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Why sex workers can’t trust the police

If you’ve been reading the news in the past week, you might have heard about Tim Osrin – a white man from Kenilworth who viciously assaulted a black female domestic worker, named Cynthia Joni, as he had mistaken her for a sex worker.

It has recently come to light that further charges of assault have been laid against him, as a sex worker has since reported that he had assaulted her.

While a great deal of South Africans seemed sympathetic towards Cynthia Joni, we seemed to be way less sensitive to the sex worker’s claim. A great deal of people seemed not to believe the sex worker.

On Twitter, Facebook and in the comments section of news sites people asked a common question: if this sex worker was indeed assaulted by Osrin, why didn’t she report it before the news about Joni came to light?

This reaction demonstrates the lack of knowledge most non-sex workers have about the sex industry.  Firstly – it is entirely possible that this assault had been reported before, and only now is coming to the media’s attention. Previously, the report might not have been taken seriously by the police, or it simply might not have been in the mainstream media. The conclusion that this person didn’t report her assault to the police is just testament to the way we stigmatise sex workers.

That being said, it is true that sex workers don’t often report crime to the police. Why? Well, because most of the time, the police are the ones assaulting them.

Sex workers are indeed abused, harassed and assaulted by entitled, violent suburban residents like Osrin – but they’re also commonly abused by the police.

If we look at Cape Town specifically, most research shows that sex workers are commonly abused and harassed by police. One of the latest and most comprehensive reports on sex work in Cape Town – “Selling Sex in Cape Town”, a report by Chandre Gould in collaboration with Nicole Fick – recorded the experiences of about 1200 sex workers in Cape Town.

According to their findings, 12% of street-based sex workers in Cape Town have been raped by police officers while 28% have been asked for sex in return for being released from police custody – a form of sexual coercion. They also found that 47% of street-based sex workers have been threatened with physical violence by a police officer. Many sex workers also recall their clients being blackmailed by police officers.

In another study, “Relying on Sex to Survive: The Fight for Decriminalization in South Africa” by Melissa Turley, 70% of South African sex workers were found to have been abused by police officers, with many reporting being raped and illegally detained.

Gould and Fick reported that 20% of brothel-based sex workers said they would not report to the police if they were victims of a crime, whether the crime was related to sex work or not. And given the above-mentioned statistics on how the police treat sex workers, it’s no wonder why.

For this reason, many researchers recommend that sex work is decriminalised. Last year the Commission for Gender equality called for the decriminalisation of sex work in their report, “Decriminalising Sex Work in South Africa: Official Position of the Commission for Gender Equality”. They essentially argued that criminalising sex work violates one’s human dignity, one’s right to freedom and security, and one’s freedom of trade – rights which are all enshrined in our constitution.

The criminalisation of sex work violates section 10 (human dignity - everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected), section 12 (Freedom and security of the person - everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right to security in and control over their body) and section 22 (Freedom of trade, occupation and profession - every citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely) of the Constitution.

The criminalisation of sex work does not stop sex work. In fact, it indirectly forces some people to stay sex work, as it allows for police to fine sex workers, who then have to pay off those fines by extending their hours. It also enables other crimes to thrive – particularly, crimes against sex workers. Of course, the decriminalisation of sex work wouldn’t completely eradicate the abuse of sex workers, but it enables them to be better protected by the law. Why don’t sex workers report assault? It’s because of the stigma relating to sex work, and because of the fact that sex work is still criminalised. 

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