Amnesty International says laws against buying sex breach men's human rights

[DonkeySkin]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545003/Amnesty-calls-legal-prostitution-Charity-says-laws-ban-people-buying-selling-sex-breach-human-rights.html

The organisation is planning to adopt a position that calls for the full decriminalisation of the sex industry, including johns and pimps.

It is tabling a paper for its UK branch to vote on that says it is a human right for 'consenting adults' to purchase sexual consent from another person (regardless of the desperate circumstances that person may be in, presumably). The paper also devotes time to that latest favourite cover-all for sex-industry advocates, 'the rights of the disabled', as a reason to allow the continuing expansion of the global sex industry with no oversight or concern from governments.

Apparently the human rights of the (overwhelmingly) women and girls who are coerced, trafficked and enslaved inside the sex industry to satisfy the demand from men for paid sex are of no concern.

Oh, sorry - Amnesty does remember to devote a whole two words to this, conceding that prostitution takes place in an 'imperfect context'. That would presumably be the context of a worldwide patriarchy that devalues female human beings, denies them education, safety and fairly paid work, and tells men they have the right to use their bodies for sex regardless of their actual desires. Not to mention, systemic racism, colonialism and exploitative capitalism.

Good to know Amnesty is prepared to stand up for the most vulnerable people on earth - male sex buyers.

nonsense.

Domina

Prostitution is legal in the UK (albeit with some restrictions around street work etc).

No-one on this thread wants to make prostitution illegal.

Feminists have no desire to see people who are working in prostitution criminalised.

Feminists look around the world and see the news and feel a lot of concern about what is going on re. sexual exploitation.

You are fighting a POV that none of us hold.

Of course there is outrage when victims of trafficking are arrested / criminalised. They should be cared for and looked after and not penalised in any way and offered residency in the place they were trafficked to or supported and paid for to go home and have the people who did it penalised to the full extent of the law etc etc etc. You are going to be hard pressed to find otherwise.

Down with Corporate Brothels!

Up with Gang-Run Brothels!

JFC, you couldn't make it up.

I don't think the word of a woman with 20+ years experience of working in brothels and as an escort should be dismissed as "stupid".

I have asked my sister providers if any of them had seen trafficking taking place. One has 36 yrs as a sex worker. She said not once had she seen it. HOWEVER She was raped and couldn't report for fear of arrest. She was beaten by someone who got a lighter sentence because of her status as a sex worker. I myself was assaulted by a non client who used my vocation to threaten me and keep me from reporting.

Any comments?

Do you deny there are other women who have suffered for 20 years in brothels? is their word to be dismissed as stupid, or irrelevent?

Grasping at straws now aren't we?

FWR peeps = look at all these studies and stuff and sensible arguments and things

Rhino = I have found something on youtube where one person says stuff that agrees with what I think.

Also I would be very surprised if you could find a poster on this thread who is against AI stance, who has described people working in prostitution as "stupid".

Down with gang or corporate ran brothels!!!!

Up with human rights for individuals choosing their own paths in life. What a concept.

"How can we do this without creating new victims out of consensual sex workers?"

How can anything we are proposing create new victims out of "consensual" sex workers (a group to which you do not belong if your recent posts are true)?

These happy hookers don't need anybody's help, do they? They are doing a job they enjoy, so how can they be victims?

They are making a free choice to sell sex knowing about all the risks, so there is no need to worry about them.

I am ONLY worried about trafficked or exploited sex workers (such as you once were before you realised how brilliant it was being around these wonderful people).

I don't care what happy sex workers want. I don't accept that as an interested party with a business to protect that their views are ones that deserve more weight than those of anyone else.

I would be as likely to give weight to a small-time drug dealer's views about the right policy towards the illegal drug trade.

Decriminalise buying sex? Already here
Destigmatise sex workers? Feminists are on board with this.
Destroy the sex hierarchy? Feminists back this

Comments?

"FWR peeps = look at all these studies and stuff and sensible arguments and things"

I don't see many sensible arguments at all. I see plenty swearing, dismissive insults and one of your main sources is the invisible man blog by an anonymous person with quotes he/she claims are taken from Punternet.

"Destroy the sex hierarchy?"

If you mean destroy the sex industry then it's not going to happen. What we should be focusing on is making it safer.

"I have asked my sister providers if any of them had seen trafficking taking place. One has 36 yrs as a sex worker. She said not once had she seen it. HOWEVER She was raped and couldn't report for fear of arrest. She was beaten by someone who got a lighter sentence because of her status as a sex worker. I myself was assaulted by a non client who used my vocation to threaten me and keep me from reporting.

Any comments?"

Well yes Domina if you read the "We Believe You" campaign on MN you will see that the whole campaign explicitly against exactly that sort of thing.

People in authority dismissing complaints from women about DV / sexual violence for, well, any reason they can find, is outrageous and obviously feminists are working to dispel such attitudes.

So the attitude you are talking about is "prostitutes can't be raped". I think that one was worked on a lot in the 80s / 90s here and there is more awareness in the public generally, although obviously there is a hell of a long way to go.

I do not see how saying it is a right for men to pay for sex, will assist in changing the attitude of the police and others towards women (from all walks of life) who report sexual violence and are dismissed.

rhinoceer have you still not read that scottish report?

quelle surprise

"If you mean destroy the sex industry then it's not going to happen. What we should be focusing on is making it safer."

Safer for whom, exactly?

I think we all know the answer to that.

"Actual reviews written by actual men who bought actual women and said these things about them."

The prove it. Which reviews are the content on invisible man blog taken from?

"prostitutes can't be raped".

Anyone can be raped regardless who they are. I don't know where you got that from.

"rhino do you think that men and women should be equal?"

What are you talking about?

I was never raped when I consensually engaged in money for sex. No my initial experiences weren't of the healthiest sort all the time, but I am going to own that this was greatly due to a variety of factors including my own state. But I can say that sex work played a major role in my personal journey of recovery as I have seen and heard from other sex workers. The majority of my clients were good people and this became even more the case as I established a healthier framework in my life. I still work as a provider of adult based services and I do enjoy and love the work I do. By the way, just to share a bit more of my own personal approach to what I do, when a single man calls me for an appointment I put him through a screening process involving a series of questions, in the first ten minutes I ask if he is married or has a partner. If he answers yes and many do, I ask him if he has discussed his desires with his partner and why he is contacting me. I often suggest that the client bring his partner with him if at all possible, because I want to see people engaging their mates.

These issues go way beyond trafficking and into the human condition.

If you keep attacking this from ideological standpoints refusing to dig deeper into the actual causes we will never establish viable long lasting solutions that actually engineer society in a healthier manner benefiting EVERYONE whose lives will be impacted.

Oh well.

And what do you mean "bought actual women"? Are you implying prostitution is a slave auction?

I think it is impolite to quote people out of context

Well I think it's impolite to join a forum to derail and not answer questions.

It looks very suspicious and not worth responding to.

So what you are saying, basically, is that there is no reason to be concerned for women who are homeless, drug addicted, and working as prostitutes. because you're been there, and nothing bad happened, and the punters were good people, and it was a career that assisted you out of your drugs and homelessness issues.

You see, I was under the impression that young homeless people are at a huge risk of sexual violence. Sleeping rough is terrifying. Sleeping rough while off your head? Really dangerous.

No?