Media coverage

9th January 2021

Independent: Growing numbers of women turning to sex work as Covid crisis pushes them into ‘desperate poverty’

Exclusive: ‘Cruel austerity measures are pushing us into prostitution and trapping us in it,’ says campaignerMaya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheimIncreasing numbers of women are turning to sex work for the first time as the pandemic pushes them into “desperate poverty”, campaigners warned.Leading organisations which support sex workers said there has been a substantial rise in women doing sex work […]

22nd December 2020

The Justice Gap: Sex work in a pandemic – criminalising survival

Image: English Collective of ProstitutesAusterity cuts, the introduction of the harsh Universal Credit scheme and the Hostile Environment has driven more people to sex work to meet their basic needs. Despite this, sex work remains a criminalised profession that is not recognised as legitimate work. The pandemic further exposes the injustice caused to sex workers […]

18th December 2020

Left Foot Forward: This proposed new law on sex work risks making the ‘hostile environment’ even worse

The hostile environment and exploitative capitalism fuels state violence against migrant sex workers, writes Rachel Trafford.“Police don’t ask us about trafficking – it is only about arrests.” Maria, a sex worker in the UK originally from Eastern Europe, knows the damage the current attitude of the state does for women working in the sex industry […]

17th December 2020

Each Other: Why The Sexual Exploitation Bill Will Make Vulnerable Women Less Safe

By Rachel Trafford, Immigration Advice Service content writer Today is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Credit: SWARM Paying for sex could become a criminal offence in England and Wales if Parliament approves a new Bill which claims to protect women from sexual exploitation. But criminalisation will only further harm people who are already marginalised, argues Rachel […]

16th December 2020

Round-up: Campaign against a Bill to criminalise sex workers’ clients

Dear Friends,On Wednesday 9 December, Dame Diana Johnson MP, introduced a Ten-Minute Rule motion to Parliament which aims to criminalise the purchase of sex. The legislation, known as the Nordic model, which is coming back to Parliament for its second reading on the 29 January, also seeks to criminalise online sites which sex workers use to advertise their work.Johnson is trying to […]

14th December 2020

Independent: Criminalising buying sex will harm vulnerable women, not help them

Diana Johnson’s bill aims to reduce demand for sex work by making its purchase illegal. Instead, the law could put women in danger and drive them into poverty Lauren Crosby Medlicott @laurenmedlicott Last Wednesday, Dame Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Kingston Upon Hull North, tabled a motion in the House of Commons to criminalise the purchase of […]

11th December 2020

Novara Media: Sex Workers Mobilise Against ‘Dangerous’ Bill Set to Criminalise Clients

Sophie K Rosa @sophiekrosaParliament has passed a controversial bill proposing the UK adopts the ‘Nordic model’ for its laws on sex work. The bill, brought by Labour MP Diana Johnson on Wednesday, is opposed by sex workers and groups including Amnesty International, harm-reduction charity Release and Women Against Rape, who argue that the legal model it proposes is driven […]

10th December 2020

Morning Star: Labour MP – Sex punters should be criminalised to ‘bust business model of sex trafficking’

A NEW law is needed to “bust the business model of sex trafficking” by “shifting the burden of criminality” from victims to men who pay for sex, a Labour MP told the Commons yesterday.Britain is a “high-value and low-risk” destination for sex trafficking because the law fails to discourage demand for prostitution, Kingston upon Hull […]

9th December 2020

Independent: Labour MP fiercely criticised for proposing legislation which would criminalise buying sex

‘We will be forced back onto the backstreet alleys and made as vulnerable overnight as women were in Victorian days. We won’t be able to feed our kids,’ says sex workerMaya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheim A Labour MP has been fiercely criticised for proposing legislation which would criminalise buying sex as campaigners warn the bill would put prostitutes lives in […]

9th December 2020

Evening Standard: MP proposes law to “bust the business”

Men who pay for sex fuel ‘brutal sex trafficking trade’, senior MP says as she proposes law to bust the business However, sex workers and trade unionists argue that criminalising clients undermines sex workers’ safety Men who pay for sex are fuelling a “brutal sex trafficking trade”, a senior MP said on Wednesday as she proposed a […]