Caroline Norma
Commentators this week have been falling over themselves to decry the ‘hypocritical’ public quiet over the murder of St Kilda prostituted woman ‘Tracy’, compared to the attention Jill Meagher’s death attracted last year. Wendy Squires wrote that, even though ‘Jill and Tracy are one and the same – women in the wrong place at the wrong time’, it’s outrageous that last week’s ‘dead woman isn’t headline news’. Squires believes it ‘ironic’ that Jill Meagher’s husband attracted media attention last week, while Tracy’s murder raised barely a headline. In fact, Squires ‘could have been Tracy’, just as she ‘could have been Jill Meagher’, so she wonders why the murder of women in prostitution is treated so differently from the murder of middle class, educated women with supportive friends and family.
While it is true murdered prostituted women don’t receive the same attention, do any of us really believe that either Jill or Wendy could have been Tracy? The crime committed against Jill was unforgivable, but do we really think she has anything in common with Tracy? Going on what we know about the population demographics of women in prostitution, Tracy was most likely abused as a child, homeless from an early age, preyed upon in her teenage years by pimps posing as boyfriends, and subject to a range of alcohol and drug addictions over the years of her sexual exploitation. She would also likely have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, possibly exposing her to the risk of mental illness. While Jill and Wendy might have faced hardships in their lives, we can speculate these hardships were never aggravated by the experience of being traded for prostitution. Unlike Wendy or Jill, being a prostituted woman means you are always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Prostitution is precisely the variable that sets Tracy apart from Wendy and Jill. Women in prostitution are at risk of murder and serious injury at a rate many times higher than even people working in bottle shops. The experience of being pimped and prostituted makes it almost inevitable they must shut down their minds with drugs or alcohol, or risk acquiring a mental illness. They are the ones at the coalface of the misogyny and pornography-fuelled attitudes circulating in our society. The physical expression of male rage is channelled their way in the form of brutal sex acts, verbal abuse, and practices of humiliation and degradation. They must withstand all of this with a smile, or risk non-payment or a beating from the customer or their pimp.
We do women like Tracy no favours when we pretend she is ‘just like us’, and express outrage that her murder doesn’t get the same attention as ours would. While we allow a vulnerable population of women and girls (and some young men) to languish in the sex industry while we happily take up opportunities of education and economic privilege, we cannot decry ‘hypocrisy’ and engage in after-the-fact hand-wringing over media bias. We need to recognise the fundamentally different health and wellbeing outcomes that prostitution imposes on its victims, and work to develop ‘exit programs’ to assist people out of the sex industry. We need to recognise the human rights harms that men who patronise the sex industry are causing, and develop policies and education campaigns to reduce their demand for prostitution.
Let’s be angry and upset at the absence of public outcry—but not just now a woman in prostitution has been murdered. We might feel the same outrage every time we drive past a brothel, or see advertisements for ‘escort’ services in our local paper. We might become upset at the state government bureaucrats who continue to collect money from pimps who legally trade people for prostitution in Victoria. Or our anger might be directed toward a federal government that fails to declare prostitution a gendered human rights violation like its counterparts in Sweden, South Korea, Norway and Iceland. Our tears might flow every time we hear a sex industry-apologist in the media calling prostitution a ‘job’ for women with no other choices.
In reality, Tracy could not have been Wendy or Jill, but she could have been any other woman in prostitution. All people in prostitution—whether in brothels, ‘escort’ agencies or on the street—risk the same unacceptable fate as Tracy. Those of us who downplay or deny the risks of prostitution seal this fate for generations of abused people who will be preyed upon by the pimps and traffickers of the sex industry. We must take policy and educative action now to dismantle legalised prostitution in Victoria and create a safe society for even our most vulnerable of fellow citizens.
Dr Caroline Norma is a lecturer in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, and researches prostitution and trafficking policy in Australia, South Korea and Japan.
See also: ‘Why virginity is a best seller: how the sex industry profits from an Asian girl’s ‘first time’, http://www.pac.nsw.edu.au/contact-details/ MTR blog, November 14, 2011
15 Responses
Thanks Caroline for your insight. It certainly does seem that we are satisfied to keep women in prostitution as a subordinate class for men to use, and then cry out when another woman is murdered. It is disturbing we can allow this and think we are acting in the best interest of women who have no alternatives.
The popular discourse on prostitution is chock full of doublespeak. Particularly in the aftermath of Adrian Bayley’s trial, where it came out that he had raped prostituted women before his attack and murder of Jill Meagher, I found myself constantly wondering why it was only after these women had been raped, hurt or murdered that so many feminist commentators stood up for their rights to be treated and seen equally as women. Why are we only allowed to grieve for prostituted women after they have been murdered? What about their rights not to be exploited, put at risk, abused, while they are alive? It cannot be ignored that many who are crying out the loudest condemnations of the ‘hypocritical public quiet’ are those who are participating the most actively in silencing those who are attempting to use their feminism to shine a light on the harms of the sex industry.
Caroline, a gutsy well written essay that puts the lived experiences of prostituted people first rather than the fantasies of liberal individualists. It is great to see an academic taking a real stand! Not an easy road to take in an era where the subject of choice of neo-liberalism reigns supreme. Thank you for sticking yourself out there…
Thank you, Caroline, for recycling a million tired and damaging stigmas about sex work.
What absolutely hateful nonsense!
The hate conveyed here of the choices of some women churns the stomach.
So this was absolutely terrible. Sex work doesn’t stop when it’s illegal – it just creates a more unsafe work environment for these women (and men). It stops survivors from making reports about their rapes and speaking out against wrong-doing in their community. Most importantly, it dehumanises these workers which directly leads to their deaths. You don’t know whats best for these women, they do.
I truly wish the way I describe ‘sex work’ here was just tired rhetoric. Actually, I’ve just finished putting together a database of around 1000 academic articles on prostitution, trafficking and pornography, and am pretty shell-shocked about what the research shows about the health and wellbeing outcomes of women in the sex industry. It’s probably worse than most of us imagine. For example, the average amount of time women are in the industry reaches 20 years if they enter as adolescents. I was also sad to read studies of women’s ability to parent after surviving prostitution that did not find good results. Even when incest is discounted as a variable affecting the life outcomes of prostituted women, they still suffer high rates of disorders associated with post-traumatic stress, such as anxiety and depression. These disorders are not minor–they generally affect an individual’s ability to work and go about their daily life. I wish there was a louder public conversation about just how serious the ramifications are for people if they are prostituted. It causes lifetime trauma in some cases, which we shouldn’t want for any member of our society.
So rather than address the prejudice that demonstrably leads to bad outcomes in the justice system we should just Ban Prostitution? How is that going to work? How do you enforce it? If even 1 prostitute still operates illegally under that policy it will have been a failure.
Meanwhile, outlaws would just run the sex industry, and sex workers will have 0 legal options to settle industrial relations disputes, no safety standards, no consumer rights for people accessing the services, but a hell of a lot of non-taxable income for the pimp. Instead of the state taking taxes, money would go to corrupt officials and police. The state would have to spend money to try to enforce the ban.
And what of Jill Meagher under this policy? Bayley would have sexually assaulted and raped some illegal prostitutes, got a slap on the wrist and would have raped Jill Meagher while on parole. The prostitutes, in addition to being abused would be in legal trouble. Good thing you’re here to protect them!
Nothing is solved by shoving our problems into the shadows. By providing a path to legitimacy governments can exert control over the sex industry. This is a good thing, we don’t have slaves in plantations and Bangladesh style textile factories in Australia because we regulate. Regulated industries can be monitored better, and the black market operators are easier to distinguish. The taxes collected can help fund police efforts to shut down those that stay on the black market.
Advocating laws that cause more damage is an act of hate. But then comes the breathtaking naivity. I love the comment ‘I ‘ve put together a data base of 1000 academic articles on prostitution, trafficking and pornography, and am pretty shell-shocked about what the research shows.’ So hey why listen to those of us who have put that many articles on data bases many times over AND worked in the sex industry when you can listen to these little madams.
As usual the pro-prostitution apologists have attempted to dismiss Caroline Norma’s findings because it is essential men’s pseudo sex right to purchasing so-called ‘disposable women and girls’ must never ever be criminalised or even challenged.
Prostitution was created by men for mens’ sexual benefit and yet this issue continues to be challenged because on no account must men who attempt to purchase women and girls be criminalised.
The so-called Nordic model whereby male sexual predators are criminalised if they attempt to purchase any woman/or girl is working and yes it is decreasing the numbers of males living in Sweden who attempt to purchase a woman or girl. Likewise the Nordic model doesn’t just focus on criminalising the male buyers, because it also provides holistic professional support to the innumerable women and girls who wish to exit prostitution. And yet these measures are constantly decried by the pro-prostitution apologists as ‘discrimination against males because males have the supposed innate right to purchase female human beings.’
Given criminalising males who attempt to purchase women and girls does not automatically eliminate mens’ pseudo sex right to females then perhaps we should decide that murder; burglary; theft; fraud must also be decriminalised because these crimes continue to happen.
But because these crimes also contain male victims then no way will men decide these crimes will no longer be prosecuted. Yet because prostitution was created by men for mens’ sexual benefit, this means the male buyers must not be criminalised.
So yes certain innumerable women and girls will continue to be perceived by men and their Male Supremacist System as ‘dehumanised disposable sexual service stations’ and meanwhile other women can lull themselves into a false sense of security by believing ‘this will never happen to me!’
Vulnerability is not innate – rather this is a convenient method of dividing women into ‘those who have the good fortune not to have to enter prostitution and other women who are seen as supposedly “choosing to enter prostitution.” Majority of women and girls who enter prostitution are not ‘vulnerable’ rather they have two choices: either starve or else enter prostitution in order to survive. Issue is not about ‘vulnerability’ because this in itself implies that ‘vulnerability’ is responsible when in fact it is mens’ pseudo sex right to females which is why prostitution exists.
If prostitution is just ‘sex work’ why oh why aren’t males in droves entering prostitution as males’ dehumanised sexual service stations. After all there are innumerable unemployed males and given ‘prostitution is not prostitution why shouldn’t men become other mens’ dehumanised sexual service stations?’ The answer is because adult men know being a dehumanised sexual service station is degrading to men and this role is only suitable for females because they, unlike males aren’t human.
Men believe that slavery has been abolished but in reality it hasn’t instead slavery is now one wherein it is women and girls who are the ones being ‘sexually enslaved’ in order that males can continue to have 24/7 sexual access to supposedly ‘dehumanised females.’
The fact prostitution is systemic male sexual violence against women and girls has to be constantly denied by the pro-prostitution apologists because they believe men have the innate right of purchasing women and girls. The callousness of these pro-prostitution apologists is breath-taking because they refuse to accept factual evidence that innumerable women and girls in prostitution suffer long-term devastating physical and psychological harm. Instead the right for men to purchase women and girls supposedly supercedes all womens’ and girls’ right not to be reduced to mens’ disposable dehumanised sexual service stations.
Thank you Caroline. A heart wrenching subject matter fraught with complexity and social stigmas but clearly it’s time to open this conversation, not just academically but on the ground with women in prostitution.
I have just visited Amsterdam and walked the streets of its renown red light district. The tour guide explains the business end, how much it costs per 8 hour shift for women to hire the window, how many clients they will need to get to pay their rental fees, etc. etc. Business.
But I stood for long periods of time watching the crowds and looking at the scene. Most of the women looked tired, bored, and from my more than 20 years of working with women I sensed they were deeply humiliated at their plight or very deeply retreated into a faraway dullness that trauma inflicts, although momentary candy coated smiles are part of the business of it all when a potential customer passes by (anyone over 18 is a potential customer) . I consider myself extremely fortunate that I have never had to prostitute myself or my children to survive in a world where that is the plight of tens of millions of women and girls daily. Perhaps I cannot see beyond my white privileged educated background and am making gross assumptions and projections. But the statistics on sex trafficking and violence in prostitution are unacceptable human rights issues. These are humans, not numbers.
What I do know is that I am angry about the treatment of women on this planet in ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations and the collusive quiet that follows murders like Tracy’s. It’s going to take women speaking out en masse bravely, consistently and from every angle to begin to create a world where women are no longer de-humanised. Let’s support those who do speak up and take action towards solutions. It will be useless to discuss this on blogs and turn a blind eye in our daily lives. We want the media to change, we want regulations to change, but I ask, what can each of us do to make these changes? Any suggestions Caroline?
We can begin by educating ourselves, our family and friends about the damaging realities of pornography. When are we going to do that at work? at home? at a family gathering? Thank you Melinda for your clear and bold voice.
Yes, why do some people, the pro-pornstitution crowd, always deny that prostitution leaves long-term negative effects on women who do prostitution? They are the ones dehumanising the prostitutes if they think you can submit yourself to any man’s porn inspired sexual fantasy, many times a day, day after day, without it having any conséquences on your body and soul. Why do they deny the voices of the women who had to use drugs to go through their days, who suffer from PTSD, who were sexually abused? Why do they think that prostitution is so important to our society, that the constant sexual access for males to women’s bodies is so crucial that all these consequences are seen as minor collateral damages? Interesting question indeed -should men’s orgasms come at any cost and why? And why does the issue of some women’s choices supersedes the right of other women and girls to live free from male sexual exploitation? Each time I read comments or articles by the pro-sex industry crowd, I just see empty analyses that conveniently never address the damage that is prostitution for the majority of women caught in it worldwide and the effects is has on the collective in regards to sexual equality and women’s safety.
Thanks Caroline, very well written. Chris July 30th, 2013 at 4:14 pm how blinkered can you be?
I have a theory. The ‘pro prostitution’ crowd is just a tag developed by Caroline et al. Just another way to undermine the voices of sex workers as Caroline and other anti-sex work campaigners lobby for the criminalisation of our work, our clients and our workplace, all the while profiting from over-writing the experiences of sex workers in a raft of books! TRACY was a woman just like the other women murdered – yet because of her work Caroline et al deny her agency, her value as a woman, human being and member of the community in a disgusting attack on sex workers. Shame on you Caroline and MRT, There is no ‘sisterhood’ if it doesn’t include sex workers.
Yuck. you are doing more harm than good for sex workers by continuing to stigmatise their profession, remove their agency and place blame on them as victims. poor quality journalism