I want to talk about sex for money. I'm not like most of the people you'll have heard speaking about prostitution before. I'm not a police officer or a social worker. I'm not an academic, a journalist or a politician. And as you'll probably have picked up from Maryam's blurb, I'm not a nun, either.
我要講的是性交易。 不同於以往 說過「性交易」主題的演講者, 我並不是警員或社工, 也不是學術家,記者或政治家。 而且,也許你已聽說了, 我也不是修女。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Most of those people would tell you that selling sex is degrading; that no one would ever choose to do it; that it's dangerous; women get abused and killed. In fact, most of those people would say, "There should be a law against it!" Maybe that sounds reasonable to you. It sounded reasonable to me until the closing months of 2009, when I was working two dead-end, minimum-wage jobs. Every month my wages would just replenish my overdraft. I was exhausted and my life was going nowhere. Like many others before me, I decided sex for money was a better option. Now don't get me wrong -- I would have loved to have won the lottery instead. But it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and my rent needed paying. So I signed up for my first shift in a brothel.
那些人,大多數會說 性交易是低級的; 是沒人會選擇的; 是很危險,會讓女性 受虐待和殺害的。 而且他們會提出, 「這該有法律禁止的!」 相信在你聽來有道理。 我也覺得有道理, 直到 2009 年底。 當時我有兩個毫無前景的 最低時薪工作。 每個月的薪資都不夠 填補我的透支。 我感到精疲力竭, 我的生活陷入僵局。 就如其他同行一樣, 我覺得性交易是個較好的出路。 但別誤會, 我當然更希望能贏樂透。 但贏的機率很低, 我還有房租得支付。 所以我開始在妓院工作。
In the years that have passed, I've had a lot of time to think. I've reconsidered the ideas I once had about prostitution. I've given a lot of thought to consent and the nature of work under capitalism. I've thought about gender inequality and the sexual and reproductive labor of women. I've experienced exploitation and violence at work. I've thought about what's needed to protect other sex workers from these things. Maybe you've thought about them, too. In this talk, I'll take you through the four main legal approaches applied to sex work throughout the world, and explain why they don't work; why prohibiting the sex industry actually exacerbates every harm that sex workers are vulnerable to. Then I'm going tell you about what we, as sex workers, actually want.
在之後的幾年裡, 我有了很多時間去思考。 我重新審視我之前 對「性交易」的見解。 我思考關於「意願」, 以及資本主義下的工作本質。 我思考有關性別上的不平等 和女性在性行為和生殖上的勞動。 工作上我曾遭遇暴力和剝削。 我也想過該如何能 捍衛性工作者不受類似傷害。 也許你也想過。 在這演說裡, 我會介紹全球四大法制 應用於性工作上, 並解說為什麼沒用; 為何禁止色情行業只是更加害 性工作者成為弱者。 然後我會介紹性工作者 真正想要什麼。
The first approach is full criminalization. Half the world, including Russia, South Africa and most of the US, regulates sex work by criminalizing everyone involved. So that's seller, buyer and third parties. Lawmakers in these countries apparently hope that the fear of getting arrested will deter people from selling sex. But if you're forced to choose between obeying the law and feeding yourself or your family, you're going to do the work anyway, and take the risk.
第一種法治是全面非法化。 有一半的國家, 包括俄羅斯、南非, 以及大部分在美國的州, 管制性工作以罪犯化 處置所有相關人士。 這包括了賣者、嫖者, 以及所有相關仲介。 這些立法者是期望 能嚇止這些人進行性交易。 但在只能選擇「遵法」 或「自我及家人溫飽」, 你會選擇繼續賣淫, 冒被捕的風險。
Criminalization is a trap. It's hard to get a conventional job when you have a criminal record. Potential employers won't hire you. Assuming you still need money, you'll stay in the more flexible, informal economy. The law forces you to keep selling sex, which is the exact opposite of its intended effect. Being criminalized leaves you exposed to mistreatment by the state itself. In many places you may be coerced into paying a bribe or even into having sex with a police officer to avoid arrest. Police and prison guards in Cambodia, for example, have been documented subjecting sex workers to what can only be described as torture: threats at gunpoint, beatings, electric shocks, rape and denial of food.
罪犯化制度是有弊端的。 在有了犯罪記錄後, 很難再找到正當工作。 一般雇主都不會聘用你。 假設你仍需要錢, 你會留在較有彈性的 非正式經濟裡。 法律迫使你繼續賣性維生, 這違背了原來訂法的用意。 被定罪後會使你受到 州政府的不平等待遇。 在許多時候,你得行賄 甚至得跟員警性交 來避免拘捕。 例如,在柬埔寨的 警察和獄警人員 就有被記錄強迫性工作者 接受酷刑: 如槍口下威脅、 毆打、電擊、強姦 和不供給食物。
Another worrying thing: if you're selling sex in places like Kenya, South Africa or New York, a police officer can arrest you if you're caught carrying condoms, because condoms can legally be used as evidence that you're selling sex. Obviously, this increases HIV risk. Imagine knowing if you're busted carrying condoms, it'll be used against you. It's a pretty strong incentive to leave them at home, right? Sex workers working in these places are forced to make a tough choice between risking arrest or having risky sex. What would you choose? Would you pack condoms to go to work? How about if you're worried the police officer would rape you when he got you in the van?
另一個憂人的法規是: 如果你在如肯亞、 南非或紐約的地方賣淫, 一名警員可以因你 攜帶保險套而拘捕你, 因為保險套在法律上 可以作為你賣淫的證據。 顯然,這會增加染愛滋病的機率。 想像一下,如果你知道 攜帶保險套會被拘捕, 會用來定你的罪, 想必會將它留在家裡,不是嗎? 這些地方的性工作者 面臨兩難的抉擇, 冒被捕的風險或染性病的風險。 你會怎麼選擇呢? 你會攜帶保險套上班嗎? 那如果你也擔心 警察一帶你上車就強姦你呢?
The second approach to regulating sex work seen in these countries is partial criminalization, where the buying and selling of sex are legal, but surrounding activities, like brothel-keeping or soliciting on the street, are banned. Laws like these -- we have them in the UK and in France -- essentially say to us sex workers, "Hey, we don't mind you selling sex, just make sure it's done behind closed doors and all alone." And brothel-keeping, by the way, is defined as just two or more sex workers working together. Making that illegal means that many of us work alone, which obviously makes us vulnerable to violent offenders. But we're also vulnerable if we choose to break the law by working together. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was nervous after she was attacked at work, so I said that she could see her clients from my place for a while. During that time, we had another guy turn nasty. I told the guy to leave or I'd call the police. And he looked at the two of us and said, "You girls can't call the cops. You're working together, this place is illegal." He was right. He eventually left without getting physically violent, but the knowledge that we were breaking the law empowered that man to threaten us. He felt confident he'd get away with it.
第二種法規,所見於這幾個國家 是局部判罪, 就是說買性和賣淫是合法的, 但是週邊活動, 像是妓院或街上招客都是禁止的。 這樣的法律 在英國和法國都有。 基本上是對性工作者說, 「嘿,我們不介意你賣淫, 只要是在暗地裡, 單獨發生。」 順便說明「妓院」的定義 是指一個以上的賣淫者共事就算。 因為如此,我們大多都單獨工作, 因此讓我們容易遭受暴力。 但就算我們選擇非法共事, 我們還是處於弱勢。 幾年前, 我一個朋友在遭受暴力後, 一直很緊張, 我就邀她先暫時在我那兒接客。 在那段時間裡, 就遇到另一個惡劣的嫖客。 我叫那嫖客快離開,不然就叫警察。 他看著我們倆說: 「妳們不能叫警察。 妳們一起共事,這是違法的。」 他說的沒錯。 在最後他終於沒施暴,離開了, 但因為這樣的法律, 讓那男人有機會威脅我們。 他有信心他能得逞。
The prohibition of street prostitution also causes more harm than it prevents. Firstly, to avoid getting arrested, street workers take risks to avoid detection, and that means working alone or in isolated locations like dark forests where they're vulnerable to attack. If you're caught selling sex outdoors, you pay a fine. How do you pay that fine without going back to the streets? It was the need for money that saw you in the streets in the first place. And so the fines stack up, and you're caught in a vicious cycle of selling sex to pay the fines you got for selling sex.
禁止街頭應召 所造成的傷害比其預防的還多。 首先,為躲警察, 街頭妓女得冒些風險以避免被發現。 例如單獨工作 或在偏僻的地方,像黑暗的森林, 讓她們容易被攻擊的地方。 如果你在街上應召被抓, 你得繳罰款。 但哪兒來的錢付款, 除了再回街上賺? 原本就因為缺錢 才會在街上招客。 因此罰款越欠越多, 你陷入了惡性循環, 你得賣淫來繳賣淫的罰款。
Let me tell you about Mariana Popa who worked in Redbridge, East London. The street workers on her patch would normally wait for clients in groups for safety in numbers and to warn each other about how to avoid dangerous guys. But during a police crackdown on sex workers and their clients, she was forced to work alone to avoid being arrested. She was stabbed to death in the early hours of October 29, 2013. She had been working later than usual to try to pay off a fine she had received for soliciting.
我要講「馬里 ‧ 波帕」, 在倫敦東部工作的事。 她街上的妓女一般都是群體招客, 這樣較安全, 也能警告彼此, 避免一些危險的嫖客。 但在一次性交易掃蕩期間, 她被迫得單獨工作以避免被拘捕。 在 2013 年 10 月 29 日凌晨, 她被刺殺身亡。 那天她工作得比平時要晚, 為了多賺點錢繳納賣淫的罰單。
So if criminalizing sex workers hurts them, why not just criminalize the people who buy sex? This is the aim of the third approach I want to talk about -- the Swedish or Nordic model of sex-work law. The idea behind this law is that selling sex is intrinsically harmful and so you're, in fact, helping sex workers by removing the option. Despite growing support for what's often described as the "end demand" approach, there's no evidence that it works. There's just as much prostitution in Sweden as there was before. Why might that be? It's because people selling sex often don't have other options for income. If you need that money, the only effect that a drop in business is going have is to force you to lower your prices or offer more risky sexual services. If you need to find more clients, you might seek the help of a manager. So you see, rather than putting a stop to what's often descried as pimping, a law like this actually gives oxygen to potentially abusive third parties.
既然罪犯化處治 性工作者會傷害他們, 那何不就只罪犯化嫖客? 這就是接下來要講的 第三種法制, 瑞典和北歐的性工作法律模式。 這法律的理念是 賣淫在本質上是有害的, 所以借由除去市場需求, 挽救性工作者。 儘管「需求終結」法 逐漸獲得支持, 卻沒被證實有效。 賣淫在瑞典並沒比以前少。 怎麼會這樣呢? 這是因為賣淫者 通常沒有其它收入方式。 如果你需要錢, 而生意卻低落時, 你只能降價求售, 或提供高危險的性服務。 如果需要更多客戶, 你會求經理人幫助。 所以你看, 這並未制止所謂的拉皮條, 這樣的法律, 反而助長仲介濫用的機會。
To keep safe in my work, I try not to take bookings from someone who calls me from a withheld number. If it's a home or a hotel visit, I try to get a full name and details. If I worked under the Swedish model, a client would be too scared to give me that information. I might have no other choice but to accept a booking from a man who is untraceable if he later turns out to be violent. If you need their money, you need to protect your clients from the police. If you work outdoors, that means working alone or in isolated locations, just as if you were criminalized yourself. It might mean getting into cars quicker, less negotiating time means snap decisions. Is this guy dangerous or just nervous? Can you afford to take the risk? Can you afford not to?
為了安全, 我盡量不接 電話未顯示號碼的嫖客。 如果是去住家或酒店, 我會先問清楚嫖客的身份明細。 若在瑞典法律模式下, 客戶會因怕事而不把資料給我。 我可能別無選擇 而得接受來路不明的嫖客預約。 如果後來他施暴, 而你又需要他的錢, 你就不會報警。 如果你在街上應召, 就得單獨或在偏暗地點, 就像在跑路一樣。 另你無時間思索就上嫖客的車, 極少談商時間造成的倉促決定。 這嫖客看似危險,還是想太多? 值得冒這個險嗎? 你又能不冒這個險嗎?
Something I'm often hearing is, "Prostitution would be fine if we made it legal and regulated it." We call that approach legalization, and it's used by countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Nevada in the US. But it's not a great model for human rights. And in state-controlled prostitution, commercial sex can only happen in certain legally-designated areas or venues, and sex workers are made to comply with special restrictions, like registration and forced health checks. Regulation sounds great on paper, but politicians deliberately make regulation around the sex industry expensive and difficult to comply with. It creates a two-tiered system: legal and illegal work. We sometimes call it "backdoor criminalization." Rich, well-connected brothel owners can comply with the regulations, but more marginalized people find those hoops impossible to jump through. And even if it's possible in principle, getting a license or proper venue takes time and costs money. It's not going to be an option for someone who's desperate and needs money tonight. They might be a refugee or fleeing domestic abuse. In this two-tiered system, the most vulnerable people are forced to work illegally, so they're still exposed to all the dangers of criminalization I mentioned earlier.
我常聽人說: 「賣淫若合法化 並加以管制就會沒事的。」 這是「合法化」的制度, 在荷蘭、德國和美國的 內華達州 等國家都採用。 但它並不是很好的人權模範。 州政控管的賣淫制度, 性交易只能在 特定場所發生, 而且性工作者得遵守特殊規定, 像是註冊工作證和強制健康檢查。 這些法規在書面上看來很棒, 但政客們故意把性行業的法規 弄得很昂貴及難以遵守。 所以造成了雙軌體系: 合法的和非法的工作。 有時我們稱之為「後門程序定罪。」 有錢及關係良好的 妓院老闆都能遵守法規, 但更多邊緣化的人 沒辦法遵守。 即使在理論上是可能的, 獲得許可或適當的地點 是需要時間和成本的。 對那些走投無路、很缺錢的人 是不可能的。 他們也許是難民或逃離家暴的人。 在這雙重體系下, 走投無路的人只能非法工作, 所以他們仍然暴露在我之前提過的 重重危險。
So. It's looking like all attempts to control or prevent sex work from happening makes things more dangerous for people selling sex. Fear of law enforcement makes them work alone in isolated locations, and allows clients and even cops to get abusive in the knowledge they'll get away with it. Fines and criminal records force people to keep selling sex, rather than enabling them to stop. Crackdowns on buyers drive sellers to take dangerous risks and into the arms of potentially abusive managers.
所以, 似乎所有企圖控制 或阻止性交易的辦法, 只使賣淫者的處境更加危險。 對執法的恐懼,使他們 在偏僻的地方單獨工作, 嫖客甚至警察藉機虐待, 因為知道她們無從抵抗。 罰單和刑事記錄迫使 賣淫者繼續賣淫, 而不是停止。 對嫖者的鎮壓, 迫使賣淫者冒更多的風險, 和依賴會虐待的經理人。
These laws also reinforce stigma and hatred against sex workers. When France temporarily brought in the Swedish model two years ago, ordinary citizens took it as a cue to start carrying out vigilante attacks against people working on the street. In Sweden, opinion surveys show that significantly more people want sex workers to be arrested now than before the law was brought in. If prohibition is this harmful, you might ask, why it so popular?
這些法律同時構成社會 對性工作者的歧視及仇恨。 兩年前,法國試用瑞典模式期間, 一般市民就將它視為警訊, 民團開始襲擊 街上的妓女。 瑞典的民意調查顯示, 自從這法規開始實行, 有更多的人希望性工作者被拘捕。 如果禁令造成了這麼多壞處, 你會問,為何還風行呢?
Firstly, sex work is and always has been a survival strategy for all kinds of unpopular minority groups: people of color, migrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ people, particularly trans women. These are the groups most heavily profiled and punished through prohibitionist law. I don't think this is an accident. These laws have political support precisely because they target people that voters don't want to see or know about.
第一,性交易一直是 特殊群體的一種謀生方式: 有色人種、 移民、 殘疾人士、 同性戀及跨性別者, 尤其是跨性別女性。 這些特殊群體 最常被查獲及處份。 這不是巧合。 這些法律都有政治支持, 正因為它針對 選民不想看到或知道的特殊群體。
Why else might people support prohibition? Well, lots of people have understandable fears about trafficking. Folks think that foreign women kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery can be saved by shutting a whole industry down. So let's talk about trafficking. Forced labor does occur in many industries, especially those where the workers are migrants or otherwise vulnerable, and this needs to be addressed. But it's best addressed with legislation targeting those specific abuses, not an entire industry. When 23 undocumented Chinese migrants drowned while picking cockles in Morecambe Bay in 2004, there were no calls to outlaw the entire seafood industry to save trafficking victims. The solution is clearly to give workers more legal protections, allowing them to resist abuse and report it to authorities without fear of arrest.
還有甚麼原因令市民支持禁令呢? 很多人都對人口販賣感到恐慌。 大多人認為,那些被綁架 和賣為性奴隸的外籍婦女 可藉由關閉整個性行業所拯救。 那就讓我們談談人口販賣。 許多行業裡,確實都有強迫勞動, 特別是那些涉及 移民或弱勢團體的勞工, 這確實需被關注。 但最有效的辦法是 針對具體的項目立法, 而不是取締整個行業。 在 2004 年, 當 23 名中國偷渡客 在莫克姆灣採集海蚶時遇難, 也並沒因此取締整個海鮮行業 來拯救人口販賣受害者。 解決的辦法顯然是 給勞工更多的法律保護, 讓他們不用擔心被拘捕, 能安心報案,抵制這些惡行。
The way the term trafficking is thrown around implies that all undocumented migration into prostitution is forced. In fact, many migrants have made a decision, out of economic need, to place themselves into the hands of people smugglers. Many do this with the full knowledge that they'll be selling sex when they reach their destination. And yes, it can often be the case that these people smugglers demand exorbitant fees, coerce migrants into work they don't want to do and abuse them when they're vulnerable. That's true of prostitution, but it's also true of agricultural work, hospitality work and domestic work. Ultimately, nobody wants to be forced to do any kind of work, but that's a risk many migrants are willing to take, because of what they're leaving behind. If people were allowed to migrate legally they wouldn't have to place their lives into the hands of people smugglers. The problems arise from the criminalization of migration, just as they do from the criminalization of sex work itself.
「人口販賣」的字眼 常暗示所有賣淫的偷渡客 都是被脅迫的。 但事實上,這是 大多偷渡客所做的決定, 出於經濟需求, 將自己交入人口販子手上。 大多數都清楚 抵達目的地後,她們需要賣淫。 沒錯,通常 這些人口販子會要求高額的偷渡費, 脅迫偷渡客從事他們不想做的勞動, 和濫用他們的脆弱。 但這並不限於賣淫, 也涉及農業勞動, 招待業和幫傭等工作。 縱然,沒人願意 被迫做任何一種勞動, 但這是許多偷渡客 為了遠離家鄉所願承受的。 如果這些人能合法移民, 他們就不必將自己 交入人口販子手中。 這些問題都衍生於 法律禁止偷渡, 就像法律禁止 性工作一樣。
This is a lesson of history. If you try to prohibit something that people want or need to do, whether that's drinking alcohol or crossing borders or getting an abortion or selling sex, you create more problems than you solve. Prohibition barely makes a difference to the amount of people actually doing those things. But it makes a huge difference as to whether or not they're safe when they do them.
歷史告訴我們, 如果你禁止人們所想要或需要的, 不論是飲酒或遷移到其它國家, 或是墮胎, 或是賣淫, 那只會製造出更多問題。 禁止並未改善 從事這些事情的人口數量。 但它對於 從事者的安危卻有巨大影響。
Why else might people support prohibition? As a feminist, I know that the sex industry is a site of deeply entrenched social inequality. It's a fact that most buyers of sex are men with money, and most sellers are women without. You can agree with all that -- I do -- and still think prohibition is a terrible policy. In a better, more equal world, maybe there would be far fewer people selling sex to survive, but you can't simply legislate a better world into existence. If someone needs to sell sex because they're poor or because they're homeless or because they're undocumented and they can't find legal work, taking away that option doesn't make them any less poor or house them or change their immigration status.
還有甚麼原因 會使人民支持禁令呢? 作為一個女權主義者, 我知道性市場裡的 社會地位很懸殊。 大部分的嫖客都是有錢男士, 而大部分賣淫者是窮困的女性。 你可以接受這一切,像我一樣, 但也同時認為禁令是個很糟的政策。 在更平等的世界裡, 也許能有更少人得賣性為生, 但更好的社會不會因為 不斷立法就出現。 一個人若因貧困得賣性, 或因無家可歸, 或因無身份找不到正當工作, 把這項選擇去掉並不能 改善他們的窮困, 或提供他們住所, 或改變他們的居留身份。
People worry that selling sex is degrading. Ask yourself: is it more degrading than going hungry or seeing your children go hungry? There's no call to ban rich people from hiring nannies or getting manicures, even though most of the people doing that labor are poor, migrant women. It's the fact of poor migrant women selling sex specifically that has some feminists uncomfortable. And I can understand why the sex industry provokes strong feelings. People have all kinds of complicated feelings when it comes to sex. But we can't make policy on the basis of mere feelings, especially not over the heads of the people actually effected by those policies. If we get fixated on the abolition of sex work, we end up worrying more about a particular manifestation of gender inequality, rather than about the underlying causes.
大家都覺得賣淫很低級。 但試問:有比你挨餓 或看著你孩子挨餓還難堪嗎? 我們沒聽過要禁止富人僱用保姆, 或去修剪指甲,儘管大部分 從事這些工作的 都是窮困的偷渡婦女。 是這些婦女賣淫這個事實 令一些女權主義者感到不舒服。 我能理解 為什麼性商業會引發強烈情感。 人們對於性行為 有各種複雜情感。 但我們不能靠情感 做為制定政策的基礎, 尤其這些政策對 那些窮困無助的人有直接的影響。 如果我們將重點放在 禁止性工作上, 我們會誤把矛頭指向這種特定的 性別不平等形式上, 而忽略了問題的根本原因。
People get really hung up on the question, "Well, would you want your daughter doing it?" That's the wrong question. Instead, imagine she is doing it. How safe is she at work tonight? Why isn't she safer?
人們很喜歡問, 「你會希望你女兒 從事這行業嗎? 」 這是錯誤的問題。 應該這樣想,如果她 已經從事這行了。 她今晚的工作安全嗎? 怎樣可以較安全?
So we've looked at full criminalization, partial criminalization, the Swedish or Nordic Model and legalization, and how they all cause harm. Something I never hear asked is: "What do sex workers want?" After all, we're the ones most affected by these laws.
所以,我們已經審視了全面定罪、 部分定罪、瑞典、北歐模式, 以及合法化制度, 以及這些如何造成傷害。 但我從沒聽人問過: 「賣淫者想要什麼?」 畢竟,我們是最直接受影響的人。
New Zealand decriminalized sex work in 2003. It's crucial to remember that decriminalization and legalization are not the same thing. Decriminalization means the removal of laws that punitively target the sex industry, instead treating sex work much like any other kind of work. In New Zealand, people can work together for safety, and employers of sex workers are accountable to the state. A sex worker can refuse to see a client at any time, for any reason, and 96 percent of street workers report that they feel the law protects their rights. New Zealand hasn't actually seen an increase in the amount of people doing sex work, but decriminalizing it has made it a lot safer. But the lesson from New Zealand isn't just that its particular legislation is good, but that crucially, it was written in collaboration with sex workers; namely, the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective. When it came to making sex work safer, they were ready to hear it straight from sex workers themselves.
在 2003 年,紐西蘭將 性工作「除罪化」。 但必須知道 「除罪化」和「合法化」 是不一樣的。 「除罪化」表示廢除 原本針對性行業的懲處法律, 並待性工作如一般正當工作一樣。 在紐西蘭,賣淫者 可以共事以求安全, 性工作者的雇主也須對州政府負責。 性工作者可在任何時間拒絕客戶, 出於任何原因, 有 96% 的街頭妓女報告說, 他們覺得法律保護自己的權利。 在紐西蘭也並沒因此有 更多人從事性工作。 但「除罪化」讓這工作安全許多。 紐西蘭的例子重點不在 它法制多好, 重點是, 這法規是聯同性工作者一起制成; 名為「紐西蘭妓女共同體」。 為了使性工作更安全, 其政府直接傾聽性工作者的心聲。
Here in the UK, I'm part of sex worker-led groups like the Sex Worker Open University and the English Collective of Prostitutes. And we form part of a global movement demanding decriminalization and self-determination. The universal symbol of our movement is the red umbrella. We're supported in our demands by global bodies like UNAIDS, the World Health Organization and Amnesty International. But we need more allies. If you care about gender equality or poverty or migration or public health, then sex worker rights matter to you. Make space for us in your movements. That means not only listening to sex workers when we speak but amplifying our voices. Resist those who silence us, those who say that a prostitute is either too victimized, too damaged to know what's best for herself, or else too privileged and too removed from real hardship, not representative of the millions of voiceless victims. This distinction between victim and empowered is imaginary. It exists purely to discredit sex workers and make it easy to ignore us.
在英國,我是性工作團體的成員, 如「性工作人員大學」 和「英籍妓女共同體」。 我們是全球運動的一部分, 要求「除罪化」和自決權。 這運動的象徵是紅傘。 支持我們的是全球性機構, 像聯合國愛滋規劃署、 世界衛生組織,和國際特赦組織。 但是,我們需要更多的盟友。 如果你重視性別平等, 或貧困或移民或公眾健康, 那麼性工作者的權利關係到你。 在你的運動裡騰個空間給我們。 那表示不只是傾聽我們的訴求, 而同時放大我們的聲音, 抵制那些想沉默我們的人, 那些說妓女因為受害太深 身心受損到不懂什麼是對自己最好, 或說我們享有特權 與現實困難脫節, 不能代表數以萬計 默默受害的受害者。 受害者與掌權者 之間的區別是虛構的。 這純粹是為了詆毀性工作者 好忽視我們。
No doubt many of you work for a living. Well, sex work is work, too. Just like you, some of us like our jobs, some of us hate them. Ultimately, most of us have mixed feelings. But how we feel about our work isn't the point. And how others feel about our work certainly isn't. What's important is that we have the right to work safely and on our own terms.
相信你們大多數得為生活工作。 性工作也是工作。 和你一樣, 我們其中有喜歡這工作的, 和討厭這工作的。 畢竟,我們都對工作有複雜的情感。 但是,我們對工作的感觀 並不是重點。 別人對我們工作的感觀也不是。 重要的是能有權利安全工作, 而且是我們要的安全。
Sex workers are real people. We've had complicated experiences and complicated responses to those experiences. But our demands are not complicated. You can ask expensive escorts in New York City, brothel workers in Cambodia, street workers in South Africa and every girl on the roster at my old job in Soho, and they will all tell you the same thing. You can speak to millions of sex workers and countless sex work-led organizations. We want full decriminalization and labor rights as workers.
性工作者也是人。 我們有複雜的經歷, 也有複雜的應對方式。 但是,我們的要求並不複雜。 你可詢問紐約的高級伴遊女郎、 在柬埔寨的妓院工作者、 在南非的街頭妓女, 和我以前工作過 蘇活妓院裡的每位小姐, 他們都會說同樣的事。 您可以問數百萬的性工作者 和無數的性工作組織。 我們要全面「除罪化」 以及勞工權利。
I'm just one sex worker on the stage today, but I'm bringing a message from all over the world.
我只是台上的一個性工作者, 但我帶來了一個 來自世界各地的訊息。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)