Sex Workers Against Rape

I’ve been in discussions with other activists, one who came up with this great title “sex workers against rape”. I want to say her name and credit her for the title and the concept but I haven’t heard back yet for permission to quote her name. But the title is not mine. But I’m proud to be part of it.

Rape should not be an occupational hazard. But it is. Sex workers are particularly vulnerable because of social views about women being responsible for male sexuality and it is increased exponentially when the woman happens to be a sex worker because of social stigma of sex workers as asking for it, or putting ourselves in a position for it to happen or all the associated myths.

Here are some facts.

Sex Workers can be raped. Not all are but many of us have been. I was. My distrust of the legal system kept me from pursuing my legal rights when it happened. What happened to the survivor in Judge Deni’s horrible decision is exactly what I feared. What kept me silent. The legal system was as frightening a prospect as the rapist as first you live the rape, then you re-live it over and over in the justice system while every detail is analyzed to attempt to find some way to make it your fault or to prove that you are making it up, embellishing, hate men, or any of a large group of horrible myths. For all intents and purposes there was a significant time frame in my life when I was in fact captive in the sex industry. Where rape was consistent because I could not stop the process. Being a prostitute, I could not go to the police for justice, for freedom. The police are often a series of Judge Deni’s. Even if they are not and you make it to trial, now you face the likelihood of a Judge Deni, of a Jury of Judge Deni’s. I’ll come back to this point below.

In 2005 in a “straight job” as a supervisor with TSA, I was sexually assaulted by a co worker, it was all on videotape, at least until that tape was “lost”, the perp confessed, there was no issue with “what I was wearing” as anyone who has flown in the last 6 years has seen what all TSA “are wearing”. But everything that I feared about the justice system as a sex worker still happened even though this time I wasn’t a sex worker, I had five witnesses, four of which were men, who backed me up both with the employer, with Internal Affairs and in court. I had an attorney. I had 120 page TSA EEOC investigation which backed up my story, I had the determination from Human Resources, which backed me. And what did all of that amount to? Nothing. Because those in power were of the same thought process as Judge Deni. Because I was female I must have done something or have some scheming agenda like advancing my career through reporting and proving being sexually assaulted by a peer. While I was condemned, the powers that be, looked for every way possible to find ways to prove the perp was a “nice guy” and couldn’t possibly have done it. 364 days later after fighting for the entire year, I gave up, because the process simply was too hard, too stacked, too many Judge Deni types. The only possible vindication was horrible as the perp assaulted another female nine months later. Proving my point. But she had to suffer because no one in power wanted to side with the woman. Despite having all the circumstances above in my favor, ultimately I still lost. Having your life, your ethics, your honesty, your actions, all put under a microscope and judged through a lens slanted against you is a horrible experience, which is exacerbated by the Judge Deni’s of the world who want to protect those they view as “good people” and live in the myth that only those that deserve it get sexually assaulted, get raped. The process was horrible and felt like it sucked much of my life away and took a long time to heal from emotionally and I was coming from the perspective of being the “good” girl. How painful and difficult it must be for the sex worker survivor in PA that Deni so horribly denied rights. That she had to go through that process reliving being gang raped, having her story torn apart by the investigators, and with the end result of Judge Deni’s ruling. It is brutally difficult for any woman that has been sexually assaulted to first live through the experience, then try to get justice, but with society feeling that sex workers are the “bad” women, it is only further magnified exponentially.

Sex workers can and are often raped. Sex workers are opposed to rape. We are as vulnerable to it as anyone, we feel as strongly opposed to it as anyone. Because money is exchanged for sex does not change the fact that we do not want to be forced into anything sexually that we do not consent to nor do we want any other woman to.

Supporting sex worker rights is essential to fighting rape. As long as there is a class of women considered “bad” and somehow deserving of rape, all women, sex workers and non sex workers suffer. NO ONE chooses to be raped. The need for society to respect a woman’s right to choose, to consent, or not to as it comes to sex, regardless of how she dresses, what time she is outside, where she is walking, who she is with, and what she does for work, is a social necessity that we all must stand together for. Ending social views that deem some women as bad and deserving of rape is essential.

As long as social stigma against women in sex work and perceptions exist and are accepted in society, any woman deemed to be in the class of a sex worker, is a target, and vulnerable. Only when no class of women is considered acceptable to take sex without consent will we all move forward. We have to do that together.

Sex workers are against rape. Please stand with us in the fight to end violence against women.