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Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ Our main story tonight concerns sex. You know, the thing that the cute little bird outside your window is constantly screaming about. It's true. It's yelling, sex, sex, I'm horny, who wants sex?

Speaker 1

00:15

Just try and remember that as your grandmother is gazing peacefully at it. Sex is a topic that historically, we've not been very good at talking about.

Speaker 2

00:23

Hey, you know something? No, what? I had a wet dream last night.

Speaker 2

00:28

Wet dream? What's that? Oh, you know, when sperm comes out of your penis. Sperm?

Speaker 2

00:34

Didn't your brother ever tell you about that?

Speaker 1

00:36

No. Wait, hold on. You're not his brother? What the fuck?

Speaker 1

00:43

Then why are you talking about sperm with some random kid? It feels like the main takeaway from that video should be to stay away from creepy teenagers who like to chat up neighborhood tweens about their wet penis. Specifically tonight, we're gonna talk about sex work. And the concept is pretty simple.

Speaker 1

00:57

Let's say you have sex, any kind. Missionary, doggy, cowgirl, cowboy, the eagle, the wheelbarrow, the wild chinkety pony, the Jerry Seinfeld, the pick-me-up, the put-me-down, mouth-butt, butt-mouth, mouth-mouth-butt-butt, butt-butt-mouth-butt, you know, whatever. But then that's it. You go home.

Speaker 1

01:15

It's fine, right? It's fine. But let's say you have sex, but afterwards you get money, or a chocolate bar, or 1 of those participation trophies. Way better, right?

Speaker 1

01:25

Well, too bad it's illegal. Very basically, sex work is the exchange of sex for money or goods. And in the United States, a complicated patchwork of local, state, and federal laws makes that act illegal everywhere, except for a few counties in Nevada. And if you're thinking, well, hold on, John, didn't Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie have sex for real in Don't Look Now and also get paid at least scale.

Speaker 1

01:48

Wouldn't that be illegal? The answer is 1, yes. I also believe that rumor. Great reference.

Speaker 1

01:53

And 2, that is actually legal because of the presence of the camera, making it an art film, otherwise known as porn, and thus legally covered as part of free speech. So basically, consensual sex for money on camera is legal porn, and consensual sex for money off camera is illegal sex work. Makes sense, right? Wrong?

Speaker 1

02:13

Well, exactly. Everything about the way we regulate sex work in this country is confusing and counterproductive. And when we talk about it, it's often either demonizing, patronizing, or just plain wrong. And in some cases, all 3 at once.

Speaker 3

02:27

It was once called the world's oldest profession. You know the names. Prostitute, tramp, call girl, hooker, even whore.

Speaker 3

02:34

If that didn't get your attention, this right here will. Most are really victims, people being sex trafficked.

Speaker 1

02:40

Okay. First of all, they're actually not, for reasons that we'll get into later, but setting that aside, if you're gonna talk about someone, maybe don't start the sentence by insulting them. It's like saying, you know him as a dickhead, a fuckweasel, a stingy, unlikable bitch. And today, at his funeral, we remember Uncle Tom's.

Speaker 1

02:58

Because as long as sex work has existed, so have efforts to stop it. And it comes in many forms, from people who object to it on moral grounds, to those who associate it with crime, to those who want the practice permanently ended, as they believe all sex work is exploitation, and absolutely cannot be done consensually. But a human history's worth of shitty laws hasn't changed the fact that 1, sex work has always been part of society, appealing to every interest and every kind of clientele. And 2, sex workers are not a monolith.

Speaker 1

03:28

People from a variety of backgrounds do it for a variety of reasons. And the fact is, our current system of criminalizing the trade and driving everyone underground is actually only making life harder for the most vulnerable involved. And given that, sex workers are, and this is true, people with thoughts about their own fucking situation, we thought tonight we'd actually listen to them. And let's start with the fact that this is not going to be a piece about morality.

Speaker 1

03:53

You might well think that people should only have sex during a full moon, wearing a three-piece suit, and exclusively with their common law horse. That is your business. This story is gonna be about the fact that sex work is inarguably labor. It is a job, and people do it for the same reasons that people do any job, as this advocate explains.

Speaker 4

04:13

Sex work is inherently work. It's how people feed their families, it's how people put clothes on their bags, it's, you know, how people survive. I mean, I've been a sex worker, I've been a lawyer, I've served sandwiches at Subway, I've folded clothes at Abercrombie.

Speaker 4

04:30

All those are work.

Speaker 1

04:31

Right. It's all work. The main difference between sex work and working at Subway is that, at least in sex work, you actually know what the customer's eating. And yet, some people feel highly uncomfortable with the very idea that sex work is labor and should therefore be treated as such.

Speaker 1

04:48

Just watch a New York State Assemblyman struggle to even get his head around that.

Speaker 5

04:53

We've got hookers roaming the capitals now, now lobbying to be legalized. I can't even imagine what that looks like when they're lobbying. And we're talking health insurance, fair wages, all the things that come with it.

Speaker 5

05:07

So, this has really, really gotten out of hand.

Speaker 1

05:11

Yeah. Can you imagine an organized group of citizens lobbying their state government for access to basic human rights. This has gotten well out of hand. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go continue styling my hair like a famously racist cartoon.

Speaker 1

05:25

Now, part of his reluctance there is probably his general dick vibe, but it also points to something much bigger. And that is the argument that as that anchor just said, most sex workers are victims, and what they need is someone to step in and save them. And 1 of the biggest groups that loves to do that is the police, who often position themselves as saviors for sex workers, even as they are arresting and jailing them.

Speaker 6

05:50

I've talked to numerous survivors that say it's saved their life.

Speaker 7

05:54

Being arrested.

Speaker 6

05:55

Being arrested. We open the door for help. And if we don't do that, who's gonna do it?

Speaker 6

06:00

If I don't offer them help, who's gonna? No 1. There's no 1 gonna help them.

Speaker 1

06:05

Well, hold on, because first, if that is true, that no 1 else is gonna help them, then you're actually pointing at a gigantic problem that needs to be fixed, because arresting someone isn't usually considered the best way of providing assistance. That is why there isn't a thank you section in Hallmark called, for your arresting officer. Because I think we can all agree, if there are people doing sex work who don't want to be doing it, we should absolutely be aiding their transition out of that situation.

Speaker 1

06:32

But the question here is, are we doing that right now? Because let's look at some of the methods that police use in dealing with sex workers, which can be traumatizing, invasive, and occasionally, unbelievably cruel. Like this undercover Sting from an episode of Cops.

Speaker 2

06:47

So, how about a little clown action, huh? Can I get in? Come

Speaker 8

06:50

on! Surveillance unit, she's getting in the van right now in the front passenger seat.

Speaker 2

06:54

You're not police, are you? As a matter of fact...

Speaker 6

06:58

Psst, psst! Oh, Coco. Coco, please.

Speaker 2

07:03

We're not doing nothing.

Speaker 9

07:04

Step out of

Speaker 2

07:04

the car, honey. We're not doing nothing. Put your hands behind your back.

Speaker 2

07:07

We're not doing nothing. Relax. Put your hands behind your back.

Speaker 8

07:10

You're under arrest for prostitution.

Speaker 1

07:12

Yeah, only 1 of those people ended up in handcuffs, and it somehow wasn't the guy who said, how about some clown action before jizzing silly string. And listen, this is not the most important point. In fact, it's arguably the least, but that's not a clown hat.

Speaker 1

07:26

It's a cat in a hat hat. And I'll admit, I'm not an expert on clown attire for prostitution stings, but I know a hat mistake when I see 1, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a hat mistake.

Speaker 2

07:37

Hat mistake!

Speaker 1

07:39

Exactly. So, it is no wonder many sex workers have trouble regarding the police as their saviors, especially as cops have a reputation for acting violently or inappropriately during stings. A couple of years ago in Arizona, federal agents allegedly engaged in 17 sexual encounters with women working in massage parlors as part of an investigation disgustingly codenamed, Operation Asian Touch. And the thing is, that's not uncommon.

Speaker 1

08:05

Because in many states, it is not specifically illegal for police officers to have sex with workers during the course of a sting operation. And in some states, police have protested efforts to ban the practice, which is both grotesque and also a bit ironic, because what they're fundamentally arguing there is that they should be able to have sex for their jobs legally in order to stop people having sex for their jobs. And even without that provision, the laws police can use to arrest or intimidate sex workers are shockingly broad. If you work in the sex trade, the threat of arrest looms large over your entire existence, and this is yet another area that disproportionately affects people of color.

Speaker 1

08:46

1 recent investigation found that from 2016 to 2020, almost everyone arrested by the NYPD for buying or selling sex was non-white. 1 particularly problematic law is the prohibition against loitering for the purpose of prostitution. It's basically a stop-and-frisk policy for sex workers. And in New York, it's written so vaguely, the NYPD has used it to interpret completely legal activities like talking to pedestrians or dressing provocatively as a basis for an arrest.

Speaker 1

09:16

Cops have used the law to arrest people because they wore black cowboy boots and black shorts, and a multi-color short dress and sandals. And in 1 case, a woman was arrested because her clothes exposed her buttocks and cervix area, which isn't so much a crime as it is an urgent medical emergency. Meanwhile, in some states, cops have seized condoms and used them as evidence of prostitution, or even charged people with a misdemeanor called possessing an instrument of crime for carrying them. And criminalizing condoms has led some sex workers to hide them or even go without, as this worker in Queens explains.

Speaker 10

09:54

You ask where we hide our condoms. We hide condoms in our private parts, where they won't touch us. We should be able to carry condoms to protect ourselves and to protect the people we are with.

Speaker 10

10:08

The authorities show a real lack of intelligence when they say it's a crime to carry condoms. In the transgender community, not carrying condoms is a death wish.

Speaker 11

10:21

Es buscar la muerte.

Speaker 1

10:22

That is just ridiculous. Putting aside the fact it's a crime to carry condoms sounds like the name of a Christian boy band's self-released album, which it absolutely does, by the way. What you're doing there is genuinely making sex workers' jobs less safe.

Speaker 1

10:37

But that is not the only way our current policies harm those that they claim to help. A criminal record can limit a sex worker's future opportunities should they want to leave the field. Because while most sex-related crimes are classified as misdemeanors, in some states, including all these, repeated arrests can result in a felony conviction and prison time. And for a while in Louisiana, some of those arrested for doing sex work wound up having to register as sex offenders.

Speaker 1

11:04

Which is particularly galling, because if anyone you've seen so far tonight should be labeled a sex offender, it's all the cops who've ever had sex during a sting, and again, that fucking clown. And look, look, I don't want to paint... I don't want to paint too rosy a picture here. Sex work can be dangerous, and we need to be talking, constructively, about how to make it safer in every possible way.

Speaker 1

11:29

But a reason it's hard to have that conversation is that sex work so often gets conflated with something else, and that is human trafficking. And let me first say that, of course, human trafficking is real, and when it happens, it's absolutely horrific. You immediately think of Jeffrey Epstein, and am I legally allowed to say Prince Andrew? I'm not?

Speaker 1

11:48

Are you sure about that? You're totally sure? Okay. Forget I said it then.

Speaker 1

11:54

But... But the concept of human trafficking looms large in the conversation around sex work. You've probably seen massive numbers get thrown around online. Despite the fact, experts will tell you getting an accurate count on those subjected to forced sex or labor has eluded researchers for years.

Speaker 1

12:12

And look, any number north of 0 is clearly terrible. But far too often, attempts to crack down on sex trafficking will conflate it with consensual adult sex work. The implicit assumption is that no sex worker has ever entered the trade by choice, even when that is by their own testimony not the case. And some states have even written that assumption into law.

Speaker 1

12:36

In 2012, lawmakers in Alaska amended their laws on promoting prostitution to replace that phrase with sex trafficking, resulting in 1 case where a woman was charged with trafficking herself. Which is obviously absurd, unless that is, they were making a larger point about our collective lack of free will under capitalism. And if it is the latter, I'd say, bro, bro, not the time. --Not the time, bro.

Speaker 2

13:00

--Not the time, bro.

Speaker 1

13:01

And the thing is, badly written laws can have massive consequences. Take FOSTA. It's a federal law that was positioned as a way to crack down on sex trafficking by banning online ads that sold people into sex slavery.

Speaker 1

13:14

Which sounds good, right? What kind of monster would be against that? But what it did was ban ads for all paid sex, whether or not trafficking was involved. It was part of a much larger push to shut down sites where sex was sold, along with the shuttering of Backpage and Craigslist's Personals section.

Speaker 1

13:32

And while undeniably, some very bad things were advertised on those sites, they also enabled sex workers to find clients and communicate with them, which was a much safer way for them to do that than operating on the street. And if you're thinking, well, okay, it's bad that sex workers lost a way to stay safer, but at least moves like those helped law enforcement crack down on sex trafficking. The thing is, not really. In the 3 years after Foster was passed, prosecutors said they'd only used it once.

Speaker 1

14:02

And as for shutting down Backpage, that actually made it even harder to catch sex traffickers. The site was U.S.-based, and was often willing to work with law enforcement to root out the bad actors. And with it gone, law enforcement suddenly found tracking them down to be much more difficult.

Speaker 12

14:20

So now we're just trying to figure out, where everybody's going. So these new websites have popped up. Bed page, which is, almost an exact replica of back page.

Speaker 12

14:32

Then we've got, 1 back page. Basically, it's all of these different websites now that we don't have any agreements or search tools with, and they've kind of spread out. So we don't have a certain location to go look for them anymore. And it's kind of a crapshoot.

Speaker 1

14:53

Yeah, that's not ideal, is it? And of all the questions that that raises, I would also like to ask, what the fuck is going on with her cubicle decor? --But it involves not just this prominently displayed Pimpin' Av street sign, which would have been weird enough on its own, but also a glass goblet featuring rhinestones that spell out the phrase, Ho for Show, which is a pretty weird tone to strike for a workplace that rescues sex trafficking victims.

Speaker 1

15:17

Those look more like the decorations you'd find at a bachelorette party, where the guests wind up vomit crying out the window of a speeding party bus. And obviously, law enforcement should be pursuing sex trafficking wherever it takes place, but unfortunately, the police will often reframe traditional prostitution stings as human trafficking ones. You might remember a large sting operation a few years back of multiple massage parlors in Florida in which Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, was charged with soliciting prostitution. And the initial comments from law enforcement strongly suggested that the workers at the day spa Kraft went to were part of a sex trafficking ring.

Speaker 1

15:53

The prosecutor was even happy to brag about their humanitarian mission in his press conference after the raid.

Speaker 9

15:59

I'd like to thank the men and women of the Jupiter Police Department for their professionalism and diligence in investigating these cases. You can tell a lot about our community by the way it treats its most vulnerable individuals, and that includes victims of human trafficking.

Speaker 1

16:16

He's actually right. You can tell a lot about a community by how it treats its most vulnerable individuals. And you should know, months later, a prosecutor admitted no human trafficking arose from the investigation, and Kraft's misdemeanor charges were later dropped.

Speaker 1

16:29

And yet, the state attorney's office continued to pursue cases against the women, you know, the ones they were supposedly trying to rescue. Eventually, 4 women who worked at that spa were arrested and jailed, with 3 fined thousands of dollars and 1 ending up in ICE detention. And all of that is bad enough until you learn that some of the help offered to workers caught up in the largest sting consisted of this care package that included Band-Aids, mouthwash, razors, and a booklet written by megachurch pastor Rick Warren titled,

Speaker 2

17:00

What on

Speaker 1

17:00

Earth am I here for?" Which is literally only helpful if inside it says, to be scapegoated in a generations-long morality war that has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with how we as a society view sex, money, and power. And that is hardly an exception here. Just listen to Andrew Lewis, the former coordinator for the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force, tell the Louisiana House of Representatives about 1 sting operation that he personally witnessed.

Speaker 7

17:27

What I saw was a standard operation, and it was deeply troubling. Agents pretending to be clients set up dates with sex workers. When a sex worker arrived to the hotel room, they would be arrested and forced into another cold room, often with very little clothing, and interviewed.

Speaker 7

17:43

The same agent that handcuffed them would then ask them if they had been trafficked and no matter their response they were arrested and booked. At the end of the night those arrests were reported back to me as prospective victims of human trafficking even when there was no evidence of forced fraud or coercion. Let me be clear. Human trafficking does occur and likely more than we know.

Speaker 7

18:05

But because we are spending a majority of our time and money on criminalizing consensual adult sex work, we're not able to help those being actually forced to work in the construction, agriculture, and, yes, sex work industries in Louisiana.

Speaker 1

18:20

Exactly. He's absolutely right. We clearly should not be wasting valuable resources on arresting consensual sex workers, and we certainly should not be interviewing them in cold rooms while they're wearing very little clothing. It turns out, police aren't so much rescuing people as lightly refrigerating them and then sending them to jail.

Speaker 1

18:38

And when you take all of this together, it is no surprise that many workers who've been robbed or abused by clients report that they feel they can't turn to the police for help. And in some cases, those who have turned to the police say they deeply regret it.

Speaker 13

18:52

Years ago, I reported a rape from a client I was supposed to be working with, and

Speaker 2

19:00

I just

Speaker 13

19:00

wound up getting arrested. I spent a long time in jail... For trying to report a rape.

Speaker 13

19:08

And you just learn better, like... No way I'll deal with the cops. I'll get raped a hundred times before I do.

Speaker 1

19:14

Yeah, she went to report a rape and ended up in jail. I'd call it dystopian if it were not so fucking American. So at every turn, we are making life harder, both for people who want to remain in the sex trade and for those who want to leave it.

Speaker 1

19:29

So How do we fix this? Well, there are actually a few different options open to us here. And let's start with the most restrictive. Some advocate for something called the Nordic model, which I know sounds like the answer Leonardo DiCaprio would give to the question, who would you like to fuck?

Speaker 1

19:45

But the Nordic model is the 1 that intuitively might make sense to you, because it criminalizes the buying of sex, but not the selling of it. So we would arrest the clients, but not the workers, the ones that you are presumably concerned for. It's been adopted in many countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, and France. And while it might sound good on the surface, 1 problem with it is that sex buyers don't want to be arrested any more than sex workers do, meaning that workers still have to meet clients in the shadows.

Speaker 1

20:14

So, for instance, it is still difficult to vet them online. And if you're on the street, it can be even worse, as this Swedish sex worker explains.

Speaker 11

20:22

Especially for the women in the street, this has been very, very bad, because before they had, you know, this classic thing, hanging into the car window, having the discussion, this is what I'm willing to sell, this is what I'm willing to sell, this is what I'm willing to do. They don't have the time anymore because the clients are so jumpy. So they have to get into the car, drive off, and then negotiate.

Speaker 11

20:39

And then they're already in the car.

Speaker 1

20:41

Right. You can't tell in a split second of looking at a car if it's safe to get in. It's not like there's a bumper sticker that says, my child is an honor roll student and I'm a fucking sociopath to tip you off. So the truth is, many sex workers don't love the Nordic model.

Speaker 1

20:57

Another option we could go with is legalization. That is where workers and clients can legally operate within certain regulations. It's the model employed by Amsterdam and some counties in Nevada. There, sex workers are limited to working as independent contractors and must do so in regulated brothels, typically earning 40 to 50 percent of what they bring in by servicing customers, with the remainder going to the brothel.

Speaker 1

21:22

Now, if you're wondering why those brothels get to take so much, it is simply because they can. Nevada essentially gives them a monopoly. That is just 1 reason why sex workers tend not to be that keen on the heavily regulated legalization option either. Instead, what many of them advocate for is something called decriminalization, which very simply removes all criminal penalties for the buying and selling of consensual sex.

Speaker 1

21:48

It's a model currently employed by New Zealand, a country that does seem to make a lot of smart choices, with the glaring exception, of course, of choosing a national bird, because... What the fuck is up with the kiwi, by the way? It's an incorrect duck. It's what you get if a first grader was assigned to draw a bird and then just forgot.

Speaker 1

22:08

--LAUGHTER --My point here is, in New Zealand's system, any sex worker can legally work for themselves or in a brothel. And brothel owners have to have special certificates and verify their workers are over 18 and use safe sex practices. But crucially, this system means that sex workers have fundamental rights. From being able to access unemployment benefits to health care, to being covered by workplace protections.

Speaker 1

22:33

Sex workers there have successfully sued over sexual harassment they experienced in a brothel and have been able to go to the police. In fact, last year, a man was convicted for rape in a stealthing case after he removed a condom without a sex worker's consent. It is a human rights-centered approach that does seem to be working. And a sex worker in New Zealand gives credit for this to the fact that the people writing the laws did 1 key thing.

Speaker 14

22:59

New Zealand seems to be the only country that has got it right, and that's because they consulted sex workers, whereas any other country doesn't talk to sex workers. They just make plans and laws for them without discussing it with them or caring about what they say.

Speaker 1

23:12

Exactly. And it is sad that that is so surprising, because, unfortunately, it seems most countries' laws treat sex workers the exact same way that we treat cats on Halloween. That is, squeezing them into bad situations without their input or consent and refusing to take their feelings into consideration when they're clearly not that happy. And look, I'm not saying the New Zealand model is perfect.

Speaker 1

23:35

That woman herself acknowledges that. And there are good faith disagreements to be had over the finer points of a decriminalization policy. But if we basically agree, as I hope we do, that making sex work safer for the people who do it is a priority. It is the direction to strive toward.

Speaker 1

23:53

And we're actually taking some slow steps in the right direction here. New York recently repealed its loitering law. California seems poised to do the same. Meanwhile, prosecutors around the country have announced that they won't pursue certain prostitution cases and will dismiss thousands of pending ones, which is great.

Speaker 1

24:09

And look, to those who are still uncomfortable here, out of a concern that there are people who feel economically forced into sex work, I totally agree with you. That is a huge problem, but the fact is, our current laws are not addressing that. If you want to do that, that's a much bigger conversation to have, because fundamentally, The only way to make sure that people have a choice in the way they earn money is to make housing affordable, healthcare accessible, and to not burden marginalized people with criminal records that lead to a cycle of joblessness, homelessness, and desperation. But until such time as we have that conversation, And it does not seem like something enough people are itching to have right now.

Speaker 1

24:49

We need to stop pursuing policies that harass, endanger, and occasionally refrigerate sex workers. And instead start listening to what they actually want. Because unfortunately, If we don't do that, we're just gonna carry on looking like a bunch of fucking clowns.