老澳门开奖结果

Melinda Chateauvert will read excerpts from Sex Workers Unite! and sign copies of the book on Wednesday, March 12. For more information and to RSVP, visit .

Do sex workers have rights? Put another way, can whores, hustlers, strippers, streetwalkers and porn stars demand respect and justice?

The idea that people who trade sex for money, drugs or survival should enjoy civil rights or liberties deeply divides public opinion. The holds that laws against prostitution violate 鈥渢he right of individual privacy because they impose penal sanctions for the private sexual conduct of consenting adults,鈥� but the suggestion that sex workers themselves possess other basic rights is controversial.

For example, many citizens believe that 鈥減ublic women鈥� (an old term for prostitutes) should not be allowed to work on . have created 鈥減rostitution-free zones鈥� that permit the police to target undesirables, forcing them to 鈥溾�� through arrest, prosecution, and banishment as a condition of probation; in , women arrested for offending 鈥減ublic morals鈥� are sent immediately to a church-operated 鈥減rostitution diversion鈥� program and prohibited from speaking to an attorney.

In several states, sex workers convicted of felonies on public sex offender lists鈥攎aking them vulnerable to stalking and harassment. One Virginia assemblyman recently introduced a bill that would allow law enforcement to of any person arrested for prostitution.

Stigmas against sex work and sex create this hostile environment. Clients鈥攕pecifically heterosexual males鈥攈ave become new targets for public humiliation, with legislatures in proposing laws that levy steep fines, even prison terms, for those who choose to pay for sexual services. In practice, these laws actually sex workers more. Clients who fear arrest may refuse to negotiate openly, or react violently when they feel threatened. Sex workers, concerned about self-incrimination, rarely report crimes committed against them.

Public harassment and misconduct by law enforcement are some of the dangerous consequences of client criminalization, prostitution-free zones and other laws against sex work.

Chicago police have arrested transgender women鈥攑articularly African American and Hispanic transwomen鈥攆or 鈥溾�� rather than 鈥溾�� sex and charged them with felonies, while simultaneously 鈥減roving鈥� that they are arresting both 鈥渕en鈥� and 鈥渨omen.鈥�

Even more chilling for public safety, US Department of Justice of several police departments revealed patterns of against street-based sex workers. Police officers have been convicted on charges that include the , and of 鈥渟uspected鈥� prostitutes; homicide detectives have conducted haphazard and careless investigations of when the are, or are perceived to be, sex workers.

Despite limits on 鈥渟top-and-frisk鈥� policing in New York City, sex workers, especially young transwomen of color, are still . Though New York has no law against carrying condoms, police use possession of three or more condoms as grounds for arrest on suspicion of intent to engage in prostitution鈥攁 that goes against all the logics of harm reduction. Police departments in , and have similar policies.

The myriad federal, state and local laws against prostitution mean that 鈥渞ights for sex workers鈥� will require more than decriminalizing sex for money or other consideration.

Sex workers are human beings with the right to self-determination. It鈥檚 time for policymakers, the courts and law enforcement to recognize they are equally deserving of the civil rights, civil liberties, and above all human rights accorded to the rest of us.

Learn more about sex workers' rights and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .