The Liberal Party’s most senior woman thinks she holds the answer to Australia’s rampant gender inequality and disrespect of women: ban strip clubs.
Sussan Ley has called for a pause on the opening of new strip clubs this week and is calling for a national conversation about this issue.
Her comments follow community backlash over plans for a new establishment in her electorate, with Ley subsequently questioning the “moral value” for society in opening more of them. She followed on to suggest that the “entertainment” offered, often degraded women and placed them at significant personal and financial risk. The safety of women working at these venues and whether they were being paid “fairly”, was paramount.
Responding to the story on The Daily Aus’s Instagram feed, Tarang Chawla, a prominent advocate against violence however, suggested strip clubs weren’t the reason some men weren’t respecting women’s bodily autonomy.
“Maybe we just need to work with the boys and men on attitudes and behaviour instead of telling women what to do/not do. But thanks for trying, Sussan”, he wrote.
While Georgie Purcell, a former stripper who now sits in the Victorian Parliament for the Animal Justice Party, wrote: “Just here to say sex work is real work, and it’s time that all politicians supported sex workers and legislated for them in the ways it is *actually* needed”.
“I respect the right of women to engage in this work. But we have to make sure it’s safe for them,” Ley responded to Purcell.
Speaking to Women’s Agenda this morning however, Purcell suggests that “the critical point that Sussan Ley’s missing is that in order to protect women, we must penalise them and forms of their employment, and it’s completely delegitimising sex work”, she says.
While Ley’s central thesis holds true, that strip clubs are often unsafe for the women who work in them, the answer is not to burn down the house and prohibit the sector altogether, but to explore the ways policies can be enacted to wholly support women working in this industry.
Purcell says that sex workers must feel safe in their place of employment and there are key measures that can be taken to make sure they are.
“Just because people are doing sex work doesn’t mean that they lose their bodily autonomy. It doesn’t make them devoid of consent which is something that many sex workers experience in their time. And because of the stigma around their work, they’re often hesitant to report misconduct because they know that authorities will see the fact that they’re doing that work as an open invitation for anything. We can better protect workers in clubs by ensuring that anyone who is particularly intoxicated or misbehaving is not welcome in that place and we need to take women’s reports seriously about repeat offenders in strip clubs and brothels.”
Purcell also notes the need for state governments to promote the work that they’ve done on decriminalisation, so that sector workers have resources about where they can go.
Not all states have decriminalised sex work, however. South Australia and Western Australia have taken no steps to change current legislation, while in Queensland, the current system still regulates sex work as prostitution, with sex workers stigmatised and vulnerable to exploitation and violence as a result.
Earlier this year, Queensland Attorney-general, Shannon Fentiman said the government was committed to decriminalising the sex work industry following a review into the current system.
“The commission found that the current laws stigmatise sex workers, increase their vulnerability to exploitation and violence and fail to protect their human rights,” Fenitman said.
“The review has provided the opportunity to consider how best to modernise our laws, support business in the state, and reduce discrimination and stigma associated with workers in the sex work industry.”
But Fentiman likewise stressed the centrality of “community expectations”– something that Purcell deems resoundingly unhelpful to progress.
“There’s still massive stigma around sex workers as workers, but that’s exactly what they are”, she says.
“And even using terminology, like ‘community expectations’, it’s not something that you would use about any other industry really– it’s only sex work where we’re talking about morality. That’s what I really believe they’re referring to. But the people in these industries do these jobs for a range of reasons, and are often doing them on top of other work. Because of the stigma associated with this work it’s something that many people keep secret which deters us normalising it”.
As a former stripper, Purcell adds that this is an experience she understands firsthand.
“I kept a secret that I was a stripper for a long time. But I knew that I had to share it with the public when I was becoming a politician, and when I did that, I had so many women come to me in all different workplaces in all different forms of employment. They had done the same thing and felt the fear hanging over their head that it would come out”.
And Sussan Ley’s perception of sex work reflects those same, stigma-laden “community expectations” that “throw women into the dark and make us feel like we have something to be ashamed of”, says Purcell.
This is ultimately what prevents governments moving conclusively toward decriminalising and normalising sex work, and in turn, protecting sex workers– the vast majority being women.
Ley’s Response
Ley wrote to Tarang Chawla, appreciating his thoughts on the matter and the work he does to advocate against violence.
“We know the key to stopping domestic violence is respectful relationships, and particularly building the empathy of young men,” she wrote.
“Do we honestly think we are on top of this? Far too often too many men, particularly during major life events like 18ths or Bucks parties, do not respectfully engage with women in this industry. As you know tackling domestic violence requires us to look across the board and I think this needs to be part of the discussion.
“The last thing we want is to make progress through educating boys and men only to have good work set back because we don’t ask the tough questions about the way too many men engage with this industry.”
Women’s Agenda understands Tarang Chawla has agreed to meet with Sussan Ley to discuss the matter further. Ley’s office says the Liberal MP has also reached out to Georgie Purcell but is yet to hear back.