Monday, 15 September 2008
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Criminalising the "demand side" isnt the answer, Mrs Harman
Here in the UK, whenever the Labour government has something to deal with, it tries to ban and control. Last week, Harriett Harman proposed making having sex with prostitutes a criminal offence in an attempt to reduce trafficking. What on earth makes you think this will have any effect? Dont you see that these activities are controlled by organisied crime and criminalising the end user does nothing? Taking drugs is illegal but that doesnt stop the dealers. Driving while on the phone is illegal and I saw three people do it this morning.
By talking about criminalising the users, Mrs Harman again hijacks the issue and turns it into a "woman's issue". This isnt a woman's issue Mrs Harman - this is bigger than that. This is a human rights issue. This is slavery. As soon as you turn it into a woman's issue, the young men we are targeting to educate and change their behaviour think "oh, a woman's issue - that doesnt apply to me" and they stop reading. You actually close the eyes of the people you should be targeting.
This has to be tackled by educating the otherwise ordinary men who think all prostitutes are in it for the money and are willingly selling themselves. These ordinary 20-something and 30-something men who think nothing of "hiring hookers" on lad's nights out need to know what the truth is. They need to have it drawn to their attention and their decent side appealed to so they think "My god, I didnt think of that". Many of them probably have daughters of their own and the thought starts to repulse them and shame them. Keep these people engaged in the debate, dont alienate them by saying "you're nicked if you are caught". They will simply ensure they are not caught. This is not being soft on the user - this is attempting to get the user to think through the extent of the damage they are doing. When you run anti drink-driving campaigns, you dont have a policeman or a politician on screen saying you will be jailed - you have shocking images that make people think twice about drinking and driving and they leave the car at home.
We will never stamp out trafficking - sorry, but any activity controlled by organised crime will never be truly beaten (ask the Sicilian lawmakers and police) but we can drastically reduce the demand for these young girls and women and maybe the controllers and pimps will turn their attention to "More profitable" pursuits. At that point, we have made a difference and a different campaign group e.g. anti-drug, anti-whatever can take up the fight.
By talking about criminalising the users, Mrs Harman again hijacks the issue and turns it into a "woman's issue". This isnt a woman's issue Mrs Harman - this is bigger than that. This is a human rights issue. This is slavery. As soon as you turn it into a woman's issue, the young men we are targeting to educate and change their behaviour think "oh, a woman's issue - that doesnt apply to me" and they stop reading. You actually close the eyes of the people you should be targeting.
This has to be tackled by educating the otherwise ordinary men who think all prostitutes are in it for the money and are willingly selling themselves. These ordinary 20-something and 30-something men who think nothing of "hiring hookers" on lad's nights out need to know what the truth is. They need to have it drawn to their attention and their decent side appealed to so they think "My god, I didnt think of that". Many of them probably have daughters of their own and the thought starts to repulse them and shame them. Keep these people engaged in the debate, dont alienate them by saying "you're nicked if you are caught". They will simply ensure they are not caught. This is not being soft on the user - this is attempting to get the user to think through the extent of the damage they are doing. When you run anti drink-driving campaigns, you dont have a policeman or a politician on screen saying you will be jailed - you have shocking images that make people think twice about drinking and driving and they leave the car at home.
We will never stamp out trafficking - sorry, but any activity controlled by organised crime will never be truly beaten (ask the Sicilian lawmakers and police) but we can drastically reduce the demand for these young girls and women and maybe the controllers and pimps will turn their attention to "More profitable" pursuits. At that point, we have made a difference and a different campaign group e.g. anti-drug, anti-whatever can take up the fight.
Friday, 5 September 2008
First Entry
This is the first entry in a blog is named after a fledgling campaign group I almost became involved with and maintain a keen interest. I am resurrecting my fundraising efforts as, more than a year after a successful Pariamentary and press launch, the campaign simply had to go into neutral gear due to lack of funding and the Labour Government still thinks the quick answer to reducing the number of young girls and women being illegaly trafficked into the UK for the sex industry is to criminalise the punters who use sex workers. Never mind the fact that this to-be-criminalised "demand" side is usually an otherwise ordinary guy in his 20s or 30s with a decent job who doesnt realise the girls they visit are 21st century slaves and with a little bit of awareness would probably change his behaviour and not think "hiring a hooker" on a stag night is such innocent fun after all.
As I said, the campaign had a successful press and Parliamentary launch and was run with a ton of energy - not by me - by Aimee Littler and Shannon Hopkins, both of whom put a lot of time and energy into the launch and in organising a grass roots campaign, handing out posters and beermats around bars of London. It raised awareness of the "demand side" of the sex industry in the UK that the sex workers they engaged with were often not in the job willingly and were often victims of forced labour and trafficking. Often these girls are under-age too. Things are not what they appear on the surface. The truth isn't sexy.
The name refers to the fact that telephone box cards found in London may tell a "sexy" story but the truth behind it is not the same as is printed on the card. The 25 year old babe is often a 16 year old girl who had been trafficked to the UK under the false promise of a decent job with decent money and conditions. Once here, she is kept in miserable conditions, forced into the sex trade and cant get out of it. She cant escape her pimp and is made to have sex with anything up to 40 men per day. She fears for her life is she tries to escape. This is going on here in the developed world in the 21st Century. This is someone's daughter. Amazing, isnt it?
So, it would be interesting to see who out there knows of the campaign, is interested in the issue, knows other people who might be interested in what the campaign stands for, works for a company with a "social philanthropy" policy that might contribute to the campaign, is involved with organisations/NGOs etc involved in Anti-Trafficking issues etc. to see if new life can be breathed into this valuable campaign.
So, who out there has some passion for this? Please speak.
http://www.thetruthisntsexy.com/
As I said, the campaign had a successful press and Parliamentary launch and was run with a ton of energy - not by me - by Aimee Littler and Shannon Hopkins, both of whom put a lot of time and energy into the launch and in organising a grass roots campaign, handing out posters and beermats around bars of London. It raised awareness of the "demand side" of the sex industry in the UK that the sex workers they engaged with were often not in the job willingly and were often victims of forced labour and trafficking. Often these girls are under-age too. Things are not what they appear on the surface. The truth isn't sexy.
The name refers to the fact that telephone box cards found in London may tell a "sexy" story but the truth behind it is not the same as is printed on the card. The 25 year old babe is often a 16 year old girl who had been trafficked to the UK under the false promise of a decent job with decent money and conditions. Once here, she is kept in miserable conditions, forced into the sex trade and cant get out of it. She cant escape her pimp and is made to have sex with anything up to 40 men per day. She fears for her life is she tries to escape. This is going on here in the developed world in the 21st Century. This is someone's daughter. Amazing, isnt it?
So, it would be interesting to see who out there knows of the campaign, is interested in the issue, knows other people who might be interested in what the campaign stands for, works for a company with a "social philanthropy" policy that might contribute to the campaign, is involved with organisations/NGOs etc involved in Anti-Trafficking issues etc. to see if new life can be breathed into this valuable campaign.
So, who out there has some passion for this? Please speak.
http://www.thetruthisntsexy.com/
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