CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
 |  Subject: Sex Work and the 2020 Presidential Campaign  Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:43 pm | |
| The next Democratic presidential-candidates debate is scheduled for mid-September and it would be interesting if a network moderator asks the candidates whether they were in favor of decriminalizing consensual, adult sex work?
One can well imagine the question provoking a host of reactions ranging from cautious non-answers to strong statements of support. Most revealing, no one would have asked the question in the 2016 election let alone over the last half-century, thus illuminating just how far Americans have come regarding the issue of consensual, adult sex work.
More than two dozen Democrats are running for the 2020 presidential nomination and their positions on decriminalizing sex work not only differ but have evolved during the campaign. Tulsi Gabbard (R-HI) has taken one of the strongest stands for decriminalization, insisting, “If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime.” She added,“All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”
Kamala Harris (S-CA) long prosecuted sex workers both as Attorney General of San Francisco and then as California’s AG. As a presidential candidate, she’s reversed herself, now insisting,“there is an ecosystem around that [sex work] that includes crimes that harm people, and for those issues, I do not believe that anybody who hurts another human being or profits off of their exploitation should be free of criminal prosecution. … But when you’re talking about consenting adults, we should consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior.”
The candidates fall into three broad categories concerning decriminalizing sex work – those who support it, oppose it and have no clear position. BuzzFeed and Vice provide a sampling of the diversity of their opinions though mid-July.
Support decriminalization – Gabbard, Harris, Warren, Booker, Sanders, Moulton and Gravel.
Oppose decriminalization – de Blasio.
No clear position — Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Biden, Buttigieg, Beta O’Rourke, Yang and Castro.
It’s still a long way before the final Democratic candidate is chosen and more than a year before the 2020 election. But no matter which Democratic is chosen, the decriminalization of sex work would be a revealing question if posed during the presidential debates given Donald Trump’s relations with sex workers — including Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels), Karen McDougal (the 1998 PlayboyPlaymate of the Year) and rumors of his illicit relations facilitated by Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted and sex trafficker who apparently committed suicide.
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That the issue of decriminalization of sex work is an issue, however marginal, in the 2020 election is a result of a strong grassroots movement of spreading through the country led by sex workers, former sex workers, radical feminists and civil libertarians. Groups like Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP) and SWOP Behind Bars, Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW), Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational, and Research Project (ESPLERP), Decrim NY, Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP), Massachusetts Sex Worker Ally Network (MASWAN)and Coyote(Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) are championing these campaigns.
As has been endlessly repeated, prostitution is the oldest profession. What is clear, however, is that since the nation’s founding four centuries ago, prostitution is a crime that still flourishes. Sex work, although legal in only a handful of brothels in rural Nevada areas, it is estimated to be a $14.6 billion enterprise. The Fondation Scelles estimated that in 2012 there were one million prostitutes operating across the country.
The following is a summary of some of the efforts to decriminalize sex work taking place across the country:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/30/sex-work-and-the-2020-presidential-campaign/ |
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