Christina had a long life of bouncing from foster home to foster home, 37 to be exact. She was trying to put herself through nursing school until she was told about a legal brothel in Nevada (Joseph, 2008).. She thought it was a dream come true. She would never have to worry about having enough money for food or a roof over her head ever again. At the brothel, men aren’t just looking for sex. Many of them go there looking for GFE: The Girlfriend Experience. This is where they pay anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours worth of cuddling, kissing and holding hands (Joseph, 2008). There they are also allowed to have their own rates and charge their costumers. This is significantly better and safer than going through pimps with illegal prostitution. It can be extremely dangerous and most girls are susceptible to rape, assault, robbery and even murder. Illegal street prostitution can also cause HIV rates to increase due to the practice of unsafe sex and drug use.
All over the United States, and the world, people use their bodies as a tool of trade. People are able to enter professions that are deemed unsafe and some that may even seem morally questionable. The one time that isn’t the case is when a woman is having sex as her profession (Wright, 2018). Why should it be any different for women in sex work? Why should women be exposed to stigmas and unsafe working conditions just because they want to use their body to make money. They should have a right to make their own decisions on what they want to do with their bodies, even if that means having sex or engaging in sexual activity for money. My argument is that sex work should be decriminalized and healthcare should be available for those in that profession. Not only would it create a safer environment for workers but there is also many economical advantages.
Sex work is an occupation, business, or trade involving sexual activity or other sexual services in exchange for economic compensation. It is found almost everywhere around the world, despite the varying legality from country to country. According the the article “Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal Population,” “There are an estimated 42 million prostitutes around the world” (Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal Population, 2020). Sex work can be anything from prostitution, pornography, escorting, stripping, and anything else that involves sexual services in exchange for payment. There are many issues that come with sex work, such as the stigma that surrounds it, the race differences, and the different health risks associated with it to name a few. These issues, especially the stigma, make it hard for big institutions like the government and medical services to deal with such laborers.
Demographics, Institutions, and Power
When talking about Thailand and the United States specifically, there are many differences in sex work. The big difference between the two countries is that it is partially legal in the United States, with the allowing of pornography, stripping, and in some counties of Nevada, prostitution. In Thailand, on the other hand, it is completely illegal, despite the prevalence of sex work in big cities, such as Bangkok and Phuket.
Demographics
In Thailand there is two major levels of sex work. The low priced services are often provided by Burmese women who have migrated to Thailand. They usually serve both low-income Thai men and male Burmese migrants in underground brothel-like settings (Sex Work in Asia, 2001). The market for middle-income sex work has drastically changed due to the new legislature. Although it remains illegal, the result of the new laws moved the sex industry from direct prostitution, such as brothels, to indirect prostitution, such as karaoke bars and massage parlors. Of these two levels of the Sex Industry in Thailand there is estimated to be “between 150,000 and 200,000 sex workers” (Sex Work in Asia, 2001).
The sex industry in Thailand is very different from that in the United States. The United States has legal limits to sex work. Some forms of sex work that are legal are pornography, exotic dancing, webcam modeling, and phone sex. Forms that are illegal are street prostitution and indoor prostitution except for in some counties in Nevada (Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal Population, 2020). The clientele for sex work in the U.S varies significantly, with almost every class in society having access to pornography, exotic dancing, and phone sex. The upper-class society are more often associated with escort services as well as prostitution. Of all the underground commercial sex industry in the U.S researchers suggest that “33 percent identified as black, 17 percent as white, 11 percent as Latino, and 8 percent as multiracial” (Brown, 2014).
Despite the stigma that sex work is dangerous and shameful, most women in this type of work are doing it voluntarily. According to Jones, in her book Camming, “many sex workers have no desire to be saved. Many do not see themselves as victims” (Jones, 2020). In addition, she also states, ” 85% of prostitution is voluntary” (Jones, 2020). Because of this, I think most sex work should be legal in most places. Women have the right to do whatever they chose with their bodies and there shouldn’t be laws placed on it.
Institutions and Power
The three main institutions involved in sex work are the government, economic system and medical services. The government has a huge impact on sex work in countries. They solely determine if it is regulated, abolished, prohibited and/or tolerated. As mentioned before, in Thailand sex work is labeled as illegal and in the United States it is limitedly legal. The medical services also play a huge roll in sex work because of the dangers associated with it, such as STDs and HIV. Throughout the world, there are 40.3 million people living with HIV/AIDs, 17.5 million of those people are women, and 200,000 of those women are from Thailand (Ross et al., 2007). Due to the increase of awareness of high-risk results associated with commercial sex work and the improving rights for sex workers, the amount of HIV infections has substantially went down. From the year of 1991 to 2003, the number of new HIV infections decreased from 140,000 to 21,000 (Singh & Hart, 2007). In Thailand, to decrease the amount of infections, there was a condom promotion program put in place to limit the cases of HIV (Sex Work in Asia, 2001). This campaign consisted of providing free condoms to commercial sex establishments, sanctioning those establishments that didn’t use condoms consistently and creating a media campaign that advised men to wear condoms with sex workers (Singh & Hart, 2007). In Nevada, where prostitution is legal, participants are required to register with the local authorities and to submit to weekly tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia and monthly tests for syphilis and HIV (Alexander, 1998). This protects women and some men from new infections of HIV and if they contract it, they will be informed and given information on how to prevent it from spreading to others. If this was promoted all over the United States, there is a high chance that the countries rate of HIV infections will significantly decrease.
The economy in both countries tends to benefit from sex work. In the U.S the Global Strip Club Annual Revenue was 75 billion dollars, in 2006 the revenues from the porn industry was estimated to be 13.3 billion dollars, and in total in 2006 the sex industry reported 97 billion dollars in sales (Stats, 2020). Similarly, prostitution in Thailand brings in millions of dollars in revenue every year and has become integral part of Thailand’s image around the world (Singh & Hart, 2007). Between 1993 and 1995 profits from the Thai Sex Industry was three times higher than the drug trade industry (Sex Work in Asia, 2001). In both countries the sex industry generates a significant amount of money for their economies.
Sex Worker Rights Organizations
There are many organizations around the world that advocate and work to protect sex workers’ rights and their current issues. One advocacy group in the U.S. is the US Prostitutes Collective which works to decriminalize prostitution. This is one of many organizations that people can join to help protect sex workers’ rights in the United States. The organizations in Thailand are much more limited. One organization that is specific to Thailand is the Empower Foundation. They work to “oppose the criminalization, speak out about violence against sex workers, and oppose human right abuses (Mai, 2020).
References
Alexander, P., 1998. Sex Work and Health: A Question of Safety in the Workplace. JAMWA, 53(2).
Brown, E., 2020. 15 Facts About The Underground Sex Economy In America. [online] Reason.com. Available at: <https://reason.com/2014/03/14/economics-of-sex-work-in-american-cities/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
Jones, A., n.d. Camming. New York: New York University Press.
Joseph, Elizabeth, (2008, April 15). Sex for Hire: Real Stories of Prostitution in America. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4495721&page=1
Mai, C., 2020. Empower Foundation. [online] Global Network of Sex Work Projects. Available at: <https://www.nswp.org/members/asia-and-the-pacific/empower-foundation> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
Ross, R., Sawatphanit, W., Suwansujarid, T., & Draucker, C. B. (2007). Life Story of and Depression in an HIV-Positive Pregnant Thai Woman Who Was a Former Sex Worker: Case Study. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 21(1), 32–39. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2006.09.003
Treasures. 2020. Stats. [online] Available at: <http://iamatreasure.com/home/about/stats/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
Singh, J., & Hart, S. A. (2007). Sex Workers and Cultural Policy: Mapping the Issues and Actors in Thailand. Review of Policy Research, 24(2), 155–173. doi: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.2007.00274.x
Wright, J., & Wright, J. (2018, April 26). Why Prostitution Should Be Legal. Retrieved from https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a20067359/why-prostitution-should-be-legal/
World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Western Pacific. (2001). Sex work in Asia, July 2001. Manila : WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.
Worldpopulationreview.com. 2020. Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal 2020. [online] Available at: <https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-where-prostitution-is-legal/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
The Life of Taylor Wadsworth 