Urgent need to decriminalise sex work

2 June 2015 | Savannah Russo. Photographs by Eric Miller. Opinion

Angeine did sex work for a decade for a man whose wife was paralysed. She describes the relationship as respectful. Photo and copyright: Eric Miller.

If sex work was accepted as legitimate and legalised, much of the violence and abuse that sex workers face would be eliminated.

Angeine, a 57-year-old female sex worker and a staff member at SWEAT Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce in Cape Town, was able to build a relationship based on mutual understanding, trust and respect with a client. It lasted for nine years.

“I was like a hero for him. I looked after him … so that he could be there for his paralyzed wife,” she explains.

When he fell sick with terminal cancer, he even reached out to deliver one last birthday present to Angeine. She remembers this moment fondly and how on their last goodbye she blew him a kiss from a distance.

The compassion, kindness and financial security she experienced while with her client shows the stability that can be provided when sex work is recognized as legitimate work. Contrast this with the current reality of police brutality and rape that so many sex workers in Cape Town face, and the ramifications of the current legal dispensation become clear.

While taking training courses to help better prepare her to counsel individuals at SWEAT, Angeine was approached by police officers demanding sex. But Angeine stood her ground and refused their sexual advances.

“I am not going to allow them [police] to know my body,” Angeine says defiantly.

18 times more likely to be murdered

Sex workers in South Africa face many difficulties – harassment by police, unsafe working conditions, public abuse, stigmatization, and the denial of access to various services. According to academic John Potterd, female sex workers are 18 times more likely to be murdered than other women.

Advocates for decriminalisation believe that much of the discrimination and violence faced by sex workers stems from the Sexual Offences Act, the legislation that has made sex work illegal since 1957. As Cherith, a human rights lawyer working for SWEAT, explains that “criminalisation pushes sex workers to the margins. They are particularly vulnerable to violence”.

“I am also a human being and I enjoy what I am doing,” says Fiona, a transgender female sex worker who has been an active member of SWEAT programs for about five years. Fiona has chosen to operate her business through the use of regular clients and a cellphone. Meeting individuals in agreed places rather than soliciting sex on the street allows Fiona to have better control over the risks that she faces.

Sex workers become advocates

Shrouded in misunderstanding and stigma, sex workers in Cape Town are gathering for strength, solidarity, and hope. By raising their voices in unity, sex workers and the organizations working in partnership with them have begun to make important strides in claiming their human rights. But the ultimate goal of decriminalising sex work remains on the horizon.

The liberation that comes with representing oneself is what motivates many sex workers to take a stand. SWEAT places the voices and needs of sex workers at its centre. 70% of the staff are sex workers, allowing for an inclusive environment and a communal call to action.

Angeine is a peer leader for SWEAT’s outreach programs, and she has now devoted her life to work for decriminalisation. “I love to be busy. Here is where I want to be. They [SWEAT] are my family.”

Angeine aims to reach as many sex workers as possible with the outreach programming, condoms and an invitation to join SWEAT. Currently, she works with a group of more than 80 female sex workers who have named themselves ‘The Dreamgirls’.

Demanding condoms at all times

Criminalising sex work leaves individuals working in the industry without police protection. Worse still, sex workers have reported that some police in Cape Town are using condoms as evidence of sex work, thus deterring safe sex practices. This comes when sex workers are taking control of their sexual health by demanding condoms.

Angeine has been nicknamed the “tough cookie” after she became an outspoken advocate for condom use and started encouraging other sex workers to demand protection in all exchanges.

“They [clients] call me that [tough cookie] because I don’t budge [when it comes to condom use]. Many times, I even went to sleep without eating to be safe [from the virus] many times.”

Clients often request skin-to-skin sex, some even offering higher prices for unprotected intercourse, putting sex workers at risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

SWEAT – one in a million

Sex workers are now also joining lobbying efforts, standing in front of parliament with placards and T-shirts and demanding that their rights as human beings be recognized.

SWEAT organizes discussions with community leaders and takes up an active courtroom presence in cases involving sex workers.

Marius, a male sex worker, was arrested for sex work while working out of a park in an affluent Cape Town suburb. Marius, who regularly services local men, even some whose wives bring their husbands for sex, was arrested at his site of work and initially denied a phone call in jail. When allowed to make one call, Marius immediately reached out to SWEAT who then provided a lawyer and court support to him throughout the process.

As an active participant in SWEAT programs for the past four years, including the HIV positive support group, Marius is not shy about sharing his pride for this organization.

“This place [SWEAT] is one in a million,” says Marius. “They will help you in any way that they can.”

Sex work is work

With the motto sex work is work, SWEAT and partner organizations like The Women’s Legal Center and the Sisonke Movement are working towards decriminalization.

“Trying to get an oppressive law out is no easy task,” says Ishtar, the human rights lobbying officer at SWEAT. “The challenge is to make people see sex workers as human beings with human rights.”

SWEAT has created a drama group to educate the public and provide a safe space for sex workers to express themselves. Through performances sex workers portray the realities they face on a daily basis. They perform for community members, students, health care professionals and the general public.

Jackie, an outreach and development worker at SWEAT who oversees the drama program, says the group serves to foster a safe environment to share experiences and create solutions on a weekly basis.

“Sex work is work and I don’t want people in the community to look down on sex workers,” says Georgina, a female sex worker who regularly attends SWEAT run support groups. “They shout from the taxi, ‘You have AIDS!’’ They don’t even know me,” she says with a sigh.

Sally, the executive director of SWEAT, hopes the organization will continue to grow with sex workers at its center, both as staff members and service users. Gordon, the psychosocial coordinator at SWEAT, agrees and hopes to see the organization become a university of excellence within the sex work industry, developing best practice models, furthering research, and helping to support sex workers.

As Angeine explains, “If we can get community and client support, decriminalisation will happen. I am a very positive person and nothing is impossible.”

Savannah Russo is a Global Health Corps Fellow working as the Research and Documentation Officer for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Mbarara, Uganda. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. No inference should be made on whether these reflect the editorial position of GroundUp.