GOSHH

I just completed this interview and thought ..... that needs sharing...... all feedback gratefully received! It's long so i split it into two parts

Question for Billie
1. How did you come to work with sex workers?
Since I started at the Red Ribbon Project in 2003, there has always been a service for sex workers. This service was condom provision and support. For 8 years the majority of contact with sex workers was purely for condom provision. We tried in small ways to engage with the sex workers in a more effective way, aware of the fact that many of them may require other services and we had no established trusting relationship with the community. When street workers suddenly arrived on Limerick City streets, we had the opportunity to design programmes that would increase our service provision and effectiveness. One of the main barriers to services being provided was the inherent hidden, and transient nature of the sex worker community. When the street workers arrived we suddenly had a stable, visible group of women selling sex, who may require services, whom we needed to do a needs assessment with as part of our sexual health promotion remit. In 2012, when Rainbow Support Services and Red Ribbon Project began talking about amalgamating, another conversation was had between myself and my manager, about roles, crossover of work load and the best use of our resources. It was decided that I would change from ‘Queer Community Support Worker’ to ‘Community Support Project Worker’ and that my new remit would fill gaps in our current service provision. This was why we began to actively focus on service development for sex workers.

2. What is your role in supporting sex workers?
My role is to support. This is done in a person centred way and with a harm reduction ethos. It is my responsibility to establish a line of communication between our project and sex workers; to ensure sex workers know they will not be judged; to increase access to services and design programmes that will enhance the health and safety of the sex workers. I am an advocate, a befriender, a place of information. I facilitate sex workers having a space to talk freely about their work and its impact upon them. This is diverse and involves hearing unexpected information, and saying unexpected things. It differs depending on the type of sex work, the venue of sex work and the geographical origin of the sex worker. It is my role to ensure sex workers I meet know where they can get free sexual health services; mental health services; assistance with finances/food/shelter. If a sex worker wants to stop sex working (exit), then I would work with them to develop a plan. This could involve further education, moving accommodation, dealing with addiction, linking in with social support, re-connecting with family, reporting crimes to An Garda Síochána. Whatever the sex worker needs to fulfill their potential as a human being, and manage their life in a way that makes them empowered, healthy and safe – that is what I support.

3. Do you think human trafficking is a major part of sex work ?
In one way, I think this is a really difficult question to answer. I believe that in Limerick there is a large group of women who have been trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. I know there is a need to investigate, yet I cannot get the Gards to do so. I have met gay males and Trans* women who were trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Only one of these people was officially recognised in law. Each of these individuals, once free from their traffickers, continued sex work because they had the skill, they needed money and they thought that was all they could do. I have worked with them to facilitate whatever they chose for their lives. Being trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, is one of the entry indicators for sex work. So trafficking is definitely a part of the sex industry, but it might not be a major part, we just don’t know how big or small it is because we have no research on the profile of sex workers in Ireland, and our trafficking legislation and systems are not fit for purpose.

In another way, this question is really easy to answer. Trafficking is not work, trafficking is slavery. Sex work is work. So, no, trafficking is not a major part of sex work because the two things are completely different. A trafficker is put in a position of having no choices. A sex worker has choices – even if it is just around what hours they work. I know many sex workers who are independent business people. They manage their own finances, branding, marketing, work schedule etc. Trafficked people cannot do this, they are forced/coerced/enslaved.

4. What has human trafficking done to the sex work trade?
Trafficking of people for the purposes for sexual exploitation, is a very different thing from ‘trafficking’. It is important when discussing these issues, to correctly name them. In my heart I believe that the sex trade as we know it today, was probably built by trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. The history of the sex trade is old. At some point, people would travel with armies to service the soldiers. We have many historic examples of people (prostitutes/concubines/whores/companions/escorts/scarlet women/ladies of the night/rent boys) who are known for selling or exchanging sex. In some cultures it was honoured, in others it was despised. Then came the dawn of expectation…for example, in Japan, the army collected and trafficked thousands of people (mainly women) and kept them like slaves next to army camps, for the sexual gratification of the soldiers. This was trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation; rape is a well used tactic of war - people (mainly women) were taken by soldiers and used for sexual gratification for as long as they pleased. Some were kept and moved around with the army. This is trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. In society at the moment, we have an understanding of a sex worker as someone who is desperate, vulnerable, disempowered. Trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, has done that to the sex trade. It has reduced the amount of money a sex worker can charge, increased the types of services expected by a sex worker, created an environment of criminalisation and harm, and increased the danger for sex workers.