https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/08/07/australian-summit-sexual-expl...
Last month, the Australian Summit Against Sexual Exploitation (ASASE) was held at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). The conference hosted presentations from a range of speakers, including radical feminists and abolitionists like Julie Bindel, Dr. Renate Klein, and Sarah Mah, as well as sex trade survivors such as Simone Watson. We both spoke at the conference as well — Caitlin spoke on sexual objectification of women in advertising, and Sabrinna spoke on the impact of technology on prostitution and pornography, as well as leading a breakout session on the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 in New Zealand.
The event was an amazing success, with powerful speeches and discussions. Unfortunately, the conference was targeted by pro-sex trade lobbyists associated with Vixen, a Victoria, Australia-based red umbrella group that lobbies for the full decriminalization of prostitution (meaning they would like to see pimps and punters/johns decriminalized, as well as prostituted people). They not only staged a protest outside the ASASE conference, but also managed to bypass security and burst into the venue during the final session, a presentation by global authority on child sexual abuse, Professor S. Caroline Taylor. Holding signs with slogans like “Fuck you pay me” and “Blowjobs are real jobs,” they shouted abuse and obscenities at Professor Taylor and members of the audience, trashed display tables and threw objects at members of the audience.
well, i am not sure where to begin....if you follow the link it shows photographs and film of the "sex work lobbyists who want to decriminalize pimps"....and boy oh boy do they look threatening....NOT!!!
the autors of the article admit to going out to confront the protesters and when the protesters tried to enter the speech against their community they were filmed and forcibly removed. their protest signs were grabbed from their hands and destroyed to the applause of the consensual sex work deniers. they called security who took their phones and physically pushed them out of the room....the sex workers - women - were surrounded by a group of men who dimissed and belittled them for their attempt to disrupt a planning session aimed at destroying the sex worker community.
the article goes on to decribe the protesters as "not knowing what they are protesting" or in other words, stupid and uneducated with no real clue about what they really need....which of course, abolitionists know best and once again appropriate the word "decriminalization" claiming that they want the same thing as sex workers....they do not...
all the filming and pushing and shoving shows how hard it is for sex workers to protest. i am sure that the feminist current got no permission to use/ publish the images or film. i wonder if they are aware of how hypocritical it is to use an image of a woman's bum in a sensationalist way all the while claiming porn is bad for society...well, i guess it's only when it suits the feminist current...if the porn picture works in their favor, then it is ok...
i have been the focus of the exact same kind of thing. being yelled at, filmed, pushed, insulted and threatened.
i don't care how big or small the authors are, they have priviliege and the protesters do not. the privilege to hold conferences where they can plot the destruction of the sex worker community with out any input from those people impacted by their actions. let's not forget how many sex workers across the planet have been impacted by the removal of our safer client meeting strategies based on the ideology these people were promoting...
so they threw some paper around....so what....
how many sex workers went hungry, became homeless or were assaulted or killed due to the outcomes caused by this kind of dismissive exclusionism?
the way it has been portrayed in the article on the feminist current is despicable. i am thouroughly disgusted that this is seen as an appropriate article and that the diminishing and dismissing of the protestors who endured the brunt of any harm caused by the incident are portrayed as the villans - the sex industry lobby - what a load of crap
the feminist current must be so proud to be the leader in undermining the credibility and dignity of people who are fighting for their rights and their lives.