By MISAKO TAKAHASHI/ Staff Writer
June 20, 2020 at 07:10 JST
Yukiko Kaname moved quickly after seeing a lack of opposition to the government’s decision in March to exclude sex workers from a subsidy program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 43-year-old activist on April 2 called on the labor ministry to review its policy so that sex workers’ “right to life can be protected in the same way as citizens in other occupations.”
Her move was reported in the media and shared on social networking sites, leading to complaints of job discrimination in the government’s program to help people in businesses suspended because of the virus. Many sex workers joined her call on Twitter.
Five days later, the government retracted the decision.
Born to social activist parents in Osaka Prefecture, Kaname said many foreigners, day laborers and disabled people visited her home during her childhood. Their visits led to her motto: “It is natural that people help others in trouble.”
Kaname heads Swash, a group of sex workers and supporters founded in 1999 to ensure safety and health in their professions. The group conducts work condition surveys, provides lectures on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, and offers advice and support sessions.
In a demonstration organized in Osaka Prefecture in November last year, Kaname held a red umbrella symbolizing “the rights of sex workers” to show solidarity among nightlife employees around the world.
The participants marched in skimpy dresses to protest the biased public view that “people who wear such clothes should be blamed if they become targets of sexual assaults.”
“That type of thinking shares the same root as prejudice against workers in the sex industry,” Kaname said.
Kaname, who has been helping individuals with sex-related jobs for more than 20 years, said many of them give up fighting for their rights if they are sexually abused.
“I hope my activities will offer an opportunity for public awareness to change toward saving the lives of sex workers,” Kaname said.
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Yukiko Kaname, who heads Swash (Sex Work and Sexual Health) (Photo by Rio Akiyama)
