Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reform– so . . . Would I enjoy a client sucking on my breast? No. For the amount of moneyI charged? Did I let it go? Yes. Given the alternatives and the other ways to make aliving. So, one of the things that I take really important, is the consistency of rulesand their consistent application amongst all staff. And it can sound really crass, tostart saying how you write it down. And that’s just one example of that, I guess it isjust a little bit funny at the same time, to put it so bluntly. But, the alternative is tohave all different rules for different people. Well, the really, really fucking pretty girlsthey don’t have to give up quite as much of themselves in the room. ‘Cuz they don’treally have to, they can just lay there and look good.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerThe same business owner described how there are more extreme cases in which other business ownersrequire their workers to provide services that they do not want to perform, and under unsafe circumstances:A. At the other end of the spectrum, you have some very, very evil employers. Like theone I am describing. Where they’ll y’know, tell their staff this is – this is what youneed – you need to do to work here. But yeah, there’s this other big grey area, wherethey don’t actually tell their staff that they have to do these things. But it’s prettyobvious who risks their health for clients. And who gets the bulk of business. So theywill allocate their business to the girls that are giving up the most. ‘Cause that’swhat’s making the clients happiest. Or there’s the other people who don’t condone itand don’t openly say, no I don’t want you to do that here. But at the same time, theyare like well, the girl is going to be offering that anyway, she may as well be doingthat on my – my watch. Or, well she is going to offer it anyway, that is her choice.And she just happens to work for me. Or, y’know, there’s a very sort of just ambivalentattitude towards it? Y’know, like I can’t save the world type of attitude. Well, it’slike, yes you can! If – if everyone employs standards of what is acceptable and whatisn’t acceptable, then it would even the playing field for – for all sex workers. But forthe ones that want to operate safely, it’s really hard to compete with those who don’t.And then you end up with people who want to operate safely but they end up not ortaking chances, or maybe extending their boundaries a little bit. Maybe not offeringeverything that I gave you on the previous list, but maybe saying, well god, a clientthought I was really cold and clinical, maybe I should neck with my clients and okay,maybe I will just let them put their fingers in me, then. Or y’know, thinking wellmaybe I could just give up some of my boundaries so that I could get return business orrepeat business. And that’s – that’s where I see the problem – is all these shades of grey.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerCurrently, some establishments specify that they offer particular services to every client, such as a“Girl Friend Experience” or “GFE.” This industry term indicates that more intimate sexual servicesare offered, such as kissing. One employer described how her workers must be willing to provide aGFE to clients in order for her to employ them:A. When we interview, when I sit down with them at the very beginning, I get someidea, I have a form that I fill out, like an employment form, and I ask them youknow what their rules are on this that and the other kind of thing, if they havecertain rules. And I may say to them well, you know the way you want to businessor the way you’re used to it from somewhere else probably isn’t going to fit with mystyle. My business is known for offering what they call “girlfriend experience” andthat tends to be a more relaxed, open kind of encounter that a man may have with a91