TVPRA 2007/11 passed the house Tuesday. Below is the link for anyone who has the time to read it in in its entirety. The sections relating to the sex industry clearly conflate all sex work with sex trafficking and the consequences for all workers in our industry I believe could be quite horrific. I believe the passage of the TVPRA 2007/11 through the house should be considered an emergency and all workers and allies should mobilize before the legislation gets to the Senate for a vote.
I want to know if the porn industry has had any concerns with this legislation. In reading the legislation , I believe sex workers who work on camera have every reason to be as concerned as the sex workers who work “off camera.”
The most troubling aspect of this legislation is that not only does it conflate all sex work with sex trafficking but also that for the way our industry operates, where workers are frequently crossing borders to work, be it national or international, the potential for massive arrests and long periods of prison time are very distressing. Note, up to 10 years for the worker and up to 30 years for the support staff.
Any body else feeling this?
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h3887rh.txt.pdf
Lisa Roellig
Erotic Service Providers Union
Filed under: Activism, Announcements, Human Rights, Injustice, Labor, Law Enforcement, Legal |
Bound, Not Gagged 
Below is the section contained under “Sex Tourism” found on page 69 of the TVPRA 2007/11. I beg every worker and all aliies to read the entire document because as horrible as this section is, there are more sections that pertain to our industry. In particular, for workers in the industry who arrange for other workers to come and work from another country, the punishment for such an arrangement can mean up to 30 years under the new legislation.
Lisa Roellig
Erotic Service Providers Union
‘‘§ 2423A. Sex tourism
9 ‘‘(a) TRAVEL WITH INTENT TO ENGAGE IN ILLICIT
10 SEXUAL CONDUCT.—A person who travels in interstate
11 commerce or travels into the United States, or a United
12 States citizen or an alien admitted for permanent residence
13 in the United States who travels in foreign commerce, for
14 the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with
15 another person shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
16 not more than 10 years, or both.
17 ‘‘(b) ENGAGING IN ILLICIT SEXUAL CONDUCT IN FOR
18 EIGN PLACES.—Any United States citizen or alien admit
19 ted for permanent residence who travels in foreign com
20 merce, and engages in any illicit sexual conduct with an
21 other person shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
22 not more than 10 years, or both.
23 ‘‘(c) ARRANGING TRAVEL AND RELATED CONDUCT.—
24 Whoever, for the purpose of commercial advantage or pri
25 vate financial gain, arranges, induces, procures, or facili-
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70
•HR 3887 RH
1 tates the travel of a person knowing that such a person is
2 traveling in interstate commerce or foreign commerce for
3 the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct shall be
4 fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years,
5 or both
I think we should have a phone campaign this week!
So these addenda to 2423A would mean that, for example, an American who purchased sex legally in Amsterdam would be subject to prosecution back in the US?
Other random thought – this coming from the same Congress and Administration that can’t seem to find any legal basis in American law for controlling the murderous activities of Blackwater mercenaries while overseas.
I also blogged about this (and linked here) at BPPA: link.
It’s okay to kill people for lots of money, it’s not okay to sell orgasms for a little bit of money (and barely okay to give them away). At least, that seems to be the thinking of this administration.
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