How would you measure a woman’€™s worth? Is it in the way that she dresses? Or perhaps in the work that she does? These do not ultimately decide a woman’€™s value and every woman has rights and those rights have to be upheld no matter what type of work she does. This is the message that sex workers in South Africa and all over the world sought to deliver when they marched to voice their grievances on International Sex Worker Rights Day last week Wednesday.

They want their profession to be decriminalised. They held posters with slogans such as ‘€˜sex workers have rights’€™, ‘€˜we are not guilty of our work’€™ and ‘€˜our votes also count’€™. Mapule who is a sex worker on the streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg, says the police constantly abuse them.

‘€œMy message is for the police. They must stop calling us names; they must not use the name ‘€˜magosha’€™ to call us. I am not a ‘€˜magosha’€™. I am a sex worker because where I am working I’€™m making money for my kids’€, she says.

Thandeka, who is also a sex worker, says although she has never experienced any form of abuse, the gruesome tales her colleagues tell send shivers down her spine.

‘€œI have never been abused by police or a client, but I wonder what will happen to me some day because I feel that pain when I hear somebody else’€™s story. Like the other day when the young lady told how she was beaten by the police and pepper sprayed on the vagina, I really feel that pain’€, Thandi says.  

Sex workers also told of how clients rip them off and don’€™t pay them fair amounts for their services. Jipo and Thandi say they often find themselves in helpless situations.

‘€œI went out with this client one time. He gave me R150 and I left the money with my room-mate. But when we got to his house, he was with another friend. They both slept with me. If I still remember, it was seven rounds and I was very sick for two weeks. It’€™s painful when I think about it’€.

Thandi says there are other challenges, ‘€œThe hardest thing is when the client takes you and drops you far away in the dark wearing a mini-skirt. You have nowhere to go… its painful… you have tell the person who is going to help you the truth’€.

The Tswaranang Legal Advocacy Centre provides women with legal and counselling support services when facing abuse. Director, Lisa Vetten, says sex workers are mostly targeted on Fridays and weekends when business is booming.

‘€œMuch of the concerns revolve around harassment in the streets. Even if you are just going to the shops, policemen will just stop you and demand bribes… Unlawful arrests, assaults, demands for free sex… that sometimes translates to rape. The police know that you have to get out there and if you are arrested and off the streets you’€™re losing time’€.

Vetten says sex workers engage in a high-risk job.

‘€œIt’€™s a very risky job, it’€™s an ugly job and it’€™s a very dangerous job. It involves a lot of harassment and intimidation and threats. The men and women who do the work have no protection whatsoever. They are completely open to being exploited by others like brothel owners, pimps, police, everyone is there looking to make money from them’€, says Vetten.

Meanwhile, the march triggered anger with some of the on-lookers.

‘€œIt’€™s not right what they are doing. This is not the way life should be. It’€™s wrong for everybody’€, said one.

And another expressed his distaste towards the profession. ‘€œWe are sick and tired of our immoral society. What kind of a nation sells bodies’€?

Lisa Vetten of Tswaranang Legal Advocacy Centre says sex workers have to be aware of their rights. For instance, when they may be arrested and when they may not and what steps to take if they are arrested. They are advised to look out for the name tag of the individual arresting them.