Championing the idea of decriminalising sex work as a whole should be a cause for concern (iStock)

Eric L Martin | Human Checkout

Andrew Yang — Democratic Presidential candidate, tweeted over the weekend about decriminalising sex work on the part of the seller:

We should consider decriminalizing sex work on the part of the seller — it would be helpful in combating human trafficking. Many sex workers are themselves victims. — Andrew Yang

Before we proceed with examining what that means, we need to first define a sex worker. A Sex worker is an adult (mainly women) that is employed within the sex industry. This includes prostitution, pornography, exotic dancing etc. The sex industry includes those who provide the service, staff, management and of course the person(s) doing the buying.

Over the past few years, States around the country have sought to do a full decriminalising of sex work within the sex industry. The reason this has been pushed into legislative chambers in many States is that sex workers are often abused, assaulted and greatly mistreated by those who seek to purchase sex — especially through prostitution. Many of these victims (or survivors) are too afraid to go the police because they fear that they would be arrested and taken to jail. This can also include possible extortion and unlawful arrest that can severely affect the mental, physical and social wellbeing of a person.

Yang was careful in the language of proposing decriminalizing sex work on the part of the seller. There is a an important reason for that. Some would say that decriminalising sex work would offer a safe and regulated environment, especially when it comes to abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. While this can be largely true, there are factors behind the scene that needs to be addressed on a larger scale; as Yang’s tweet continued ‘it would be helpful in combating human trafficking.’

Human Trafficking is today’s modern day slavery. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. There are over 40 million people enslaved in the world today. 71% of those victims are of women and girls (ages 11–17). Human Trafficking is a $150 Billion industry and shows no signs of slowing down. While decriminalising sex work as a whole seems like a great idea, countries that have legalized or decriminalized commercial sex often experience a surge in human trafficking, pimping, and other related crimes.

Decriminalising sex work on part of the buyer (referring to decriminalising as a whole rather than just the seller) means that the demand for sexual exploitation will be over looked. Sex Trafficking — human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, can start as young as 11 years old. In the State of Texas there are over 79,000 children (11–17) who are caught up in human trafficking. Many times those children end up on the street as runaways. The likelihood of them becoming victims is incredibly high because they are seeking help, shelter and support in order to try and survive on the streets. Many of them have been (and will be), forced, groomed, manipulated and coerced into committing crimes while also believing their bodies are designed for sexual gratification. By the time they become adults to take part in the legal selling of their bodies their human psyche is completely stripped away.

Andrew Yang seems to understand the gravity of combating human trafficking. It further champions his Humanity First approach to his presidental campaign. While I am all for the idea of decriminalising sex work on part of the seller, there is a massive network of buyers and sellers in the human trafficking industry who will chomp at the bit at this idea of getting off without law enforcement getting involved. They won’t start at 18 years-olds; they will go as young as the buyer demands.

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur running for the presidential Democratic nomination for the United States 2020 election year. You can visit Yang2020.com for more information.