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Prostitution

Criminalizing Sex Work to Combat Trafficking: Rhode Island Considers the Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem

By Andrea Ritchie, Sex Workers Project, Urban Justice Center

September 3, 2009 - 7:00am

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The State of Rhode Island seems poised to take a significant step backwards on its legal treatment of both sex work and trafficking when legislators resume their session this fall.

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Geishas and Whores

By Atlasien, Racialicious

May 26, 2009 - 8:00am

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A lot of people, especially white people, are invested in defending geisha, in putting them on a pedestal. And when they do that, it does harm to Japanese-American women and to all Asian-American women.

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Stopping the Terror: A Day To End Violence Against Prostitutes

By Annie Sprinkle

December 8, 2008 - 8:00am

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On December 17, sex workers will converge in Washington, D.C. for a National March for Sex Worker Rights where marchers "will take a stand for justice, and the freedom to do sex work safely."

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AIDS Health Workers and Anti-Trafficking Activists - Is There a Conflict?

By Marcia Yerman

December 2, 2008 - 8:00am

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In the global crisis of violence against women, there is a heated debate about the best way to approach the issues at the intersection of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. Advocates of "harm elimination" push the abolishment of sexual slavery, trafficking, and prostitution. Those who believe in "harm reduction" are working to ameliorate the HIV/AIDS crisis in a pre-existing negative situation.

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SF's Proposition K: Changing the Landscape for Sex Workers

By Sienna Baskin and Melissa Ditmore, Sex Workers Project

October 28, 2008 - 8:00am

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Proposition K, San Francisco's measure to prohibit the use of public funds to enforce laws criminalizing prostitution, would change the landscape for sex workers in the city in critical ways.

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Survival Sex

By Gaiutra Bahadur

October 18, 2008 - 7:00am

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Hundreds of women of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria have turned to prostitution. But advocates understand it for what it really is - "survival sex."

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Jamaican Health Official Calls for Sex Work Decriminalization

By Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean

July 7, 2008 - 7:00am

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A senior public health official in Jamaica recently called for decriminalization and taxation of commercial sex work. Other government officials decried the proposal, but have few effective suggestions of their own.

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Beyond Vice and Victimhood: Recognizing the Human Rights of People in Sex Work

By Meena Seshu

June 27, 2008 - 3:00pm

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Next month, the Parliament of India will vote on an amendment that could further stigmatize and violate the human rights of sex workers by criminalizing the purchase of sexual services in India.

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Christian Conservatives Seek to "Restore" Women

By Kathryn Joyce, RH Reality Check

June 27, 2008 - 7:00am

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A leading figure in the Christian right anti-trafficking establishment, Linda Smith embodies the tensions between feminists and religious right activists working on this issue.

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Who's Trafficked?

By Melissa Ditmore

May 19, 2008 - 7:00am

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Congress is poised to re-authorize the federal law against human trafficking with new provisions that will both increase penalties for sex workers and effectively decrease our ability to aid genuine victims of trafficking.

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