The problem with prostitution, sex violence and trafficking is similar to pretty much everywhere in the world, Julie Bindel an English writer, feminist, journalist and co-founder of the law-reform group ‘Justice for Women’ has told Cyprus News Agency.
Bindel visited Cyprus recently as a guest of MIGS, the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies and presented her latest book, ‘’The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth’’. The book is set to be launched in Cyprus next month.
Bindel, who has extensive experience in issues related to prostitution and violence against women shared her views and suggestions with CNA as regards the dimensions of the problem in Cyprus and what the authorities, NGOs and others, need to do in order to tackle it.
‘’There is a vibrant sex trade, the women not the men are stigmatised, and of course it is a destination and a transit country for trafficking. We need to remember that trafficking is merely international pimping, and trafficking (as a process) could not exist if there wasn`t already a normalised and vibrant sex trade in Cyprus’’, Bindel told CNA.
She pointed out that the government needs to consider criminalising the demand, because this is a demand led problem. She underlined however that selling sex must be decriminalised, as we should not punish people for their abuse.
We asked her whether the migration and refugee crisis has worsen the situation as regards prostitution, trafficking and violence.
‘’Of course the most disenfranchised women end up in prostitution, some of them being migrants and refugees. The sex trade targets the most vulnerable women, and racism and colonialism of course exacerbates the problem. Women in detention centres, prisons, and refugee camps are of course the victims of sexual abuse, including prostitution, en masse’’, she said.
But how difficult is it to report on these issues and are the victims willing to talk? According to Bindel, the victims/survivors are willing to talk if they get the right support.
‘’But we should not just rely on these women to tell their stories of horror. These women are the experts, and can help us develop policy and practice that looks towards eradicating the sex trade, and punishing the men driving this trade. They can also tell is what will deter the sex buyers’’, she said.
Invited to say whether she receives threats for her work, she says ‘yes’.
‘’I do receive threats, but any feminist that challenges men`s sexual violence and entitlement receive threats’’, she told CNA.
In a question as to what can we do to educate people and raise awareness, the English activists points out that we need to begin with children very young, but we also need to educate policymakers, government officials, lawmakers, and the general public about the social ill that is prostitution, and how it is not a victimless crime.
Replying to another questions about recent reports on sexual harassment incidents related to Oxfam and past reports about UN Humanitarian Services mostly in African countries, she said that unfortunately, white powerful men have always abused women in the developing world when they are there in the country supposedly supporting them and helping them make their lives better not worse.
‘’It is a disgrace that some pro-legalisation lobbyists, that are nothing better than a mouthpiece for pimps, are saying it is better that these women sell Sexton starve. We should be looking at other ways to make sure that women and their children do not starve rather than suggesting it is a legitimate trade for men to read the inside of their bodies’’, she said.
So far Bindel has published three other books and numerous reports and studies on sex violence against women. Her fourth book, as she says, looks at debunking the myths about the sex trade, and reporting on the realities. It is also a detailed examination of the pro-prostitution lobby, and how they have, until recently, influenced the vast majority of people in their views of the sex trade.
‘’Now that the abolitionist movement is growing (those of us that wish to abolish the sex trade – led by sex trade survivors) we are getting our point across far better. My book is basically a whistlestop tour of the global sex trade, and how we can all fight to eradicate it’’, she told CNA.
Julie Bindel has been active in the global campaign to end violence towards women and children since 1979 and has written extensively on surrogacy, rape, domestic violence, sexually motivated murder, prostitution and trafficking, child sexual exploitation, stalking, and the rise of religious fundamentalism and its harm to women and girls.
Bindel has authored over 30 book chapters and reports on a range of topics pertaining to gender inequality and abuse, and writes regularly for “The Guardian”, “Independent”, the “New Statesman”, “Spectator”, and “Truthdig”.
She appears regularly on the BBC and Sky News. She also produces radio documentaries on various aspects of violence and exploitation of women and girls.
