I get out of bed in the morning like everyone else. I shower, brush my teeth, put my jeans on one leg at a time like anyone else. I pay taxes, bitch about gas prices, shop in stores, do dishes, keep an eye on politics, just like countless other people worldwide. I mow my lawn; I like action movies, NFL football and the Discovery Channel. I drink Coca-Cola and even put up a flag on the 4th of July. I vote, I read, I enjoy a good family BBQ, like a whole lot of other people. I also work, and I work so my loved ones and me will maybe have things I didn’t. I work because like a lot of people, I have to. I also work because I want to. This year I will be able to buy something for my brother, who is having a rough time of it as of late, that he really wants and will enjoy for Hanukkah. I like being able to do this. I like not having to worry about whether or not the power will be on tonight, I like knowing that I can buy groceries. I like the idea that because I am working, maybe people I care about won’t have to work or worry so hard.
Just like a whole lot of other people. Looking at it that way, I am general Citizen Americanus in almost every way…
…but it just so happens that I am a sex worker. By choice. And I have been since I was 19 or so. For over a decade I’ve been a sex worker, in the sex biz, whatever you want to say, along with being and doing all those other things. And that makes me different. Different in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of the medical field, in the eyes of society as a whole. Despite all that other average Citizen Americanus stuff, I’m a sex worker, which makes me different, other, and yes, as Judge Deni proved so brilliantly with her decision to label the rape of a prostitute a mere theft of services, lesser and not deserving of the full protection of the law. She made it plainly clear that no sex worker is. Funny how if you happen to get naked and/or perform sexual acts for living, your value as a human being suddenly drops to that of somewhat sentient livestock. You become lesser than, even though you breathe, sweat, work, feel, think, and do just like every other human being out there.
I’d like to say I am shocked about this ruling, but I’m not. Outrage, pissed, annoyed, but shocked? No, not in the least. Hell, I watch the news. All this “I can’t believe a woman judge would do this?” All the stunned reactions? That, honestly, is what surprises me. Not her stupid ass ruling, but the fact that people are surprised by it. Sex workers get the short end from just about everyone; society, the law, the media, religion, women and men alike, so it’s not hard at all for me to believe that a judge (even a woman one!) would pass down such an obviously inhuman and downright asinine ruling. Though it does make me want to say “Murder is a job related risk of being a judge, so if it should happens to judges, it should be looked at as an occupational hazard and reduced to crime of passion/assault in those cases”?
It also makes me wonder where this clown went to law school. See, if I take my car to get repaired and I drive off without paying the mechanic, THAT is theft of services. If I pull a gun on the mechanic, beat him, force him to repair my friend’s cars, then it becomes robbery with a deadly weapon, assault and battery, and assault with a deadly weapon. Oh yeah, and if I force him to have sex with me, its RAPE…even if he was hittin’ on me earlier.
Oh yes, but I hear you know…but Ren, prostitutes sell sex, and doing so is, in most areas, an illegal activity! Well, yeah, so what? When it’s sold, it’s a business transaction (Which, for fucks sake, should not be illegal). When it’s taken forcibly and against her will, it’s rape. Even when the victim is a prostitute. How hard is that to grasp? Sex itself is not illegal, any woman can have sex anytime she wants (as long as she’s not selling it!) and if she were to get raped, well, it’s a crime… same goes for prostitutes, bonehead judge and bonehead supporters of the judge.
Sex against someone’s will is rape, plain and simple, no matter what services that person provides for a living.
And people wonder why people like me, who are pretty much Average Citizen Americanus in almost every other way would not ever consider going to the cops in this sort of a situation. It’s very true that on the job I could be beaten, raped, threatened with a gun, and if that happened, guess what? I would not go to the law. I’d like to think I could, that it would be worth it, but this case and every other one like it just shows me otherwise. There is no faith in the justice system here on this issue. If you sell sex, well, you’re just asking for it, right? That’s what they’re saying. They are saying it loud and clear, and unfortunately, not enough people, people who actually matter to them, are saying otherwise. You can get raped by the accused and then raped all over again by the justice system and the media as well, doesn’t that sound like fun? Your whole life, your whole history, all of your business splattered out there for the whole world to see and dissect, and then some asshat judge saying it was a “theft of services”, doesn’t that sound like a wonderful way to spend a few months? Because I am pretty sure you all know as well as I do, when a woman rape victim goes to trial, even if she isn’t a sex worker, she is the one on trial…and if she is a sex worker, it’s even worse. Put my faith in a system with that attitude?
I think not. Hell, even when sex workers get murdered, it some how ends up being their own fault. Any attack or assault upon our persons we bring on ourselves, because we sell nudity, sex and sexuality for a living. We somehow, well, deserved it. What did we expect after all, doing something so unseemly? What did she expect?
I guess she really shouldn’t have worn a short skirt.
I guess none of us should.
And this is not going to change until people, people above and beyond us, people above and beyond we sex workers with Internet connections start making some noise.
So yeah, I am begging you, anyone reading this, anyone who actually cares about sex workers and sees them as humans, who in most ways probably aren’t all that different than you are…bring the noise.
And keep bringing it until Judge Deni and all the other people out there like her realize their ears are bleeding. Because that’s the only way we’re going to get heard, and the only way some real justice is going to come our way.
And real justice is something we all, all us humans, do deserve.
Filed under: Activism, Allies, Economics, Featured Bloggers, Human Rights, Injustice, Liveblog, Politics, Pop Culture, Sex Worker Rights, Sexual Assault, Teresa Carr Deni | 6 Comments »
Bound, Not Gagged 