The Work of Anti-Sex Trafficking, and the Trafficking of Sex Worker Rights
Climate change. Illegal immigration. Raising the minimum wage. Anti-vaxxers. Cancel culture. These are all social issues that regularly play out in the mainstream media. These issues will be a major part of the upcoming presidential debates as well.
In 2020, there is little national debate about commercial sex. But I’m convinced that in the coming years, there will be serious national debates about the legalization of all forms of commercial sex — or sex work as the advocates of legalization describe it. Commercial sex acts refer to all interactions in which a sexual activity is performed for money. This includes the making of adult films, stripping and dancing in clubs, camming (performing over a webcam for a fee), and of course consensual sex. Although the term encompasses many activities, the axis upon which this debate revolves is consensual sex, or prostitution.
There will be two sides of this debate. On one side are sex worker rights advocates who will argue that what a woman wants to do sexually with her body is of no concern to anyone but her, and anything she wants to do with her body should not be criminalized. On the other side are anti-sex trafficking advocates who will argue that relaxing laws against commercial sex will create an atmosphere that will lead to more sex trafficking.
