Contagious Diseases Act 1864
Passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1864, this act served as a protective measure for British soldiers and sailors against veneral diseases.
Prostitution dates back as early as 2400 BCE which took place in temples as an act of fertility practices by deities. “Sacred prostitution” is widely debated by scholars.
The first law to criminalize sex work was the Page Act of 1875, an anti-immigration law, which prohibited Chinese women from immigrating to the United States as they were seen as a threat to white families.
Origins of sex work
Sex Purchase Act (Nordic Model)
Page Act of 1875
In 1999, Sweden introduced the Sex Purchase Act, a policy that criminalizes the buying of sex but not the selling of it. This model aims to reduce the demand for commercial sex and has since been adopted by other countries, including Norway, Canada, and Israel
1910-15
+info
+info
1873
C17th
1999
1875
1864
2400 BCE
Chicago Vice Commission and Committee Fifteen
Many anti-prostitution loitering laws stemmed from English vagrancy laws in the 17th century, targeting individuals living "lewd and idle" lifestyles.
In 1910, Mayor Fred A. Busse of Chicago established a commission to investigate and reform the city's prostitution industry leading to the abolishment of the Levee, a red light district in the metropolitan area. Following this, a private organization called the Committee of Fifteen lead an intensive anti-vice enforcement concluding that "most prostitutes were Black" and falsely persecuting them.
Comstock Act of 1873
Vagrancy Laws
The Comstock Act of 1873 is an anti-obscenity law enacted by Anthony Comstock criminalizing the transportation of “indecent and immoral” materials such as those related to pornography, reproductive and sexual health by the US Postal Service
+info
Read more
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the global health funding to combat HIV/AIDS infections across the globe was enacted in 2003. The U.S. has invested over $120 billion saving 26 million lives since its inception. Funding contained an anti-prostitution clause, which requires all recipients to sign an anti-prostitution pledge, alienating sex workers.
SESTA/FOSTA passed into law on April 11, 2018, which amended the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 safe harbors to exclude enforcement of state and federal sex trafficking laws from its immunity
+info
2013
2018
2003
Operation Chokepoint 2013 was a United States Department of Justice initiative by the Obama Administration which investigated banks and tspecific business customers such as firearm dealers, payday lenders, sex work and other adult related businesses. as well as companies believed to be at a "high risk" for fraud and money laundering. This in turn resulted in the closure of sex workers' bank acounts.
Operation Chokepoint
Read more
Evolution of sex work
Vocation/Location
Operation Chokepoint 2.0
While Operation Chokepoint was repealed in 2017 by the Trump Administration, it was revived by the Biden Administartion with a purpose to targeting cryptocurrency.
Why is this important?
After experiencing financial discrimination from major banks and other payment platforms (i.e. PayPal), sex workers turned to cryptocurrency for financial security.
immigration laws following the page act
Click the blinking red buttons to reveal anti-immigration policies impacting sex workers.
influence in the united states
Chamberlain-Kahn Act of 1918
In 1918, the Chamberlain–Kahn Act was enacted to combat veneral diseases. This public health program ceded power to the government to quarantine any woman suspected of having a sexually transmitted disease and such findings would warrant incarceration for prostitution. Conseequently, over 30,000 women were incarcerated who tested positive for an STD.
The Evolution of vagrancy laws
The impacts of sesta/fosta
The bills had virtually no impact on trafficking victims, and instead, created a ripe environment for trafficking to continue. The enactment of SESTA/FOSTA resulted in the abolishment of sex worker sites like Backpage, a classified advertising site utilized by sex workers to promote themselves online, granting them the freedom and ability to interact with and screen clients as a safety precaution. Many sex workers who used online sites were often from marginalized populations and used it as a tool to screen clients as well as find safe work and resources. This led to increased violence of marginalized people as they lost the only community and harm reduction support they knew, and were pushed in unsafe conditions.
Anti-SW Legislation
DeCarri Robinson
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Transcript
Contagious Diseases Act 1864
Passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1864, this act served as a protective measure for British soldiers and sailors against veneral diseases.
Prostitution dates back as early as 2400 BCE which took place in temples as an act of fertility practices by deities. “Sacred prostitution” is widely debated by scholars.
The first law to criminalize sex work was the Page Act of 1875, an anti-immigration law, which prohibited Chinese women from immigrating to the United States as they were seen as a threat to white families.
Origins of sex work
Sex Purchase Act (Nordic Model)
Page Act of 1875
In 1999, Sweden introduced the Sex Purchase Act, a policy that criminalizes the buying of sex but not the selling of it. This model aims to reduce the demand for commercial sex and has since been adopted by other countries, including Norway, Canada, and Israel
1910-15
+info
+info
1873
C17th
1999
1875
1864
2400 BCE
Chicago Vice Commission and Committee Fifteen
Many anti-prostitution loitering laws stemmed from English vagrancy laws in the 17th century, targeting individuals living "lewd and idle" lifestyles.
In 1910, Mayor Fred A. Busse of Chicago established a commission to investigate and reform the city's prostitution industry leading to the abolishment of the Levee, a red light district in the metropolitan area. Following this, a private organization called the Committee of Fifteen lead an intensive anti-vice enforcement concluding that "most prostitutes were Black" and falsely persecuting them.
Comstock Act of 1873
Vagrancy Laws
The Comstock Act of 1873 is an anti-obscenity law enacted by Anthony Comstock criminalizing the transportation of “indecent and immoral” materials such as those related to pornography, reproductive and sexual health by the US Postal Service
+info
Read more
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the global health funding to combat HIV/AIDS infections across the globe was enacted in 2003. The U.S. has invested over $120 billion saving 26 million lives since its inception. Funding contained an anti-prostitution clause, which requires all recipients to sign an anti-prostitution pledge, alienating sex workers.
SESTA/FOSTA passed into law on April 11, 2018, which amended the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 safe harbors to exclude enforcement of state and federal sex trafficking laws from its immunity
+info
2013
2018
2003
Operation Chokepoint 2013 was a United States Department of Justice initiative by the Obama Administration which investigated banks and tspecific business customers such as firearm dealers, payday lenders, sex work and other adult related businesses. as well as companies believed to be at a "high risk" for fraud and money laundering. This in turn resulted in the closure of sex workers' bank acounts.
Operation Chokepoint
Read more
Evolution of sex work
Vocation/Location
Operation Chokepoint 2.0
While Operation Chokepoint was repealed in 2017 by the Trump Administration, it was revived by the Biden Administartion with a purpose to targeting cryptocurrency.
Why is this important?
After experiencing financial discrimination from major banks and other payment platforms (i.e. PayPal), sex workers turned to cryptocurrency for financial security.
immigration laws following the page act
Click the blinking red buttons to reveal anti-immigration policies impacting sex workers.
influence in the united states
Chamberlain-Kahn Act of 1918
In 1918, the Chamberlain–Kahn Act was enacted to combat veneral diseases. This public health program ceded power to the government to quarantine any woman suspected of having a sexually transmitted disease and such findings would warrant incarceration for prostitution. Conseequently, over 30,000 women were incarcerated who tested positive for an STD.
The Evolution of vagrancy laws
The impacts of sesta/fosta
The bills had virtually no impact on trafficking victims, and instead, created a ripe environment for trafficking to continue. The enactment of SESTA/FOSTA resulted in the abolishment of sex worker sites like Backpage, a classified advertising site utilized by sex workers to promote themselves online, granting them the freedom and ability to interact with and screen clients as a safety precaution. Many sex workers who used online sites were often from marginalized populations and used it as a tool to screen clients as well as find safe work and resources. This led to increased violence of marginalized people as they lost the only community and harm reduction support they knew, and were pushed in unsafe conditions.