die Muschi-Partei informiert: die Briten machen mobil

[Ariane]

Hiermit rufe ich zur Unterstützung der IUSW auf, die internationale Gewerkschaft der Sexworker. Dies ist sicherlich für Agenturen von Interesse, die in Grossbritannien ein Standbein haben. Auslöser der derzeitigen Kampagne ist aktuell ein Gesetz, daß in England zur Diskussion steht und Menschenhandel und andere verachtenswerte Praktiken in der verbieten soll (wo allerdings schon die konsequente Anwendung des geltenden Strafrechts völlig ausreichen würde), es aber offenbar generell auf Agenturen & Bordelle und letztlich auf das gesamte Sex-Business abgesehen hat. Damen und Agenturen, die zumindest gelegentlich in London etc. werkeln, sollten sich mit dieser Diskussion vertraut machen.

 

Ich danke für die Aufmerksamkeit.

 

 

 

The International Union of Sex Workers. (IUSW)

-----------------------------------------------

 

You will see my site now promotes the IUSW, and I would really encourage all

escorts, (independent, agency and parlour) to join the IUSW. http://iusw.org . If

you run an agency or parlour, then please can you ask and persuade those escorts who

you represent to join the IUSW. Why am I asking you to do this? I am asking

because its one way in which we can help ourselves preserve and improve the sex

industry.

 

 

 

By joining the ISUW you are saying.

-----------------------------------

 

I am a sex worker, I have free choice, I am not trafficked or controlled, I want to

stand up and be counted. Please Government listen to what we say.

 

The more who join, (independents, agencies, agency workers and parlour workers),

then the more powerful that voice becomes. The anti prostitution league will then

not be able to say that most workers are trafficked and controlled.

 

The IUSW are fighting for all sex workers.

 

The IUSW provides legal aid,

 

There are discounts at many places like any trade union.

 

They are part of a large and respectable organisation, the GMB union.

 

They can and do speak directly to Government ministers.

 

The IUSW have campaigned vigorously in the media recently. Among the numerous voices

speaking out is sex worker and activist Catherine Stevens who has also appeared on

national television.

 

 

 

The GMB Union and the IUSW

--------------------------

 

The sex industry is now openly under attack by the some members of this Government.

The Government intends to bring in new laws which will affect everyone involved in

the industry including clients. The intention of the new laws may sound reasonable,

protecting local neighbourhoods from nuisance, and protecting women from trafficking

and coercion but are really disguising potentially dangerous intrusions on our

liberties. I expect you have read about the government?s proposals in the paper and

heard about it on TV and radio. You may also have see that very few news papers

and commentators are in agreement with these proposed laws. Pity the Government

takes little notice.

 

Unfortunately the new laws are phrased so that a man is acting as a criminal if he

visits a woman who is controlled for gain. Anyone working in a parlour, or an

agency comes under this categorisation in the eyes of the law, resulting in an

estimated 90% of men (Vera Baird stated this) who visit sex workers becoming

potential criminals. This will likely have an effect on the business of agencies

and parlours. This law will not help trafficked women, because it will drive that

business into the shadows, and create an exploitable criminalised market, which

could see the closure of agencies and parlours.

 

Independent escorts conceivably could do well out of this new law provided they

truly work independently and do not share with others or hire a maid or telephonist

who in law will be viewed as controlling them for gain. Consent of sex workers to

employ the agency of another is irrelevant in law. A client needs to be sure that

the independent escort is not working for a pimp, or supporting a drug dependency.

The result of this for ALL SEX WORKERS is that good clients will be scared off.

 

Lets not forget that this is a thin end of the wedge, the Labour feminists want to

protect YOU, and want to stop ALL prostitution which they view as violence toward

women and children. Some police currently turn a blind eye to well run brothels

such as in Manchester, these good authorities however may no longer be able to do

that.

 

These are some point made by Jacqui Smith in the review on prostitution.

 

"In light of legislative change, the Government should look to work with all

relevant bodies, including the police, criminal justice agencies and the

voluntary sector to develop comprehensive guidance on enforcement and

best-practice partnership work"

 

I expect this recommendation on enforcement will force the police to CLOSE brothels

that presently operate openly and safely in MANCHESTER and other forward-looking

cities. Yes this is Labour policy, control from the top.

 

"Noting the apparent benefits of criminal justice measures, but taking into

account the difficulties with enforcing the Swedish model in the UK at this time"

 

Notice the wording "at this time". It is this Governments intention to totally

criminalise Commercial Sex in this country if it can get away with it. This will not

stop at sex work but will include erotic dance, pornography and other forms of

erotic, adult entertainment.

 

If your read the governments statements, they cherry pick the evidence, they make no

reference to the many academics including Dr Belinda-Gordon Brooks and many other?s

from our leading universities including Leeds University and Nottingham Universities

who throw doubt on the number of women who are trafficked for prostitution. Our

Government claims will state a high number of victims of trafficking, yet much

academic research, coincides with the failure of police raids in pentameter 1 and 2

to find the substantial number of trafficked victims the government has claimed. The

Government over estimate the problem for political propaganda to soften the public

for further criminalisation of our industry.

 

If the Government is so keen on saving trafficked women, then why has it removed

funding from the one specialist task force aimed specifically at tackling

trafficking and instead are providing funds to regional police departments in areas

where there has been little or no evidence of trafficking unless it intends to take

action against our industry.

 

The Government relies on the Poppy project Big Brothel survey for its findings. This

is an organisation funded by the government to the tune of 5.5 million pounds to

assist victims of trafficking yet has an official stance of being anti sex work. It

has produced various pieces of propaganda which have been torn to shreds and heavily

criticised by academics and yet the government uses its statistics and quotes them

regardless of them being factual or not. One piece of so-called evidence is that sex

workers will kiss for an additional ?10 pounds, and that this low price for this

service is indicative of sex trafficking. Generally in this day and age a GFE

experience is all about kissing and included in the standard price.

 

The report does not consider the success of the New Zealand where the laws around

sex work were decriminalised five years ago. Instead the government has

concentrated on criminalising clients and in finding ways and means to limit sex

work with the ideal of stopping the industry. The government instead of protecting

sex workers has decided despite all the evidence to look at further criminalisation

taking Sweden as it example.

 

The stakeholders listed by the government in its report from its review of demand

study on prostitution does not include any pro prostitution agencies. In fact the

International Union of Sex Workers, and the English Collective of Prostitutes were

only asked to give evidence two weeks before the finalisation of the document. No

mention of these sex worker representatives, or any other sex worker representation

has been made in their findings.

 

Sex Workers were not represented in this report at all.

 

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/tackling-demand?view=Binary

 

 

 

 

What can you do to save this industry and improve the working conditions of the

people who work in the industry?

 

 

JOIN THE IUSW NOW, and donate to the campaign fund.

 

The IUSW membership is membership of the GMB union. The GMB is so important because

being part of the third largest trades union in the UK gives us access to media and

government and provides possibly the best defence to claims that we are not sex

slaves. Organisations look to us for information and increasingly our opinions do

count. An IUSW union representatives recently had an hour and a half interview with

the Government minister Alan Campbell who is responsible for pushing the legislation

through the house of commons. The reason for this interview was partly because the

minister would find it hard to deny GMB representatives an interview and not to take

their views seriously.

The GMB will shortly be issuing a statement to all its sponsored MPs supporting the

IUSW. This is a significant development.

 

Also can you imagine raided agencies and brothels turning around to the police and

saying sorry but we are GMB members and we demand union representation now? It would

be really bad publicity. Membership offers us our best defence against negative

publicity.

 

As an industry we suffer because we do not have a representative voice lobbying for

our interests. The IUSW offers this. It is a union for sex workers and run by sex

workers.

 

Be proud and show the government that you are not criminals and the best way to do

this is through the IUSW.

 

Details of a new IUSW donations account will be published very shortly and we need

your support.

 

Either join the union for ?71.76 (if you work less than 20 hours a week in sex work)

and if you can donate any amount affordable to the IUSW campaign fund. We need to

raise ?1000 pounds in weeks so as soon as the new account is open please donate. You

can/will be able to do this by direct debit if you are able.

[alfder]

die italienische variante des umgangs mit moral und sitten http://news.de.msn.com/Galerien/kurznotiert.aspx?cp-documentid=9444743&imageindex=2#9444743

[Ariane]

LEGISLATION NEWS

****************

 

As you should be aware the law on prostitution is going to change for the worse.

Many of you are independents, but please remember that if you share a flat, use

someone to book appointments for you, or do 2 girl appointments, then you are

breaking the law by running a brothel, and these new laws are likely to make it even

worse for you. The provisions on closure of brothels will seal the brothel for 3

months. What landlord would want to rent accommodation to a sex worker if they

thought that could happen.

 

There have been success stories. Thanks to the campaigning work of the ECP and IUSW,

the BBC ran a program questioning the statistics on Radio 4 on Wednesday. This made

Fiona McTaggart look rather silly.

 

A short bit from the Radio 4 today program

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7819000/7819457.stm

 

The whole program

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7819984.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/moreorless/

 

Yesterday the UK Network of Sex Work projects also issued their response to the

government. The document is well worth a read.

 

http://www.uknswp.org/resources/demandResponse.pdf

 

AN APPEAL

*********

 

Please Please, if you are an escort, support this work by joining the IUSW or ECP.

It can be done anononymously. They do need large numbers of members to combat any

accusation that they don't represent sex workers.

 

http://iusw.org

http://www.prostitutescollective.net/

 

VERY VERY URGENT

****************

 

The second reading of the new bill is now on MONDAY THE 19TH.

 

We must get as many MPs as is possible to speak out against the governments proposals.

 

This is a draft letter from the IUSW.

 

Please will everyone concerned with this industry send this to your MP. If you need

help finding check out then use the site. In fact you the site to email your MP.

http://theyworkforyou.com

 

Clients and agencies can of course change the begriming to something appropriate

such as concerned member of the public.

 

This is urgent please do this ASAP.

 

************************

I am writing to you as a resident of your constituency who is (a concerned member of

the public) involved in the sex industry. The Policing and Crime Bill, that has its

second reading on 12 January, contains proposals which will make people in the sex

industry less safe and increase our social exclusion. The proposals make it more

likely that street sex workers will be forced to work in greater isolation and as a

consequence be hurt and killed, and less likely that victims of trafficking will

come to the attention of the police. The proposals directly play into the hands of

exploitative and violent criminals and traffickers by decreasing the ways to work

safely and making sex workers less likely to call the police if they are the victims

of crime and abuse.

 

The Home Office has failed to consult with sex workers' organisations during the

preparation of legislation (neither the International Union of Sex Workers or the

English Collective of Prostitutes are considered to be stakeholders on this issue

according to the Home Office report on Tackling the Demand for Prostitution of

November 2008; neither is the UK Network of Sex Work Projects which provides

frontline health and support services to people in the sex industry through 63

projects across the UK).

 

In addition, the proposals completely ignore an enormous range of academic research

which shows that increased criminalisation has a negative effect: we need evidence

based policy to create effective change and protect the vulnerable. The magnitude of

the Home Office's misinterpretation of evidence is shown in the Regulatory Impact

Assessments associated with the Bill, which state that Pentameter 2 (a nationwide

police operation) identified 800 brothels containing trafficked women. In fact, the

police's own figures for Pentameter 2 show raids on 822 premises located 250 victims

of trafficking: the Home Office has confused the number of premises raided with the

number of actual victims found.

 

I ask you to condemn these proposals during the second reading debate, and call for

policy on the sex industry to treat our safety and human rights as the highest

priority. This can only be achieved by meaningful consultation with those most

affected: we are the experts in our own lives.

 

sincerely

Der MUND - Das Zentralorgan der der Muschi-Partei

Edited January 14, 2009 by Ariane

[Ariane]

Das Gesetz wurde zwischenzeitlich nachgebessert, aber unzureichend, morgen wird die dritte Lesung dazu stattfinden. Die Queen höchstselbst hat sich für das Gesetz wohlwollend ausgesprochen. Ich sehe eher schwarz, was die Zukunft betrifft und das heisst die Kriminalisierung von Kunden und eine weitführende Kriminalisierung von Sexworkern, Agenturinhabern etc. pp. Es finden jetzt schon massenhaft Razzien statt, in einschlägigen Tagesadressen in Soho und sonstwo. Das Ziel des Gesetzes war ja ursprünglich das Zurückdrängen von Menschenhandel und Zwangsprostitution, die in Grossbritannien ungeheure Ausmasse angenommen haben, letztendlich wird dieses abolutionistische Verbotsregime jedoch dazu führen, daß sich die Szene weiter in den Untergrund verzieht und damit die Sexworker, ich kann es nicht oft genug sagen, unter noch prekäreren Verhältnissen arbeiten werden und damit eine deutlich höhere Verwundbarkeit einschliesst. Jene, die sich gelegentlich in England verlustieren, sollten sich in jedem Fall mit der Diskussion vertraut machen.

 

 

This was written and distributed by Catherine Stephens from the IUSW.

 

We are halfway through the Policing and Crime Bill's journey through Parliament, the

Home Secretary has introduced the first legislation on prostitution that targets

violence and coercion rather than consensual sex work.

 

Tomorrow, the Scrutiny Committee report on the Policing and Crime Bill is presented

to the House of Commons, and the Bill receives its third reading. Only one day of

parliamentary time has been allotted for this ? an astonishingly small amount of

time for a large bill: there are 77 clauses, which cover police accountability and

effectiveness, alcohol regulation, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and airport

security as well as sections 13-20 on prostitution.

 

We?ve already changed the Bill vastly for the better. The Home Secretary has lodged

an amendment that limits criminalisation of clients to those who pay for sex with

someone subjected to force etc.? not those of us who are 'controlled for gain?

(i.e., use a third party to find clients). This government say this should still be

a strict liability offence (strict liability is used for things like parking

tickets, and ignorance is no defence against charges of sex with someone underage).

 

However, in the past few days, new clauses and amendments have been introduced by

other MPs that could improve things even further.

 

Debate doesn?t start till 2pm on Tuesday. Call your MP Tuesday morning on 020 7219 3000

and ask them to support new clauses and amendments that prioritise the safety of

people in the sex industry, and decrease our criminalisation. Ask your MP to support

? new clause 4 which decriminalises anyone under 18 who is selling sex, this clause

still makes it illegal to buy sex from an under 18, as it should be, but allows

under 18s an unblemished record and ways out of prostitution. A police record is a

sure way to keep them working as prostitutes.

? new clause 37 which defines a brothel as more than two people selling sex plus a maid

? new clause 38 which decriminalises ?associated workers? (e.g., maids) in brothels

? amendment 6 to clause 15 which defines persistently for street sex workers as

?twice a week? rather than the current ?twice in three months?

? amendment 7, which removes clause 16 (compulsory rehabilitation for street sex

workers as a substitute for fines or jail time)

? new clauses 25 and 26, which, like the government amendments, require that the

person selling sex has been coerced and that the client knows this.

 

 

The more we put pressure on our MPs, the more likely they are to speak against

dangerous legislation and vote to make us safer. It also means that we?ll have an

easier time of changing things for the better when the Bill goes to the House of

Lords (probably in June). There?s still a long tough fight ahead of us, and the

government majority will carry the day tomorrow, but intervention now will make a

difference.

 

Although the IUSW is very limited by resources ? we have no office space and all

work is done by volunteers, usually paying expenses out of their own pockets ? we

are beginning to persuade those who have power over us that people in the sex

industry matter and that we can and should be consulted about the decisions which

will affect us.

 

The IUSW has been closely involved in developments so far. We?ve met with a dozen

MPs and Lords, and begun to be accepted as part of the group of organisations to be

consulted on sex work and issues around it (e.g., we were invited to attend the Home

Affairs Select Committee launch of their report on Human Trafficking). Furthermore,

we?re building links with a range of institutions that influence the conditions in

which we work and the consequences of our criminalisation ? for example, senior

civil servants, local government policy makers, the Bar Council, the Crown

Prosecution Service, police officers of various forces, non governmental

organisations that work on this issue or may develop policies on sex work, etc..

 

 

 

Diskussion auf Punterlink dazu hier:

 

http://www.punternet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17915

[Ariane]

neues Prostitutionsgesetz in UK tritt am 1. April 2010 in Kraft

 

Hab dazu etwas bei sexworker.at gepostet.

Was das Thema Werbe-Verbot betrifft (Local Papers, Online Portale), ähnliche Tendenzen sind auch aus den USA zu vermelden, insbes. Kalifornien, wo einige britische Portale gehostet sind.

Außerdem versucht Frankreich auf EU-Ebene eine ähnliche Initiative zu starten, um die virtuelle Dateanbahnung einzuschränken. Auch Escort ist ja dort inzwischen explizit mit Strafe belegt, wie es auch ein generelles Prostitutions- und Bordellverbot in Frankreich längst gibt, das die meisten Frauen erst zum Strassenstrich, viele später erst zum sog. Escort brachte.

 

mfg ariane

Edited March 19, 2010 by Ariane