filed under Criminal Justice
An Unusual Sunday Morning
7:44AM ON
10/26/2009
BY
Dave Segal
UPDATE: You can now download audio interviews and clips from the meeting here, here, and here.
ORIGINAL: It’s well covered in this morning’s article by Steve Peoples:
The women gathered at this Providence community center are prostitutes. And they are here, early this Sunday morning, because they want to keep their jobs.
“No one here is under any force to be working in this field,” said Sunyo Williams through an interpreter. “We are willing to answer one by one and testify that this is our own choice.”
Williams sat in a circle of more than 30 Korean spa workers — most wearing hooded sweatshirts or winter jackets, jeans and designer sneakers — drawn to this plain room with cinderblock walls to learn how and why the General Assembly may outlaw their source of income this week.
Our quick read of the situation made it impossible to know who among the women, if any, might have been coerced in the hard sense. It seems safe to say that at least some were working because of unfortunate economic circumstances, but the way the meeting came about — workers calling fellow workers at other spas, most of whom did not know each other prior to Friday — makes it seem unlikely that many of them would identify as being forced to do the work that they do, or would be identified by the spa managers as such: The sense among organizers and most attendees was that spas where the women are tightly controlled would have been loathe to permit their workers to attend, knowing that legislators, representatives from victims’ rights groups, and anti-human trafficking activists would be present, and that the meeting would be controlled and translated by others, in a foreign environment, with dozens of spa workers milling about the building and parking lot. (State and local police were invited, but did not attend.)
Full disclosure, though — at least one anti-trafficking activist took the meeting’s dynamic as evidence of trafficking.
Many of the women spoke English well, and there’s some audio that will probably be posted later. It is clear that not every person in attendance was a “manager” of a brothel — there were many rank-and-file workers there, and more women present than there are known brothels in the state — but I cannot speak to the situation of any particular interviewee. I have no way to affirm which specific women were or were not being forthright. But many expressed sentiments along these lines:
The new law would target the men who pay for sex, landlords who “knowingly” allow prostitution, and women such as Williams, a 53-year-old single mother who uses money from prostitution to help finance her daughter’s college education.
“I do not want anything to happen until she finishes school….If I get arrested, my children get hurt.”
Williams, who speaks broken English, moved to Rhode Island from Arkansas seven years ago because she heard “the schools were good here.” A mother of two, with little education, she quickly found employment in a Pawtucket spa that offered sex for money.
It was only last year, she says, that she learned indoor prostitution was legal. “Everybody found out last year,” she said. “Before, we don’t know. We were very careful.”
Williams works in the Pawtucket spa with three other women. She says that each has a separate tax identification number and pays taxes.
No matter the specific predicament of each individual woman present, whether or not they were there freely, one thing remains starkly clear, or grew even clearer: The answer cannot possibly be to put all of these women, and so many more, in prison.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:34AM
mangeek Says:
Well considering that there are upwards of a million sex workers in the USA, and the -highest- number from the trafficking organizations is 20,000 annually (with low estimates down near 1,500), and only about half of those are in the sex trade… That’s between 0.15% and 2% of sex workers… Or blown up to Rhode Island’s massage parlor employment (about 200), between 0.3 and 4 trafficked sex workers.
Awesome… Even at best, we’re going to spend millions, lose millions in economic activity, and put 200 women out of jobs to find between 0.3 and 4 trafficked women. That’s just great public policy.
Reply
October 26th, 2009 at 9:39AM
mangeek Says:
Whoops, halve my numbers, I forgot to factor in that only 1/2 of the 20,000 or 1,500 are trafficked for sex.
Even at best, we’re going to spend millions, lose millions in economic activity, and put 200 women out of jobs to find between 0.15 and 2 trafficked women. That’s just great public policy.
Reply
October 26th, 2009 at 3:14PM
A Kernel Of Wisdom From The Peanut Gallery | Providence Daily Dose Says:
[...] of comments on the Projo article to which David refers below, most of which were in favor of keeping prostitution legal. We liked this one: “Sex is yucky [...]
October 26th, 2009 at 3:15PM
Change the Mission, Declare Victory, Move On « Kmareka.com Says:
[...] Providence Daily Dose also covered the meeting. [...]
October 26th, 2009 at 3:22PM
Nancy Green Says:
To me this was a bait and switch, starting as an effort to stop human trafficking, and ending with ‘closing the loophole’ so that we can all feel like something was accomplished. The fact that it took this long for the women in the ’spas’ to come forward shows how little power they have, even without being made criminal.
I have more faith in the Polaris Project and social workers who help individuals who want help. I don’t like the proliferation of sex businesses in our city, but arresting the women will not stop prostitution.
http://kmareka.com/2009/10/26/change-the-mission-declare-victory-move-on/
Reply
October 26th, 2009 at 3:45PM
mangeek Says:
Nancy, I’m a Pawtucket homeowner and I can understand not wanting the ‘proliferation of sex businesses’, but considering that legal indoor work is safer and more lucrative for the sex workers, wouldn’t you prefer it over dangerous and unseemly outdoor work?
Some say “we’ve gone from five to thirty spas! Something needs to be done!” while I look at the number of arrests of street workers -plummet-. Pawtucket only arrested -eight- street workers lat year… Eight. In a city of 70,000. I also live in Pawtucket, and I used to live downtown, and I never saw prostitutes out on the street.
As far as I’m concerned, the spas are good neighbors, I’ve never so much as heard a peep from them or their customers (I live near Main St. Spa now, and used to live only a block from Pleasant St. Spa). I think they need to be zoned and such, but they’re really not bad at all as neighbors. If they’re at all responsible for the precipitous drop in street prostitution, and the’re all there by their own accord, I’m a happy camper.
Reply
October 27th, 2009 at 9:40AM
A Special Session . . . | Providence Daily Dose Says:
[...] note: All kidding aside, the much-discussed prostitution issue is also on the agenda and apparently our own Matthew Lawrence will be testifying today. I’m sure he [...]
October 27th, 2009 at 10:38AM
David Segal: Rhode Island Inches Closer To Banning Prostitution :: MR PC EASY Says:
[...] of the women spoke passable or good English, and there’s some audio posted here. It is clear that not every person in attendance was a “manager” of a brothel — [...]