Brothel closures have harmful consequences for sex workers and the adult industry.
By: Josie Hess
Tags: Sex Work, Australia, Adult Industry, Strip Club, Brothels

The Government’s plan for relaxing the quarantine restrictions in Australia has excluded brothels from reopening, leaving vulnerable sex workers open to abuse, the head of Australia’s adult industry body says.

Rachel Payne, the general manager of the Eros Association, says that the decision to keep brothels and strip clubs closed appears to come from stigma about the adult industry. She points out that other intimate services like massage, tattoo parlors, and hairdressing salons are not being excluded from the third stage of easing restrictions.

The three-step framework was unveiled on the 8th of May by the Morrison Government and includes a guideline of recommendations that the states will implement at their own discretion.

Stage three, which is described by the plan as a commitment to reopening of business and the community with minimal restrictions, but underpinned by COVIDSafe ways of living, includes the ability for entertainment venues like cinemas to have up to 100 patrons at a time but explicitly states brothels and strip clubs are to remain closed.

Rachel Payne (Image from Linkedin)

Ms Payne suggests this may be because the government has failed to consider the health perspective of the adult industry. “Brothels and strip clubs can actually mitigate risk,” she says.

She also stresses that these are legal tax-paying businesses that operate in areas allocated by local councils and operate within a framework of consent.

Brothel owner and Eros member Rob (who does not go by a surname) echoes Ms Payne’s sentiments. Rob runs licensed venue The Forum in Melton and supports around 50 workers who operate as contractors, not employees, out of his premises.

Rob details the wide range of clients that are serviced by his business, stressing that for many, intimacy and touch have therapeutic and health benefits. “We see widowers, female clients, singles — who tend to be migrant workers who are away from their families, disabled clients, and married people.”

Rob says that his workers generally fall into two categories, the survival workers and the top-up workers. He says survival workers are those most vulnerable, who may be in the industry because they have escaped abusive situations or have health issues, meaning they can’t work in structured 9–5 work environments.

Rob says there is a concern that these survival workers, now having no avenue to work legally and no timeline for when they can return to work, may turn to illegal work in order to survive, putting themselves and others at risk.

“The longer the closure, the more girls are going to be tempted to work privately,” he says. Rob points out that the illegal sex work industry will be much more difficult to provide contact tracing for, should a case of COVID19 emerge.

Ms Payne is quick to point out that there have been no COVID19 cases linked to sex work in Australia and that the industry, long-held to high standards of health and safety, is used to adapting to new safety measures quickly and effectively.

The Eros Association is working towards releasing a health and safety guidelines for the adult industry, as part of its push to encourage the State Governments to give a date or timeline for when brothels and strip clubs can reopen.

The Government has continued to take licensing fees for these venues, despite them not being able to operate. Rob confirmed that his own fees were paid in March, a total of $7500 for the year. He has been told that he is unable to get a waiver for these fees.

The Forum in Melton — Image provided by Rob

The Department of Justice was contacted multiple times for a statement about its plans for the fees and issuing an opening date for the industry but has not yet provided a response.

In terms of the ability of the adult industry to bounce back, despite its unknown future, Ms Payne says that it will be case by case. Some venues have received rent reductions, some contractors are eligible for payments like Job Keeper, but for others “it will be like starting again”.

When it comes to individual workers, many are self-employed, so if they are declaring their income they may also be entitled to payments like Jobkeeper says Ms Payne. However, she notes that they may not want to be publicly named in order to receive the payment.

Ms Payne says workers have become very inventive to get around the fact that they can no longer work in the legal brothels or strip club environments. Many have turned to camming (performing sexual activities over webcam for paying clients) in order to pay the bills.

The New York Times reported that popular camming sites CamSoda and ManyVids’s have had a 37% and 69% increase in new model sign-ups in March.

Melinah Viking, a camgirl and activist, has noticed a shift in her online clientele. She says some clients are very “business as usual”, but in other instances, she may have more viewers, but they may be unable to afford to spend money on her “due to reduced income as a result of COVID”.

Melinah also states that she views camming as a possible alternative for sex workers who may be out of work. She points out that technology now allows cam girls to geo-block regions, should they want to avoid being outed locally.

Ms Payne says that while camming can be a good way for people to earn money, the Australian Government’s laws haven’t kept up with the technology. This can cause problems with workers not knowing if they are working within the law and if their source of income is legal.

In addition to the work Eros is doing, a group of 17 Brothels in New South Wales issued a joint statement to NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard on the 24th of May, The Daily Telegraph has reported. The statement asks that brothels be allowed to reopen for a trial period and has proposed measures to enforce the safety of clients and workers.

Ms Payne says that as long as there is no return to work date for brothels, and more workers choose alternative methods of earning a living, there will be more unintended consequences from the decision to keep legal brothels and strip clubs closed.

In the time since this article was written, Eros has sent their letter to Health Minister Greg Hunt — you can read the reporting on this from News.com.au here.