Recently some Hollywood stars signed a petition against Amnesty International on it's proposed sex work policy. The Hollywood stars call out Amnesty not to decriminalize sex work. They've been influenced by people from the anti-prostitution lobby, fed false information, to oppose Amnesty International their intentions to decriminalize sex work.

Why Hollywood stars think they can interfere with my profession is beyond me. They are neither experts, nor does it have anything to do with their profession. You also don't see me petitioning against things regarding their job. So what the hell makes them think they can petition against mine?

I also don't understand why people care so much about what some Hollywood people think. They aren't experts, academics or have any knowledge about this subject. Just because they're famous people, doesn't mean they have any knowledge about what they're talking about. Amnesty on the other hand... they're only the world's leading experts on human rights.

But this petition does show one thing however. The strength of the anti-prostitution lobby. It shows how scary much power these people have, to influence Hollywood stars. I'm sure the Hollywood stars signed this petition with their best intentions, but fact is that they're ignorant about sex work.

But the fact that they were tricked into signing this petition, with obviously false information, shows the power of those who oppose prostitution. The constant attack of this group of people, existing out of radicalists, conservatists and of course Christians, has caused prostitution to become synonym with trafficking, which is an absolutely false idea, but an idea they want people to believe simply because they oppose prostitution on moral grounds.

The proposed policy from Amnesty which is being attacked was an early draft from two years ago already. The goal of Amnesty is to get sex workers more rights, whether they are victims of trafficking or not. It calls out to decriminalize sex workers, johns and pimps. Now, to some of you the idea of decriminalizing a pimp may sound bad, because you associate a pimp with trafficking, but that's not entirely true. A pimp is someone a sex worker works for, in other words an employer. It enables sex workers to work for employers, such as escort agencies for example.

This doesn't mean Amnesty is in favor of trafficking, far from it. After all, they still consider trafficking to be one of the biggest crimes in humanity. But there's a big difference between an employer, or pimp as they call it in the sex industry, and a human trafficking. Because like with any job, an employer can exploit it's people, making that person a trafficker, but not all employers are by default traffickers. And the same thing is true about pimps. It's the whole reason pimps are legal in Holland, but trafficking is not. And it's the reason the suggested pimp-ban by christian parliament member Gert-Jan Segers got shot down (partially thanks to my blog as it seems).

Decriminalizing sex work, would mean that sex workers won't have to be scared to be arrested, if for example they want to go to the police to report abuse. I would surely assume Hollywood stars wouldn't be against this. It would also mean that clients won't have to be scared to be arrested for consensual sex with another person in exchange for money, meaning sex workers won't have to look up shady places where authorities such as the police are absent, in order to find their clients. This would enable clients to report any possible abuses for example, without having to fear being arrested because they're clients. We know for a fact that many victims of trafficking were saved by their clients, like Svetlina for example. 

Decriminalizing sex work, means you simply empower sex workers, by not turning their profession into a criminal activity. Things such as exploitation of sex workers, or coercion are still considered to be criminal activities. It means you give sex workers rights, both those that choose to do this job willingly, like me, as well as victims of trafficking. And I cannot imagine Hollywood stars opposing the idea of giving victims more rights, or the idea of giving people who want to do this job willingly more rights. 

I want to be able to do my job in a safe manner. Criminalizing it, would mean I cannot execute my job safe anymore, but I would have to deviate to more shady places, where authorities have little access or control, leaving me more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Decriminalizing my profession, means I can do my job legal and safe, and the police can control it and catch those exploiting or abusing sex workers, because it doesn't have to happen out of sight for authorities.

I therefore fully support Amnesty International their proposal to decriminalize sex work. The notion that buying sex is not a right, is irrelevant. Buying sex isn't a human right, just like buying a movie isn't a human right. That doesn't however mean we should banish movies or sex work, but nearly empower the workers that work in these industries, to protect them from abuse and exploitation. 

Amnesty will debate on the proposal next week the 7th of August in Dublin, so if you want sex workers to have more rights. If you want sex workers to be protected from abuse, violence and exploitation, and have the ability to work under safe conditions with access to the justice system, health care and rescue. If you want sex workers to have the choice to do with their lives what they want to do, and not what someone else wants them to do (whether that be a Meryl Streep or a pimp), than please sign this petition, and let Amnesty know that they don't have to fear the anti-prostitution lobby, and ignorant Hollywood stars who don't know what they're talking about.

Sign the petition here: Support Amnesty International's proposed policy calling for the decriminalization of sex work

Dutch version