A Wellington sex worker responds. By presenting high-profile escort Lisa Lewis as the voice of sex workers, the article allowed a nuanced issue to be hijacked by a small group with an axe to grind. Any group that believes our job should incite others to direct dangerous discrimination and prejudice towards us cannot claim to represent our views. The NZPC are an incredibly vital foundation of the sex worker community. They provide advocacy, free healthcare, consent information, counselling and legal assistance to people, like myself, who may otherwise struggle to find support in a highly marginalised and often attacked industry.
I know they have supported me often. Even as a relatively privileged sex worker — for which a well-regulated environment, security, good health and a regular income is a given — I am extremely grateful for the NZPC.
It is something I, and many others within the industry, unequivocally support. The NZPC is campaigning to change a law which singles out sex work as the only kind of work it is illegal to do while on a work visa in New Zealand.
The law as it stands encourages the idea that sex work is somehow different or less moral than other jobs, which hurts all sex workers. They are simply supporting the human rights of foreign workers and upholding their safety and agency within the industry.
Attacking the rights of foreign sex workers leads to forced labour, exploitation and a situation in which workers are unable to report abusive clients or unsafe work practices. Like many sex workers I know, my success does not depend on attacking or harming more vulnerable workers or denying them a voice, rights or access to the tools and safety that I have. I am not willing to put other workers agency, wellbeing or lives at risk because I am afraid of competition.
