“At every turn we are making life harder both for people who want to remain in the sex trade and for those who want to leave it.”
This is the disturbing sentiment at the heart of John Oliver’s latest Last Week Tonight monologue, which examines the many issues faced by sex workers in America — from the conflation of human trafficking and sex work to the troubling way arrests of sex workers can be handled, and the fear among sex workers of what will happen if they go to the police for help.
So, what can be done to help? After talking through some possible solutions Oliver eventually lands on New Zealand, which decriminalised sex work back in 2003 after speaking to a number of people involved in the industry.
“Look, I’m not saying the New Zealand model is perfect,” Oliver says. “There are good faith disagreements to be had over the finer points of a decriminalisation policy. But if we basically agree, as I hope we do, that making sex work safer for the people who do it is a priority, it is the direction to strive toward.”
And as for the question of the people who turn to sex work for economic reasons?
“That is a huge problem,” Oliver concludes. “But the fact is, our current laws are not addressing that. If you want to do that, that’s a much bigger conversation to have because, fundamentally, the only way to make sure people have a choice in the way they earn money is to make housing affordable, healthcare accessible, and to not burden marginalised people with criminal records that lead to a cycle of joblessness, homelessness, and desperation.”
