Dialogue: Sex workers deserve protection of the law

Legislation decriminalising prostitution represents long-overdue recognition of the realities of the sex industry in this country, writes SUE BRADFORD.

Like many other Herald readers I often appreciate the depth of Garth George's reflections from his particular spiritual base, but I found his attack on MPs who support the Prostitution Reform Bill downright offensive.

He accuses some, if not all of us, of hypocrisy, lack of conscience, and of having no idea of the facts of life in the grubby world of brothels, procurers, pimps and prostitutes.

As an MP who strongly supports the bill, I should like to assure George that nothing is further from the truth.

For a start, at least some MPs do have a background of life in the real world. In my case, working for 16 years with unemployed people and beneficiaries in Auckland has hardly shielded me from many grubby realities.

The Prostitution Reform Bill, which aims to decriminalise prostitution, is a long-overdue piece of legislation which is finally seeing its place in the sun thanks to the efforts of Labour MP Tim Barnett and a wide range of community organisations, including the Prostitutes Collective and an extensive range of women's, health and church groups.

The goal of the bill is not to somehow encourage the youth of New Zealand into careers in brothels or on the streets, but rather to promote the rights, health and safety of those adults who choose to work in the sex industry and their clients.

New Zealand has lived in the 19th century for far too long. In this day and age, do most of us really accept that it is fair to arrest and convict sex workers for soliciting while their male (usually) clients do not risk criminalisation?

Do we truly believe that it is still okay for police to use personal possession of a larger-than-usual number of condoms as evidence in a court case, at a time when sexually transmitted disease rates continue to rise and HIV/Aids is an ever-present threat?

In summary, the bill, which Parliament is considering:

* Decriminalises prostitution.

* Improves protection for sex workers from exploitation. They will be able to join unions and negotiate for better conditions.

* Promotes better health and welfare support for sex workers, leading to higher public health standards for the community at large.

* Frees up police resources to focus on solving genuine crimes.

* Makes it illegal to coerce anyone into providing sexual services.

* Makes it illegal to provide or assist child prostitutes (people under 18).

Prostitution has been a career option for some people since history began. Nothing any law has done has changed or will change that. Sex workers provide a service which is needed and wanted by many.

Even in today's world we have examples such as that of Iraq where only last year 30 women were beheaded in a so-called clean-up of prostitution and their heads left on the doorsteps of their homes.

We might like to think that the prevailing statutes in this country are a long way from the primitive sanctions carried out in Baghdad and Basra. But our present legislative approach is simply the latest incarnation of a long history of punitive attitudes and laws which extend back at least to the Old Testament of the Bible.

Our present law is still based on biblical concepts such as that women are either pure or immoral, and in either case belong to men.

I cannot accept that in this day and age our nation should continue to make criminals of sex workers because the Bible says it is wrong. In the first place, Christianity is not the state religion of New Zealand, and even within Christianity there are different interpretations of the Bible and related teachings. Secondly, the only prostitutes directly condemned in the Bible were those who used sex as a method of worship, which is not something commonly practised in this country.

The Bible takes a much stronger stand against adultery than against common whoredom, but I doubt that even the more conservative among us would wish to see adulterers cooling their heels in Auckland Central police station.

There are many Christians who do adhere to the biblical notion that people should stand against immoral actions in their own lives, but do not condemn and criminalise the actors.

Support of prostitution law reform does not necessarily signify approval of prostitution. There are also some biblical injunctions about love and compassion, even for those who are seen as less fortunate than oneself.

It is not hypocritical to support a law change which will stop women and men being prosecuted for the crime of soliciting.

And I don't lack a conscience because I believe we would all be better off in a society which had the honesty to accept the job choice that some adults make as valid and worthy of care and compassion, for all our sakes.

* Sue Bradford is a Green MP.