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Since the release of the SA Law Reform Commission’s discussion paper on adult sex work in beginning of May many individuals have written letters to the press condemning sex workers. While we welcome the public debate and discussion of the issue, we at the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), have been alarmed at the level of personalized attack and abusive language directed at us. The common use of the term ‘evil’ to describe us, is particularly disturbing.

The level of vitriol directed at those of us advocating the decriminalisation of adult sex work should actually provides some small insight into the kind of abuse that sex workers are subjected to daily.

One of the problems with the current law on sex work is that it inflates the risks that sex workers face, and punishes people who are already in a vulnerable situation. The current law also leaves a lot open to the discretion of individual police officers. This has opened the way to police corruption, in the form of bribery and the demanding of sexual favours. Moreover, because sex workers do not have the same access to the law and protection as other groups, sex workers are treated as ‘legitimate’ targets of hate crime.

The violence and abuse directed towards sex workers is deeply troubling. The sex worker often functions as a target onto which people can express their hatred and rid themselves of certain feelings, without any sense of accountability. Sadly, we live in a world in which some lives matter and others do not.

We need to understand this process, which is used to attack other groups deemed to be outsiders, like refugees, and people from the LGBTI community. The key element of hate crime is the creation of legitimate targets of violence -- a process which begins with labels and stereotypes, which lead to prejudices, which then lead to stigmatisation, discrimination, harassment, name calling, and unfair treatment. If unchecked, this then leads to abusive practices, structural violence and finally direct and indirect acts of violence.

At SWEAT we are deeply, deeply troubled by the fact that we continue to hear terrible stereotypes, like sex workers are those who spread HIV, that a sex worker cannot be raped because she has sex for money. As long as we accept violence against sex workers we are accepting violence against women. As long as we accept violence against marginalized groups like sex workers, refugees and the Gay and Lesbian community, we are accepting violence as a normal way of life for all of us.

It is time for us to stop hating people because they are different from us. We each have a responsibility to break the chain of stigma and see the human face of the other. The challenge is to see the humanity in the other, to stop turning people into objects. The challenge is for all of us to get to know a person beyond the stereotype in which they are placed.

At all costs we must stop the creation of legitimate targets, like sex workers, and create laws that protect the human rights of sex workers and other marginalized persons. One of the strengths of our society has been its ability to see the human face of the other. But this must be extended to everyone. If we as a society cannot guarantee the human rights of the most vulnerable among us, then ultimately the human rights of all of us are under threat.

Written by SWEAT director, Eric Harper
http://www.sweat.org.za