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Prostitutes - And, All Women - Deserve Protection From
Violence By Rachel West and Lori Nairne, San Francisco Chronicle, Wed December 20,
2000. Open Forum, Opinion JACK BOKIN IS BEHIND bars, sentenced to 231 years to
life in prison for his murderous attacks on prostitute women. We still
need to know why so many women had to be hurt before this known predator
was brought to justice. We are pressing for an inquiry into the actions of
the police and district attorney's office in the Bokin case. Such an inquiry will expose the discrimination that women,
especially prostitute women, face within the criminal justice system.
Perhaps it will open the way to a less sexist and racist treatment of all
female victims. Prostitutes are especially vulnerable to violence.
Not because charging for sexual services is intrinsically dangerous, but
because the women who
do it are
criminalized and denied protection. ln
the same way, women assaulted by their partners are
often dismissed by police as "just a domestic." Men are quick to take advantage. In September, the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a historic resolution calling
for vigorous prosecution of those charged with violence against sex
workers. It also calls for the $7.6 million the city currently spends to
enforce anti-prostitution laws to be redirected into services and
resources sex workers desperately need. We've been campaigning for this for years. Not everyone has been keen to provide practical help.
Mayor Willie Brown and Supervisor Amos Brown, backed by property
developers, tried to introduce a car-seizure ordinance. The law would have-allowed
police to seize people's cars on the suspicion of committing a crime, then
profit from the car's sale. Fortunately, the proposal was defeated. Our women's
groups, the National Lawyers
Guild, Mission District residents and Supervisor Tom Ammiano opposed it.
There was grave concern that such an ordinance would foster police
corruption, be used to target people of color and fuel violence against
sex workers. Invariably, anti-prostitution drives affect the most vulnerable
first. The supervisors' resolution is a positive
breakthrough. But to genuinely benefit sex workers' safety, we must now
ensure that the money and resources no longer used for prosecutions go
directly into women's hands and into services independent of the police
department. Services for prostitute women will not succeed if they are
modelled on
the John's
School. Prostitutes' clients are pressured to attend this fast offender
program as an alternative to prosecution - and they pay a high fee. They are lectured and harangued as naughty children.
Such a crude puritanical mix of moralism, intimidation and profiteering -
or any compulsory scheme for prostitutes - would defeat the purpose of the
new supervisorial resolution. About 70 percent of prostitutes are mothers; mostly
single mothers. Women do not want to be forced into hostels or
rehabilitation schemes that are little better than prisons, where their
children are taken away and where they face patronizing and judgmental
staff. Our project, In Defense of Prostitute Women's Safety,
asked women working the streets what kept them in prostitution. They
answered with one voice: lack of housing and childcare. Welfare
reforms, which discount the socially necessary work of mothers and other
caregivers and push women into destitution, are much to blame for
prostitution. It is one of the few jobs open to most women that pays above
minimum wage. Welfare, good and affordable housing, pay equity and
childcare are essential for women who choose to leave prostitution. And
those who choose not to leave should be able to work independently, without state interference other than the protection that
every woman is entitled to. Effective implementation of the new resolution, which
seeks effective prosecution of rapists like Jack Bokin, can begin to put
an end to the stigma and vulnerability that criminalization of
prostitution creates. In last week's supervisors runoff election, voters
rejected Mayor Brown's and Amos Brown's harsh anti-prostitution policies.
Voters chose candidates backed by Ammiano, currently president of the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors. That shows voters care about every woman's
safety and everyone's right to affordable housing and a life without
discrimination. Discrimination against sex workers ultimately affects
all women. No prostitute is safe if she is treated like a criminal. No
woman is safe when some of us are not.
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