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.
Written by Vic ParsonsQueer ally Dua Lipa, not content with saving everyone stuck at home because of coronavirus by releasing Future Nostalgia early, has now rallied behind sex workers.Future Nostalgia had already leaked online when Dua Lipa posted a tearful Instagram Live video, saying she was releasing it early and hoped it would make people […]
An English Collective of Prostitutes banner at the sex workers strike on International Women’s Day 2020 calling for the full decriminalisation of sex work. (Ollie Millington/Getty Images) The coronavirus pandemic has thrown sex workers into a “hidden crisis” that means sex work must immediately be decriminalised, the English Collective of Prostitutes has said. Millions of […]
The posters appeared on London’s underground over the weekend, which saw a sex workers strike on International Women’s Day. (Twitter/pastachips)An adhacking campaign advocating sex work decriminalisation has appeared on the London Undergound – to viral results.The new posters, which appeared during the London-wide sex worker’s strike on International Women’s Day, call for sex work to be […]
On International Women’s Day 2020, sex workers and allies gathered in Soho to protest for decriminalisation. By Jake Hall; photos by Zeinab Batchelor In today’s world of corporate feminism and #girlboss tees, it’s easy to lose sight of what International Women’s Day actually represents. That was not the case in Soho on Sunday, where the streets were filled […]
The adhacking campaign precedes a protest to call for the normalisation of sex work and point out the dangers of criminalising it New posters on the London Underground are calling for the decriminalisation of sex work, as part of an adhacking campaign that comes simultaneous with a sex worker strike for International Women’s Day. “Why is using […]
The strike highlights the call by sex worker-led organisations across Europe for full decriminalisation of the industry By Frankie Miren This International Women’s Day, the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) is launching a campaign calling for all feminists to support sex workers. The campaign focuses on sex workers’ grassroots activism across Europe – […]
Feminist arguments against sex work are as influential as they are dangerous.Frankie Miren Laura Watson EXPERT DISCUSSIONWe asked sex worker rights groups and allies around the world to discuss what works and doesn’t work when arguing for the decriminalisation of sex work. This series reports what they said.Sex workers fight daily battles to defend our rights. […]
“It’s a human right to be safe. So me as a sex worker, why am I not entitled to that?” Charlotte Rose, like many others in her profession, is calling for sex work law reform in the UK because she fears for her safety. While it’s not against the law to buy or sell […]
Find a transcript of this episode here, or listen to Tea with Mama Cash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, or Stitcher. Mama Cash funds groups of women, girls, trans and intersex people – and some of them are sex workers’ rights activists. Yet even within feminist circles, the regulation of sex work is a contested topic. So for this International Day to End Violence […]
Over the past year, the movement to decriminalise prostitution in the UK has gained unprecedented traction. Led by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), which describes itself as “a self-help organisation of sex workers”, the #MakeAllWomenSafe campaign expresses an urgent need for legal reform with regard to the current state of criminalisation, particularly in cases […]