Cork Feminista Conference Recording 21st June 2014

[Davidontour]

Below is a 35 minute recording of three speakers for sex work at the recent Cork Feminista Conference.

Speakers are Lucy Smith, Jenny O and Lady Grew.

[Curvaceous Kate]

That was really good to watch. I have to say that I couldn't really hear Jenny O, possibly due to not standing up, but Lady Grew was amazing and made some very poignant statements, that I whole heartedly agree with.

I agreed with most of what Lucy said too, apart from the ending statement. I personally feel the landlord rule is going to make the largest impact. We already have the brothel law in place and it is already causing problems. Yes it would be great to see it lifted to maybe 3 or more, but if we're talking future changes, then the telephone confiscation and landlord being forced to throw Sex Workers out, will have the most impact. Why, because you can choose to work alone, but unless you can afford to buy your own work dwelling, you have no choice but to rent and will be forever vulnerable and you need your phone, not only for work, but for safety and there is no discrimination here, as long as you are a Sex Worker these can be taken from you.

[Davidontour]

That was really good to watch. I have to say that I couldn't really hear Jenny O, possibly due to not standing up, but Lady Grew was amazing and made some very poignant statements, that I whole heartedly agree with.

I agreed with most of what Lucy said too, apart from the ending statement. I personally feel the landlord rule is going to make the largest impact. We already have the brothel law in place and it is already causing problems. Yes it would be great to see it lifted to maybe 3 or more, but if we're talking future changes, then the telephone confiscation and landlord being forced to throw Sex Workers out, will have the most impact. Why, because you can choose to work alone, but unless you can afford to buy your own work dwelling, you have no choice but to rent and will be forever vulnerable and you need your phone, not only for work, but for safety and there is no discrimination here, as long as you are a Sex Worker these can be taken from you.

Proving beyond all doubt that the people behind these ideas have zero concern for the welfare of sex workers and are motivated by prejudice and hatred. What might at least be refreshing is their admission of this rather than trying to hide behind the trafficking issue. Shameful, dishonest and deeply irresponsible.

[Lara Mills]

Some excellent points made here. It seems that as times goes on sex workers and those who have an understanding of the industry are speaking out more and more. I just hope people will listen

[JMastodon]

Is there not a contradiction here in Cork Ferminista giving voice to sex workers while at the same time signing up to the Turn Off The Red Light campaign?

[dob]

Is there not a contradiction here in Cork Ferminista giving voice to sex workers while at the same time signing up to the Turn Off The Red Light campaign?

Red light got a good old kicking on that video. Bad trial of torl to run from an event organised by one of their 70 civil society organisations.

[Curvaceous Kate]

Is there not a contradiction here in Cork Ferminista giving voice to sex workers while at the same time signing up to the Turn Off The Red Light campaign?

That is probably what Lucy was talking about, with reference to people being taken in, but now knowing better. Perhaps she was appealing to their increasing knowledge of the reality?

[JMastodon]

I think everything I ever wanted to say to TORL to counter their lies has been said by Lucy Smith in this video. Well done to all three speakers.

[Paul Carr]

"It started with the Magdalene laundries", Lucy Smith says. I don't agree. It started with feminism. Take the Labour party's support for the TORL campaign for example. They were the first of the big four political parties in the Republic of Ireland to sign up to the TORL campaign. They did so in April 2010 at the Labour Party Ard Fheis when a Labour Women motion was passed to support the criminalization of the purchase of sex. Labour Women originally adopted this motion in September 2009. This motion, in turn, was seen as a measure to address issues that the Labour Party raised in a document published in 2006 on violence against women.

Lady Grew says "We are all feminists here". Well, the National Women's Council of Ireland described themselves as feminist in their written submission to the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee on the future direction of prostitution. The NWCI however advocated for the criminalization of the purchase of sex, not sex worker rights that Lady Grew was calling for.

[Curvaceous Kate]

"It started with the Magdalene laundries", Lucy Smith says. I don't agree. It started with feminism. Take the Labour party's support for the TORL campaign for example. They were the first of the big four political parties in the Republic of Ireland to sign up to the TORL campaign. They did so in April 2010 at the Labour Party Ard Fheis when a Labour Women motion was passed to support the criminalization of the purchase of sex. Labour Women originally adopted this motion in September 2009. This motion, in turn, was seen as a measure to address issues that the Labour Party raised in a document published in 2006 on violence against women.

Lady Grew says "We are all feminists here". Well, the National Women's Council of Ireland described themselves as feminist in their written submission to the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee on the future direction of prostitution. The NWCI however advocated for the criminalization of the purchase of sex, not sex worker rights that Lady Grew was calling for.

I agree with Lucy. It goes back way past the advent of feminism and Ruhama/TORL may work under the guise of feminism and equal rights now, but it is just another smoke screen and one that has been latched onto by others.

Personally I don't consider myself to be a feminist, but I do agree that we should have equal rights and equal opportunities. Note, I don't mean more rights than men. We all need to prove ourselves to be the right/better person for what ever it is we are fighting for, but our voices should be heard with equal merit.

In the same way that someone should not be judged by the work they do, you should not judge someone by their gender and to then judge someone by the work they do and their gender is even worse. It becomes a double negative.

The Magdalene laundries, were born of repression of women in the name of religion, not in the name of feminism and it continues, but as things tend to do, it is attempting to evolve under a more acceptable mask, that being behind the mask of feminism. The values and desires have not changed, it's still fundamentally about repression and control, but dictated in a more palatable way that pretends to give back control while doing the reverse.