I wrote earlier how the sex industry went into overdrive over some fair questioning on ABC Lateline last week. The industry’s meltdown over the program demonstrated how hostile it is to any light being shed on the realities of the business of sexploitation which profits from the bodies of women. This blog post exposes the facts about the Scarlet Alliance, which receives Federal and State Government grants to address trafficking – which is funny if it wasn’t so sad – Scarlet Alliance doesn’t even believe in trafficking. It doesn’t even think brothels who sell trafficked women should be penalised, and wants no organised exit programs for women who want to get out of the industry. So why are out taxes propping them up? The money should be diverted into services that actually help real women rather than benefitting the brothel owners, pimps profiteers and vested interests of the prostitution trade.
March 16, 2015
I have appropriated the pimp lobby’s red umbrella to fight for the Nordic Model.
Perhaps everyone who actually cares about women in prostitution can use this as a profile pic- although, I realise my creation is not very pretty. I have no sympathy for the Scarlet Alliance and the whole red umbrella collective crying how oppressed and stigmatised they are. They never helped me, and as evidenced below, they never will help anyone trying to leave the industry. Too much money to be made trading in human beings. They are among the scum of the earth and treat prostituted women like shit. But don’t take my word for it- here are just the facts.
“Evidence of SCARLET ALLIANCE’S opposition to Federal Government Policies to stem Human Trafficking
1. Opposition to exit programs
Scarlet Alliance publicly opposes exit programs to support trafficked women wanting to leave the sex industry.[i]
2. Denies the reality of human trafficking for sexual exploitation
Scarlet Alliance refuses to acknowledge that sex slavery exists and claims that leaving prostitution is an individual decision for which there should be no government intervention.[ii]Scarlet Alliance’s policy is to have “sex work” considered equivalent to any other professional occupation.
3. Opposition to making debt bondage an offence
Scarlet Alliance is opposed to debt bondage being an offence under State Government crime legislation[iii]
4. Opposition to any controls on prostitution
Scarlet Alliance opposes all laws, regulations, rules or policies for the sex industry.Yet it asserts that the safety of “sex workers” should be prioritised over all industry or community concerns.[iv]
5. Opposed to penalties for knowingly using trafficked women:
The Scarlet Alliance is opposed to criminalisation of intentionally, knowingly or recklessly obtaining sexual services from trafficked women.[v]
6. Opposes penalties for brothel owners knowingly using trafficked women:
Scarlet Alliance has publicly declared its opposition to any form of sanction or penalty for brothel owners who knowingly engage and exploit trafficked persons.[vi]
7. Opposes police checks on brothels
Scarlet Alliance has declared its opposition to giving Police a more flexible right of entry to legal or illegal brothels.[vii]
8. Opposition to any kind of police involvement in policing of prostitution.
It believes that police should be removed from any administrative or regulatory role in the sex industry. This belief makes mockery of the fact that Scarlet Alliance also claims that people “working” in the sex industry should be afforded police protection.[viii]
9. Opposition to police giving trafficking a higher priority
Scarlet Alliance is opposed to police being trained to be more aware of the signs of human trafficking and giving it a higher priority.They are also opposed to increasing public awareness about sex trafficking and sexual slavery.[ix]
10. Claims human trafficking is a myth
Scarlet Alliance claims that trafficking is a myth produced by media hype, anti-trafficking and anti-slavery organisations[x]. It believes that anti trafficking raids have forced “sex workers” “underground”.This position makes a mockery of the fact that Scarlet Alliance contributed to the development of the Guidelines for NGOs Working with Trafficked People.[xi]
11. Opposition to provision of refuges for trafficked women
It beggars belief, but Scarlet Alliance is opposed to the establishment of appropriately funded refuges for trafficked women, and they oppose assistance and support being provided to victims of trafficking.[xii]
They oppose these services to victims lest attention be drawn to the evil of human trafficking which, in turn, would make it difficult to argue that “sex work” is the equivalent of any other professional occupation
12. Opposition to public awareness programs for clients of prostitution:
Scarlet Alliance is opposed to any advertising that alerts purchasers (johns)and prospective purchasers (johns)of sexual service to the existence of the crime of sexual trafficking.[xiii]
It wants the public to remain in denial about the existence and magnitude of sex trafficking on the grounds that this would give a bad name to “sex work” in general.
13. Opposition to anything that hinders the promotion of sex work
Anything that hinders the promotion of “sex work”.[xiv]
Wants to promote sex work and 457 visas for sex work.
Scarlet Alliance wants to promote “sex work” as a legitimate occupation; it claims that “sex workers” should become entitled to 457 Visas and that brothel owners should be eligible sponsors of “migrant sex workers” (i.e trafficked women) to give more respectability to the pursuit of professional “sex work”.[xv]
Scarlet Alliance claims that “sex work” should be considered legitimate in all its forms, including brothel, private escort and street based work. No licensing model should apply.[xvi]”
So this is for anyone still wondering why they oppose the Nordic Model, which decriminalises the prostituted and instead calls the men who buy and sell us the criminals. For anyone still wondering if they have a point and if this is all about sex being taboo and “stigma” and blah, blah, blah. For anyone wondering if you yourself should oppose a model which provides exiting strategies and funding for women trying to leave prostitution .You can have a think about their ethics, their chants of “sex worker rights!”, their actual misogyny parading as some personal, stigmatised oppression from “moralists” and “rescuers”. You can have a think about how these ‘advocates’ who claim to be “run by sex workers, for sex workers”, even if they are in management positions and don’t have to sell sex at all ! treat women such as myself and so many others who actually give a shit about women. Would you call a woman entered into prostitution as a child a “Migrant Sex Worker”? And what would you give to know back then, when you were being “liberal” and “Choosy-Choice”, what you know right now?
They are calling for more funding . The Scarlet Alliance just received an extra of $960,000,(on top of the funding they have already received, which adds up to millions), for their place on a board to fight sex-trafficking.
Yes, you read that right. A group which denies sex-trafficking exists is on an advisory panel with the Abbott Government’s National Anti-Trafficking Plan.
Take a moment. I understand.
[i] Response to Victorian Recommendations into trafficking for sex work, Scarlet Alliance, 2010,
[ii] ibid, response to recommendation 20
[iii] Ibid, response to recommendation 5
[iv] Constitution, Scarlet Alliance, clause 3(c), updated November 2012
[v]Response to Victorian Recommendations, op cit, resp. to rec.6
[vi] Ibid, resp. to rec.7
[vii] Ibid, , resp. to rec.10
[viii] Submission to WA Attorney General, Scarlet Alliance, January 27 2011
[ix] Response to Victorian Recommendations, op cit. , resp. to rec. 7,8 and 9
[x] Report to the UN General Assembly High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, Scarlet Alliance 2013
[xi] 2010 Guidelines for NGOs working with Trafficked People, Commonwealth of Australia, 2010
[xii] Response to Victorian Recommendations, op.cit., resp. to rec. 22
[xiii] Ibid, resp.to rec.14
[xiv] Constitution op.cit.
[xv] Submission to 457 Visa Integrity Review Committee, Scarlet Alliance, April 30 2014
[xvi] Ibid, also Submission to Attorney General, op cit.
Reprinted with permission from Each One
4 Responses
It isn’t ‘why are we funding mens’ pimp industry advocates’ because it isn’t individual women who have the power to award funding to that vile women-hating organisation Scarlet Alliance’ – it is men!
It is the male dominated/male controlled Federal and State Governments which are the ones supporting Scarlet Alliance so the question to be asked is why are these men supporting mens’ pimp industry.
Answer is not because mens’ pimp industry advocate Scarlet Alliance works with sexually enslaved women – no it is because men benefit collectively because male pseudo sex right to sexually enslave women and subject them to rape/male sexual violence is mens’ sacrosanct right.
One need look no further than the fact this vile male controlled women-hating organisation Scarlet Alliance is on that women-hating Abbott initiated ‘Government National Anti-Trafficking Plan!’
Mens’ ‘window dressing’ at work again because this is what men commonly do – they claim they are combatting pandemic male violence against women and girls when in reality they are in league with the male perpetrators.
Mens’ rights first, second and last and women’s rights – non-existent as usual!
What happened to your article about a donor conceived woman speaking out against surrogacy? It is listed in the Radfem Central blog aggregator. I wanted to read it.
I don’t see the point in actually lying about what the Scarlett Alliance said/says, when their statements are so readily found to prove your statement is a lie.
Actually SA says this
Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association calls for Australia’s anti-trafficking response to be redirected with a shift to a rights based prevention approach. Speaking the day after a high profile arrest Janelle Fawkes said ‘Raids and rescue type approaches have consistently not uncovered victims of trafficking – they are a failed approach and must be recognised as a waste of resources. Fortunately with a regulatory system like NSW’s decriminalised sex industry people can come forward and report alleged crime’.
“The small number of victims of trafficking in the sex industry in Australia have been identified when those individuals seek assistance from friends, colleagues, clients, police and support agencies. They have not been identified through raid and rescue approaches” said Janelle Fawkes, Scarlet Alliance spokesperson.
“That people are able to come forward demonstrates support is available and utilised when needed. It also demonstrates the value of a decriminalised sex industry.”
“While it may be police process to raid a number of locations once a person has alleged a crime, raids of sex industry businesses have not identified further victims,” Janelle Fawkes continued. “This demonstrates to us that a raid and rescue approach is not what is needed.”
Sunny Dee, I’m glad you raise SA’s views on these matters in direct quotation, because it’s important to see the extent to which this article is actually very accurate about SA’s approach to trafficking. The organisation begins with the assumption that there is a “small number of victims in the sex industry in Australia”. Starting with this premise speaks volumes about SA’s mindset–that trafficking isn’t a structural feature of the Australian sex industry. Procuring women through brokers or traffickers is understood worldwide to be a key part of the sex industry’s operations. This fact is known at the highest levels of police and government all over the world. Why would Australia be any different? What has caused SA to overlook such a fundamental, empirically tested piece of knowledge about the sex industry in their work? Especially in Australia where large sectors of the industry are dominated by Asian-background operators who pimp women from non-English speaking countries. It seems almost unbelievable that SA would deny the prevalence of trafficking if they seek to improve conditions for prostituted people.
In addition to this, why would SA push responsibility for seeking help on the shoulders of trafficking victims? It’s almost definitional to the crime of trafficking that victims are unable to seek assistance. Without proactive and intelligence-based police intervention in the sex industry victims are likely never to found. We might alternatively suggest that the low number of trafficking-related convictions achieved in Australia (less than 30!) results from precisely a lack of policing and intervention in the sex industry in Australia, especially in jurisdictions like NSW where the industry operates almost wholly without regulation.
Deregulating the commercial activities of pimps in Australia under the legal guise of ‘decriminalisation’ does nothing to assist victims of crime coming forward. On the contrary, pimps are subject to almost no police scrutiny, governmental oversight or even local government registration (most brothels in NSW operate without approval from local councils). Pimps are wholly empowered to run their businesses exactly as they wish, and enforce all manner of exploitations on the people they organise for prostitution. No-one is imposing any limits on them, and they needn’t fear any outside interference in NSW. Under these conditions, expecting prostituted victims of crime to step forward is fantastical. Let alone victims who speak little English, are being brutalised, and have no contact with anyone outside the sex industry, let alone Australian authorities.
I’m glad light is being shone on SA’s views about trafficking. Denying the extent of the crime in Australia does nothing to assist people in the sex industry, and we might wonder about the motivations of an organisation that so vehemently and persistently minimises the crime.