Sex-trafficking bills opposed by new prostitution lobby

A newly formed prostitution lobby in Hawaii is pushing back against bills in the Legislature that seek to combat sex trafficking in Hawaii, arguing that the executive director of the state agency that is seeking the measures wields a “radical feminist agenda” that doesn’t take into account the views of local sex workers.

Rather than focusing narrowly on the problem of trafficking, in which people are forced into the sex trade or are minors, members of the Hawaii chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, known as SWOP, say the bills seek to target prostitution as a whole and paint all sex workers as victims.

“They are trying to lump-sum all sex work into one category. … They are trying to track us more, and the claim of being able to rescue us — how do you rescue someone who doesn’t want to be rescued?” said one member of SWOP-Hawaii, adding she has worked in the sex industry for 20 years. She testified twice this year at the Legislature against the sex-trafficking measures but declined to provide the Honolulu Star-Advertiser with her real name because prostitution is illegal.

She said the bills would force prostitution further underground, making it more dangerous for sex workers.

SWOP-Hawaii was formed last year and has attracted only about a dozen people, said its co-founder and secretary, who asked to be identified by his alias Doug Upp. But its advocacy against the bills has attracted the support of longtime advocates at the state Capitol, including Kat Brady of the Community Alliance on Prisons, and Tracy Ryan, executive director of Harm Reduction Hawaii, which seeks to improve services to society’s marginalized.

“They’re talking about us. They are speaking over us, speaking for us, speaking about us — but never speaking with us,” said Upp about the state agency pushing for the legislation. “And it’s with people who really can’t out themselves.”

The two sex-trafficking bills in question were put forth by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, a state agency tasked with advocating on behalf of girls and women, which is led by Khara Jabola-­­Carolus. The bills would afford the agency a greater role in the fight against sex trafficking, putting them in charge of a sex-trafficking database and a training program for criminal justice workers.

The database would track the number of sex-trafficking cases reported in Hawaii and demographic information on victims, sex buyers and traffickers. It would also track the number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions of people who solicit sex in violation of laws against both prostitution and sex trafficking.

Another bill would put the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women in charge of creating a statewide training program on sex trafficking for law enforcement and the legal community. Hawaii is one of 12 states that haven’t enacted laws to require public agencies to receive human-trafficking training, according to the commission.

Much of the opposition to the measures has centered less on the contents of the bills and more on the agency spearheading the legislation. The Commission on the Status of Women has been criticized for conflating prostitution and sex trafficking in a report it released last year in conjunction with the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention. “Sex Trafficking in Hawaii Part 1: Exploring Online Sex Buyers” sought to explore the demand for prostitution on Oahu and Hawaii island by placing two sex advertisements on a website directed at the local market.

Critics of the study included Meda Chesney-Lind, a professor of women’s studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Nandita Sharma, an associate professor of sociology at UH Manoa, who described the report’s methodology as nonsensical and its conflation between sex work and sex trafficking as problematic in an editorial in the Star-Advertiser. They argued that the authors sought a dubious political goal of eliminating sex work altogether.

A second study, “Sex Trafficking in Hawaii: The Stories of Survivors,” was released in January and, according to Jabola-Carolus, helps form the basis of the two bills.

Criticism of the reports has dogged Jabola-Carolus during testimony this year on the bills. She said that she understands the distinction between sex trafficking and prostitution, and said the voices of people in SWOP-Hawaii are “real and valid, but they just don’t speak for everyone.”

“There is no monolithic or authentic perspective of the sex trade,” she said. “And quite frankly those that are in prostitution and can be public and out themselves are literally the most privileged in terms of having the privilege of luck and class and race and having the safety and stability to go forward to the Legislature and talk about, ‘Hey, this works for me.’”

Jabola-Carolus said she has been harassed for more than a year over her stances. A co-founder of SWOP-Hawaii posted a picture on social media of Jabola­-Carolus pulling her partner, former state Rep. Kaniela Ing, around on a dog leash. She says the group has also called her offensive names such as “breeder” and “baby mama.” (Jabola-­Carolus is pregnant and has a young son.)

Jabola-Carolus said it was unfortunate that these issues have been divisive among the advocacy community, including Harm Reduction Hawaii.

“The thing is, I think we have a lot in common. We don’t want to see people in prostitution. We understand how vulnerable they are. We don’t want to see them criminalized. We want to see them treated with dignity and humanity, regardless of whether they have a trafficker or not,” she said. “That is the tragedy of this all.”