This is a hot topic again at the moment due to the recent stabbing death of a Sex Worker in Sydney. However, Sex Worker Safety should never be far from our thoughts. I have only worked privately in QLD (having worked in brothels in VIC, ACT, NT & QLD). The QLD prostitution laws are extremely outdated and make it very hard for private sex workers to operate safely & securely.
"Private work (sole operator) – a sex worker that works privately from a premises, that provides out calls, or both. It is illegal for a sole operator sex worker to operate in conjunction with any other sex worker." - what does this mean? This means that a sex worker cannot check in & out with another sex worker when they are going on a job, it also means that sex workers cannot work with another sex worker in the same room, let alone the same hotel, They cannot hire a driver (unless they hold a body guard or crowd controllers licence) or a receptionist to answer their calls. This becomes very isolating for Private workers in QLD. When I was working privately in QLD I would only offer out calls to hotels and serviced apartments as I did not feel safe providing services to private houses. My screening process was fairly tight, if the booking process was too long or painful I would decline to see the client. I would never provide my address until at least an hour before the booking when I required the client to confirm. As a result I never encountered any safety issues as a private operator, that doesn't mean that I didn't feel unsafe at one time or another and I did in fact break the law on occasion by letting a fellow sex work & friend know where I was if I felt uneasy.. but not all workers are as lucky.
It is long overdue that Safe Sex Work Laws should be introduced for all states. No one should have to chose between feeling safe and breaking the law regardless of their job.
"Private work (sole operator) – a sex worker that works privately from a premises, that provides out calls, or both. It is illegal for a sole operator sex worker to operate in conjunction with any other sex worker." - what does this mean? This means that a sex worker cannot check in & out with another sex worker when they are going on a job, it also means that sex workers cannot work with another sex worker in the same room, let alone the same hotel, They cannot hire a driver (unless they hold a body guard or crowd controllers licence) or a receptionist to answer their calls. This becomes very isolating for Private workers in QLD. When I was working privately in QLD I would only offer out calls to hotels and serviced apartments as I did not feel safe providing services to private houses. My screening process was fairly tight, if the booking process was too long or painful I would decline to see the client. I would never provide my address until at least an hour before the booking when I required the client to confirm. As a result I never encountered any safety issues as a private operator, that doesn't mean that I didn't feel unsafe at one time or another and I did in fact break the law on occasion by letting a fellow sex work & friend know where I was if I felt uneasy.. but not all workers are as lucky.
It is long overdue that Safe Sex Work Laws should be introduced for all states. No one should have to chose between feeling safe and breaking the law regardless of their job.
