A few weeks back, I got this push alert on my phone.

It said the district attorney in Manhattan, Sivance, had decided to stop prosecuting prostitution.

I also got the alert.

I knew it was coming.

I called up Melissa Jira Grant because I wanted to know what that alert really meant.

From what I could tell, the DA plan to continue bringing charges against people buying sex.

Just not those selling it.

This was widely reported as a victory for sex workers.

A change that would keep people safer.

But Melissa, who's covered sex work activism for more than 15 years, she saw this change

a little differently.

What's surprising though about this policy is that it's coming out of the Manhattan

DA's office, which is historically, that incredibly anti-sex work.

In a way, it's not that much of a departure, but the fact that they wanted people to celebrate

him for it is really worth drawing some attention to.

He wants credit for having done something good for sex workers.

What Melissa's talking about here is a shifting power dynamic.

It's actually pretty subtle until you know the history.

In the past, doing something good for sex workers has meant finding new ways to control

their behavior.

Like a few years back, Melissa was covering a diversion program.

Some Brooklyn prosecutors had set up.

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