Sex workers also face abuse from predators
We, too, fear men like Weinstein, says Celine Bisette.
The recent outpouring of allegations against male celebrities accused of sexually harassing and assaulting women has led to an increasingly popular, yet highly problematic suggestion: Why don’t men like these simply hire sex workers to get their needs met?
Proponents of the idea argue that many sex workers would be willing to fulfil the desires of men such as Louis C.K. or Harvey Weinstein. Why don’t these men simply hire sex workers to watch them masturbate or participate in a sexy office role-play? One might imagine that sex workers themselves would welcome suggestions that drive business their way. Fewer assaults on women, and more money in sex workers’ pockets — it sounds like a win-win!
But many sex workers have expressed alarm at the suggestion, saying that advising predators to “just hire a sex worker” might affect their safety and well-being. Chloe Quinn, an escort in San Francisco, tweeted recently that it is not her job “to tolerate abusive male behaviour so that ‘normie girls’ don’t have to experience it.”
Quinn declared that she is not “a pervert’s punching bag.”
The suggestion implies that sex workers are the ones who should be dealing with predatory men. Rather than advising these men to hire sex workers, they could be advised to seek out a consenting partner via any number of means.
The term “sex worker” should not be interchangeable with “consenting partner.” Doing so reinforces the notion that sex workers exist, in part, to serve as a barrier between sexual predators and “decent” women.
As a sex worker who’s been in the industry for 12 years, I know what it’s like to interact with predatory men who come to me as clients. I have experienced sexual assault on the job. I am intimately familiar with what it’s like to feel less than human, and how hurtful it is to be regarded by society as less valuable than “regular” women.
How dare anybody suggest that predatory men come to me, as though it is my job to absorb their abuse, as though I will be less impacted by their behaviour than other women?
The suggestion is that sex workers can and should ease the plight of “normal” women by receiving these difficult men as clients and thereby removing them from the regular dating or hook-up pools that are inhabited by non-sex-working women. That suggestion is terribly misguided and extremely hurtful.
Asking sex workers to accept predatory men as clients is not only dangerous and unfair to sex workers, but it absolves from full responsibility those who are, in fact, solely responsible for predatory behaviour: predators.
Stop asking sex workers to deal with these men and start holding men accountable for their own actions.
Dec. 17 is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. It is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the ways in which stigma and dominant social attitudes about sex workers negatively affect our health, safety and well-being.
We are human, we are workers, and we deserve the same rights, protections and level of respect as any other person in any other job.
Please stop spreading negative stereotypes about us, and stop telling predators to seek us out. Instead, recognize our humanity, recognize our struggle and support us in our fight for basic rights.
One area in which we urgently need the support of the public is in telling Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould that the current laws hurt sex workers. Sex work remains criminalized, even though empirical evidence shows that a criminalized environment leads to increased harms against sex workers.
Please help make our work safer by telling the government to create legislation to decriminalize sex work. Celine Bisette, who writes under a pseudonym, is a sex worker and writer with 12 years of experience in the sex industry.
Stop asking sex workers to deal with these men and start holding men accountable for their own actions.