Violence against prostitutes
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Violence against sexworkers deals with the violence suffered by sex workers, who are predominantly women, including in extreme cases murder. Sex trafficking should not be lumped in with sex work, since it is non consensual and a separate issue.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).
Licensed brothels vs street sex workers
In 2004 the homicide rate for female sex workers in the United States was estimated to be 204 per 100,000, although this figure mixes illegal work with legal work.[1] This figure is considerably higher than that for the next riskiest occupations in the United States during a similar period (4 per 100,000 for female liquor store workers and 29 per 100,000 for male taxicab drivers).[2] However, there are substantial differences in rates of victimization between street prostitutes and indoor sex workers who work as call girls, or in brothels and massage parlors.[3]
Women who work legally in licensed brothels are much less likely to be victimized.[4] However there are rare attacks or murders of sex workers in licensed brothels. For example, in June 2003, a Thai sex worker was murdered with a knife by a customer in the Pascha brothel in Köln, Germany. She managed to press the alarm button in her room and security personnel caught the perpetrator. Violence against male prostitutes is less common.[5]
Violent clients, pimps and police officers
Perpetrators may include violent clients, pimps, and corrupt law-enforcement officers.[citation needed] Sex workers themselves are often forced by laws on sex work often take their clients to out of the way places where they are less likely to be interrupted, which is very convenient for their attackers.In juristctiions where sex work is legal but Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).must be solo sex workers are forced to work alone, increasing risk. In countries such as the US where sex work is illegal they are often treated as criminals rather than victims.Stigma also means in certain countries the police are less likely to investigate attacks on sex workers.
[6]
According to a study conducted on one hundred and thirty people working in San Francisco as adults in prostitution, 82% had been physically assaulted, 83% had been threatened with a weapon and 68% had been raped while working as prostitutes.[7]
Serial killers
Sex workers (particularly those engaging in street prostitution) are also sometimes targeted by serial killers, who may consider them easy pickings and less likely to be missed, or who use the religious and social stigma associated with sex workers as justification for their murder.
The unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper killed at least five sex workers in London in 1888. Due to the frequent murders of prostitutes at that time and place, however, it is difficult to be certain of the number killed by Jack the Ripper. These particular murders are distinguished from other murders of sex workers during the same time period due to the post-mortem mutilations that occurred, and it is for that reason that other murders of prostitutes are not usually attributed to the Ripper, or are disputed.
Peter Sutcliffe (aka the Yorkshire Ripper) murdered 13 women, some of whom were sex workers, from 1975-1980 in Northern England.
Gary Ridgway (aka the Green River Killer), confessed to killing 48 sex workers from 1982 to 1998, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.[8]
Robert Hansen murdered between 15 and 21 sex workers, near Anchorage, Alaska, between 1980 and 1983.
Joel Rifkin confessed to killing 17 sex workers in the New York area between 1989 and 1993, without there having been a missing persons report filed on any of the women during that time.
More recently, Robert Pickton, a Canadian who lived near Vancouver, made headlines after the remains of numerous missing sex workers were found on his family farm. He has now been convicted of the murders of 6 women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and is suspected by police of killing at least twenty more (though no charges have been filed in relation to their deaths). In December 2007 he was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
In December 2006, Steve Wright murdered five sex workers in Ipswich, England (see Ipswich serial murders).
References
Notes
- ^ Potterat et al., 2004
- ^ Castillo et al., 1994
- ^ Weitzer 2000, 2005
- ^ Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity: Embracing Diversity - Page 527, Janell L. Carroll - 2009
- ^ Dynes, Wayne R. (1990), "Prostitution", Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, Chicago: St. James Press, Vol 2; pp. 1054–1058
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21226729
- ^ "Prostitution Research & Education Website". Prostitutionresearch.com. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
- ^ CNN.com Retrieved on 10-27-07
Sources
- Potterat JJ, Brewer DD, Muth SQ; et al. (April 2004). "Mortality in a long-term open cohort of prostitute women". Am. J. Epidemiol. 159 (8): 778–85. doi:10.1093/aje/kwh110. PMID 15051587.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Weitzer R (2005). "New Directions in Research on Prostitution" (PDF). Crime, Law, and Social Change. 43 (4–5): 211–35. doi:10.1007/s10611-005-1735-6.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Weitzer R (2006). "Moral Crusade Against Prostitution" (PDF). Society (March–April): 33–8. ISSN 1524-8879.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Castillo DN, Jenkins EL (February 1994). "Industries and occupations at high risk for work-related homicide". J Occup Med. 36 (2): 125–32. doi:10.1097/00043764-199402000-00006. PMID 8176509.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
