While my current investigation/research is taking a bit longer than normal, here's an interview I did with Yonela Sinqu, the communications officer at Sisonke, the National Sex Workers Movement in South Africa. We talk about why they advocate for decriminalisation (rather than legalisation), as well as getting into some of the discrimination and violence sex workers face. A study by the South African Media Research Council recently found that 71% of women sex workers said they had been exposed to physical violence and 58% said they had been raped. One in seven of the 3005 women surveyed reported being raped by a policeman. This puts sex workers at astronomically higher risk of violence, and then they must deal with stigma on top of that. My own personal belief is that sex work is work, and that those who work in the space deserve the same protections and rights as any other worker, as any other human.
For more, visit www.sweat.org.za.
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