听力文本

This is a lesson of history.
历史的经验告诉我们
If you try to prohibit something that people want or need to do,
如果你想禁止民众想要或者需要的
whether that's drinking alcohol or crossing borders or getting an abortion or selling sex,
无论是饮酒还是跨越国界，无论是堕胎还是性交易，
you create more problems than you solve.
总有解决不完的问题。
Prohibition barely makes a difference to the amount of people actually doing those things.
禁令对于正在做这些事的人基本没什么用。
But it makes a huge difference as to whether or not they're safe when they do them.
但是禁令对于他们在做这些的时候的人身安全影响巨大。
Why else might people support prohibition?
还有民众支持禁令的其他原因么？

As a feminist, I know that the sex industry is a site of deeply entrenched social inequality.
作为女权主义者，我知道性产业深刻地反映了社会的不平衡。
It's a fact that most buyers of sex are men with money, and most sellers are women without.
事实上大多数买春者是有钱的男性，大多数卖春者是没钱的女性。
You can agree with all that -- I do -- and still think prohibition is a terrible policy.
你我都同意这些，但我仍然认为，禁止性交易是一个糟糕的政策。
In a better, more equal world, maybe there would be far fewer people selling sex to survive,
在一个更加美好和平等的社会，将会有很少的人为了生存进行性交易，
but you can't simply legislate a better world into existence.
但是你不能简单地通过立法改善世界。
If someone needs to sell sex because they're poor or because they're homeless
如果有的人因为穷困，或者无家可归而选择性交易
or because they're undocumented and they can't find legal work,
或者他们因为没有身份，不能找到合法的工作，
taking away that option doesn't make them any less poor or house them or change their immigration status.
禁止卖淫不能让他们富有，也不能提供他们住房，或者改变身份状况。
People worry that selling sex is degrading.
人们担心卖淫是可耻的。
Ask yourself: is it more degrading than going hungry or seeing your children go hungry?
扪心自问：它会比挨饿更加可耻吗？它会比看着你的孩子挨饿更加可耻么？
There's no call to ban rich people from hiring nannies or getting manicures,
没有政策禁止富人雇佣保姆或者修指甲，
even though most of the people doing that labor are poor, migrant women.
尽管做这些苦力活的大多是贫穷的女性移民。
It's the fact of poor migrant women selling sex specifically that has some feminists uncomfortable.
只有当那些贫穷的女性移民进行性交易时，才让一些女权主义者不安。

演讲介绍

本期的TED演讲者Toni Mac女士曾是一名性工作者，她坦于面对自己的过去，勇敢地站在TED讲台上为全世界的性工作者们发声, 说出她／他们内心的诉求。