Comments on: New Zealand prostitution law, sex work, anti-migration and anti-trafficking

By: Candi F

Candi F — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:51:57 +0000

Ted Cheng makes very good points about the divide that exists between migrant and non-migrant sex workers with anti-migration legislation and anti-trafficking hype making it easier for non-migrant sex workers to ‘dob in’ their migrant sisters (and brothers?) in the name of concern and compassion (when they are really often just racist and threatened by the competition).

By: Elena Jeffreys

Elena Jeffreys — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:13:55 +0000

An often ignored problem with New Zealand is that the brothel section of the laws is more similar to the Victorian (Australia) and Queensland (Australia) models of licensing.

Brothel owners must carry ID cards to prove their worth to run brothels…. and be subject to character checks etc.

The New South Wales version of decriminalisation doesn’t include licensing, licensing ID cards or any kind of background police character checks for owners, which is a much more equitable situation and more like other businesses rather than placing sex work in the category of gambling or racing.

By: Lynzi Armstrong

Lynzi Armstrong — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:13:15 +0000

Interesting point Bavardess. I think public discussion focused on street-based sex work seldom is not politicised. It is an issue commonly used to make claims of moral decline, in NZ and in other countries. It’s timelessly easy to pick on typically stigmatised people as part of a broader political agenda. These groups made similar statements and arguments in the lead up to the passing of the PRA.

I think the migration issue is one for more research. Migrant workers do still come to NZ, as others have mentioned, and it would be interesting to have some insight into how they experience it here. I think the discussion on this is so interesting, and I look forward to more commentary and research on this issue.

By: Josie

Josie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:03:21 +0000

I want to echo the latest comment from Bavardess, the legislation creates an ideological framework that promotes a very white middle class kind of sex industry - one that is concealled from public view behind the doors of brothels. It does not ‘whiten’ the workers but it does reflect cultural anxieties about the kinds of women who would want to engage in sex work and sex work migrancy is perhaps the height of this anxiety.

As the post on street walkers suggests the notion that women would brazenly strut their stuff and ply their trade in public is perceived as offensive to many people in NZ. So while brothels are often tolerated as long as they don’t make their presence known to the neighbours (in itself sometimes difficult) street walkers visibility makes them an easy target for vigilantes and the press alike.

By: Bavardess

Bavardess — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:53:32 +0000

@Lynzi - you are right of course about community aggression towards street-based sex workers being a long-term thing and not just emerging as a consequence of the PRA, but what I think has changed since the PRA is how it has become much more politicised. What I mean is that conservative, right wing groups & politicians are pointing to street-based sex work as a very visible example of how ‘morals’, ‘family values’ etc. have been eroded under a left-leaning Labour government that has sponsored legislation like the PRA. I have also heard the Civil Union Act discussed in a similar context, but the PRA & sex work seems to be the social justice issue that is the most ‘headline grabbing’.

@Sb - yes, NZ is a multi-cultural/multi-ethnic country and this is reflected in most occupations including sex work. But when anti-migration (and I would say racist) politicians start trying to use sex workers as border markers between ‘us’ and ‘them’, I think we need to critically examine what is going on at an ideological, as opposed to practical, level.

By: Sb

Sb — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:15:04 +0000

“The disallowal of migrants helps keep the industry racially and culturally homogeneous.”

I agree with most of your article however I must call rubbish on this. The NZ sex industry contains every race, every size, every colour and every religion. I do not see how it could be more diverse than it already is!

At one small place ( I was fixing their computers, true!) there was Russian, Chinese, Malaysian, Kiwi, Maori, English, Indian, & mixtures. So I had every color from white to dark brown around me. Want to tell me thats not mixed.

It is true that to work in the NZ sex industry you need to be born there or have a resident workers visa. However as the base NZ population is extremely diverse (NZ stopped being described as homogeneous in the 70’s) so are the workers in the sex industry.

By: Ted Cheng

Ted Cheng — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:58:53 +0000

The allow for migrant worker to do sex work is a challenge, coz the presence of migrant sex worker challenge the immigration control that constitutes a homogeneous nationality. Also how to solve the internal conflict between the local sex worker and the migrant sex worker or between migrant sex worker and migrant is a huge problem too. i guess the experience of NZ PRA model toward the legalization from local sex workers to transnational migrant sex workers will be a very important step.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:19:01 +0000

I echo what Douglas Fox and Maxine said. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best example we have now. Of course, thanks to people like you who point out the flaws, we can work to improve the ideas in legislation modeled after it in any part of the world.

This anti-trafficking hysteria has to stop.

By: Reflecting on New Zealand’s Prostitution Reform Act « Bound, Not Gagged

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:17:22 +0000

[...] about them and how they might be modified to fit other contexts. The other day I wrote about the glaringly anti-migration clause in the legislation, which is the opposite of what many activists would like to see. It’s [...]

By: Ted Cheng

Ted Cheng — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:15:43 +0000

What can i imagine about this policy is that later some anti-prostitution/migration protectionist would argue that, “see, the decriminalization resulted in more human trafficking, like XXX or NZ model”, which totally ignored that the policy exclude migrant sex workers. (sorry, no inspiring conversation with the above comments, just my personal complaints)