In light of the Atlanta massage parlour shooting, a Monash University expert is available to discuss how the sex trade is increasingly recognised as promoting gender and racial inequality.
Tegan Larin, PhD Candidate, XYX Lab – Gender + Place, Monash Art, Design and Architecture
Contact details: +61 400 337 686 or Tegan.Larin@monash.edu
The following quotes can be attributed to Ms Larin:
“Australia is behind the rest of the world when it comes to approaching prostitution from a gender equality perspective. Australia is consistently reprimanded by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
In order to address the culture of sexism and male violence in this country, Australia must adopt a new national framework such as the Nordic model or ‘Equality’ model – that decriminalises those in prostitution but not those who exploit them (ie. pimps, buyers, brothel owners).
The Nordic model is being increasingly adopted all over the world including in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, France, Israel and is currently being considered in NY.
This model includes robust social services to support those currently relying on prostitution to survive and assist them into other industries. Importantly, it aims to address the sexist culture that says that men are entitled to women’s bodies and that women are sex objects.
We cannot begin to address the culture of sexism and male violence in this country while fostering sexism, misogyny and racism through a legitimised sex trade.
Women in the sex industry face routine violence, regard rape and assault as commonplace, and murder is even considered to be part of the job by some. Recent examples of extreme violence include a Melbourne sex buyer who shot at a woman working at a Brunswick brothel in 2017, and fatal stabbings of Tracy Connelly in 2013 and Michaela Dunn in 2019 – both stabbed to death by men who buy sex. These are examples of men who feel entitled, not only to sex, but to take a woman’s life.
Moreover, male demand for Asian women in prostitution means that Australia’s sex industry relies on the migration and trafficking of Asian women for its survival. Indeed, forms of modern slavery for the purposes of sexual exploitation, are rife in Australia’s sex industry and cases have been found in both legal and illegal brothels signalling the wholesale failure of prostitution legislation in this country.
This also raises questions about the proposed model of total decriminalisation in Victoria, which fails to distinguish between those who are exploited and those who profit from exploitation, such as pimps, brothel owners and sex buyers.”
For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, please contact the Monash University Media team on +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
