Minutes of the Meeting - Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill - 29th Sept 2014

The meeting started 15 minutes late and I arrived 15 minutes after that, so I will start with the apologies for those that did not attend.  Apologies from any known currently working Escort.  Oh... wait a minute, no one asked for a representative of the Sex Work Community.  In fact the Union that had been set up to protect the needs of the Sex Workers was scoffed at by a certain Rachel Moran, who said it was not a REAL union, but a way for Pimps to protect their financial investment!

Speech

Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley MLA

 - I'm afraid I missed the first video entitled 'The Trip', but I did listen to Lord Morrow give his speech.  He quite rightly tackled the subject of trafficking and coercion in terms of three areas of concern.  That being:

Labour in the work force - factories etc.
Domestic slavery - i.e. - Women used within the home and not allowed out.
Sexual Exploitation - Used against their will sexually for financial gain.

Rightly so, it was explained that men, women and children can all fall victim to trafficking and coercion and that there were potentially 140 cases of this found across the spectrum within Northern Ireland.

This is where something close to a real statistic is replaced with emotive language and two stories of women were explained and stories these were, as it would seem there was no evidence to support their claims.  One story Lord Morrow distanced himself from, explaining he had never met the lady, but this was her story and that was of domestic servitude.  She had been kept prisoner within a family home for anything from 3 to 5 years and not allowed to leave.  She made a cry for help and it was answered.  She was rescued and it was a success story for Northern Ireland, which I salute and commend for helping this lady.

However, the second story Lord Morrow alleged to know this lady and had met her in person. He made it sound like the story was far more likely to be true and yet the story itself sounded to me (as a current working Sex Worker) like something out of a Hollywood thriller.  The story purports that the lady was taken from her nursing studies in England, where she was studying as a foreign student (she is Romanian).  She was a young 20 year old woman and against her will she was taken by two armed men to the airport and flown over to Ireland, where she was put to work as a prostitute.  She was made to service between 15 and 20 men a day and bundled across Dublin, Limerick and Galway until eventually she was rescued and released from her plight.

First of all I would like to congratulate Ireland for another success story, where a person has been found and taken out of a terrible situation.  I would imagine that this also led to convictions of the pimps, as they had proof of what was happening?  I would also like to believe that the story was followed up to make sure that it was real, because otherwise, however harrowing... it is just a story.  Did anyone contact the Nursing College to ask if the lady was on the course she claimed to be on?  Had anyone at the College reported the lady missing and contacted her family?  I believe foreign students have a mentor to help them while they are in a foreign country, what actions was the mentor taking to find her and make sure that she had left of her own free will and not just abandoned the course?

Anne (the victim) claims that she was made to service 15 to 20 men per day.  This is physically not possible.  If we take 20 as the larger number and consider each booking to be of 30 minutes duration, the time working alone amounts to 10 hours.  That does not allow for picking up and answering the phone, for people running late on arrival, for people over staying etc, etc.  It would also suggest that she was not given any time to wash herself in between, so by the time she had got to the 10th client, she would stink to high heaven.  It just isn't physically possible to see that many clients and then there is the fact that the average high volume working Sex Worker currently working in Ireland is lucky if she is able to secure 10 bookings in a day.  They are competing with the 800 advertised Sex Workers, with pretty pictures and profiles, all offering luxury and clean towels.  This means it takes a certain type of man to choose to see a lady in these conditions and those men are in the minority and they are part of an underground world that most of us are not aware of and never will be aware of.

This brings me on to the clause 6, which advocates the use of the Swedish Model, where currently they are getting no convictions, as they can not get the evidence needed to convict the pimps.  A country that puts more importants on fining clients than helping Sex Workers.  A country that currently has more prostitution than Ireland, with over 1000 recorded working daily and a country that has higher HIV rates than Ireland since their bill to make the client pay came in.  They have no success stories, they have no convictions.

It is already a crime to traffic or coerce a human in any of these three categories mentioned.  There is already support to help the victims and it is a very naive stance for anyone to believe that there is no trafficking or coercion going on in the country that they live in.  There is not a country in the world that is free of this and it is degrading and it is nasty, but it needs to be contained and it needs to be given severer sentencing upon convictions and people need to be made to pay for exploiting other humans, but that should be aimed at the PIMPS, as they are the ones facilitating this and taking people away from their regular lives and taking away their freedom.  These should be the people that are found, the abusers, those in the knowledge that they are there against their will.  This law already exists!!!!

Currently the toughest sentence for someone convicted of trafficking is two years.  That means that they may be walking free again after one year and assuming they are taken into custody before their sentence is passed, then they could be out before that.  It is rare that anyone should get the full term, which means that they can be out of prison and working in the industry again within 6 months to a year.  When you consider the vast amount of money they can make from one single trafficked woman, do you really think that this kind of sentence is going to deter a man who is prepared to treat another human being in this way from doing it again?  The sentences are feeble, the consequences too light.  They do not stop anyone from committing this type of crime, they just take them off the street for a few short months and allow someone else to take their place.

Lord Morrow continued to thank all the supporters for his campaign with regards to stopping sex work and made particular mention to Paul Bailey who he said had read every word of 1200 pages of a report put together by the Justice Committee on trafficking and coercion.  This does beg the question of why only one MP has read this information and in particular, why Lord Morrow had not considered it worth his time to read it?  Surely if this is of such volume, it holds information of great worth and should be considered vitally important?

He then quoted from William Hague who he said was one of his heroes.

You can choose to look the other way,

but you may not say you did not know!

I found this quote to be of particular interest in the knowledge that the voices of the current Sex Workers have largely been ignored, or belittled, as not representative.

Video Presentation

'No Hope'

This video came straight out of a Liam Neeson movie of 'Taken'.  It was emotive and there to cause shock value, but I believe there is very little resemblance to most Sex Workers working in Ireland and Northern Ireland today.

A young girl is waiting at the airport, freshly arrived from another country to work as a Nanny.  She is picked up by the driver who ignores most of her chatter about what work she will be doing with the new family she expects to be with upon arrival.  The driver drags her out of the vehicle and into a wreck of a building with a dirty mattress on the floor, where she is thrown down.

Two more men appear and they rape her and beat her up.  She is given a phone and told that she  must take the bookings or they will hurt her family.  We are then subjected to seeing more men come and go and rape her as she struggles and cries.

This is not sex work, this is not the life of an Escort.  Sex Workers give their consent and work within their own boundaries and can always say..; No!  Sex Workers are NOT raped!  They are not forced and if they are ever in a position where they are made to do something against their will, they can currently report that to the Police and file a report and this can lead to a conviction.  This will not be possible if the law changes, as every man will be considered a rapist and she will want to protect her good, regular clients and will not want to expose where she is working, for fear of them having their lives ruined.

People who arrange to see Sex Workers are not looking to rape anyone.  They are looking for a mutual exchange with another consenting adult.  The majority value that consent and will do their best to make sure that the person they see is happy with the arrangement.  There are showers and towels and protection.  No one is forced to do anything against their will.

The video clip may be representative of trafficking, I would not know, as I have never been in that situation, but I do know that it is NOT representative of the life of a Sex Worker and the two need to be separated, otherwise my right to consent is being taken away from me and as a sane, educated individual I should have that right!

In conclusion, it is not a matter of 'No Hope', but 'No Comparison'.  These are two separate issues and our judgement should not be marred in this way.  Sex with consent is not rape, even when money is exchanged!

My Story

Rachel Moran

Rachel started by saying a little about herself.  She said that in the USA she would have been considered trafficked, as she had started Sex Work at the tender age of 15.  I found this surprising, as I was under the impression that you had to be legally 18 to work as a sex worker in the UK and Ireland, so as far as we are concerned here, she would also be considered as trafficked, or coerced.  it is illegal whatever it is considered.

She mentioned that at that time of her life she felt she had no other choice and there were no other viable alternatives, as she was homeless.  This I'm afraid is incorrect, as being 15 she would still be protected and if she had seeked help, she would have got it.  It would have been a different story if she had been 18 or over, but as a minor, she had the full support of the Country.  Therefor her reasoning for entering sex work due to having no choices, I'm afraid is not valid.  It may have been her preference, but she DID have choices.

Rachel believes that all sex work should be stamped out and that in doing so it would stop trafficking.  However, this does not address the plight of the labour enforced or domestic enforced trafficked victim.  It is far too simplistic to suggest that taking away the sex industry will stop PIMPS from being able to benefit from trafficking.  It is also far too simplistic to assume that making clients criminals will solve the problem.

Surely if this was true, then they would also be tackling the factories, the hotel industry and the Domestic industries and stopping them, as they are facilitating the slave trade and trafficking in the other known and accepted areas of trafficking?  They also have much larger numbers to tackle than the sex industry.

Rachel also said that she had never met a sex worker who worked of her own free will.  I am wondering if she is walking around with her eyes shut, as I'm sure Laura Lee has had a huge presence during these debates and I believe two Sex Workers were present at another meeting she attended and they were also Independent Escorts.  However, just to be on the safe side, I did make a point of introducing myself to her and while we were shaking hands I told her that she had now officially met a Sex Worker, who was working of her own free will and had options.  She assured me that I was in the minority.  I assured her that I was not.  I told her I had met many sex workers who worked of their own free will and also had options, but she shook her head and repeated that I was mistaken and I was in the minority.

I find it incredulous that a woman can stand up on stage and say she cares about people, when in actual fact she only cares about herself.  The woman is there to promote herself and her own book and the more a victim she can be, the better her book will sell.  She has no care for the truth, otherwise she would have asked me about my experiences and how I know people who work of their own free will.  Instead she closed her mind, she closed her ears and she walked away to have a group photo taken with all the other single minded people, that don't care about the people in the industry; who's jobs they are threatening and the lives of those who currently pay to see sex workers to make their lives a better place to be.

Rachel is repulsed by those that use the sex industry, she is repulsed by those that buy women to have sex with and she commented on the 'mock' sex union that pretends to represent sex workers, as they have invested interest in keeping paying for sex legal.  She said it is ran by Escort Ireland, who on a daily basis sell 800 women per day.  This again is emotive language.  Escort Ireland offers advert space and an individual can create their own advert and pay to show their availability on that site.  You are paying for advertising space, as you would do with ebay, vivastreet or any other online website.  Sex Workers are not being sold, as at the end of the time paid for the lady/gent can close the door and never see that client again if she/he so wish.  They are not selling themselves, but they are selling their skill base and company.  They are in control, they decides what they want to provide and they earn their money in the same way any other service provider does.

I also feel that this emphasis on the sex trade and trafficking undervalues the plight of the majority of trafficked people who come under the other two categories.  It seems they don't need a special clause to eradicate the trade that they have been forced into.  It seems that it is far more palatable for the nation to accept that a person may be locked in a room and malnourished, being forced to work long hours in hard labour, as long as sex is not the prime reason.  Is that because there is less money to be made from it?  Or because they feel their plight is less arduous?  Or they believe that it is possible for people to want to do those jobs and have other choices?  I'm not sure, but no one seems to be questioning that.  That seems quite surreal to me.  In essence, I feel that clause 6 serves to devalue the majority of trafficked that come under these other categories, who's lives are equally taken away from them and beaten and abused.  They deserve the same attention and if that is not right for them, then why is it right to attempt to abolish the sex trade?

At the end of Rachel Moran's story we were given the opportunity to ask questions, but before I had the chance to pose a question in my head, she was off the podium and sat back down in her seat.  It was suggested we may like to ask her questions later, as of course it's not likely anyone would want to do it publicly.  I would have liked to, but alas I was not quick enough.

Speech

Rt. Hon. Peter Robinson MLA, First Minister of Northern Ireland, Leader of the Democratic Union Party

Not much to report here really.  He showed his support to Lord Morrow and commended him for fighting for clause 6, saying that it would have been much easier to pass this bill if he had left it out and this bill has been in the making now for the last two and a half years, so much time has past and I do wonder how many trafficked victims have not been helped in that time for hanging on to this clause that will do more harm than good?

I personally feel let down by politicians that are all too eager to believe what they hear without seeking any evidence.  Without doing the proper research and with out really caring about the people in their community, as believe it or not, sex workers are part of the community and they should have rights too.  They should be protected, but in this case, they are needing protection from careless politics and politicians, who are far too busy trying to 'look good', than really care about the good they are doing, or not in this case.

Closing Remarks

Arlene Foster MLA, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Again, nothing much to report here.  There was a lot of back slapping and pleas for people to send letters in support of the bill and how wonderful it was to have a letter of support from Jimmy Carter.  It is such a shame that his support is misguided, as this clause does nothing to help those that are trapped in this industry, but if anything hems them in, while they concentrate on entrapping and fining the clients.

If you would like to find out more about this bill then please do visit the site that was newly launched just Yesterday at www.givinghopeni.com

The bill is at its most critical stage, being stage 5 of 10 stages.  Once this stage is complete, there is either a clear path to bring the bill in complete with clause 6, or for taking it back to basics and reviewing the areas that are rejected.  If anyone is reading this and like me, believes that this bill is not being produced to help those that need it most, but to punish those they feel morally should not be having sex with other consenting adults, then please show your hand.    Make it known under what ever guise you feel comfortable that this bill will only make things worse, it will drive the honest and innocent (yes sex workers are innocent with regards to trafficking) underground, it will put their lives in jeopardy and it will destroy the lives of clients, who only seek to spend time with other consenting adults for a fee.  This is not a crime, this is simply a transaction between two adults.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you can see how misguided trust is a very dangerous thing.

Sex Work Versus Child Betrothals/Marriage

I woke up this morning as always with things on my mind about my chosen career path in Sex Work and a particular person who has been texting me from the UK, offering me solace and telling me that I am a good person and I should grow up and get out of the sex trade, that is murdering 'our' children.  He has said a lot more besides and without provocation, but it seems in his mind he is doing a good thing.

Now this morning as I lay in my bed I couldn't help wonder, not knowing this mans age or circumstance.  If I had accepted his 'way out' and agreed to marry him.  Would I have ended up a slave to him?  Would he have expected me to be eternally grateful and then do his washing, cleaning, cooking and service him sexually when he wanted it?  Or was he trying to set me free, from what he felt was an evil job?

This in turn set me thinking about how historically young girls as soon as they hit puberty, in some cases as young as 12 or 13 have been married without their consent as part of a bargaining tool amongst families.  Often in order to keep the wider family in financial status or increase their social status.  Is this not a worse fate than a women who as an adult chooses to be a Sex Worker of her own free will?  Not forced, but empowering herself to hit goals and be financially secure in her own right.

At first I decided to google facts on arranged marriages within the UK and just how far back they could be traced, but I quickly got side tracked by the fact that this is not a thing of the past, but continues to happen world wide.  Almost instantly I was presented with a picture of a young girl sat by an old man.  Her fate to be his wife and live out the role of a wife to a man old enough to be her Grand Father.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/19/the_young_and_the_betrothed#sthash.o03OGCsY.dpbs

Here we see a 40 year old man (who looks older) with an 11 year old girl, just before their wedding.  Tell me... what part does prostitution play in the fate of this child?  Is she being forced into Sex Work?  I'd say yes, but is it due to the Sex Trade?  No!  Who is responsible for making this child suffer in this way?  And I do mean suffer, because no 11 year old in this planet dreams of marrying a man she can not relate with, a man who could be her Father or Grand Father.  No girl of 11 is sexually aware or ready to be a wife and sexual partner to an adult.

From here I looked on and found a questions and answers board created for the Jewish faith.  This is what I found...

What has been the youngest age for marriage (not betrothal) amongst Jews for men and for women?

One can marry as soon as they reach majority, which has been defined since well before the first century as age 12 for girls, 13 for boys.

In the early biblical period, they instead defined majority as having two pubic hairs (with some extra rules for people who couldn't grow any). The change in definition is rabbinic, and therefore doesn't apply to some biblical matters, such as conversion. However, it does apply for marriage. However, in those days a father had the right to marry off his minor daughter at any age, with the assumption that he knows what's in her best interest, and that's part of caring for her. She has the right to anull the marriage when reaching age 12. Today, the father would be violating a prohibition if he exercised this right, however, the marriage would be binding and a writ of divorce necessary.

Using this rule, I could have been married off at the age of 11.  This is when I got my first pubic hairs.  I was a month off my 18th birthday before I decided I was ready to have my first sexual encounter, let alone be married.  According to the Jewish faith, this would not matter.  My emotions, my mental and physical growth plays no part in this decision and if my Father had wanted me married at 11, then he would have been within his right to do so, due to those 2 pubic hairs.

I am now happily working as a Sex Worker, having had a regular childhood and having been introduced to sex in my own time, when I was ready and on my terms.  Who is getting the better deal here?  Who is being abused? Is the Sex Trade abusing Jewish girls that were or maybe still are being betrothed and married off before they are sexually aware and still children?  Is the Sex Trade abusing a women who chooses it of her own free will in her 30's and has no outside pressure to do so?

For anyone reading this who has not read my submission.  During the earlier months of this year I wrote a document that collated some facts, that together dispelled the myth that all Sex Workers are working against their will and the ones that are working are all damaged.  The facts are that in Ireland (an area I currently work), there are very few actual victims of trafficking and very few convictions, although still more convictions in Ireland than in Sweden, where people are too scared to come forward and evidence is very hard to come by.

The problem is that Ireland does not allow Agencies and many Escorts/Sex Workers arrive from outside of the country and prefer to use a body/Agency that can help them to set up work and secure somewhere to live and work from.  These ladies are earning less than Independent Escorts, as they are not working directly for themselves and there are over heads and a percentage of income owed to the Agency, but this works in the same way it would with an other Agency.  The fact that really  matters here is that the Sex Worker is working of their own free will and she should be protected by guidelines, that do not allow the exploitation of a third person, but regulates it.  As the law stands the arrangement is illegal, so although it still happens, she does not have any support and would be considered as trafficked or coerced.

There are also a percentage of women that work independently and they have no third party working on their behalf.  They get all their own work, decide how much to charge and what they are happy to do within their work.  This is the category that I come under.  I did not choose Sex Work out of desperation or because I had no other choice.  Yes I did have financial commitments that I needed to meet, but I did have other options, for one I had a house that I could have sold, but I chose to keep it and to become a Sex Worker, as this for me seemed like the logical choice, as something I knew I would be good at, enjoy and allow me to enter back into the world of education and further expand my choices for the future.

I am not alone.  There are thousands of women working all around the world doing exactly the same thing.  They are not being forced, they are not harming anyone else, they are looking after their own health and safety the best way they can, but for this awful stigma, that seems to rear its ugly head at every opportunity, where people genuinely feel abhorred by what we do and blame us for so many things that are not our cross to bear.

There are no cases of children under the age of 17 entering into Sex Work in Ireland for the last 5 years, although TORL would have you believe it.  The truth is, legally you have to be 18 to be a Sex Worker, although the age of consent is 16 and some 17 year olds have been found to be working.  It is debatable as to if this was of their own free will or not, but either way they are not 12 year olds, who are not sexually mature enough mentally or physically.  They are young women, well over the age of puberty and sexual awareness.

While we are fighting the myths of the Sex Worker in Ireland, there are children still to this day, being used as bait, betrothed and married to men decades older than themselves with no choice.  Perhaps it is time to put this into perspective and stop with the mythology of the sex industry and that men are rapists and the Sex Workers are all abused by men that don't care and use their bodies as vessels. It is not like that.  Even the women that choose Sex Work as a last resort, will have clients that they enjoy the company of, they enjoy spending time with and feel comfortable with.

Now you may feel it is important to save those that do this as a last resort, but how do you propose to do that?  By taking away their last resort and offering them what exactly?  Free education?  Would that be education that they need or want or what you think they should have?  A while back I was asked if I would take part in a documentary where they took Escorts from their work and educated them into being designers and they would create their own line of clothing.  They were all very excited at the concept of re-education and giving these girls a better life.  Without a seconds thought I said no.  The reason being is that all I could see was being exposed, so that my family and friends would know what I have been doing and I choose not to disclose that information and I don't want to be a designer.  I already have a degree and higher qualifications and personally I believe the clothing industry to be a volatile one, so why would I put myself in that position?

My point is these 'people' all seem to think that we start from nothing and can be picked up, educated and moved on.  It's not as simple as that.  The majority of Independent Escorts are very well educated.  You have to be in order to run a business by yourself, as we're not allowed to employ anyone to help us, as that automatically puts us on shaky ground legally, even if we employ someone to clean the property we work from, as no one is allowed to benefit from our earnings, although the TAX man doesn't seem to mind too much.

Dispel the myth, create regulations to help us, so that standards are kept and met.  Make it compulsory to have STI checks quarterly (minimum), make it compulsory to wear condoms for penetration.  Make it legal for two girls to work together for their own safety.  Have a list of licensed names of Escorts working, which needs to be renewed yearly (working names accepted).  This way the Police will know who is working where, if they wish they can put a cap on it, so they can regulate how many are working in each area and they then know they are working of their own free will and can help the ones that are not.  Far better to work with them, than against them.  Protect the ones that need protecting and create a better standard of health and safety for those that choose sex work.

There are far worse things happening in the world.  We don't deserve the stigma and the myths that are circulated in our direction.  Sex Workers are not evil, or dirty or without morals.  We are just normal people making a living.

Being Bonniest Baby at Butlins Led me to being a Sex Worker!

 

Ahh who the hell am I kidding?  And to be fair it was a ‘Mother and Baby’ competition, so my Mum was pretty hot back then too!

I was about three years old and in all honesty, I don’t remember a second of it, but we had a little silver cup for winning and I had that throughout my childhood and remember well, being proud of it and totally forgetting the fact that my Mum was in the competition too, as I was only interested in the fact that I won it!

 

Why, oh why, oh why, do adults have to make such a big deal and make something sexual out of something innocent?  Children like to dress up, they like pretty things that glitter and they like to pretend to be like their parents, so be prepared for the day your find your 5 year old is trying to walk in your heels, or your 3 year old son is ruining your best eye shadow, as they apply it all over their face.  Yes I found my son doing this!  I once found my panty wings stuck to his bedroom window too!  Should I have worried about that?

 

As far as I am concerned (as a Mother) if the child is enjoying the attention and likes to dress up and it is building their confidence and social skills, then what damage exactly does it do?  Here you have at least one parent, who is lavishing attention on their child and not sitting it in front of the TV, while they do whatever it is they feel is more important than their child.  These are the years of bonding and believe me if the child is happy, the bond they have with the parent/s that attend with them will be very strong.

Bless my Mother for yearly entering me into the pears soap competition and getting no where and bless my Sister for coming along and finally making her happy and making it to Carnival Queen.  I was such a Tom boy, she was never going to achieve her goals with me, but did I feel pushed, did I feel unable to say no or be myself?  Not for a minute.

People need to stop interfering; these things have been going on for decades and do no harm.   Why make a fuss now?  Where is the research that shows damaged children who have previously entered these pageants?

Oh gosh, the little tots are walking up and down blowing kisses and being told to smile by their parents!!! How awful?

 

It actually makes me quite cross.  It’s not just about beauty, otherwise why would they be asked to do an act, dance or sing etc.

You know what they will be doing next?  They will be stopping children from going to dance school, as I can assure you they often wear skimpy costumes and wear make-up, so where is the difference?

So… of course if the child doesn’t enjoy it and is obviously distressed, they should not be forced to participate, but then how many children have been forced to go to Brownies, Sunday school, swimming lessons etc?  Surely dressing up and role play is part of being a child and childhood?  It’s just another strand of how some children have fun!

If we would like to talk about child abuse, perhaps we should highlight the fact that some children get beaten, because they find it difficult to learn the kur’an!  Children that do a full days learning at school and then after school have to go to the Mosque and spend hours reciting and learning.

Or maybe we should talk about the children that come home from school hungry to no food and are left in front of the TV for hours on end, or let out to play with no knowledge of where they are or what they are doing until it gets dark?  You think these children don't exist?  Children that are either forced into situations they can not cope with or abandoned to look after themselves, because the parents can't be bothered?  Is it really so much better be ignored?

Does anyone try and help these children and threaten their parents with 2 years in prison for abusing their children?  Would they dare interfere?

We live in a sick world that has somehow turned on its head.  Things that are natural and innocent have been warped into sexual and ugly scenes, people that are enjoying consensual experiences are being victimized and stigmatized, for making choices other people don’t approve of.  Where is the equality in being told what you can and can’t do?  Where is the democracy, where anyone who does not fit in the box is said to not know their own mind?

Of course we need to care for the vulnerable and make sure that they are treated fairly and not abused, but please, can we stop looking for problems and victims where they do not exist?  Can we not treat people with a little more respect and accept that they may just not want to fit their round shape into your square box?  As long as the children are happy, as long as the consenting adult is happy, leave them to get on with their lives and get on with yours!



TORL - Blatant Manipulation and Lies by Government Funded Organisation

Yesterday while I was parusing twitter (as you do), I came across this delightful video created by TORL, that is packed full of lies and propaganda from the first second to the last.  I thought it would only be right to put a few details right, so that anyone who has watched this can identify with the truth and not the twisted manipulation of a group of people that just don't like SEX!

Here is the video...

TORL Campaign 

Unfortunately I have not been able to add the video straight to the blog, but if you click on the link it will take you to it and you can still watch it.

It starts with...

800 WOMEN FOR SALE

This is a blatant lie, as NO woman is for sale.  Even the trafficked women are not for sale, as they stay with the pimp and are not going off to be used by the client for the rest of their lives.  

They have got this number by looking at how many adverts were up in Ireland on the day it was created and instead of differentiating and looking to see who is Independent, who is Agency and who is trafficked, they have decided that ALL these women are for sale.  This is NOT TRUE!  As one of the women currently advertising in Ireland, I can categorically say that I am not for sale and never will be.  I am a self employed businesswoman and I sell a unique skill base and my time.  Once the booking time is over, I am then free to take another booking or do something of my own free wish.  I have no one telling me what to do, or how to live my life.  I am 100% independent.

The above statement is 100% lie! 

19 Children found in Irish 'commercial sex' in 2012

I am still waiting on the actual figures, but the figures for 2011 are very different, standing at 6 (findings can be found at Blue Blindfold) .  The figures for 2012 have not yet been released, so this number is completely fabricated.  It would seem that their sources are non existent and literally plucked out of the sky.  After going back and researching from 2009 to 2011 (which are the only years with statistics available), there is nothing like the figure 19 to be found in any year.

At the conclusion of 2009 there were found to be 6 cases of sexual exploitation, including females, males and minors.  This is a fact!

In 2010 there were 15 alleged victims of sexual exploitation were minors.  Minors means anyone under the age of 18 and in this case the age range of alleged victims in 2010 as a whole, is between 17 and 48.  There is no evidence to support children younger than 17.

2 minors were referred to by the NGOs who got their information from Ruhama.  Ruhama have never reported findings of any male being exploited sexually.  However, the Garda have evidence of male's being exploited in each year group.

21 arrests were made under the criminal law of child trafficking and pornography, 1998.  Of which there have been 4 convictions and one awaiting verdict.

In 2011 - There were 8 alleged reports to the Garda of sexual exploitation.  5 female and 2 male.  There was one additional report of a minor in 2011 by Ruhama and in total to NGOs.

In total with regards to adults and minors, there are 20 ongoing investigations and one conviction for trafficking.  

There is no evidence of age range in this report, but as 2009 and 2010 state 17 as the lowest age range, one would assume it to be the same in 2011.

Please pay special attention to the word 'alleged', this means that at the time of press, these minors may or may not be victims and are under investigation.  There is no evidence to 100% guarantee that they are trafficked and working against their will when the word alleged is used before the statistic.

The most exciting information that I found during this research is that convictions are going through and arrests are being made in Ireland.  However, I believe this would be severely hampered if we were to adopt the Swedish Model of making the client a criminal. 

 As you can see in the table below, Sweden stopped getting convictions when they changed their legislation.  They are no longer able to gather the evidence they need to make a conviction, so the pimps and traffickers in Sweden are now untouchable!!!

This is a table of the Swedish reports and convictions on trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Up to 250 million: The amount pimps and traffickers

rob from Ireland each year.

This statement in times of recession is there to get your blood boiling.  It is another fabricated statement and there is no source or evidence to support it.  I believe they took this information from an article written in the Daily Mail recently, where ICI state that there were 29 children trafficked into Ireland over the last 3 years. However, this is just the opinion of a supporter and has no fact based source what so ever, so how can anything else written be supported?

Also if 29 is the official number over 3 years, that is an average of 10 per year, so where did 19 come from?  That is almost 100% more than previous years!  Where is their evidence for this claim?

With regards to the money.  Trafficked and pimped Sex Workers are very firmly in the minority.  If they have worked this amount out based on 800 workers, then a large portion of that income is taken up by Independent Escorts, who look after their own finances and much of that money is ploughed back into the Country in the form of accommodation, transport and food.  None of these things are free and they are basic needs for anyone living in Ireland.

Much of this money is not robbed at all, but legitimately made, through work that is legal in this country and will remain to be legal, even if the Swedish Model comes into place.  The money being earned off the back of coerced and trafficked people will not reduce, as there would be less convictions and the Garda would have less ability to charge those arrested, as they won't have any evidence or the support of the clients, who could also be blackmailed.

 

Letter written by  Paul McCabe, a TORL supporter.

How Old Are The Children Being Found?

We hear the word 'children' or 'minor' and we automatically think of a young defenseless child who is no way physically or mentally mature enough to be in such an adult environment, let alone being forced into a sexual act.  Any parent is going to be disgusted and outraged to be told that 19 children have been mistreated in this way.  However, the statistics show that the minimum age of the minors allegedly trafficked and coerced into prostitution is 17.  Yes still young, but no where near the average age banded about that most Prostitutes start working at 13.

To further dispell this myth that Sex Workers tend to start at 13 years of age, there has been a table compiled in America where statistics have been collated since 1981 to 2011 that shows this is just not possible.  This shows very clearly that most females and males enter Sex Work at 18 years of age.  It also shows a fairly high proportion of male Sex Workers, who are not represented at all in the Swedish Model and would remain to be vulnerable and unsupported.  I found it very telling that Ruhama had not assisted one male out of  Sex Work in the last three years.  This seems very sexist to me and unwarranted, if the end result is compassion to people exploited within the sex industry.

Here is the table and graph taken in America between 1981 and 2011

Using the statistics provided by Blue Blindfold in Ireland, it would be fair to assess that there is no recorded documentation of minors under the age of 17 working in Ireland.  I believe this again shows that the video clip is there to stir up emotions and concerns for children that do not exist within the Sex Industry, or are so very limited in number, they have not been found.  If the Swedish Model is introduced.  They will NEVER be found!

800 Written Submissions, 6 Months of Hearings, UNANIMOUS Recommendations

This statement is also fabricated or at the very least omitting facts.  Out of the total of submissions written I was told personally by Pat Nearly that 44 were written by Sex Workers and against the Swedish Model.  During the hearings only 2 active sex workers were invited to be heard.  Many other active sex workers had wanted to attend, but we were not allowed to and therefore we were not represented fairly or in proportion to those that were for the Swedish Model.

There is not unanimous recommendations, as 44 submissions were apposed.  This just shows again how the Sex Worker is being ignored and discounted.  Our opinion does not matter and even when we are represented, we are misquoted.  This is only possible due to the fact that the hearing where two Sex Workers were invited, was not recorded and the findings were not published.

The above statement again is a blatant lie and fabrication.

 Visual Effect

Even the visual effects are cliche and damning.  They show a man with dollars in his hands.  Dollars?  Since when has Ireland used American currency?  Could they not at least find someone with a wad of euros?

Red light shining.  This is NOT Amsterdam!  Ireland is predominantly made up of Sex Workers who work in private premises and they do not shine red lights from their windows, but work in a variety of locations from hotels to high class pent house apartments.  The majority of Sex Workers do not work in seedy environments, with drug and alcohol induced surroundings.  Most are sober and since we now live in an anti smoking society, many now don't even smoke, due to clients not wanting the smell and taste of smoke.

These cliches just shout the fact that TORL really don't know what they are dealing with.  They have not moved forward in attitude or expectation and this is no longer what Sex Work is about.

We are Doctors, Nurses, Trade Unions, Employers, Survivors, Farmers.... 68 Irish Organisations Say its Time

I know of someone who is a member of one of these 68 organisations and he is ashamed to admit it, but says that at no point where the members asked of their approval or opinion and he for one is not happy that the money  he contributes to that organisation is supporting this motion without the members consent.  This makes you wonder exactly how many of these 68 organisations took the decision to support to a vote and actually included its members in the decision.  Without the members vote, how valid is the support of the organisation?

TDs Have Spent 14 Months Debating The Laws

Tell them to Act

They have spent 14 months debating, because they are not unanimous and they are not privy to all the facts yet.  They need to be sure that the Swedish Model can improve the situation and all the statistics available suggest this is not the case.  When you compare the convictions in Ireland to the convictions in Sweden, Ireland is out of reach ahead of Sweden.  Ireland is actively supported and able to tackle trafficking and pimping and are not only making arrests, but convictions!  Why mend something that is not broken?  In fact more to the point, why break something that is not broken?

Organised Crime Gangs are Running

Irish Prostitution

As an active Sex Worker in Ireland I can hand on heart say I have never encountered any crime gangs and they are not involved in my work at all.  I know many Independent Escorts and not one of us, have any dealings with crime gangs and we all work for ourselves.

This is a fact and as such, this statement is another LIE.

Give 1 minute

Tell your TDs to Act on the Unanimous

Justice Committee Report on Sex

Buyer Laws

I urge you as an active Sex Worker in Ireland NOT to tell your TDs to act on the Justice Committe Report on Sex buyer laws, but to spend some time looking at the statistics I have offered on this blog and think about the real consequences of making the buyer a criminal.  Please consider that in Ireland today we have real help for Trafficked victims, as it is already a crime to pimp or traffic minors or adults and there are real convictions where these abhorant people are going to prison.  The same can not be said of those in Sweden, who are just going further underground and getting a firmer hold on the industry.  Sex between two consenting adults is not a crime!

2011

Please don't let these people get away with what they are doing.  If you really care about young women, immigrants, trafficked and pimped women you will write to your TDs and appose this motion, because with it, these tables will be empty and a thing of the past.

Ireland needs you to believe in it's Garda, believe in Ireland!