[Mainz, Germany]
“Prostitution is chosen for us as a result of our colonial past, persistent inequalities, apartheid, poverty, past sexual and physical abuse. Our patriarchal society continues to perpetuate the system of prostitution and the system has always rendered poor black women vulnerable to exploitation mostly by white privileged men.”
So says Mickey Meji, leader of the prostitution survivor movement Kwanele and Advocacy Manager at Cape Town-based NPO Embrace Dignity.
Meji was among Wednesday’s speakers at the halfway point of the 3rd World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls, which runs from Tuesday to Friday, 5 April, in the German town of Mainz. She is attending alongside South Africa’s former Deputy Health Minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, founder of Embrace Dignity.
Kwanele, incubated through Embrace Dignity, is a member of CAP International, a growing abolitionist coalition of nearly 30 frontline organisations opposing the system of prostitution.
Tweeting on Tuesday, 2 March, when the congress kicked off with a march by survivors of prostitution through the streets of Mainz, Madlala-Routledge wrote:
“Dear President, what do you mean ‘decriminalize sex work’? Does this include sex buyers, pimps and brothel keepers? Is this ANC policy that women and girls are to be bought and sold? Is prostitution decent work? Is it work?”
Meji reinforced the stark realities facing many women in South Africa:
“Despite our relative wealth as a medium income country, many black South African women and girls are marginalised by a patriarchal, capitalist system,” says Meji.
“Prostitution is neither sex nor work, nor is it a free choice.”
She shared personal insights:
“In the many years that I was prostituted on the streets of my beautiful Cape Town, I have never come across a single woman who dreamed of this exploitative career or of becoming the best paid prostitute. Instead, all I heard from fellow prostitutes was that they did this as a means of survival for themselves and their families.”
“They endured the pain of unwanted sex with strangers to earn a living for themselves and their families. They maintained that what they wanted was dignified, decent, proper employment. Although prostitution may be seen to provide financial benefit, it has not lifted any woman out of poverty. Instead, prostituted women come out of the system poorer and scarred physically, internally and psychologically.”
Meji stressed that the personal and private nature of prostitution increases vulnerability to violence:
“Women are left open to rape, disease, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and murder.”
Challenging prevailing narratives, she stated:
“Those who argue that this exploitative practice should be recognised as work and should be decriminalised argue falsely that there is a distinction between voluntary and enforced prostitution. They argue that sex work is good but also agree with us that prostitution and sex trafficking are bad. Sex trafficking is the means and prostitution the destination. The level and the nature of violence is the same – whether voluntary or forced.”
She also highlighted the intersectionality of race, class, and sexism:
“I am sad to say that over 25 years since Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, a large number of South African women and girls remain victims of systemic poverty, gender inequality and male violence inflicted against women.”
Meji invoked the legacy of Sarah Baartman, often cited as the first recorded victim of South Africa’s sex trade:
“Her traffickers were repeatedly offered money to display her to an academic audience. It’s a tragic story of the objectifying of her body. I know that I cannot undo the damage done to Sarah Baartman and other women who died at the hands of the men who buy us in the system of prostitution and the pimps and brothel owners who sell us for their own financial gain. All I can do today is to summons the courage to speak the naked but healing truth, that must comfort all these women, wherever they may be, by speaking against the recognition of this very exploitative system and practice of prostitution as work.”
She quoted Nelson Mandela:
“For every woman and girl violently attacked, we reduce our humanity. For every woman forced into unprotected sex because men demand this, we destroy dignity and pride. Every woman who has to sell her life for sex we condemn to a lifetime in prison. For every moment we remain silent, we conspire against our women. For every woman infected by HIV, we destroy a generation.”
Meji ended her speech with a rallying cry:
“Kwanele. Enough is enough!”
As South Africa considers the Equality Law, which supports partial decriminalisation of prostitution, the Kwanele movement is calling for legal reforms that:
- Decriminalise prostituted individuals
- Criminalise buyers and pimps to reduce demand
- Hold facilitators and traffickers accountable for procurement and exploitation
- Offer exit programmes to support women transitioning out of prostitution
This model – often called the Nordic or Equality Model – originated in Sweden and has since been implemented in:
- Sweden (1999)
- Norway & Iceland (2009)
- Northern Ireland (2015)
- France (2016)
- Republic of Ireland (2017)
- Israel (January 2019)
“It addresses the vulnerabilities of women and promotes gender equality and empowers women so there are fewer women in prostitution. Above all, it addresses issues such as HIV/Aids, violence against women, in particular prostituted women,” says Meji.
View Meji’s full congress address here (21 to 28-minute mark):
👉 https://www.facebook.com/CAPIntl/videos/415578429218835/UzpfSTQ1NDAyOTE4Nzk3MzYyOToyMjcxMjczNDg5NTgyNTE0/
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Learn more at www.embracedignity.co.za
Victims of prostitution can contact Kwanele
📞 +27 (0)87 095 3086
📧 info@embracedignity.co.za