Media coverage
Government accused of driving women on to the streets by cracking down on high-class escort agencies, reports Robert VerkaikTheirs is a world away from grubby net curtains and phone box calling cards. They offer dinner dates, online credit card bookings, intelligent conversation and companionship – and perhaps an illicit rendezvous in a stylish apartment for […]
Siobhain ButterworthReaders EditorThe Guardian10 November 2009 Dear Siobhain Butterworth We wish to submit a complaint about misinformation reported in the Guardian following Nick Davies’s excellent investigation on figures of women trafficked into the sex industry. 1. Denis MacShane MP claims that the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) “grew out of the Wages for Housework campaign started by […]
We who insist that a distinction be made between trafficking (coercion and rape) and prostitution (consenting sexual services) are charged with siding with pimps and clients against women. How about that for “nasty personal tone”?Yet no one is more concerned with women’s safety than we are. We campaign for decriminalisation so women don’t have to […]
UPDATE 02/11/2012: Denis MacShane resigns over false invoices Denis MacShane pleads guilty to expenses fraud. Ex-Labour minister admits making false claims to fund trips, during court hearing Rajeev Syal The former Labour minister Denis MacShane has admitted filing nearly £13,000 of bogus parliamentary expenses. The ex-MP pleaded guilty on Monday to false accounting by entering fake receipts for […]
Unpublished letterDear Sir or Madam,Nick Davies parallels the lies on trafficking to those on weapons of mass destruction — the same disregard for the truth and for people’s lives to impose a reckless political agenda (“Sex, lies and trafficking — the anatomy of a moral panic” Guardian, 20 October 2009).Yes, the “speculative” claims of academics Kelly and […]
Letters in The GuardianIf the Poppy Project is concerned about prostitutes being criminalised, where is it when the law raids, detains and deports women (Letters, 26 May); when mothers working collectively face closure, brothel-keeping charges, imprisonment and separation from their children; or when women driven out of premises risk rape or murder on the street?While […]
The Madames of Mayfair are celebrating a minor victory this weekend, having forced Westminster Council on to the retreat over the latter’s efforts to stop prostitutes working from flats in and around Shepherd Market. The English Collective of Prostitutes say that forcing their members to cease operating out of such premises will force them into danger on the streets. […]
THE working girls of Mayfair have defeated an attempt by Westminster Council to close their businesses, by using planning laws against the Town Hall.Vice police raided several flats in Shepherd Market, near Green Park, which have for decades been used for prostitution and reported them to the council’s planning department.The council then sent letters to […]
The government is criticised for not criminalising prostitutes’ clients enough (New law on forced prostitution weakened, say women’s groups, 20 May). But what about their increasing criminalisation of women? Not accidentally, the crime bill and the welfare reform bill are going through parliament together. If passed, mothers, especially single mothers, will lose income support and must […]