It is not presently illegal for individuals to buy or sell sex The government must not implement proposals to criminalise sex work through the controversial policing bill, campaign groups have warned. Dame Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull, has called for amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which would criminalise buying sex and the […]
EXCLUSIVE: Many students like Sophie are turning to the sex industry as they struggle financially Desperate students selling sex to make ends meet are behind a surge of pleas for help to the “prostitutes’ union”. The English Collective of Prostitutes said calls to its helpline from young people at university and college have risen by […]
Lisa Longstaff, Women Against Rape The strength of feeling provoked by Sarah Everard’s murder and the police response to women paying their respects remind us of the fury at the police killing of George Floyd. It has shed new light onto the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and succeeded in delaying it. The bill would end […]
Dear friends & supporters, The government has reopened its Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) consultation. Please submit your views and experiences here. Deadline 26 March. In our previous Action Alert we outlined the dangers of prostitution and pornography being listed as a form of violence against women on an equal par with rape, domestic […]
It’s a key part of reducing violence against women.Lauren Crosby Medlicott is a freelance journalist in South Wales who covers human rights issues.Police violence those at Sarah Everard’s vigil shocked the nation, but many women working in the sex industry won’t be surprised at all. Camilla*, a Brazilian sex worker in central London, started working in the […]
Cari Mitchell on the campaign to increase safety for women working in flats in London’s Soho district Your review of Hot Stew, a novel set amid the brothels of Soho (10 March) condemns as “disastrous” the forms of protest attempted by the prostitutes. But in real life, a sex worker-led campaign of meetings and marches, pickets and protests […]
A controversial new proposal could make paying for sex a criminal offence and protect women from violence, but workers, activists and charities argue it will have the opposite effect, writes Rachel HaganPaying for sex could become a criminal offence in England and Wales if parliament approves a new bill which has been put forward by Dame […]
Written submission to the Home Office Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy 2021-2024: call for evidence.English Collective of Prostitutes, February 2021.The ECP is a self-help organisation of sex workers, working both on the street and in premises, with a national network throughout the UK. Since 1975, we have campaigned for the decriminalisation of prostitution, […]
By Lauren Crosby Medlicott, Freelance writerWhen Nadia arrived in the UK three days after she’d left her home in Eastern Europe, she thought she was coming to work as a nanny.It was a big move for the 18-year-old, who had made the traumatic decision to leave her baby behind. But for Nadia it was the only […]