full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Juno Mac: The laws that sex workers really want

Unscramble the Blue Letters

cmiranztialoiin is a trap. It's hard to get a conventional job when you have a criminal record. Potential employers won't hire you. Assuming you still need mnoey, you'll stay in the more flilexbe, iomarnfl economy. The law forces you to keep slnielg sex, which is the exact opposite of its intended effect. Being criminalized leaves you exposed to mistreatment by the state itself. In many places you may be coerced into paying a bribe or even into having sex with a police officer to aoivd arsret. Police and prison guards in Cambodia, for example, have been detcmenuod subjecting sex workers to what can only be described as torture: threats at gunpoint, beatings, electric shocks, rape and denial of food.

Open Cloze

_______________ is a trap. It's hard to get a conventional job when you have a criminal record. Potential employers won't hire you. Assuming you still need _____, you'll stay in the more ________, ________ economy. The law forces you to keep _______ sex, which is the exact opposite of its intended effect. Being criminalized leaves you exposed to mistreatment by the state itself. In many places you may be coerced into paying a bribe or even into having sex with a police officer to _____ ______. Police and prison guards in Cambodia, for example, have been __________ subjecting sex workers to what can only be described as torture: threats at gunpoint, beatings, electric shocks, rape and denial of food.

Solution

  1. criminalization
  2. avoid
  3. selling
  4. flexible
  5. documented
  6. arrest
  7. informal
  8. money

Original Text

Criminalization is a trap. It's hard to get a conventional job when you have a criminal record. Potential employers won't hire you. Assuming you still need money, you'll stay in the more flexible, informal economy. The law forces you to keep selling sex, which is the exact opposite of its intended effect. Being criminalized leaves you exposed to mistreatment by the state itself. In many places you may be coerced into paying a bribe or even into having sex with a police officer to avoid arrest. Police and prison guards in Cambodia, for example, have been documented subjecting sex workers to what can only be described as torture: threats at gunpoint, beatings, electric shocks, rape and denial of food.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sex workers 18
selling sex 14
sex work 10
police officer 4
sex industry 4
street workers 4
sex worker 4
south africa 3
people selling 3
people smugglers 3
workers working 2
means working 2
nordic model 2
potentially abusive 2
people support 2
migrant women 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
people selling sex 3
sex workers working 2

Important Words

  1. arrest
  2. assuming
  3. avoid
  4. beatings
  5. bribe
  6. cambodia
  7. coerced
  8. conventional
  9. criminal
  10. criminalization
  11. criminalized
  12. denial
  13. documented
  14. economy
  15. effect
  16. electric
  17. employers
  18. exact
  19. exposed
  20. flexible
  21. food
  22. forces
  23. guards
  24. gunpoint
  25. hard
  26. hire
  27. informal
  28. intended
  29. job
  30. law
  31. leaves
  32. mistreatment
  33. money
  34. officer
  35. paying
  36. places
  37. police
  38. potential
  39. prison
  40. rape
  41. record
  42. selling
  43. sex
  44. shocks
  45. state
  46. stay
  47. subjecting
  48. threats
  49. trap
  50. workers