Six survivors speak out about New Zealand’s punishing “sex” industry

Writing by Renee blog 6 June 2017 (a very good blog to check out)
Family First Comment: Harrowing accounts of the reality of prostitution – begging the question “What were the politicians thinking??!”
Sarah
As a 16 year old street worker Anna Reed certainly never tried to help me, even though I was under age and going to the NZPC on a weekly sometimes even daily basis. If anyone need help it was me. I never agreed with her push to have prostitution decriminalized. I refused to sign her petition (at then 19 years of age I could see what she clearly could not, or would not) while she was traipsing round the brothels pushing her agenda, and yes I believe she has her own agenda based on her own world view. Prostitution is the result of the dysfunctional break down of the moral fabric of our society and it will destroy our country just as it is destroying our world. The rape and murder that has occurred on Manchester street alone since it was decriminalized should speak volumes. Was it worth it? The promise of tax write off lipstick and handbags?
Sabrinna Valisce, excerpt from The Evidence Against Prostitution that the New York Times Ignored, published on Truthdig
I worked pre- and post-law reform. The Prostitution Reform Bill passed into law to become The Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) in 2003. The good part of it was that the threat of a criminal record was removed. This would happen under The Nordic Model also. I volunteered at the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC), so I was [able to compare our decriminalization] goal … to the results. I, and others who were agitating for decriminalization in New Zealand, we always wanted the power to be placed firmly in the hands of the prostituted person/sex worker. Decriminalization didn’t do that. The power went to the brothel owners, escort agency owners and johns. Immediately following the PRA, the pimps became legitimate businessmen. They introduced “All-Inclusive.” An “All-Inclusive” is a single fee paid by the john to the brothel/escort agency via the receptionist. This means that the prostituted person/ sex worker has no power of negotiation. It also means that the pimp decides her earnings (most are women). The pimps gained the power to decide what a “service” would be paid and how much of that belonged to them. They also gained the power to withhold the woman’s earnings or even deny any existence of those earnings.
Chelsea
It used to be that men knew the sex they did to us was unwanted, that we just needed the money. This didn’t make them feel like helping us out with some money and leaving without raping us, but it did make them feel at least a little bit guilty about exploiting us, which made them treat us a little bit gentler, and they aimed to get their jollies and leave a little faster with a little less inconvenience to us.
Increasingly, with the current decriminalization legislation and pro sex-work propaganda saturating the media, more men are convincing themselves that we are having consensual sex with them, and charging them not for any hard work nor for any victim compensation, but only because we can. This makes men feel ripped off, “if we are two consenting adults why do us men have to pay while she just collects?” It makes them even more angry, more violent. – They are expecting more and more, and willing to pay less and less….
….If we had decent careers which payed at minimum a living wage, free from sexual harassment where we received equal pay for equal work to men – We would not be letting you touch us. If we lived in a society where we were treated as full human beings with full human rights – We would not be letting you touch us. If we were not oppressed through sexism and classism and often racism as well – We would not be letting you touch us! We would be having sex ((or not having sex) with those people we are sexually attracted to and interested in, and only those people, for *our* pleasure and fulfilment not just *theirs*. I don’t know any woman who’s own personal sexuality drives her to be with a succession of strangers, catering to these strange men’s desires while struggling to uphold the very minimum of safety precautions, until we are sore, raw, swollen, chaffing, and torn. This is not consent, this is coercion. This is not sex work, this is rape. This is economic exploitation. This is women’s oppression.
No, we are not ripping the men off by charging them for consensual sex.
No, decriminalization of johns and pimps has not improved our safety or lives.
No, we are not satisfied with a Prostitutes’ Collective that merely dispenses condoms, we need real support services, we deserve more from our country.
READ MORE: https://reneejg.net/2017/06/06/six-survivors-speak-out-about-new-zealands-punishing-sex-industry/