There has been a huge debate over the last month over whether or not the sex industry should be decriminalized. We have always campaigned for this and Amnesty International has joined us. The human rights group agrees that the safety of men and women working in industry should take precedence over any moralisation.
Problems with the current system were highlighted this week with a story from the United States. Authorities say a man in South Florida pretended to be a police officer and threatened to arrest a prostitute unless she had unprotected sex with him.
Mark William Rose, 22, was arrested on charges of embezzling a police officer for a felony and a false prison sentence.
According to reports, he had previously used the fake bluff officer about ten times, with three women accepting.
Rose's lawyer says he denies the false prison charge and was not the first guy to lie to a woman for sex.
A brighter tomorrow
To be honest, that's what happens when you put industry on the margins of society. There are men who want to take advantage of sex workers because they know they are in a precarious legal position. If women fall into such scams, they will feel that they are facing the unpleasant choice of being arrested or having unsafe sex, risking unwanted pregnancies, STIs and AIDS. How can we allow this to continue?
Now, if everything was legal, the woman could have told the guy to catch her hook. In fact, he would not even try, because he would have nothing to gain. This is the benefit of decriminalization. The world is becoming a much safer place for sex workers, stopping them from being exploited.
Now there will always be those who don't really care about the safety of sex workers. They will continue to believe that being victimized is a professional danger. There will even be those who believe that violent attacks should act as a warning to go and get a job in the local pub.
However, Barby Escorts will continue to fight against the rights of sex workers around the world. I long for a day when we won't hear stories like this again.
That would really mean that we have a more progressive society.
