Addressing the Harm of the Commercial Sex Industry in Rural Communities


Rationale


The Women's Network anti-sex trade activities challenge and dismantle one of the root causes of women's oppression: sexual violence against women and children. The sex trade is predicated on the systemic and institutionalized objectification of women and uses of violence to create and maintain a subordinate position for women in society. In strip clubs, for example, women routinely experience acts of violence. Research in Minnesota shows that strippers are pelted with objects (76% in a recent survey), verbally and physically abused by staff and management (85% in survey), stalked by customers (42% in survey), bitten by customers (36% in survey) as well as slapped, pinched, and called derogatory names by customers and staff. Women working in the clubs have also reported being forced into prostitution, especially in remote rural areas. The harm of pornography and prostitution has also been well-documented in numerous research studies. For example, the average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 14 (for both girls and boys). The three most common ways to escape prostitution are suicide, murder, and overdose. One measurement of the entrenchment of women's oppression in our cultural practices and institutions is the rapid rise in strip clubs in recent years. Between 1988 and 1992 alone, 50 new clubs opened each year in the U.S. The impact of the abuse perpetuated in strip clubs causes long-ranging and deep psychological, physical, and emotional scars for the women working in these environments.

The sex trade is built on all of the oppressive isms--including heterosexism, sexism, racism, ableism, and ageism. In short, the sex trade has all the hallmarks of an oppressive system bent on harming women. The sex trade perpetuates and sustains a belief that women are valueless--or that their only value lies in their bodies and, more specifically, whether their bodies are valued by men. This value system--and all of its physical realities--needs to be challenged and dissolved. It is the goal of the Women's Network to end the harm of the sex trade, a system which treats women and children as sexual toys.

Contrary to the misinformation of the sex trade, which promotes itself as part of a liberal mindset and practice that frees women, the sex trade is actually sustained by a traditional value system which views women, physically and politically, as "other." It is sustained by the power of men over women, which is a philosophy and practice consistently and implicitly endorsed by the agenda of the "Right." Nevertheless, proponents of the sex trade have created the fiction that feminists and others working for the civil rights of women in the sex trade are "in bed with" the conservative Right's anti-erotic, anti-sexual expression agenda. The Women's Network is not opposed to nudity or erotic expression. We are opposed to the cycle of violence perpetrated in the sex trade. It is important for the feminist voice to be heard in this debate so that the dismantling of the sex trade will not be part of a greater agenda to subordinate women and their power (the agenda of the Right) but, instead, a vital step forward in women's empowerment by freeing women from sexual violence (civil rights/feminist agenda). Women's rights to erotic expression must be safeguarded. Violence must be dismantled.


Initiatives


Addressing the harm of the sex industry through policy initiatives.
The Women's Network has worked in Fargo and in Wahpeton, both North Dakota, to end the harm of the stripping industry through public policy initiatives. For example, on September 23, 1996, the Fargo City Commission passed an ordinance relating to adult entertainment businesses. This ordinance zones any future establishments away from residential areas, parks, schools, churches, bars, or other adult entertainment businesses (research has shown that "harmful secondary effects"--the increase in crime and decrease in property values which inherently occurs in and around the sex trade--are greatest within 1000 feet of such establishments; the violence also multiplies when two or more businesses are in proximity to one another). This ordinance was introduced by the Fargo City Commission following a public dialogue on the harm of the sex trade. The Women's Network researched the ordinance, consulted with other groups who have engaged in similar public policy initiatives, discussed the ordinance with community members, and then gave its support.

Opponents of the ordinance continually provided misinformation about the ordinance. The Women's Network countered this misinformation through addressing the press, meeting with community members, and providing information on our online site.


Ongoing educational programs.
In January of 1996, Close to Home was introduced into the Women's Network's Speakers Bureau. This variable-length presentation examines the sex trade and its impact on rural communities. In addition, the Women's Network sponsors educational programs presented by women who have been in the sex industry in our area.

Publishing literature describing the harm of the sex trade. 
In December of 1995, the Network published Close to Home: Stripping, Prostitution, and Pornography in Rural Communities/Cerca al Hogar: El Desnudismo por Paga, La Prostitucion, y La Pornografia en las Comunidades Rurales, a 28 page, bilingual (Spanish-English), informational handbook. Since that time, we have published an number of additional handouts. All literature has been distributed free of charge to community groups, churches, women's shelters and programs, and individuals. The Women's Network's Sex Industry Task is currently working on a new publication. The Task Force is gathering stories of women in our area who have been in systems of prostitution, especially those who live in rural communities, and will be publishing these stories late in 1998.

Sex Industry Task Force
The Task Force is the newest addition to our program initiatives to address the harm of the sex trade. The Task Force is for and by prostituted women. However, others may be allowed to participate if there is a consensus of the members. The Task Force's self-defined goals are 1) Support/Self-education and 2) Public education.