a lot of the sympathy in the general population around prostitutes' rights is based on the idea that it's an act of desperation - that you shouldn't punish people for trying to survive in such a harshly competitive, capitalist reality. you gotta do what you gotta do; blame the system, not the girl. ok.

but, this argument is taking a different position - it's not arguing that they can't find another job, or that the landlord isn't going to wait for the interview process to complete or that their kids' diabetes can't wait until the end of the month for the insulin shot. what they're saying is "i don't want to do something else. i want to do this. you're infringing on my rights to do what i want.".

well, that's a different perspective; this is not an argument from desperation, it's an argument from entitlement, and it's consequently very different in scope.

i don't think that there should be criminal charges attached to consensual prostitution; it's a reality i can't fathom, but we shouldn't criminalize consensual sex, if it's really consensual. but, i'm actually closer to bernie's position on this than i am to the pro-market, right-libertarian position that's recently creeped into the "progressive" "left": it's far more important to combat trafficking than it is to facilitate sex work as a profession, and if people that choose prostitution out of their own free will get caught up in laws designed to combat trafficking then that's not something i'm going to concern myself too much about.

if these people have specific amendments that can make their lives easier without reversing the general thrust of the bill, they should bring them forward. but, they shouldn't think they're the most important thing, here - because they're not.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjpqvz/fosta-sesta-sex-work-and-trafficking