Would you deny rights to child care workers because of the nature of their work?

Would you deny rights to child care workers because:

...their work is dangerous? (Consider the spread of infections and exposure to bodily fluids, let alone the heavy lifting. No, we would advocate for hand sanitizer and worker protection laws so that we could be sure our kids would be as safe as possible.)

...their work is often exploitive? (Day care workers in centers and in homes are poorly paid, often have no benefits. They are among the most necessary and most vulnerable workers. Instead of denying them rights we argue for better wages and working conditions.)

...their work is sometimes done illegally? (Many people taking care of children work off the books and some work without documentation. And when lots of more privileged moms hire this way we turn a blind eye and don't call them pimps or johns.)

...their work is associated with migrant labor and human trafficking? (Women are trafficked for many reasons including domestic service and child care.)

...their work is associated with care that is otherwise provided out of love and devotion to family? (Would we ever argue that because a woman cares for other people's children for pay that she is incapable of loving her own children and caring for them well?)

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Yet these same claims are exactly the ones used to justify the denial of rights to those who sell sexual services for money. Why is work that meets the intimate needs of adults treated differently than work that meets the intimate needs of children?

Today is International Sex Workers Rights Day, a day that marks the March 3 2001 meeting of over 25,000 sex workers in India under the organizing efforts of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, and which celebrates the efforts made year-round to gain civil rights for some of the world's most stigmatized workers. 

In the United States some sex workers suffer stigma but not the criminalization of their labor, but others, those whose work runs afoul of anti-prostitution laws, face even greater risks. Why? For reasons that we would laugh at if they were applied to other jobs.

We need to move beyond our hypocrisy. Sex is legal. Exchanging legal goods and services for money is legal. Why is exchanging sex for money illegal?

All workers deserve to have their basic civil rights protected. Support sex worker rights today and every day.