this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
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I disagree that it should be purely between a sex worker and their doctor. I won’t get into the ownership of workers means of production, as I feel that’s a meta conversation that could be applied to any worker, and in any workers case, I would still want something like OSHA to exist.
I appreciate your perspective, and I’m sure you have far more insight than I do, but as a metaphor, in the sense that if I hire a contractor to build a house, and they and another private party decide the quality and situation of the construction, with no externally required guidelines to be followed except that the contractor can continue building houses, that wouldn’t make me feel safe about my specific house.
In any case, all the best and thanks for the thoughtful response
Yes, it should. Just like how we've found abortion has a million medical reasons to be performed and the conversation is best done between a woman and her doctor, STI status is the same, except maybe also add in a public health official from the CDC if there are concerns or questions. That health official can contact trace if the CDC deems it necessary. We probably only need to contact trace for HIV, though, which afaik is what is already done. Maybe syphilis too since that can go in your brain.
There are a few reasons for this. One of them is that empowered/independent sex workers are substantially less likely to have STIs, so it's a waste of resources to test them all the time. We should all be getting tested regularly and we do if we have access to Healthcare and aren't being trafficked (studies show this), but that conversation should be directed by an actual health professional who has seen that actual specific patient because it's so complicated.
The highest group for STI risk are abused people. Really. You can actually just think of STIs as a form of biological abuse and you'd be right. Sex workers who are being trafficked are the ones who are extremely high in STIs because they can't get to doctors, aren't allowed to refuse clients, and are forced to engage in sex without condoms. They are victims and separate from the field of independent workers in terms of risk profile.
Other notable groups with high STI prevalence include: children, especially adults under age 25. The disabled, particularly nonspeaking disabled. And the elderly, particularly memory affected elderly. Why? Because they are fucking victims of abuse. The most likely person to have an STI is someone overlapping these groups - a disabled teenage girl, for instance, who can't talk.
I can't even go with your metaphor about contracting houses due to how far off base it is with the reality of sex work and STIs. STI tests are not done for the client's safety, they are done for the worker's safety.