ON March 27, 2021, Dr Madeline Berma upon invitation from Pertubuhan Kesihatan dan Kebajikan Umum Malaysia (PKKUM) delivered a talk on her capacity as Commissioner of SUHAKAM and made a statement online which detailed her paper on the 'Human Rights of Sex Workers in Malaysia'.
A commissioner for human rights in Malaysia should have not fallen for the deception created by the multi-billion-dollar sexual exploitation industry which was built upon the backs of the bodies of real women and girls who have been raped, assaulted, trafficked and murdered.
Let us be frank. Even the term 'sex worker' is one which has been created and popularised to lend some sort of euphemistic 'dignity' and the illusion of choice to prostitution and other forms of sex work including that of pornography.
The reality is that 'sex work' is not work like 'any other job'. Escaped prostitutes' testimonies fuel many women's organizations to try to help women out of prostitution across the globe. Many women are driven by poverty, criminally trapped or even trafficked into it. They are often unable to exit, hardly an occupation made by free will or choice.
Melissa Farley, a clinical psychologist who has worked in this field for 25 years, reports in the Journal of Trauma Practice that 70 per cent of prostituted women had a history of childhood abuse which led to their entry into prostitution. It is well-known in the industry that incest is the 'training ground' or 'bootcamp' for prostitution, making young children and teenagers extremely vulnerable.
This is an 'occupation' which allows men to buy access to women's bodies. Upon entering prostitution, it is immediately clear that there is no respect for human rights or physical boundaries. Why? As soon as a 'client' (sometimes called a 'john') buys access, he often demands more than what was agreed on.
If a prostituted woman tries to enforce the terms of the 'purchase', more often than not violence ensues and it is common for prostituted women to be raped, kicked, hit, pushed, pulled, choked, spit on, have their hair torn out or have things thrown at them. Not to mention being humiliated verbally and psychologically by name-calling, insults, humiliations, threats and intimidation.
It is mind-boggling that SUHAKAM seems to think that any kind of human rights can be enforced upon this situation. Even the sex industry itself knows that this violence occurs. A pro-sex worker group in South Africa actually advises prostitutes to check their clients for knives, handcuffs, rope and even pillows as potential murder weapons. They are told not to use handbags with long straps which can be used by clients as weapons for strangulation.
Other groups promote crisis management techniques used in hostage situations so that prostituted women learn how to 'negotiate' with the buyer for their own safety. In what way does this have any resemblance to 'normal employment'? Clearly 'sex work' is not 'work'. It is oppression.
Countries where prostitution is legal have not solved any of these problems. The most famous of them all, the Netherlands, is no exception. Job Cohen, the former mayor of Amsterdam said, in a report by the New York Times on 24 February 2008 (well before the popularization of pornography tube sites), that this business is out of control:
"We've realized this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but those big crime organizations are involved here in trafficking women, drugs, killings, and other criminal activities". The report also states that "in some ways, city officials concede they are having to deal with problems created by the Netherlands' own lenient policies.
In 1997, the United Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO) examined the rapid growth of prostitution in Southeast Asia and concluded that it has serious implications relating to public morality, social welfare, transmission of HIV/AIDS, criminality and sexual exploitation of children.
Two decades later, the same ILO reported that 99 per cent of victims in the commercial sex industry are women and girls, who are disproportionately affected by forced labour. This is how sex-work or prostitution has become one of the major forms of unskilled labour which provides earnings for women in communities coping with poverty or unemployment.
Ironically, instead of shutting the doors to prostitution of women and children, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), violence and abuse by clients and harsh legal repercussions, sex workers' supporters instead decided to give leeway to the massive sex industry in the name of 'human rights'.
The wilful ignorance to the cruel reality of the growing global sex trade is just utterly insane, not to mention in complete contradiction to our religion, morals and way of life. Moreover, it is shocking to witness the sheer hypocrisy and deafening silence of feminists and other women's organizations regarding this industry which clearly only rewards capitalistic and depraved men.
We advise everyone to respect our country's laws, in particular Section 372 of the Penal Code and the various provisions for Muslims in the Syariah Criminal Offences Acts or Enactments.
We reiterate that all forms of 'sex work' ranging from prostitution to pornography and everything in between need to be abolished, exit strategies formulated for those within it, and clients who patron them need to be severely punished as a form of prevention.
The writer is Youth & Media Exco, The International Women's Alliance for Family Institution & Quality Education (WAFIQ)