Adult sex workers arrested in child prostitution sting
In the latest “WTF??!!” news, the FBI is fighting child exploitation nationwide by… wait for it… arresting and brutalizing adult sex workers.
Same old, same old.
And naturally, the mainstream media is complicit. Check out the CNN.com headline: “Operation frees dozens of child prostitutes.” Not, as Cara points out, “Over 500 Prostitutes Arrested Under Guise of Saving Children.” Interesting choice there, CNN.
I just don’t know what to say anymore, about this shit. As I said at Jane’s:
I try to avoid reading places that I know aren’t sex worker supportive, but part of me also feels compelled to educate people. But, that usually ends up biting me in the ass. Bringing the argument around to consent and who makes a free choice to do sex work just makes me want to bang my head against a freakin’ brick wall. I have no response other than to gape in astonishment while my mind screams, “Seriously?? THIS is what you think is relevant?? OMG HOW FAR UP YOUR ASS IS YOUR HEAD???”
I have to find a balance, because this shit needs to be exposed. Women are being actively harmed. I just CANNOT COMPREHEND how this is always a “debate.” This is not about trafficking. This is not about consent vs. coercion. This is not about whether prostitution can be a free choice. This is about the fact that, under current laws? WOMEN ARE BEING HARMED. Your views on prostitution? Irrelevant. And if you really care so much about the women who have no other choice, then trying to form ANY JUSTIFICATION of this shit is that much WORSE coming from you. How will a criminal record help women with few options? How will being beaten and brutalized by law enforcement “save” them??
It also does absolutely nothing to stop trafficking – since so many people seem intent on conflating trafficking and sex work. But, as Ren has noted many times, going after actual traffickers is dangerous and difficult. So much easier to just lock up the hookers, right?
There is no debate here. “Operation Cross Country” and other schemes like it HARM WOMEN. And I won’t stop raising these issues until people actually PAY ATTENTION. Progressives? Where are you? Please join the fight for sex workers’ human rights! Conservatives – at least the fiscal variety – should be able to get on board, too. As SerpentLibertine points out, this shit ain’t cheap and guess where the funding is coming from? Yep, taxpayer money.
SEX WORKERS’ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.
Which reminds me… March 3 is International Sex Workers Rights Day. How apt.