December 22, 2015
New Report on Trans Sex Work Recommends Decriminalization
EDGE READ TIME: 4 MIN.
The Red Umbrella Project (RedUP), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), and Best Practices Policy Project (BPPP) released a groundbreaking report on the experiences of transgender people in the sex trade.
"Meaningful Work: Transgender Experiences in the Sex Trade" presents new data and analysis from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), first published in 2011 and still the largest-ever published survey of transgender people in the United States. "Meaningful Work" is the first in-depth look at the 694 NTDS respondents (11 percent of the survey total) who reported sex trade experience.
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"Trading sex for money is an act of resilience by so many trans people, in the face of tremendous societal violence and discrimination," said Darby Hickey, Policy Advisor at BPPP and a transgender woman former sex worker. "This report shows how criminal laws, policing, and anti-sex worker stigma combine with anti-transgender bias, producing terrible results. Trans sex workers, particularly women of color, know what the solutions are and it is past time that LGBT groups center their experiences and wisdom."
In 2011, the NTDS reported that transgender people experience high levels of discrimination in every area of life, as well as high levels of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, negative interactions with police, incarceration, and violent victimization. One result of this widespread discrimination is that many transgender people engage in sex work to earn income or trade sex for housing or other needs. "Meaningful Work" takes a deeper look at those respondents who traded sex for income:
The criminalization and stigmatization of commercial sex can worsen the discrimination and marginalization that transgender people already face.
"Far too often, the manner in which we deal with sex workers is to criminalize their behavior, without addressing any of the systemic barriers that influence participation in the sex trade. Bad policies and practices, such as using condoms as evidence and court mandated programs, not only don't help trans sex workers, but actually worsen their outcomes," said Erin Fitzgerald, Research and Policy Director of the Red Umbrella Project.
Transgender sex workers reported high levels of harassment and violence, often at the hands of police: Sixty-four percent reported being mistreated and nearly one in 10 were sexually assaulted by police. The report also found striking racial disparities, with Black and Latina/o transgender people far more likely to report any sex trade experience (44 percent and 33 percent). Transgender people of color with sex trade experience reported far higher levels of poverty, mistreatment, and negative health outcomes than their white counterparts.
To address these disparities, the report makes several policy recommendations, including the full decriminalization of sex work. NCTE and other national LGBT organizations have recently joined Amnesty International and the World Health Organization in calling for decriminalization on the grounds that criminalizing sex work prevents sex workers from seeking help from police, needed services, or other employment and impedes HIV prevention efforts.
Other recommendations include reforming policing practices and investing in voluntary, non-judgmental, and harm reduction-based social services. The report also urges LGBT organizations and other community groups to prioritize work with sex workers themselves in developing solutions that meet people's needs for safety, health, and opportunity.
"We can't ignore the fact that so many transgender people, particularly in communities of color, have had experience in the sex trade, often simply as a means of getting by," said Harper Jean Tobin, Director of Policy at NCTE. "This means of survival, however, too often comes along with increased risk of violence, HIV, and barriers to health care and other supports -- all of which are made worse by criminalizing sex work. All people involved in the sex trade, whatever their circumstances, deserve safety, opportunity, and dignity."
The Red Umbrella Project (RedUP) is a Brooklyn based peer-led organization which amplifies the voices of people in the sex trades to take greater control of our lives and livelihoods through sustained and structured peer-mentoring initiatives, multimedia storytelling platforms, and public advocacy.
