Selena Kyle

December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers [x]

Infographic reads: 

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, December 17th.

[Headline states] You’ve been assaulted, but you can’t get help.

Sex workers face more violence in the United States than anywhere else. Decriminalize sex work, give victims of violence the same access to safety and justice as their perpetrators. 

[A graphic showing the rates of violence against sex workers in the U.K. versus the U.S. In the U.K., 1% of sex workers are harmed indoors; 27% of sex workers are harmed outdoors. In the U.S., 42% of sex workers are harmed indoors; 80% of sex workers are harmed outdoors.] Violence is four times higher in the U.S.A. In the U.K., commercial sex is legal (brother owning, public solicitation, and pimping are crimes.) In the U.S.A., it is criminalized. Rate of assault is up to 40 times higher in the U.S.A. than U.K.

[A graphic shows images that correlate to statistics, such as a red fist to show police violence and black lips to show police sexual assault]. Police hurt more than help. Of 104 interactions with D.C. police, 9.1% [of sex workers] report physical assault. 17.3% [of sex workers report that] an officer requested sex favors. Police rape: in rape cases involving Chicago street prostitutes, 25% of sex workers identified the rapist as a police officer. National Blacklist: in reports of clients to avoid, there are four times more complaints about police than about pimps. 30% of complaints [by sex workers] are about police officers in N.Y.C. and Aspen, Colorado. 

[A graphic shows how many sex workers were assaulted in Norway in 2009 before and after sex purchase was banned. In 2008, the rate was 22%; in 2012, the rate was 33%]. Criminalization increases violence. [The] rate of assault [on sex workers] increased 50% after demand was criminalized. 59% of sex workers were exposed to violence only after the sex purchase ban.  

Being queer in dangerous. 1/3 of U.S. sex worker homicide victims are trans women (according to a 2015 study). 23% of the 2012 GLBT homicides were connected to sex work. 

Stigma is violence. Sex workers face alienation, moral ‘rescuing’ and rights denial by banks and health care providers. 

Sex workers are… parents. Friends. Male. Trans. Black. White. Asian. Latino. Criminalized. Vulnerable.

Support sex workers in their fight for human rights. Attend an event, host an event, call out ‘dead hooker’ jokes as a form of violence, share the facts.

End violence against sex workers, visit December17.org

All citations can be found at: http//www.december17.org/2015 

BUT

All men are capable of not acting like predators (but lots of men choose to ignore this capability)

I say this every time I argue for raising the minimum wage. I never hear anyone else say it and I’m glad I found this.

If you have a machine performing a valuable talk for your company, the upkeep of that machine is part of your operating cost. You have to pay to power it, to upgrade it, to fix it when it breaks. And if you can’t afford the machine, the manufacturer doesn’t have to do business with you. They’re free to take their service somewhere else where they think the price is fair.

For humans, a living wage is the operating cost. If you can’t afford to pay your worker enough to live nearby, feed themselves, and get basic health care - all of which are things they need in order to be able to work for you - you’re failing to pay for the cost of their service. 

You know what my mother tells me? She says I don’t need feminism because I should be glad I’m born in an urban city of Pakistan. She says, at least I wasn’t born in a rural area where girls are married off to men twice their age. That things could always be worse.

And our house maid, Shabana, who was married to her uncle at 15 and, at 18, has 2 children, she doesn’t even know what feminism is. She was told by her father that she should be glad her husband doesn’t beat her and hasn’t thrown tehzaab (acid) at her. That things could always be worse.

SELINA KYLE I WORSHIP YOU I REALLY DO

The last time I was helping the first grade class during math I couldn’t figure out how to do the worksheet and felt really anxious and overwhelmed that I, pushing 45 years old, didn’t understand 1st grade math. Yesterday during math one of the boys wouldn’t come out from under the table, where he was rolling around and kicking chairs, and wouldn’t do any work. After spending quite some time, and using a handful of different strategies, trying to convince him to come out from under the table I crawled under the table with him. I instantly felt more relaxed under there. I have always, especially as a child, felt safer in small spaces - in closets, under the bed, burrowed down under a shrub, in a tent or fort, in the bath with my ears under the water, or with a blanket over my head - than in open overwhelming spaces. It was like I had forgotten how little spaces like that calm me because I was too busy seeing his behavior as intentionally disruptive. I said “I see why you are under here. It’s nice under here.” He asked if he could always stay under there and I said it wasn’t up to me but maybe we could talk to the teacher and counselor about finding a solution if he could actually get some work done. We looked at the workbook together and figured out number bonds. He got 4 pages done and I understood it well enough, and felt focused enough, to check his work.

Under the table.