Searching for Feminist Solutions: Comparing Decriminalization Strategies of Sex Work

            We have already established that outlawing prostitution usually leads to repressive and discriminatory policies against sex workers. In addition, nations "with the most strict prostitution laws, like the United States, also have the highest rates of pimping, juvenile prostitution, and violence against sex workers" (Augustson and George 258). However, decriminalizing prostitution does not necessarily "fix" the problems surrounding sex work, especially since decriminalization methods often have unintended consequences. For this final post, I will examine four relatively recent models for the decriminalization and regulation of prostitution: Rhode Island, Nevada, Australia, and Sweden.
            Some questions we can consider together: What has and hasn't worked to make prostitution safe and healthy for sex workers? How can we ensure that no one is forced into prostitution or forced to stay in prostitution against their will? Can a "feminist" form of sex work ever exist?

Rhode Island
            In 1980, a group of Rhode Island sex workers demanded that the state's prostitution statutes were unconstitutional, because, unsurprisingly, "the Providence police enforced the law primarily, and disproportionately, against women." As a result, an amendment passed that decriminalized prostitution "indoors" (Augustson and George 246). Brothels, pandering, loitering for prostitution, and "soliciting from motor vehicles for indecent purposes" were all still illegal, but there was no law specifically against exchanging sex for compensation in private between two consenting adults (Augustson and George 245-246).

            Melissa Farley, who you may remember as the researcher who interviewed San Fransisco sex workers in my last post, maintains that violence still happens to sex workers in indoor prostitution. In a U.K. study "81% of women prostituting on the street experienced violence at the hands of johns, yet so did 48% of women prostituting indoors," she wrote in her critique of Rhode Island's prostitution laws in June 2009.  Sadly, "[t]he women indoors were subject to more frequent attempted rape." She added that Rhode Island's massage parlors were still full of trafficking victims (Farley, 1).

            In November 2009, just months after Farley's words were published, Rhode Island outlawed prostitution altogether (Augustson and George 233). Perhaps Rhode Island sex workers benefitted from not having to deal with abuse from law enforcement officials; although sex workers often were still charged for pandering or practicing massage without a license (Augustson and George 246). Long story short, Rhode Island's 29-year decriminalization of prostitution was not a good feminist model of sex work policy.

Nevada
            In contrast to Rhode Island, Nevada has not only legalized prostitution in certain counties but is also attempting to regulate it.  Prostitution was decriminalized in 1971, but it is only legal through licensed brothels in counties with less than 700,000 people (Augustson and George 243-244).
            As part of Nevada's regulation of prostitution, Nevada has attempted to curb pimping by outlawing the supporting of oneself off of another sex worker's salary. Additionally, some counties only allow women to manage the brothels. Sex workers' health is also highly regulated through mandatory condom use and regular STI and HIV testing, which is generally effective (Augustson and George 244).
            Even though Nevada has attempted to regulate prostitution, unlicensed prostitution is still common (Augustson and George 244). In 2009, 4484 individuals from Clark County alone, the county where Las Vegas is located, were arrested (Heineman, MacFarlane, and Brents 11). Nevada's regulation laws also utterly fail to help sex trafficking victims, who are especially common in the hypersexualized Las Vegas culture (Heineman, MacFarlane, and Brents 12).

Australia
            During the late 1970s, Australia began to change its laws surrounding prostitution. By the 1990s, brothels were decriminalized. The laws vary by territory, but most of Australian territories allow for licensed brothels like Nevada's or legalized escort services or both. New South Wales is the only Australian territory in which some public soliciting is legal (Sullivan 86). Radical feminists like Mary Sullivan still believe that this type of prostitution is still inherently exploitative of women, even though Australian sex workers did help to form the regulatory laws that have led to an increase of the workers' safety (Sullivan 94).

            Of course, the system is still flawed in several ways. In Queensland and Victoria, sex workers are often denied basic employment rights such as sick leave because they are paid as "sub-contractors" instead of "employees." Some Australian sex workers continue to work in unlicensed brothels, as jobs in licensed brothels are limited. Licensed brothels tend not to hire "older women, transgender, male, and drug-dependent workers," meaning that those individuals are much more likely to work illegally. Sex workers in unlicensed brothels and other illegal forms of prostitution face harsher criminal punishments today than they did before licensed brothels were legalized (Sullivan 94). As a result, sex workers who work illegally tend to be "more reluctant to contact health and community support services for fear of identification" (qtd. in Williams 291).
            Perhaps even more troubling is Australia's relationship between its prostitution laws and human trafficking. After the policy change, both the number of prostitutes and the number of trafficked individuals entering the country increased (Williams 290). The increase of illegal brothels that has accompanied the opening of legal brothels has triggered an increase in human rights violations against minors and trafficking victims (Williams 291).

Sweden
            Unlike most other countries, Sweden has created a system that criminalizes the purchase of sexual acts instead of the sale of them. In 1999, Sweden passed a law which mandated "a person who obtains casual sexual relations in exchange for payment can be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum period of six months" as well as criminalizes pimps and traffickers (Williams 289). The policies are based on the idea that sex workers and trafficking victims are the "weaker party" in a transaction of sexual acts, and thus they do not face legal ramifications (Williams 290). Swedish sex workers are also "eligible for state-subsidised [sic] housing, legal and medical assistance, counselling, education, and job training" to make leaving prostitution a viable option (Norma).

            In contrast to Australia, the change in laws regulating prostitution has decreased the number of women involved in prostitution. The number of women in street prostitution has dropped and so has the number of women recruited into sex work (Williams 290). The number of Swedish men who buy services from prostitutes has decreased 12.7% to 7.6% (Norma). Sex trafficking has also decreased because traffickers do not want to risk the legal penalties in Sweden (Williams 290). According to a Swedish detective inspector, traffickers also cannot "earn as much money as they want to" anymore (qtd. in Norma). This probably just means that international sex traffickers will take their victims to a different country, but it's certainly a start.
           

            Of all of the different sex work policies I have discussed, Sweden seems to be the most aligned with contemporary feminist thought (and of course, my own personal feminism). Some feminists could argue that Sweden's policies take away women's autonomy or that criminalizing the johns isn't feminist because it still expands Sweden's prison system. Others could say that prostitution cannot be addressed until we radically reconstruct our gendered society. However, Sweden's method takes into account the reality of sex workers' lives and allows them to leave sex work if they wish. It acknowledges historical patterns that have consistently harmed women sex workers and actively tries to combat them. If the United States were to change its prostitution laws to try to improve the lives of its sex workers, Sweden would be a great example from which we could learn.

Works Cited

Augustson, Danielle, and Alyssa George, eds. "Prostitution and Sex Work." The Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law 16.1 (2015): n. pag. Gender Studies Database [EBSCO]. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Farley, Melissa. Indoor Versus Outdoor Prostitution in Rhode Island. Prostitution Research and Education, 22 June 2009. PDF.

Heineman, Jenny, Rachel MacFarlane, and Barbara G. Brents. 2012. “Sex Industry and Sex Workers in Nevada.” In The Social Health of Nevada: Leading Indicators and Quality of Life in the Silver State, edited by Dmitri N. Shalin. Las Vegas, NV: UNLV Center for Democratic Culture, http://cdclv.unlv.edu/mission/index.html

Norma, Caroline. "It's Time to Get Serious about Sex Trafficking in Australia." The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

Sullivan, Barbara. "When (Some) Prostitution Is Legal: The Impact of Law Reform on Sex Work in Australia." Journal of Law and Society 37.1 (2010): 85-104. JSTOR. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Williams, Laura M. "Social Politics: A Theory." International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 28.7 (2008): 285-92. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. 

COYOTE, NOW, WHISPER: 70s and 80s Prostitute and Feminist Organizing

            Before the 1970s, the United States did not have any kind of prostitutes' organizations. Sex workers did not have a formal way to collaborate for activism or simply to discuss their needs. However, in 1973 The Point Foundation at Glide Memorial Church gave ex-prostitute and madam Margo St. James a $5000 grant to start the first prostitutes' rights organization (Jenness 406). She founded the San Francisco-based Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics, or COYOTE, which became one of the major players in the prostitutes' rights movement (Jenness 403). During its first few years, COYOTE worked to fight against the abuses of the legal and criminal justice system towards prostitutes, the confining of those arrested to prevent the spread of venereal disease (sound familiar?), and the public perception of prostitution as a legitimate use of law enforcement resources (Jenness 407).

            Throughout the years, COYOTE's work has been influenced by three key goals for changing society's understanding of prostitution. Before I explore their history more in depth, I will briefly analyze each proposition:

1. Change society's perception from prostitution as crime to prostitution as work (Jenness 405).
            Dolores French, who was the Florida COYOTE president, once explained that a "woman has the right to sell sexual services just as much as she has the right to sell her brains to a law firm where she works as a lawyer, or to sell her creative work to a museum when she works as an artist, or to sell her image to a photographer when she works as a model. . . " (qtd. In Jenness 405). Recognizing prostitution as work instead of as a crime is a shift that could benefit sex workers immensely. Changing prostitution's place in the legal sphere could eliminate the problems that sex workers face with law enforcement, while changing the rest of society's perception of sex work could reduce stigma.

2. Teach the public that most prostitutes choose the work, even though it is illegal (Jenness 405).
            This claim in particular is difficult for me to unpack. COYOTE has claimed "only 15 percent of prostitutes are coerced by third parties" (qtd. In Jenness 406). I am glad that COYOTE acknowledged the existence of coercion, but their claim that most prostitutes choose the profession seems to lack a necessary intersectional lens. What about race, class, and education level? What about all the other elements of a person's life that lead them to sex work? One study found that roughly half of prostitutes working in 1990s San Francisco had experienced childhood sexual abuse, and 84% experienced homelessness at some point in their lives (Farley and Barkan, 37).
            Strangely, COYOTE has also claimed that "forced prostitution cannot be addressed until voluntary prostitution is legitimate" (qtd. In Jenness 406). Frankly, I disagree. Why can they not be addressed at the same time? Why can't we try to help women who want to leave prostitution do so while working to make it better for those who choose to do so?

3. Prostitution should be understood as a service profession and given the same protections that are given to other service professions (Jenness 405).

            COYOTE states that "prostitutes have the right to work independently, to work in small collectives, or to work for agents, they should be covered by enlightened employment policies providing paid sick leave and vacation, disability, health, and workers compensation insurance, and social security, like other employed workers" (qtd. In Jenness 406). This claim is valid—in fact, I think a form of legalized prostitution still may need more protections than are given to other professions, since sex work is a dangerous profession.

***

Buttons from COYOTE's early years 

            As the 70s progressed, COYOTE began to work with feminist organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Wages for Housework Campaign. In 1979, COYOTE began to fight with NOW for "the decriminalization of prostitution, the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion funding, lesbian and gay rights, and all other issues of importance to women." Fascinatingly, the collaboration included members of COYOTE exposing to other feminist groups the names of legislators who had voted against feminist concerns but also had been a part of the sex workers' clientele. Two years earlier, COYOTE worked with the Wages for Housework Campaign to raise awareness of the economic burden of motherhood and housework, which often was alleviated via sex work. (Jenness 411).
            As COYOTE began to immerse itself in feminist discourse, feminists began to theorize more about prostitution and policy. Some viewed sex work with a sex-positive framework, even going so far as to suggest that the "[p]rohibition [of prostitution] promotes disrespect for women, promotes violence and promotes rape. . . . If we had legalized porn and prostitution at the same time, we wouldn't be sitting on the powder keg of sex and violence we're sitting on in this country." (qtd. in Jenness 412). This claim, made by Priscilla Alexander, who was the Co-Director of COYOTE in the 1970s, has been particularly difficult for me to wrap my brain around. I would love to imagine society where legalized prostitution somehow eliminated all violence against women, but this article by Dr. Caroline Norma suggests that this is not the case. Many women working in legal brothels in Australia are still concerned about their physical safety. Asian women in one Victorian brothel apparently tend to "work for a matter of months before disappearing," and 89 street prostitutes in St. Kilda shared their stories of physical and sexual assault in a report by Inner South Health (qtd. in Norma).
            Sex-negative and anti-prostitution groups began to organize in response to COYOTE. In the 1980s, Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt, or WHISPER, formed. WHISPER argued that women cannot choose prostitution because prostitution is a product of the patriarchy. Thus, all women in prostitution are victims who need to be saved, and the institution of prostitution should be eliminated completely (Jenness 413). Kathleen Barry, the founder of the International Feminist Network Against Female Sexual Slavery, cited a similar opinion formed from her research by claiming, "[t]he Xaviera Hollanders of the world only represent about 5 percent of the prostitute population. More often, prostitutes are runaways who become pimp-controlled, and pimp-controlled prostitution is female sexual slavery" (qtd. in Jenness 413).
            COYOTE and WHISPER's vastly different views on prostitution reflect the complexity of the issue. I tried to do some research to find out how many sex workers have historically fallen into the "happy hooker" category, but I wound up empty-handed. I did find some relatively recent numbers, however. In one study from 1998, 88% of the respondents interviewed, which included women, men, and trans sex workers, said that they wanted to leave prostitution (Farley and Barkan,46). Although they may have entered prostitution willingly, it seems that most of them did not have the resources necessary to exit it. Most had experienced violence or rape on the job, especially the women and trans people (Farley and Barkan,45). Obviously, it is impractical to generalize the results of one study across time and place, but it is certainly is not a stretch to say that sex work still traps and hurts many women today.

            At the end of the day, all feminists really want is for women to stop being harmed through sex work. While prostitutes' rights groups like COYOTE have attempted to reconstruct the narrative of sex work, other feminists believe prostitution is inherently oppressive and cannot be "fixed." The reality, though, is that prostitution is happening, that some women are forced into it by coercion, poverty, or other factors, and that some women (though perhaps a small number) freely choose to become sex workers instead of pursuing other job options. As feminists look forward to the future, we must look for solutions that take all types of sex workers and their experiences into account.

           

COYOTE is still active today. To check out one of their websites, visit: http://www.coyotela.org/, http://coyoteri.org/wp/, or https://www.facebook.com/CoyoteGeorgiaChapter/info/?tab=page_info.
           

Works Cited

Farley, Melissa, and Howard Barkan. "Prostitution, Violence, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder." Women & Health 27.3 (1998): 37-49. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

Jenness, Valerie. "From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem." Social Problems 37.3 (1990): 403-20. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

Norma, Caroline. "It's Time to Get Serious about Sex Trafficking in Australia." The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

Breckinridge and the Chicago Morals Court: A Step Towards Justice for Sex Workers

           Beginning in the 1870s, an international anti-prostitution movement swept Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Abolitionists fought against any proposed legislature to regulate brothels or improve the health of sex workers (Jabour, 143). However, as the Progressive Era ended, these efforts had resulted in legal policies that neither ended prostitution nor helped prostitutes. These new policies allowed legal prosecution and police harassment of prostitutes (Jabour, 144).

The Chicago Morals Court was formed to deal with “vice cases,” e.g. minor city ordinance violations, adultery, and streetwalking, but primarily prostitution. Journalists praised the court for using “socialized justice” ideals that took into account the conditions of the suspects’ lives which led them to crime, such as their class status (Jabour, 144).

However, the execution of this “socialized justice” was lacking. Suspected sex workers were often forced to submit to pelvic examinations to check for venereal disease and sent to “lock hospitals” for long and torturous treatments. This forced treatment was most often applied to African American women, whose neighborhoods were targeted at the highest rates (Jabour, 145). Corruption abounded in the 1920s. Often, plainclothes officers drove through "the vice district, invited women on the streets into the car, then threatened them with arrest if they did not provide money, sex, or both" (Jabour, 165). If you were a sex worker in early 20th century Chicago, the criminal justice system was a significant danger to you.

Chicago feminists, some of whom advocated for the formation of the Morals Courts in the first place, unsuccessfully demanded reforms during the 1920s (Jabour, 145). When feminist and social work professor Sophonisba Breckinridge became the chair of the Citizen’s Committee on Social Work in the Municipal Court in 1930, she was able to lead and implement a feminist reform of the Morals Court.

Breckinridge's first priority in the Morals Court was "the protection of the constitutional rights of the accused," including prompt booking, the opportunity to post bail, the abolition of pre-trial examinations, a record of courtroom proceedings, and legal counsel. Next she insisted that defendants should receive social services, including housing assistance, medical care, and vocational training. Finally, she suggested eliminating fines for prostitution, abandoning the use of plainclothes police, and offering probation more frequently. These changes collectively would both secure the civil rights of female defendants and advance the goals of socialized justice, providing women offenders with "constructive service" rather than "harsh punishment (Jabour, 147).

            Clearly, Breckinridge brought something new and important to the table. She actually cared about the sex workers' rights and well-beings, rather than fussing over the morality or the sinfulness of the work. Targeting instead the morality of the court system was the key step towards justice for sex workers.
            Breckinridge worked alongside civil rights lawyer Pearl Hart to expose corruption in the justice system and violations of suspected sex workers' rights (Jabour, 147). Women could be held in jail for a night or longer and forced to have a pelvic exam on an "open charge," i.e. a charge without enough evidence to be legitimately charged of a crime. Judges would opt to send some to the "lock hospital," which was essentially still a prison, to protect the public from the spread of venereal disease (Jabour, 148). Breckinridge protested the way that pelvic examinations were done to almost exclusively women, arguing, "Since it is common knowledge that venereal disease attacks males as well as females, is not the Health Department derelict in its duty . . . when it makes no attempt to examine men?" (Jabour, 149).
            Hart objected to the Court's pattern allowing male suspects involved with prostitution to be discharged while prosecuting such a high number of women. The Assistant State's Attorney at the time explained away this phenomenon using the logic "that the woman should be fined because she engages in the act 'commercially' while 'the man does it for pleasure only.'"  (Jabour, 150). Unsurprisingly, the pattern of arresting and charging high numbers of women compared to men for prostitution, especially black women, is still a problem today. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 43,190 women and 19,480 men were arrested under charges of prostitution in 2010.  33,990 of those arrested were Caucasian, and 26,590 were African American (Snyder, 2). African Americans were arrested at a disproportionately high rate compared to whites, as the white population in the U.S. is roughly 5 to 6 times as large as the black population (2010 Census Data). (Note: data from Snyder was not collected at the intersection of race and gender, so I was unable to find out specifically how many black women were arrested for prostitution.)
            Breckinridge and Hart worked together to persuade police and legal officials that mandatory, invasive medical examinations violated Illinois state's Bill of Rights, which stated that people could not be forced to give evidence against themselves (Jabour, 152).  The Chicago Police Department issued General Order #113 in February 1932, based on a draft by Breckinridge and Hart, which stated:

"Hereafter, in all cases where women are arrested to be brought before the Morals Court, whether under Municipal Ordinances or under any section of the Criminal Code, said women defendants shall be booked and allowed to give bail immediately as in all other cases. All orders heretofore issued that such defendants shall be held for the Health Department for medical examination, are hereby revoked, and are no longer in force or effect" (Jabour, 153).

          After the elimination of mandatory examinations, Breckinridge continued to work for reform in the Morals Court, which was renamed the Women's Court in 1932 (Jabour, 154). Instead of viewing prostitution as religious or moral issue, she believed prostitution should be considered from a social work perspective. She ensured that appointed court social workers were well-educated and had "a knowledge of the community resources, a real respect for the client, and a capacity to deal frankly and sympathetically with the sitting judge" (Jabour, 155).
          In 2010, a writer for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review called for "a response to sex trafficking Chicago style," referring to the changes made in the Morals Court towards establishing justice for sex workers (Jabour, 157). What I love about Breckinridge's work is that it prioritized sex workers' civil rights in a world positioned to treat sex workers as less than human. While Breckinridge did hope to abolish the sex trade entirely, she recognized that Chicago's abolitionist policies were wildly unsuccessful and only worked to oppress sex workers further. If we try to view sex work from a "sex-neutral" feminist standpoint, considering Breckinridge's actions is an excellent place to start.

Works Cited

"2010 Census Data." 2010 Census. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.

Jabour, Anya. "Prostitution Politics and Feminist Activism in Modern America: Sophonisba Breckinridge and the Morals Court in Prohibition-Era Chicago." Journal of Women's History 25.3 (2013): 141-64. Women's Studies International [EBSCO]. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Snyder, Howard. Arrest in the United States, 1990-2010. Rep. no. NCJ 239423. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012. Print.

How Can We Aid?: On Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal, Progressive Era Sex Work, and Morality

     "When a vessel, its crew and passengers, are wrecked, thousands and thousands of people hear and repeat over and over the tale of dreadful disaster. 'That fearful shipwreck, the loss of life and property.' The daily press reports and the people tell with exactness just the number of souls on board, and mourn that freight and vessel have gone down — lost. Alas! who knows of the hundreds of thousands of weak and erring girls that are going down, down, lost, perishing in this sea of vice that rolls in and about us on every side. The press may tell a part — doubtless would be willing to tell more — but the people draw the veil, saying, 'It is too horrible to read of such things in our daily papers.'"- Mrs. Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal, 1893 (148). 

Mrs. Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal

            In these words, Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal does an impressive job of pointing out the stigma that surrounded prostitutes at the end of the 19th century. People didn't want to acknowledge sex work was happening then. Honestly, I think the quote could still apply today—sex workers are often either too taboo to talk about or used as a punchline.

            Her words, from the Congress of Women held in Chicago in 1893, employ an extended metaphor comparing boat crews to prostitutes and lighthouses to homes for "fallen women" (148). She points out that although the government built lighthouses and has life preservers and lines to rescue drowning crew members, Christians rarely worked to save sex workers. Although Christians seem to have homes for everyone else—the elderly, the blind, the incurable, etc.—homes for prostitutes "[stood] out in the loneliness of [their] unpopularity" (148). To Harrington D'Arcambal's disappointment, not even Christians were immune to the stigma surrounding sex work.

            Christianity heavily impacts the way that Harrington D'Arcambal views sex workers. She worked for the reformation of prostitutes for over 25 years, motivated by Christ's love. She explains that Jesus inspired her and others "to enter the vineyard, and with loving hands and kind words reclaim many a weak, sinful girl, and draw her away from sin and hell up into a purer and better atmosphere of light and life" (149).

            While her intentions were clearly honorable, the influence of Christianity on her work caused her to pass judgment on the prostitute's choices. She uses words and phrases like "an ocean of vice," "weak and erring," "fallen," "poor, perishing souls," and "sin," (the latter a full 13 times in three pages) (148, 149, 151). Even when acknowledging it may be possible to prevent sex work, she remarks rather condescendingly, "humanity is and has ever been prone to err. So we must find some way to reach these unfortunate creatures" (149). Most importantly, her writing fails to take a critical look at the reasons a woman may have sold sex: economic struggles, trafficking or coercion, or perhaps even for pleasure.

            Instead, she condemns them as sinners who must be "reformed." However, she completely fails to criticize or even mention the "sin" of the men who bought services from the women. She does, though, criticize Christians who abandon "these poor outcasts" using my favorite Bible quote: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone" (149).

            During the Progressive Era, which begun just around the time that Harrington D'Arcambral wrote these words, the narrative of white slavery began. Even though more women of color were victimized in the sex trade, white women were portrayed as being drugged or imprisoned as being forced into prostitution. At the same time, two "types" of prostitutes came into the picture-- the "innocent" victims of the sex trade and the "fallen" who chose the work of prostitution of their own free will (Bromfield, 130). Note: In a study of sex work at the time, only about 8% of respondents cited "white slavery" or "extreme coercion" as the reason they became prostitutes (Bromfield, 131).

            Unsurprisingly, the ones who received help and protection were the almost always the "innocent", and the "fallen" were condemned (Bromfield, 130). Compassion was only extended to victims, despite the fact that being a prostitute during the Progressive Era was not a safe job. In fact, those who chose sex work were dubbed "feebleminded" and endured the cruelty of forced sterilization (Bromfield, 132). In future posts, I expect the moral disapproval of sex work will return as a topic, as it still has not disappeared from American culture.

            The key point Harrington D'Arcambral's words can teach us today is that the moral condemnation of sex workers is unproductive and un-feminist. If we cast judgment on sex workers rather than helping them to live and work in (or leave) the sex industry in a way that is liberating for them, we are not aiding them. The question "How can we aid?" is still, and always will be, necessary.

Works Cited

Bromfield, Nicole F. "Sex Slavery and Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States: Historical and Contemporary Parallels, Policies, and Perspectives in Social Work." Affilia 31.1 (2015): 129-39. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

Harrington D'Arcambal, Agnes L. "How Can We Aid." The Congress of Women: Held in the Women's Building, World's Columbian Exposition. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1984. 148-51. Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 [Alexander Street Press]. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Introduction: Analyzing the History of Sex Work in the U.S. from a "Sex-Neutral" Feminist Point of View

During the Third Wave, a brand of feminism labeled "sex-positive feminism" emerged. Today the idea of sex positivity is essentially that women (or people of all genders) should be able to do whatever they want in bed, as long as it's consensual, safe, and fun for everyone involved. Sex-positive feminism is meant to help liberate women from patriarchal ideologies that shame women for having sex outside of marriage, dressing in a revealing way, or really for performing their sexuality in any way that is not for men's pleasure. This includes opening the possibility for "feminist" forms of sex work to exist—pornography, adult entertainment, prostitution, etc.

Many of today's feminist sex educators like Laci Green use a sex positive framework.

I used to consider myself a "sex-positive feminist," but as I talked to other feminists and took more Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies classes, I realized that sex positivity has its drawbacks. Because sex positivity so often positions sex as morally "good" or something "necessary" for liberation, young girls and women may feel pressured into having sex before they are truly ready. The sex positivity movement may fail to include asexual people and people who are celibate for personal or religious reasons. Women who do not want sex may feel shame from the movement's effects. Additionally, men could potentially use the idea of sex positivity to coerce women into having sex.
            The biggest conflict I feel about sex positivity, though, is that I doubt whether or not there could ever truly be a "feminist" sex industry. The more I learn about the sex industry, the less comfortable I feel about there being such thing as a "feminist" form of sex work. Is there any way for porn or prostitution not to teach men that they are entitled to women's bodies? Is there any way to ensure all sex acts done as sex work are consensual? Is it possible that any sex acts done as sex work are consensual, since sex work is accompanied by irrevocable power dynamics? The issue is incredibly complex. Feminists must also consider how sex work affects girls' and women's self-esteem and body image (in workers and consumers alike), issues with human trafficking, sex workers' safety, legal issues—the list goes on and on. I have my doubts, especially because I am a young, white, middle class woman whose life has been virtually untouched by sex work. More marginalized people—working class women, for example—might have a clearer picture of how sex work can be oppressive and/or liberating.

***

            Although it is less mainstream, sex-negativity also exists in today's feminism. (It is very rarely called that, but I do not know of another umbrella term that contrasts so nicely with sex-positivity.) Some sex-negative feminisms expands the work of Second Wave lesbian separatists and the anti-porn feminists who participated in the "sex wars" of the 1980s. These movements have urged women to be critical of heterosexuality as an institution and the ways sex can be weaponized to oppress women, particularly within the sex industry.
            As I feminist, I hover somewhere between sex-positive and sex-negative feminism. I agree with the basic premise of sex positivity: as long as sex is consensual, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Yet I think sex-negative feminism also has some valuable points where sex-positive feminism fails. Can there be such a thing as a "sex-neutral" feminism that tries to analyze sex (and by extension, sex work) from a critical standpoint, that hopes the ideals of the sex-positive movement can be achieved but acknowledges the multifaceted reality of the situation?
            A "sex-neutral" view of sex work is what I want to explore in this blog. Can there be a "sex-neutral" feminism that both supports sex workers and examines the sex work industry warily? To answer this question, we must look to the history of how feminists have thought about sex work. What feminist work has helped and hurt sex workers? What can this history teach us about how to think about sex work today?
            I plan to create four additional posts that snapshot feminist thought surrounding sex work, specifically prostitution in the U.S., from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st. The first will look at writings from Agnes Harrington D'Arcambal, a woman who spent much of her life helping "fallen women," and critique the moral condemnation of sex work. The second will consider the work of Sophonisba Breckinridge, who fought for justice for sex workers in 1930s Chicago. The third will analyze COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), an American prostitute's organization formed in 1973, and its attempts to change the conversation surrounding sex work. Finally, the fourth post will compare more recent decriminalization and legalization structures in the U.S., Sweden, and Australia to determine what has and hasn't worked to make sex work safe and just for women.
            The fact is, the sex industry is alive and booming across the world, and it has been for centuries. It is not right to simply condemn it or blindly accept it; it must be looked at with a critical eye. I am excited to explore this topic, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it as well.