We were protesting because the police were working with some nuns who were fighting against sex workers. They said sex work is not a crime and that we should organise. It had a huge impact on me to hear that we were not criminals, and there was no reason to take us to jail.
I had felt powerless. I always heard the elder sex workers telling stories. They told about the cruelty and hardships they experienced in the street. Each of them had a story of abuses, beatings, and some had even been murdered. I thought: Why then did my elders face so many injustices? I knew I was a person with rights. Nobody was entitled to insult me, abuse me, take me to jail or take away my earnings.
In Argentina there are misdemeanour codes in each province. Sex work is not criminalised in the Penal Code, but in the Misdemeanour codes, engaging in prostitution in public carries the heaviest punishment. The police can arrest you, and the police chief decides how many days you will spend in jail.
We have travelled a long way in our fight against the codes. We are taken seriously by the media. The government listens to us, even as it continues to embrace criminalisation policies. The public understands more that sex work is not a crime. We report harassment and mobilise in the streets to stop police repression. For many years in Cordoba City, sex workers have not gone to jail. But in , some did because the government is becoming more repressive.
Prohibitionist polices are becoming tougher all over the world. We need to unite with others and make our voices heard. We sex workers are oppressed by abolitionist policies that confuse sex work with trafficking. Trafficking of people is about exploitation and lack of freedom. When sex work is confused with trafficking, the real victims of trafficking are not sought. Considering the limited options available to working class women, sex work is a practice done by choice by women of legal age.
