Prostitution is illegal across the United States, excluding a select few areas in Nevada. The criminality around sex work leaves independent workers desperate to “fly under the radar” to avoid violence and police interaction whenever possible. This takes an incredible toll on workers' mental health, physical bodies, their finances and material realities. When you add factors such as being homeless or being in active addiction, things become excruciating. The criminalization of this work leaves many workers in a constant state of survival and imminent danger, but, here in New York State, we have a chance at full decriminalization.
In New York there is a Senate Bill called s4396, introduced by Senator Salazar and other supporters, offering the full decriminalization of sex work. This bill, also called the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act, acknowledges that a disproportionate number of sex workers identify as LGBTQIA2+ and that many workers’ identities and the issues they face sit at the intersection of many marginalizations and social justice movements.
Decriminalization means removing the criminal penalties around the buying and selling of sex and sexual services. It does not mean reducing penalties for abuse, trafficking or exploitation. That is something I cannot stress enough; decriminalizing sex work does not decriminalize trafficking, abuse or exploitation. Sex workers don’t deserve to be criminalized or face harm, but neither do our clients or third parties such as drivers, managers or landlords assisting us to work safely.
Fully decriminalizing sex work in New York State would positively impact many workers lives in so many ways, and it’s a huge step in the right direction for the United States as a whole. For those outside of New York, passing this legislation could inspire other states to follow suit! I’m also hopeful it could encourage other policy makers to collaborate with workers on current and future legislation. I am desperate to see sex workers acknowledged by those writing the policies affecting our lives.
Decriminalization is a step toward humanizing sex workers in legal systems, social institutions, and to civilians – who often overlook our needs. We deserve rights, protection and representation on all fronts. Sex worker rights issues are human rights issues.
LGBTQ organizations, civil libertarians and sex worker advocates acknowledge partial decriminalization doesn’t go far enough and still leaves workers in vulnerable and precarious positions to make income and accommodate criminalized clients and third parties. Sex workers themselves have been begging for years for this work to be fully decriminalized, and begging to be acknowledged by policy. Now is the time!
Things have already been changing in areas of New York. In New York City, prostitution arrests have been falling over the years. With police unable to easily use anti-loitering and anti-prostitution laws to profile, harass and arrest predominantly women of color and trans people, things are slowly changing. A district attorney from Manhattan, Cyrus Vance, even said in 2021 that he’d stop prosecuting those arrested for prostitution and unlicensed massage, though he still advocated for patrons to be arrested.
How alternative legislation can cause further harm
It’s not uncommon for clients to be lumped in with traffickers and exploiters, but this stigma and misrepresentation hurts sex workers more than it does our clients. Criminalizing clients pushes workers into more unsafe conditions to accommodate them. Workers currently struggling to work safely under Nordic Models (seen in Canada, France, Sweden and Norway) have been very vocal about their struggles and hardships. This needs to be acknowledged within legal systems, legislation and by policy makers, and yet it isn’t!
Unfortunately, there is another bill being considered in New York State that is advocating for partial criminalization and practices associated with the Nordic Model. Senate Bill s1352 introduced by Senator Liz Krueger, also called the Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act, allegedly decriminalizes victims of trafficking while raising criminal penalties for traffickers, pimps and ‘sex buyers’. The language in the bill is very narrow; it specifically decriminalizes “victims of trafficking,” but not once does it mention sex workers or protections for them.
This is what I mean when I say that sex workers are either framed as victims or as criminals. Both labels take away our voices and our autonomy. The bill introduced by Krueger conflates sex work with trafficking and exploitation, which has been a consistent issue. It shows that most of my legislators don’t have a comprehensive understanding of either sex work or human trafficking. But of course they wouldn’t, they’re not actively collaborating with or even acknowledging sex workers as multifaceted human beings who need rights and representation rather than ‘rescue’. They only listen to and collaborate with trafficking victims if they confirm their own biases and furthers their agenda.
I find a lot wrong with Krueger’s legislation (Senate Bill s1354) as there is nothing holistic or nuanced about criminalizing clients, resources and income sex workers survive on. There is nothing holistic or nuanced about leaving workers' voices out of the discussion while using trafficking victims as a stand-ins to push lackluster legislation and call it progressive.
As I stated above, it’s not uncommon for clients to be lumped in with traffickers and exploiters, this stigma and misrepresentation hurts sex workers more than it does our clients. It’s frustrating seeing my legislators still using racist language like ‘pimp/pimping’ within policy, and I find it disturbing that sex workers aren’t mentioned even once in legislation that is affecting our lives and ability to work safely. When I take a look at the mission statements of organizations supporting Senate Bill s1354, they talk extensively about ending trafficking, saving survivors and criminalizing ‘sex buyers,’ but, again, sex workers and the organizations supporting them aren't even mentioned.
My legislators know criminalizing my clients won’t end the sex trade or trafficking, as it’s historically failed to do in other countries! But, when I consider the misinformation around exploitation and trafficking along with the ‘Save Our Children’ propaganda being utilized by antis, conspiracy theorists and conservatives— I unfortunately know what senators are doing. Senate Bill s1354 is just another lackluster legislation presented by policy makers wanting to seem like they’re taking a hard stance on trafficking! They’d rather lean into a moral panic than be seen as ‘compassionless sympathizers’ for working with sex workers. I say it all the time, often my legislators are scared to be seen uniting with sex workers.
So what happens when legislators criminalize my clients? What happens when the burden of accommodating scared, anxious, possibly opportunistic patrons falls back onto the worker? What does work look like when clients are too scared to approach or be seen? What happens when exit services look more like soft policing and mandated reporting rather than a way out? What happens when third parties like landlords, drivers, managers and more know they’re at risk for assisting workers? How do workers stay safe when models promising rescue feels more like entrapment? Let’s talk about The Nordic Model.
“End Demand” or Entrapment?
The Nordic Model, called the End Demand Model by its supporters, can be found in such places as Canada, Sweden, Norway and Ireland. It’s a legal model that sees prostitution on the continuum of male violence and conflates sex work with trafficking and abuse. It’s a model that criminalizes clients, traffickers and third parties while supposedly decriminalizing sex sellers. The Nordic Model insists sex work is abuse and workers need rescue with underfunded, often biased, exit services being the focal point of transitional expectations.
Unfortunately, it’s just a feminist facade. A false promise that if authority can criminalize the demand, our clients and resources, it’ll end trafficking and take the sex industry with it. This could not be further from reality. Criminalizing buyers and not the workers has been sold as the most feminist, progressive option to civilians and legislators. Sex workers know this is not the case. Legislation and legal models conflating sex work with trafficking harm both workers and victims.
Arrests, deportations and evictions all still happen under the Nordic Model, and the trauma these events inflict on workers and victims can not be understated. Law enforcement lump trafficking victims needing support in with sex workers when doing raids and making arrests. Nobody can convince me that arresting, evicting or deporting victims or sex workers is progressive or feminist, let alone a solution to trafficking.
So often sex workers are held in proxy for the abuse and violence civilian women suffer under patriarchy, just as our patrons are stand-ins for those wicked male perpetrators going unchecked by justice systems. Our humanity, voices and needs are lost and buried in the moral panic and propaganda surrounding both sex work and trafficking. Workers are denied agency and representation within these conversations. We’re treated only as victims needing rescue or immoral criminals needing to be subjugated, neither are an accurate representation of our material realities.
Most people sell sex because their needs aren’t being met. Some of the most vulnerable people turn to this line of work. I need to sell services to pay my bills much more than a patron needs to buy them. Criminalizing one side of the transaction has put workers in more precarious situations to make up lost income. All because they have to accommodate anxious, possibly ill intended customers. The burden of adapting is always placed back onto workers! This is especially hard for survival and street based workers who are often the most visible and at risk for police engagement.
What does this look like? It cannot be ignored that just because business is slow, that workers don’t have bills to pay or food to put on the table. It means staying out later to make quota when there are less customers. It means accepting customers we may not want to, because now I need to take what I can get. Workers want to be approachable to clients, but when police stalk workers in hopes for an easy arrest, workers are pushed into more secluded, poorly lit areas to negotiate and make deals. With clients nervous to be caught, workers often feel pressured to negotiate boundaries, rates and services in the vehicle rather than outside of it.
It’s not uncommon for workers to have safety protocols in place while out working, we keep each other safe. Some indoor workers may take personal identification and information as a way to not only know who they’re seeing but to also have some details in case something does happen. Some like to work together or drive each other to bookings. Street based workers may take down license plate numbers or have other workers they check in with after a meeting, some may not get into the car until negotiation has been met. Under the Nordic Model, these safety and screening protocols are deteriorated.
Clients some would consider “nicer” might feel they have too much to lose patroning sex workers and may refuse screening all together knowing they could potentially be outed to their families or jobs. There are also patrons who may be impulsive, violent or under the influence. Workers are powerless against folks looking to rob or attack them since they never intended to purchase services in the first place. Many people fail to realize the difference in workers having preferences in who they’d like to see because supporters of the Nordic Model see all of our patrons the same: dangerous, abusive, criminals.
The temperament of my clients absolutely impacts the booking, if they’re anxious or scared it’s up to me to accommodate that. I need to pay my bills. This means traveling farther, more advertising, offering new services a worker may not be comfortable with like condomless services– because they need too. It means doing more for less to pay rent, avoid withdrawals or make quota. I am begging people to consider what this looks like for workers who are working the street, unhoused or in addiction. All of this and so much more clearly worsens power imbalances between workers and clients.
Obviously the goal is to avoid police engagement. Sex workers who like working in pairs can no longer do so since it brings attention from police. Negotiation time is now cut short since someone leaning into a car window to chat may bring attention from police. Third parties like landlords, drivers and managers are also now also criminalized so anyone aiding sex workers in transportation, housing, holding money or booking management is now at risk, even workers aiding other workers. That’s right, anti prostitution efforts blended with anti immigration policy leave workers merely trying to aid each other at risk for trafficking and pimping charges.
In countries touting the Nordic Model, not only do police still hunt sex workers, but BIPOC are disproportionately affected by such enforcement. Laws against prostitution bolster the authority of police to invade the lives of sex workers and disrupt our lives under the guise of rescue. It’s cruel and disgusting. Municipality laws against soliciting. Targeted evictions with the criminalization of workers sharing flats. The use of deliberately hostile anti immigration and anti prostitution laws to deport and evict workers. It’s especially horrifying knowing these tactics are mainly used on Black women and migrants. I don’t think any of these outcomes and realities of employing the Nordic Model should be considered legitimate or inspiring.
Exit services are a facet that cannot be ignored. The idea is when people selling sex see their incomes affected by a lack of clients they’ll be pushed into programs that will find them more ‘respectable’ alternatives. This supposedly can look like; assisting with economic support, assistance benefits, stable well paying employment. It could also mean regularizing someone’s immigration so they can enter mainstream work spaces. It could mean healthcare, rehab, counseling or medication. It could mean access to child care, housing or education– really anything alleviating factors that are having people enter into sex work in the first place.
People often turn to this line of work for economic factors and if the state wants to replace sex work as people's main source of income, it’s going to need to have deep, deep pockets. Exit services have been criticized for perpetuating stigma, as to access them you need to no longer be working. It puts an emphasis on where someone is coming from, not where they’re trying to get too. Accessing exit services can be especially hard for migrants since inquiring could put them on the radar of authorities and, whether documented or not, they can’t risk being caught working. These services have also been criticized as inaccessible and underfunded, like most social programs here in the United States!
In a country such as the United States where we debate people's basic needs while refusing to meet them, the idea of exit services being offered in a way that's safe, accessible or consistent is a laughable promise.
What does this mean for Sex Workers in New York?
Fuck the Nordic Model. I am tired of seeing article after article promising the ‘decriminalization of prostitution’ just to find out clients and third parties will still face legal repercussions. I am sick and tired of being left out of policy just for policy makers to pretend they’re being compassionate or progressive! Nothing about sex work without sex workers. I need decriminalization to pass. Sex work and the workers struggling to work safely need to be decriminalized, destigmatized and decarcerated.
I am terrified of a Nordic New york. I already spend most of my days doing everything I can to avoid police engagement while struggling to survive. My disability is exacerbated by the stress and anxiety I feel at work– why isn’t that centered in conversations? Accommodating anxious clients when I myself am fragile is the last thing I need while trying to literally survive. I rely on my screening processes to keep me safe, and if that is compromised then so is my life. I rely on those who care for me for housing, transportation and support. It makes my stomach hurt knowing they could be caught up in anything simply for helping me.
I spend all my time adapting and so little time living and thriving. I already struggle with feeling isolated and vulnerable because of the stigma and criminalization around my job. Legislation like the Nordic Model is a threat to what little stability and consistency I’ve managed to build under criminalization. There’s nothing progressive or feminist about criminalizing the income or support system sex workers rely on. There’s nothing progressive about deportations, evictions or arrests. There’s nothing progressive about lumping sex workers in with trafficked people. There’s no one solution to trafficking– but if folks really wanted to end trafficking, they’d open borders, bolster access to social services and decriminalize sex work!
I see something like the Nordic Model being incredibly dangerous here in the United States. In a country where people's basic needs and identities are polarized to the point of violence and misinformation runs rampant– I’m very anxious to think what ‘exit services’, anti immigration and anti prostitution efforts would look like emboldened by such a policy. Things are already very, very bad here and, with the emerging surveillance state accompanied by an Entrapment Model, things seem impossible. I’m scared to think what a Nordic Model being implemented here in New York could inspire elsewhere.
I am uninterested in sex workers' lives being collateral damage for phony politicians and confused civilians. Some of the most marginalized, vulnerable people turn to this line of work to be accommodated and it is frightening to think how workers could be further swept up in the propaganda directly influencing our communities, family and friends.
New York has a chance to do the right thing and so do you. Fight alongside sex workers. Fight propaganda and misinformation. Educate yourself on issues affecting sex workers. Allow us to humanize ourselves to the systems and movements so often misunderstanding us. Pressure legislators and organizers to be in collaboration with us on the policy affecting our lives. Include sex workers in your organizing spaces. There’s so many things folks can do to end violence against sex workers, like passing Senate Bill s4396.
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