With only one of the leading Democratic candidates, Elizabeth Warren, expressing even “openness” to decriminalizing sex work, rising longshot candidate Andrew Yang this week took the opportunity to say that he would “consider” decriminalization—but only “on the part of the seller,” according to a tweet that Yang posted on Monday.
“It would be helpful in combating human trafficking. Many sex workers are themselves victims,” Yang wrote in the tweet—that provoked an immediate backlash from sex workers and rights advocates.
“You are wrong in every way that it's possible to be wrong,” wrote one, Seattle-based Mistress Matisse, on Twitter. “Sex workers want rights, not rescue.”
“You should consult with sex workers because the language here is all wrong,” wrote porn performer and activist Sydney Leathers. “We want FULL decrim, not just for the seller, but the buyer too. There’s no situation where criminalizing clients is good for sex workers (& we’re not all victims!)”
“Sex workers do NOT want the Nordic/Swedish model,” wrote Mistress Scarlet on her Twitter feed. “We do NOT want our clients arrested. Listen to US!!! We want full decriminalization of all adult consensual sex work!!"
According a report by Reason Magazine that blasted Yang’s proposal, criminalizing the customers of sex workers does nothing but drive sex work into a dangerous “black market.”
In Canada, as AVN.com reported, sex workers say that a 2014 law that decriminalized sex work for “sellers” only made their work more dangerous by taking away their ability to screen clients, who often give false identities for fear of arrest.
The Canadian law is scheduled for “review” by the end of this year, but sex workers there say that the government has done nothing to evaluate the law’s effects.
In June, when VICE.com surveyed Democratic candidates to assess their views on decriminalizing sex work, Yang simply failed to respond.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Hawaii congressional rep Tulsi Gabbard are the only two remaining Democratic candidates who have stated their unequivocal support for decriminalization.
Yang in a September tweet declared that “rampant access” to online porn is “a problem.” But how he proposes to address this “problem” remains unknown.
Photo By Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
