Sex Buyers 
Position Statement

Sex workers appreciate those that purchase our services. Purchasers are also referred to as buyers, Johns, tricks, marks, patrons, clients, customers, pooners, hobbyists, subscribers, etc. *can add more to this part as people want*

 

In spite of what we are often told, the majority of purchasers are not exploitative. Purchasers can actually be incredibly useful in ending exploitation as they get invited into spaces that no one else has access to.  If they weren’t criminalized for being purchasers, they would be able to report things that they see. Without fear of consequences such as criminal charges, loss of freedom of movement, their family, their career and their social connections.

 

Sex work is one of the few areas of society in which all sides of the experience feel judgement and stigma.The ways the stigma presents is different but all involved are impacted by it.

 

Purchasers are not usually what people think they may be. They can be people who: 

• Have no time for relationships

• Are not classically attractive

• Are neurodivergent or struggle to navigate our society's expectations of dating

• Are lonely

• Are touch starved

• Do not have specific needs, such as frequency of sex, kink or fetish, met in their primary relationship

• Want new experiences with a specific set of physical attributes

 

We acknowledge that purchasers experience violence, financial abuse, and are vulnerable while trying to purchase our services. We recognize that violence against clients can lead to violence against sex workers. 

 

CSWC supports the purchasers of sexual/erotic services and their ability to safely purchase our services. We are committed to the decriminalization of all aspects of sex work, including those criminal code provisions that affect the purchasers and ending the stigma they face.