This is not about Street Harassment, per se, but since your site mentions the ill-effects of word labels like “Eve-teasing” and “catcalls” I thought you might be open to hearing this.
I’m a guy who follows stories regarding Human Trafficking and I am in favor of any news outlet that helps to make people aware of HT and the other issues that come with it (Gender-based violence, for instance). If you wonder why a guy would be interested in a topic that so often is about victimizing women, google Sara Kruzan, and see it her story doesn’t wound your heart as it does mine, and I bet you will understand.
But I recently saw a link that made me want to shout! It was an interview regarding opposition to a bill that would have decriminalized prostitution of minors. It is still a crime and always should be a crime to force minors into prostituting themselves. But it should NEVER be a crime for the child who was forced into it. But that is a SIDE issue. What really got me mad was the headline. It read: “How the Law Should Treat Child Sex Workers: A Conversation with Ray Newman of the Georgia Baptist Convention”.
Do you see it? The 6th, 7th, and 8th words lumped together. “CHILD SEX WORKERS” Did anyone ask these “Workers” if they had a choice in the matter? Those three words do NOT belong together. The link is included if anyone wants to listen to it. bit.ly/dY4O6M
– Ed Drain
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Sue says
Not many adult ‘sex workers’ get a choice either. Indeed the majority of adult prostitutes started as children. It boils down to a difference of a day.
To call it ‘sex work’ at all is an insult to all the women and children who’ve been forced into it. Such words are used to desensitise people to the true horror of prostitution. Unfortunately it seems to work.
You see clearly through the media-speak, many don’t. All you can do is keep putting the word out there.