Prostitution: A Word That UN Women Does Not Want to Hear

_-_Dan_-_ · 2015-04-03T13:58:09+00:00

In late 2013, UN Women, in a note on the issue of terminology, had said it would use the terms “sex work” and “sex workers” and “recognize the right of all sex workers to choose their work or leave it and to have access to other employment opportunities.” UN Women’s decision and recommendation not to “conflate sex work, sexual exploitation and trafficking” sounds outrageous if not ludicrous to people like Gupta, who work in the squalid brothel quarters of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and other cities, to which young girls from around South Asia are lured by traffickers — or sold by poor families — into a life of miserable bondage, with no chance to make choices.

Judging on the article, bad move to try to prohibit a topic, but the change in terminology seems actually like a good move on part of UN Women, I'm surprised.

In the same way we shouldn't conflate work (legal, fair, living wages, unions, etc.), exploitation (e.g., not a living wage for full-time work), and slavery (no payment, no rights, etc.). Or do we want to put a well-employed office worker in the US, a worker in a sweatshop in India, and a prisoner in a work camp in North Korea into the same box? And sure, if you have only experienced one kind -- here: sexual abuse/rape -- that might be hard to see. (I wouldn't call trafficking sex work either, nor do I think sexual exploitation is sex work. But that doesn't mean that sex work in a self-determined sense does not exist.)

DougDante · 2015-04-03T10:06:23+00:00

Some trafficked women and girls are more equal than others. Rescued victims still face abuse. Join me in advocating for them:

Action Opportunity: Reform US Funding of Human Rights Abuses Against Prostitutes and Trafficking Victims

Please also note the complete denial of the existence of sex trafficked boys. If you would like to try to help them too:

Action Opportunity: Ask the US State Department to Tell India to Stop Ignoring Boys Who are Sexually Abused or Sex Trafficked

Title	Prostitution: A Word That UN Women Does Not Want to Hear
Author	DougDante
Upvotes	9
Comments	2
Date	April 3, 2015 10:02 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/31amqe/prostitution_a_word_that_un_women_does_not_want/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/prostitution-a-word-that-un-women-does-not-want-to.984132 https://theredarchive.com/post/984132

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