Prohibition. It has a long and noble history of totally working exactly as intended. So it’s not at all telling when a group says “we need to ban X to save the people who are doing X!”
Case in point: New Zealand First’s latest bandwagon-jump, onto the eternal tribulations of South Auckland street corners.
“So far the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective has received about $8.6 million from the Ministry of Health to help tackle these issues. But there is another way that would prove to be effective.
“Our Prostitution Reform (Control of Street Prostitution) Amendment Bill would ban all street prostitution and confine sex work to brothels.
Or the men of South Auckland could stop picking up sex workers on street corners, like they’ve been doing since long before prostitution was decriminalized in New Zealand.
But clearly Lole-Taylor is on to a serious issue here. After all:
Of major concern is the growing prevalence of girls as young as 13 offering themselves for sale on the streets of South Auckland.
Um, hang on.
13-year-olds can’t consent to sex, much less to sex work. But Lole-Taylor isn’t saying “we’re concerned about child-abusing pimps trafficking young girls”, she’s saying it’s concerning that so many young girls are slappers.
By using the phrase “offering themselves”, Lole-Taylor clearly implies that they are consenting, and that their behaviour is the cause for concern. She further goes on to refer to them as making “a choice”. We don’t let 13-year-olds sign binding employment contracts to deliver pizza, Mrs Lole-Taylor. Why is it suddenly okay to act like underage sex workers are entirely to blame?
Not to mention the fact that apparently Mrs Lole-Taylor knows of many 13-year-olds being forced into sex work and thinks the correct response is “holding a forum”, not “calling the police“.
It’s a tired old story. Drum up social panic. Hold a town hall meeting. Listen to the Good Men Of The City decry the Plague of [anti-sex work slurs] Upon Our Streets and advocate for Law Which Recognises The Community’s Needs.
Pay no attention when they sneak out at 2am to cruise Hunters Corner and rape 13-year-olds.
[Image courtesy of Hoyden About Town]
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