Q. What is sex work?
A. Sex work is the exchange of sexual services (sex, erotic dancing, pornography, etc.) for money or something of value. Sex workers have different reasons for doing sex work. Some choose sex work among other well paying jobs and some are in circumstances that lead them to sex work even if it is not their first choice for earning income. Some individuals are forced and/or coerced into sex work — this is human trafficking, a crime that occurs across many labor sectors.
Each state has different laws regulating sex work. Most states have a number of laws prohibiting prostitution. To make it more confusing, each jurisdiction has a different exact definition of what activities count as prostitution. In some states, BDSM, fetish, and other types of sexual play are explicitly included in definitions of prostitution, whereas in other states, they are not considered to be “sexual conduct” as defined by prostitution laws.
Sex work includes the entire field of sexual services, both legal and illegal, including pornography, exotic dancing, fetish work, web-based work, and prostitution. Prostitution is the kind of sex work most often criminalized, and it is the direct, in-person exchange of sex for money or other things of value.
Q. Why do you use the term “sex worker”?
A. First, it is the term sex workers all over the globe have said they prefer. Second, the term sex worker helps us see that sex work is a job, not an identity.
Q. What is the difference between sex work and trafficking?
A. Too often, laws and lawmakers conflate human trafficking with consensual adult sex work. Human trafficking is when an individual or group uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another into some kind of labor, including commercial sex acts. Human trafficking is an egregious abuse of human rights and a critical public health issue. Sex work is when adults choose to offer sexual services in exchange for something of value, usually money.
Prostitution and anti-trafficking laws make it impossible for victims and witnesses to report exploitation without risking prosecution. When innocent people are arrested and prosecuted, victims face barriers to services, and exploitation proliferates in the black market.
Q: Do repressive polices around sex work lead to an increase in Sextually Transmitted Infections (STIs)?
A. Numerous public health agencies have stated that decriminalizing prostitution is one of the most important policy shifts necessary to prevent HIV and STI infections.
Where sex work is illegal, those involved are more likely to engage in riskier behaviors. Law enforcement often use condoms in a wallet as evidence of prostitution, preventing some people from wanting to carry them in large numbers, even from the store to home. Also, as stigma is reduced, condom usage is known to increase.
Studies have shown that in the few places around the world where sex work is decriminalized, like New Zealand, the rate of STIs has gone down.
Q. How will this affect criminal justice resources?
A. In most jurisdictions, tens of thousands of dollars are spent needlessly arresting and processing consenting adults for private behavior. This money could be better spent investigating violent crimes such as rape, assault, robbery, and trafficking.