Media coverage
The Times: London sex workers ‘live in fear’ of teenage harassers with cameras
Groups are filming themselves charging into premises in the West End and posting the videos onlineAndy Silvester, London EditorSex workers in London’s West End are “living in fear” after being harassed by large groups of teenagers, who film themselves “charging” into their premises.In recent weeks dozens of incidents have occurred in which groups numbering as […]
Independent: Why are more women turning to sex work this year?
Sex work helplines have seen calls increase by a third in recent months, as more women seek to start – or restart – sex work. Radhika Sanghani speaks to sex workers and support workers to find out whyWhen Victoria was 18, she was earning minimum wage in McDonald’s, financially supporting her father who’d lost his job. […]
How the UK Online Safety Act is harming marginalized communities and setting a dangerous global precedent
By Repro Uncensored and the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP)The UK’s Online Safety Act is often described as a landmark effort to make the internet safer. Framed around protection, particularly of children, the law introduces sweeping duties for online platforms to identify and reduce the risk of harm on their services.But as the Act moves […]
Tryst.link: D17 Reflections On The Yorkshire Ripper & The English Collective of Prostitutes
“Some were prostitutes but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not. The last six attacks were on totally respectable women.” – Sir Michael Havers, Attorney General.On 13 November 2020, Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper, died in prison. If you didn’t know who he was, you could get an […]
Meta Is Deleting Queer and Sex Worker Accounts, and Our Communities Are Being Erased With Them
By the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP)More than 45 queer and sex worker accounts have been removed across the UK, the Netherlands, and other countries in a coordinated wave of digital erasure. Meta is shutting down sex worker accounts, and the interconnected networks we belong to including queer collectives, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights […]
OpenDemocracy: How Wages for Housework sparked an international solidarity movement
The 1970s movement paved the way for queer, Black, trans and sex working feminist organising across the world todayJake HallThe first thing to know about the international Wages for Housework campaign that began in the 1970s is that you shouldn’t take the name at face value. This wasn’t some single-issue movement committed to putting pennies […]
Tribune: Sex Workers Unite and Take Over
By Brit DawsonThe English Collective of Prostitutes was founded fifty years ago to protect sex workers. Despite the progress they have made in the years since, the industry remains criminalised — and exploitative and unsafe as a result.(Credit: Crossroads AV Collective.)On November 17, 1982, fifteen masked women walked, in groups of twos and threes, into […]
OpenDemocracy: Outdated laws and benefit cuts – Why women can’t leave sex work
Poverty and cautions trap women in sex work – good policies could resolve this. But politicians don’t want to know Niki Adams There are a few dates in the calendar that sex workers mark. The day to end violence on 17 December is often a sombre affair, when we honour the sex workers who were […]
Big Issue: Sex workers ‘trapped’ in prostitution by ‘unjust’ police cautions: ‘It stopped me from having a career’
Sex workers are being punished for doing what they need to in order to survive, campaigners argueLauren Crosby MedlicottNearly 50 years ago, when she was only 15, Sharon received her first prostitute’s caution while working the streets in Bristol.“My life on the streets started when I was 14,” Sharon, who asked for only her first […]