Sex work ‘an economic and social issue’

Sex workers from across Asia set out strategies to improve their lives and legalise their trade during their first ever regional conference which wrapped up in Bankok recently.

Sex work should be recognised as a profession like any other, said the delegates from 11 regional nations who were joined by representatives from Australia and the United States.

Chanthavipa Aphisuk of Bangkok-based rights group Empower said the main problem facing prostitutes was that they were stigmatised and isolated by a society which saw them as “dirty and shameful”.

“During the conference we decided to work together to change people’s attitudes and make them realise that sex work is an economic and social issue, not a criminal or moral issue,” she said.

“We are not animals, we are human beings and we are workers.”

The illegal status of the world’s oldest profession meant that prostitutes are too often “controlled by their employer rather than them having opportunities in society,” she said.

And in the poorest Asian nations, such as Laos and Myanmar, sex workers did not even have access to condoms or basic medical care.

During the conference, delegates said that while their job was difficult and dangerous, they deserved to be treated like any other worker, and to share in the substantial economic benefits they bring to Asian economies.

“We do it because we want money, we want opportunities and we want to be able to take care of our families,” said “Ang,” from Bangkok’s red light district.

“None of us dreamed of becoming a sex worker. To know someone for two minutes and then have to go off with them, for me it’s not easy.

“But I’m proud to be a sex worker because I can feed my two sons and look after my family,” she told reporters.

“Tini” from Malaysia said she turned to prostitution during the 1997 financial crisis, which sent unemployment soaring across the region.

“It’s not easy to be a sex worker, sometimes you get beaten up and the pimps take your money,” she said. “But hopefully with the sharing here we can come up with some solutions.”

Delegates from Islamic countries said their situation was particularly difficult.

“For us, legalisation will never become a reality, instead we are just fighting for our basic rights, and asking the authorities to stop harassing us,” said Tini.

May, from Hong Kong, said even though prostitution was not illegal in the territory sex workers were increasingly coming under attack by the authorities.

“It’s become very difficult since the handover (to Chinese rule). They harass you and move you on, even though they cannot arrest you,” she said.

Thai police initially objected to the conference taking place, but later changed their minds, while warning they would keep a close eye on the meetings.

Chanthavipa said undercover police had trailed the delegates, taking photos and video footage and occasionally stopping them for questioning.

The Nation newspaper slammed the official response in an editorial, noting it was “in sharp contrast to the benign tolerance of the sex industry in their everyday mode of operation”.

“Debate on how society should deal with prostitution should be encouraged,” it said.

“Level-headed discussion — not an official policy influenced by prudery and hypocrisy — should be the order of the day.” -AFP