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Decriminalisation

Decriminalisation increases sex workers’ safety and well-being. New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 with verifiable success. Over 90% of sex workers said they had additional employment, legal, health and safety rights. One important measure of this is that prior to decriminalisation 47% of brothel workers had refused to see a client in the previous 12 months, after decriminalisation 68% of brothel workers had done this. 70% said they were more likely to report incidents of violence to the police.

For more information see our briefing Why Decriminalisation? and report Decriminalisation of Prostitution: the Evidence.

Independent: Change brothel laws to keep sex workers safe, top police officer urges government

Exclusive: Campaigner says changing law ‘could be the difference between life and death for women’Maya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent The government must review prostitution laws to ensure sex workers can work together on the same premises to remain safe, a senior police officer has said.Dan Vajzovic, the National Police Chief Council’s lead for prostitution and sex work, told The Independent he is working alongside government officials to reassess brothel keeping legislation.Politicians […]

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Dazed: Imagining a world where sex work is decriminalised

Activists have been fighting for sex work to be decriminalised for decades, but what would that actually look like? Writer Brit Dawson investigatesThis article is part of our Future of Sex season – a series of features investigating the future of sex, relationships, dating, sex work and sex worker rights; tech; taboos; and the next socio-political sexual frontiers.When I ask London-based sex worker Rosa to […]

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Media Storm podcast: Sex Workers: Ignored and under threat

Media Storm presented by Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia.Warning: Some strong language and references to sexOnline or offline, the stigma that comes with being a sex worker is pervasive. But sex work is not just stigmatised – it’s criminalised. Laws that ban certain aspects of sex work force workers into unsafe, unregulated environments, where they […]

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Screenshot: Why aren’t more feminists fighting to decriminalise sex work?

Sex work is a profession that is consistently under threat—workers are judged, shamed, harassed and criminalised. However, sex workers have had a particularly rough time of it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike others who were able to continue to work remotely or granted furlough when the former was not a possibility, sex workers received no governmental support. […]

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Leanne Wood podcast – Episode 9: For Prostitutes, Against Prostitution

Niki Adams from the English Collective of Prostitutes tells me why the prostitution laws should be abolished, why the Scandinavian model is bad for sex workers, how mainstream feminist politicians are failing sex workers and what we can all do to offer support and be a good ally.Stream Episode 9 – for prostitutes, against prostitution […]

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Politics.co.uk: Prostitution – the oldest profession?

Prostitution has been a part of our society for centuries, but the women who engage in it are often overlooked.Whilst there are many reasons women become sex workers, the majority are forced into it by poverty, seeing it as last resort to earn money.At the moment in Britain, prostitution itself is not illegal but there […]

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OpenDemocracy: Why Freedom United supports the decriminalisation of sex work

The evidence is clear that to build resilience to human trafficking in the sex industry, decriminalisation is the most effective approach, so that is what we support Fences are not comfortable places, yet when it comes to sex work anti-trafficking organisations are clambering for a perch. They like it up there because it keeps them […]

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The Flock: I’m a feminist… but I don’t know where I stand on prostitution

Whether to outlaw or decriminalise prostitution remains one of feminism’s most enduring, and divisive, questions. Now, as the UK once again considers calls to adopt the Nordic model, Lauren Crosby Medlicott takes a look at both sides of the debate… As a feminist, what do I think about sex work? The answer to that question […]

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