Aloha!
Thanks for your interest in SWOP Hawaii. We’re the Hawaii chapter of the national Sex Workers Outreach Project. We’re small but growing, comprised mainly of current or former adult consensual sex workers. We welcome participation & support from others who want to help us attain equal rights & access to services that would help us at least survive, or even exit the sex trade if we wanted.
Let us know what’s on your mind! Get in touch to find out what we’re doing, or give us ideas on issues to consider & educational moments. Easy ways to contact us include our social media accounts @SWOPHawaii on Instagram and Twitter. Our primary goal is to achieve better conditions for everyone in the sex trade/industry and we want it to be fun and peaceful.
One thing that’s confusing to many (mainly people who are not part of the sex worker community) is the difference between sex workers, and people who have experienced human trafficking. Sex workers are adults who choose to trade sexual services for something of value, including money or other services, maybe food or shelter. Trafficking is involuntary labor brought about by force, fraud, or coercion. Most of it happens in farming & clothing industries, or domestic & construction fields, but focus & funding is on the smaller number in the sex trade. There’s much misunderstanding between different ways that sex work is handled under the law. Several legal models are used to regulate “prostitution,” or the buying & selling of sexual services. In most of the US where it’s illegal, we currently have Prohibition or Criminalization. But in some counties in Nevada, Legalization comes with numerous rules & limitations. There’s also Partial Legalization, or the “Swedish Model” or “Nordic Model” or “End Demand” approach, where charging for sex is legal, but paying for it is not often still hurting the sex worker. Decriminalization, or removing laws against being or working with a sex worker has been successful in New Zealand & the Australian state of New South Wales. Decriminalization gives sex workers labor rights, entitling them to fair & safe working conditions, plus protection from law enforcement.