Experts say anti-prostitution laws are helping fuel the spread of HIV among sex workers. Image: AFP/Anoek de Groot
Sex workers took centre stage at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam Thursday, using music and dance to press home a serious message: 鈥淲e are people too, and we have rights.鈥�
The cast of a show entitled 鈥淪ex Worker鈥檚 Opera鈥� performed to a full house at the meeting venue, with songs and recitals advocating that 鈥渟ex work is work,鈥� and 鈥渢here are no bad whores, just bad laws.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e all human beings at the end of the day and nobody should judge us for what we do for a living,鈥� performer Charlie Rose, a 37-year-old sex worker from London, told AFP after the show.
鈥淗uman rights state that we are entitled to earn a living and provide for our families, and that鈥檚 exactly what I鈥檓 doing,鈥� she said.
To loud cheers, performers pranced on stage in fishnet stockings, racy underwear and sky-high heels, singing in unison: 鈥淲hatever the job, it鈥檚 survival that we choose.鈥�
Decriminalization, the cast insisted, is the only way to end stigma and protect the rights and health of sex workers.
鈥淭here鈥檚 still so much stigma that means it鈥檚 harder for sex workers to access health care,鈥� another performer, 31-year-old Londonite Siobhan Knox told AFP.
鈥淚t鈥檚 harder for sex workers to adopt for example, they might face having their children taken away, they might face being kicked out of university because people find out they鈥檙e a sex worker.鈥�
Knox would not say what line of work she was in herself.
Just 鈥渘ormal people鈥�
In countries where prostitution is legal, as in the Netherlands, sex workers find it easier to report violence to the police 鈥渂ecause they don鈥檛 fear鈥� being criminalized themselves, they don鈥檛 fear being arrested,鈥� she added.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e saying is maybe bring things more out in the open鈥� We need to start viewing sex workers as normal people, like anyone聽鈥� mothers, brothers, daughters, lovers,鈥� said Knox.
鈥淧eople always say: 鈥極h I鈥檝e never met a sex worker,鈥� and we say: 鈥榃ell, you probably have, they just haven鈥檛 told you because of stigma.'鈥�
Experts say anti-prostitution laws are helping fuel the spread of HIV, the immune system-wrecking virus that causes AIDS, among sex workers.
According to the International AIDS Society, so-called 鈥渒ey populations鈥澛犫�� including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and intravenous drug users聽鈥� accounted for 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2016.
The World Health Organization says female sex workers are 13.5 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than other women of reproductive age.
Decriminalizing sex work could nearly half new HIV infections in sex workers in just 10 years, according to the UN agency.
Changing laws to prosecute clients rather than sex providers聽鈥� ostensibly to protect prostitutes聽鈥� is also not a solution, advocacy groups insist.
Research presented at the conference showed that in Canada and France, this approach聽鈥� known as the 鈥淣ordic model鈥澛犫�� does not reduce stigmatization or persecution.
鈥淚t is still the sex workers who are more often arrested, more often controlled by the police, and pay more fines than the clients,鈥� said researcher Helene Lebail of France鈥檚 CNRS research institute.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if you criminalize the sex workers鈥� practices or if you criminalize the clients, the stigma is still there.鈥� CC
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