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A World Cup Debate: Instant replay or legal sex trade?
Posted in: News & Updates by Andre Lau on July 13, 2010
Hamilton, ON—The last whistle has been blown, and looking back on the past month, the World Cup seems to have been a relative success. With the numerous referee debacles, fans around the world saw the need to revisit the instant replay debate. What the world didn’t see on their television screens was the need for a more regulated sex trade.
Sex on the sidelines is a World Cup mainstay. Sex huts and zones brought sex workers and soccer fans together during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where prostitution is legalized. South Africa, however, brought a different story.
The issue of sex work brought with it many more concerns in a country like South Africa where HIV/AIDS is widespread. Not only is the safety of women and children who are forced into sexual slavery a concern. But for many of the international visitors planning on paying for sex, the high rates of HIV/AIDS puts a much more serious price tag on pleasure.
HIV/AIDS is rampant among South African prostitutes and sex workers. One in two sex workers in South Africa are HIV-positive, and less than 30% of people with full blown AIDS are taking the appropriate medication. With an estimated 350,000 soccer fans who visited South Africa in the last month, the potential for the spread of the deadly virus was undeniable.
Furthermore, over 40,000 international sex workers were also expected to visit South Africa, adding more unpredictable numbers of HIV carriers into the mix and creating a potential recipe for disaster.
Keeping the sex trade illegal in South Africa isn’t doing enough to safeguard women, children and consumers from disease and exploitation. And the Sex-Worker Education and Advocacy Task (SWEAT) has actually been advocating for the legalization of prostitution with the hopes of decreasing human trafficking and the transfer of HIV.
Advocates of legalization want to establish a system where sex workers report to a central organizing body where they would regularly be tested for HIV and only given legal permission to work if their results remained negative. They assert that regulated legalization would not only decrease the likelihood of transferring the deadly virus, but also drastically decrease the trafficking of children.
In the months leading up to the World Cup, South African President Jacob Zuma warned of the increased possibilities of human trafficking and HIV infection for the host nation. He made public statements expressing his concern, tripled the amount of condoms his government distributed, and got tested to show his support. This effort demonstrated South Africa’s commitment to preventing the further spread of HIV, both at home and abroad.
However, critics argue that international cautionary measures regarding HIV by visiting countries were not taken into consideration in distributed travel advisories. Travelers were warned of potential dangers such as common diseases, heat warnings and theft, but left uneducated to the harms of HIV.
The issue runs much deeper than the legalization of the sex trade though. Why are women and children forced into sexual labour in the first place? For those who aren’t, why is the sex trade a viable option worth considering?
For many women in South Africa, sex work comes as a last resort after being denied the chance to receive an education or develop the necessary skills to enter fulfilling career paths. Young women are also tricked into prostitution with false hopes of legitimate employment by powerful male figures or even kidnapped by human trafficking rings. They are beaten and tortured, both mentally and physically, until they give into their aggressor’s sexual demands.
However, legalizing the sex trade does not come without opposition. After all, the shaky moral ground that forms the foundation of prostitution is the reason it is illegal in the first place.
The stigmas surrounding sex trade legalization and HIV will remain in constant heated debate. But one thing is certain. The sex trade is something that will always follow the World Cup wherever it goes. It is entrenched in the tournament’s culture. Legal sex trades will never be morally accepted. But accepting the realities and taking action to promote safe sex should be.
Comments
Great article, Andre! Definitely one of my favourites.
Comment by Michael Pett on July 13, 2010 at 11:55 am
whoever thought of this idea was a genius.
great work andre! i like how your voice comes out in the piece.
Comment by Erika Strong on August 3, 2010 at 10:31 pm