Sex Work Is Not An Invitation To Rape

Sex work is not an invitation to rape.

[Trigger warning — news story contains description]
There is a range of feminist opinion on what role sex work ought to have. But there can’t be a range of opinion on sex workers: they are people. No means no. Stop means stop. Whatever services they sell — cam shows, penetration, BDSM or whatever — do not and cannot be seen to invalidate their humanity. And ignoring a person’s right to say, “stop penetrating my body” is the most basic denial of humanity.

The problem with a jury system is the same as the problem with judges (recall this awful shit): they reflect first and foremost the biases of the society they operate in. Here, there wasn’t a real question about what happened:

A New South Wales District Court jury cleared Petty Officer Timothy Davis, 25, of a charge of sexual intercourse without consent, with the aggravating factor of causing the woman actual bodily harm. … The woman told the court she had protected, consensual sex with Davis at the brothel where she worked, but said he became aggressive when she told him his time was up and forced her to have unprotected sex. The jury was shown police photographs of scratches on the woman.
Davis denied forcing the woman to have sex, but admitted in court that he used a “lock down maneuver” to pin her to the bed when she said she wanted to stop. He told the court he backed off when she kicked him, though he said he muffled her mouth with his hand when she began to scream after he demanded his money back.

Laws regarding prostitution vary between states in Australia. Brothels are legal in New South Wales.

This is not a legal problem. This is not a problem statutory reform can solve. Her work was legal where she was doing it. She was a service provider engaged in a lawful business enterprise, not meaningfully legally different from a masseuse or a personal trainer or a manicurist, for these purposes. Her work puts her in close contact with customers to whom she provides services. Nothing about that implies that she waives her basic human rights to do her job.

And this is not an enforcement problem. The police made an arrest and the prosecutors brought the case. The judge didn’t throw it out. The case went all the way to a jury.

This is a cultural problem. He admitted he pinned her down, he admitted he covered her mouth, he admitted that he put his penis inside her with no condom … and a jury of ordinary citizens acquitted him anyway. I can’t see any way that happens unless they simply decided that they are so biased against sex workers that they think sex workers deserve to be raped when doing their job.

Shouldn’t it be so obvious as to be unnecessary to say this? Sex workers do not deserve to be raped — while doing their jobs, or at any other time, ever. It’s a basic syllogism, really. Major premise: No human deserves to be raped. Minor premise: Sex workers are human. Conclusion: No sex worker deserves to be raped. The operation of the syllogism is Logic 101. The truth of the premises is Humanity 101. Disagree with one of those premises? Fail the course, repeat Humanity 101.

So much of policy around sex work is driven by a phobic and hateful reaction. There are basic things about sex work that everyone who identifies as sex positive or feminist or both ought to find common ground on: e.g. that sex workers ought to be protected from rape, including while working; that providing sexual services, even if illegal, ought not to be punished more harshly or more frequently than being a customer of the same services; that underage sex workers ought not to be prosecuted at all because someone who lacks the agency to have zir consent to noncommercial sex recognized ought not to bear criminal responsibility for the same acts if money changes hands. Shouldn’t those simple propositions get universal agreement from everyone?

And let’s not forget the person who caused this shitshow of basic human rights violation. Congratulations PO Tim Davis. You’re a piece of shit. You abused a sex worker, and you got away with it because the jury hates sex workers. You fail Humanity 101. Repeat the course. You know what? Don’t. I want you off my fucking planet, now. Eat your service sidearm. Your next victims will thank you. Because we both know it’s highly likely you’ve done this before, and I’m goddamned sure you’ll do it again.