. They have government funded security watching over them 24 hours a day. But despite this everyone knows prison is not a safe place to be because while they may have rights on paper their ability to do something about it if those rights are violated is very limited. Likewise the poverty which drives most women into prostitution significantly affects their ability to do something if their rights are violated.

What happens when prostitution is legalized is that prostitutes are given rights on paper but no social power by which to exercise them. At the same time big business is granted an enormous ability to exploit the most vulnerable people in the community and have all the social power in the world with which to do this. Therefore what really happens is not the proliferation of unions in the sex industry, but rather the proliferation of the sex industry.

In other industries the rights that have written on paper for the minimum wage and workers’ safety conditions didn't come from some politician going, “we’re going to give this industry rights.” It came from union struggles and it came from the organized collective power of the workers in that industry saying, “we're going to tell you to fuck off unless you grant us these things.” In industries where there aren't powerful unions it doesn't matter what's written on paper because the bosses will just ignore it. If you want regulation you need unions. If you really want to fulfill this fantasy of having this highly unionized and regulated sex trade industry you'd have to increase the social power of the women within the industry. But the thing is that the majority of the women who choose to work in the industry do so because they have no social power.

So the plan to have a regulated sex industry is kind of like trying to regulate domestic violence. If they had the power to unionize for the most part they would just leave. It makes sense to decriminalize the people who are abused by this industry but it makes no sense to legalize the abuse.

Given the cops are hopeless on getting convictions on rapes of even white middle class women, the idea that they would ever be a useful tool for protecting prostituted women who tend to be poor and women of colour is just silly.

Suzanne Jay as part of her work with Vancouver Rape Relief worked with women who came into contact with Robert Pickton, the serial killer who targeted prostituted women. This is something she said about the police protecting prostituted women:

Here in Vancouver the Pickton Farm is used to provide the background and justification for arguments about establishing a red light district. The 15 women he is charged with killing were prostituted. Pickton was a well known john. The chief argument for a red light district is that it will be safer for prostitutes. People who are worried about the safety of women in prostitution are being told that the police will come faster and more reliably in a red light district.

At this time, Vancouver police are looking for a man who targets prostitutes. He hires a prostitute from the street, he drives her out of town and strangles the woman while he rapes her. The police are describing him as “the guy with the wonky eye.” The first report to the police was in February 2002 right after Pickton was arrested. Three weeks ago, the police started telling the public about this guy. A CBC reporter asked the Vancouver police why they waited so long to release information. In their own words, the police said they “didn’t think he was a danger because he limited his attacks to prostitutes.” Since February 2002 he has raped and strangled at least 4 more women. I’m not convinced that police will suddenly start protecting prostitutes because they work in a red light district where prostitution is legalized.

Some people argue that even if the police won’t respond to a prostitute, they will respond when the brothel owners call. The rationale is that brothels owners will want to maintain a reputation that is acceptable to the men using the area.

I can also say this as, don’t worry, capitalism will make women safe.

Daily Plant (a brothel in Melbourne Australia where prostitution is legalized)shareholders will not be happy if there are any publicized situations that make the brothel look bad. Most cases become public because they are recorded by the police. The media generally depend on police to release information about violence cases. It is far more likely that places like the Daily Plant will have a private security firm to take care of any incidents. The police will not be alerted and any attack on a woman in the red light district will be hidden by the privatized security. The official police record of violence against women and by extension the official media record of violence against women will be reduced but not because the attacks are not happening.

Dara Culhane’s research shows that most of the men who buy street prostitutes can actually afford to buy women through escort agencies or in massage parlours.The question is then why would a man who has enough money to buy sex in a safe, clean setting choose otherwise? Dara’s research shows that the men are actually buying the degradation of women, not sex. Robert William Pickton had money. He could have bought women from escort agencies. But he didn’t.

If women’s degradation is what the consumer demands, the capitalists are sure to provide it. (Jay, 2003)

Jay, S. (2003, March 1). Reject red light districts as a solution to violence against women. Retrieved October 6, 2010, from Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter: http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/redlight_districts.html