One year ago, our community was embroiled in a high-profile federal sex work scandal. The U.S. Attorney General’s Office named sex trafficking (“conspiracy to coerce and entice to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity”) among the charges held against the leadership of a Cambridge-Watertown brothel.
The Cambridge community was in an uproar. The moral outrage of individuals and groups throughout the city crescendoed to call for a city councillor resignation.
At the time, we at The Black Response called for nuance in the public response. We stood in solidarity with sex workers and their allies, who were concerned with the experiences and perspectives of the sex workers themselves. The Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective cautioned that the media’s framing did not center the brothel’s workers, and so could hurt sex workers’ ability to survive rather than protect them from harm. Unless we heard from the sex workers themselves, we would not know if they had been coerced into sex work or participated in it consensually. Though the Attorney General’s Office said the case involved trafficking – and the press picked that narrative up – neither the government nor the press ever shed light on the experiences of these women in their own words.
As details of the case were made public throughout the year, our focus was on a response that would address systemic issues, not simply punish individuals. Our work at TBR is to replace punitive and other carceral systems, such as policing, with community-based solutions for public safety. We believe that conflating sex work and sex trafficking doesn’t protect anyone. In fact, it causes confusion, more harm, and often leads to violence.
We understand awareness of this distinction – between consensual sex work and sex trafficking – to be essential to meeting our present moment. The current erosion of freedom and democracy in the United States has been characterized by crackdowns on migration and sexual liberty. Allegations of sex trafficking could further criminalize people who are trying to survive through migration or sex work, or both. Working with local authorities, federal agencies are looking for any excuse to detain, incarcerate and deport an ever-expanding group of people. We must be vigilant not to let a fear of trafficking give law enforcement additional power to respond in an extreme and unrestricted manner.
On Thursday, The Black Response and Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective hosts an event designed to grow collective understanding of the experience of sex workers. The event features a screening of the film “Sex Work: It’s Just a Job” and discussions led by local and national advocates for the decriminalization of sex work. We invite all Cantabrigians and Somervillians to a thoughtful and humane conversation about the differences between consensual sex work and violent sex trafficking, and to consider how we can better care for all of our neighbors.
We have lined up some excellent speakers. An opening framing will be delivered by Shameka Gregory, of the city of Cambridge’s Domestic and Gender-Based Violence Prevention Initiative. The panel features members of the Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective with professors Alex Vitale of Brooklyn College and Jennifer Musto of Wellesley College.
We encourage everyone to register here.
This event includes refreshments generously provided by Mamaille, child care by members of Showing Up for Racial Justice, and sensory objects available for those who would like them.
The event is co-sponsored by Impact Boston; Surj Boston; Transition House; Boston Public Health Commission – Domestic; the Sexual, Gender-based Violence Prevention Initiative; the Anti Carceral Co-Laboratory; and the City of Cambridge Domestic and Gender-Based Violence Prevention Initiative. This event is funded by a generous grant from the Griffinharte Foundation.
For information, media inquiries or accessibility questions, Amanda at [email protected].