Reclaim the Night, Melbourne 2013, speaking on behalf of Vixen Collective – Victoria’s peer only sex worker organisation

Sex workers do not live in the same night…

My name is Jane Green.
I am speaking on behalf of Vixen Collective, Victoria’s peer only, sex worker organisation.

Worldwide, “Reclaim the Night” or “Take back the Night” protests violence against women.
Sex workers face violence in their lives, in their work, as other people do.
& I as a sex worker am here tonight to “Reclaim the night”
But as a sex worker this does not have the same meaning for me.
As a sex worker I do not live in the same night, or the same day.
Because sex workers are not governed by the same LAWS.
Sex workers are not policed by the same POLICE.
The MEDIA that reports the news does not reports ours, or when it is written – it is written in a way that demeans our community.
The PUBLIC that rallies in times of grief, often finds sex worker grief worthy of abuse.

Victorian Sex Industry Law
– artificially delineates “good” and “bad” whores into the legal and illegal sectors of the industry
– we have three monthly, forced, mandatory STI screening for Victorian sex workers, even when studies prove we have better sexual health & practice safer sex than the general population
– rigid laws make our lives harder, not easier
DECRIMINALISATION, giving sex workers the human rights & labour rights that other workers already have, is very simply what I as a Victorian sex worker need.

Police.
Sex workers are not policed by the same police.
We get S.I.C.U. – the Sex Industry Co-ordination Unit. But we also get the the stigma & discrimination bred from making police the regulators of our industry rather than having them relate to us as general citizens.
On the same day that I was asked to write this speech a friend called me to ask advice on behalf of another sex worker, about whether or not to go to the police.
If you’re not a sex worker this probably isn’t a question you ask yourself if you’re a victim of a crime?
Should I go to the police?
This is part of what I told them:
– Take someone as a witness.
– Your witness should be another sex worker.
– Take a pen & paper, do this:
– write your own record of what happens.
– record the names & rank of every officer you deal with.
When you are deciding whether or not to make a complaint later this information will be useful to you.
– Understand that if you are working illegally there may be consequences, even if you are the VICTIM of a crime.
– In situations when confronting your fear of reporting to police – always prioritise your personal safety.
– Be prepared for the eventuality that they will do nothing to help you.
The reason I was giving this advice?
This was a sex worker visiting Melbourne, Victorian sex workers already know this (or we find out the hard way).
You do not feel safe reaching out for help to the people who are regulating your industry.
Laws in Victoria reinforce whorephobic attitudes within the police towards sex workers.
And so, the police are not the people we call when we need help – we call other sex workers.

I am a sex worker.
I want to make that clear.
From Media coverage in Victoria another word might seem all too common, you might be tempted to use the term “prostitute”.
The Victorian Media seemed fond of this term until a backlash following the death of sex worker Tracey Connelly caused a brief period of humanity.
I often get asked why sex workers care so much about that word?
I do not want to be called “prostitute” because it is an abusive term, it is denigratory to my peers and to me.
It is whorephobic.
The following organisations recommend you use the term sex worker:
– the United Nations
– the World Health Organisation
– The Scarlet Alliance, Australia’s National Sex Worker Organisation
– Vixen Collective, Victoria’s Peer Only Sex Worker Organisation
The Victorian Government actually changed Sex Industry Legislation in Victoria to read “sex work”.
But, still the Victorian Media won’t get it right.
I say WON’T.
There has been plenty of time to catch up to the language – but the Victorian Media won’t get it right because PROSTITUTE makes a better headline.

When Jill Meagher was murdered, her death touched us, we knew her name and her face – it was personalised.
This should have been no less the case when sex worker Tracey Connelly died.
But Tracey Connelly was represented as a stereotype – and that allowed members of the public to depersonalise her, to vilify her and to vilify sex worker community.
The online comments sections of Melbourne newspapers filled up with anonymous vitriol, pointing out how “she deserved it”.
What Tracey Connelly deserved was exactly what Jill Meagher received in death – she deserved to be treated like a human being, by the PUBLIC, not just her immediate friends, family & community.
Because sex workers are just that – part of community.

We are here tonight to “Reclaim the night”
Sex workers do not live in the same night.
We live in a night (& a day) of unnecessary LAWS.
Where POLICE are never just the people we reach out to when victims of violent crime, but also the people that may jail us because of discriminatory LAWS.
Our night is often followed by days of MEDIA that reports our lives (or deaths) in casual or callous tones that would cause an outcry for any other member of the public…
Sex workers are a diverse community.
I don’t claim to speak for all sex workers, because no one can.
But as a Victorian sex worker, I speak for my own experience.
– do not leave us alone in this fight.
ALL of us can speak out against whorephobia when we we see it.
It can & should be called out
Events such as these come and go, but you as allies MUST stand with us , enduring beyond such times.
For sex workers every DAY and NIGHT stands to be reclaimed.