Green Party vs sex worker culture aspiration

The Green Party has long been one of the strongest political advocates for sex worker rights in Aotearoa — which is why this candidate dispute has landed so awkwardly. At its core, this isn’t just about one selection decision, but about where advocacy ends and political risk begins.

Well. That escalated quickly…

Greens deny former sex worker’s background was a factor in candidate decision

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Advocacy meets political reality

The Green Party says its decision not to select a former sex worker as a candidate has nothing to do with her background.

Sex worker advocacy group Fired Up Stilettos’ chairperson Bianca Beebe was not selected this year, with the group in a statement claiming the vetting process fixated on her former job, and that she was told it posed a reputational risk to the party.

“Much was made of her having previously advertised sex work online, and they asked how she would feel if the opposition found archives of those now-deleted photos,” the statement said.

“She quipped ‘all of my advertising photos were great, so it would be pretty funny to have people attempt to shame me by sharing photos of me looking amazing’.

“She pointed out that lots of adults-in and out of Parliament-share nude photos with other consenting adults, but that hadn’t prevented anyone else’s candidacy. The committee chair furiously erupted, ‘Who? Who is sharing nudes?’.”

The group said the Greens’ selection process included an initial interview, followed by an email with 28 questions, 21 of which related to sex work, and a subsequent interview with the party’s candidate committee.

The statement says the committee chair expressed concern about Beebe’s sex work past and activism would distract from the party’s messaging goals, including Beebe having done sex work while on a work visa.

But co-leader Marama Davidson has disputed those claims.

“We have always and will always continue to advocate for sex workers, for the role that sex work advocacy groups play in this country.

“Yes, we have criteria that keeps our party, the kaupapa and the applicant safe. The final thing, the process is confidential but we want to make it clear that there was no relationship to a sex worker background in the party’s decision on this.”

She said the party was not “at all” concerned about Beebe’s background, or that she may have been working illegally, or that political parties could use that to attack them.

“There are so many different reasons to make sure that candidates and applicants are ready to face the pressure of government, but I’ll be clear again, the sex worker background of the applicant did not have any bearing on the final decision.”

RNZ

…so much to unpack here.

Rights are one thing — representation is another

Firstly, I think this is actually really unfair of Fired Up Stilettos. The Greens have been SUPER supportive of working rights for sex workers.

Of course sex workers deserve collective rights and protections, but that’s not what Fired Up Stilettos are demanding here with their press release, they are demanding cultural acceptance of sex work, and the Greens can’t get into that debate! Because elections are won in the middle — not in the margins.

The Greens have learnt their lesson about appointing activists into their ranks without proper vetting.

Could you imagine what the right-wing hate trolls could do with naked sexual photos of a Green MP?

While we can all agree on work protections and unionisation of sex work, there are very few voters comfortable with turning this into a broader cultural debate.

That’s a very tiny electorate.

Fired Up Stilettos want positive promotion of sex work and are critical that their sex work should be a concern which sounds as naive as Benjamin Doyle when they refused to remove Instagram posts that were later used by a Lynch mob against them.

The Greens have learnt their lessons on candidate selections, the attempt to smear them by Fired Up Stilettos after everything the Greens have done for sex worker rights shows the Greens were right to say no.