Do You Hear Them Cry South Africa?

Do You Hear Them Cry South Africa?

Today is the ‘International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers’. Participants of The Sex Worker Zine Project have been adding their voices to the #Decrim Blog Carnival. The zine project challenged stereotypes of migrant sex workers, calling for a move away from a single, rehearsed story. Here is Kagee‘s introduction to his zine, followed by its link.

Hello…

My name is Kagee R. I am a 29-year-old male sex worker from Carltonville, Gauteng (South Africa). I have been working as a sex worker for 15 years. During this time I have experienced a lot of different forms of abuse. The abuse that I want to focus on in this zine is the abuse made by those in positions of power.

I want to tell you how police abuse their power; how medical treatment staffs abuse their power; how brothel owners and hotel managers abuse their power; how clients abuse their power; and how society sometimes abuses its power.

It is important for me to share this with you because many people don’t understand how power and abuse are connected. Another reason that this is important, is because there are many sex workers out there that do not know their human rights and this zine will provide some information on sex worker HUMAN rights.

In this zine, will learn how police profile sex workers, including special ways of profiling transgender and non-national migrant sex workers. You will learn how police unlawfully arrest sex workers, detain them for longer periods of time than others sex workers, and how they refuse them basic human rights when they are arrested.

My hope is that you learn something that you didn’t know before – sex worker, or not.

Human Rights ARE Human Rights and sex workers are human.

Click here to read, download and share Kagee’s zine.