DECRIMINALISING THE INDUSTRY: Is it right to call prostitution work?
In the midst of all the economic turmoil in our country, and with Pravin Gordhan fighting to maintain his dignity, sometimes government manages to implement plans that have largely gone unnoticed by the public.
Very recently, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a comprehensive plan to prevent and treat HIV among sex workers.
Yes, you have read correctly.
While we are battling Moody’s potential downgrade, tertiary upheavals and racism, our Deputy President, it seems, is very concerned about the welfare and health of the prostitution industry.
Why should this be a controversial subject one may ask? Well, to put it bluntly, his plans generally gives the green light to prostitution, therefore saying it is legal to be a sex worker.
And when you make something legal, you decriminalise it.
Welcome, therefore, to the continuous downgrading of our morality, which is probably even worse that our economy’s downgrade.
So you have to ask: what is next? The legislation of marijuana?
Naturally, UNAIDS welcomes the roll-out of South Africa’s National Sex Worker HIV Plan, which will ensure equitable access to health and legal services for sex workers in South Africa.
Look, we understand South Africa and Africa at large is battling with HIV, and it is understandable that Ramaphosa, in his role as the chairperson of the South African National AIDS Council, will want to address HIV among sex workers.
But, really, is this the message the government wants to send? Shouldn’t we rather clean up the streets and find alternative means to get people out of the sex trade?
Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world, but it doesn’t mean we should condone it in South Africa – it is degrading to women, and morally not the answer to a country sliding deeper into an immoral culture.
Granted, the plan was deemed necessary because sex workers experience a disproportionate burden of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, violence, stigma and discrimination.
But this would not necessarily be so if prostitution is properly addressed, by undressing the social ills that cause women, and even men, to resort to such acts to survive.
This is also the opinion of the Family Policy Institute, that has said that prostitution strips women (and children) of their dignity and humanity. They also rightly stated that no government programme can change that.
They maintain the point that prostitution is violence against women and children. And one has to agree that legitimising sex as ”work” places all women at risk.
As the FPI also stated, the overwhelming majority of women and children trapped in the illegal sex trade in South Africa are controlled and manipulated by crime syndicates, pimps and brothel owners.
The FPI, therefore, noted that decriminalising the entire sex industry, as demanded by the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce, will legitimise the crime syndicates, pimps and brothels owners who mercilessly abuse and exploit women and children.
Therefore, despite the government’s noble intentions, to decriminalise or legalise prostitution would be a gift to organised crime, pimps, brothel owners and other human parasites who prey on vulnerable women and children.
South Africa already struggles with high rates of poverty and unemployment, so it seems government presenting this plan is like opening a door for more vulnerable victims to be sucked into the exploitative sex industry.
And, once they are sucked in, they face the very real threat of being trafficked for sexual purposes by local and international crime syndicates already operating with impunity in South Africa.
One must, therefore, agree with the FPI that the most effective way government can help to protect the dignity and humanity of women trapped in prostitution is by clamping down on the demand for prostitutes.
Prostitution simply cannot be made legal and law enforcement should continue to aggressively shut down the crime syndicates who run prostitution rings and arrest those who abuse and exploit women and children.
What is needed by government is to rather introduce sustainable exit programmes, to help prostitutes to escape this harmful and exploitative industry and lead a normal and dignified life.
There is no other way government or any other institution can restore and protect the humanity and dignity of women trapped in a trade designed to dehumanise them.
At the end of he day, prostitution is inherently harmful, exploitative and destructive.
