Sex workers face a lot of violence. Sex workers in London are 12 times more likely to be murdered than other women. It is much safer to work indoors with others but this is illegal.
Criminalisation increases violence. Attacks on sex workers doubled in Scotland after kerb crawling laws were introduced which criminalised clients. A 2014 survey found that where arrests of sex workers and clients were high, only 5% of sex workers who were victims of a crime reported it. This compared to 46% of victims in areas where police adopted a harm reduction approach.
This year on 17 December we remember and commemorate the sex workers who have been killed across the globe in 2017, and the countless others whose names never made the headlines.Women and non-binary people across the world live under the constant threat of violence and, for sex workers, this is heightened by illegality and stigma.Since […]
On 17th December, International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (#IDEVASW), thousands of sex workers and sex worker-led organisations around the world will gather to commemorate the sex workers who have lost their lives in the last year. Last year, the list included more than 150 sex workers murdered between 1st January and 1st […]
On 20 November we remember and commemorate the 325 trans and gender-diverse people who have been reported murdered in the past 12 months globally.[1] Migrants and sex workers make up the majority of victims.Like other sex workers, trans sex workers go into sex work to survive. In the US for example, trans people are more […]
Niki Adams and Heston Michaels, English Collective of Prostitutes Police crackdowns on prostitution isolate sex workers and undermine their safety. With poverty fuelling prostitution, the English Prostitutes Collective argues decriminalisation is overdue and current resources used to police consenting sex should be redirected into investigating rape and other violent crimes We face saturation policing but […]
See open letter here: Demand police prioritise the protection of sex workers over the prosecution for prostitution offences.BACKGROUND INFORMATION On 24 June, Maria Benito [not her real name] called the police after being robbed at knifepoint by five men while working with other women in a flat in Enfield.When officers attended the incident, Ms Benito […]
We write to protest the police treatment of a victim of armed robbery who was working as a sex worker when she was attacked. (Crime ref: 5214132/17).Ms Maria Benito [not her real name] was working in a flat in Enfield when five men broke in with knives and robbed her and other women. As soon […]
By Joel HellewellI’m going to use the term woman/women in prostitution even if it is a bit clunky, since it is hopefully tolerable to both sides of the debate. I have never sold sex, so I cannot speak to the experiences of women that have. I hope that what comes through is a genuine desire […]
By Joel Hellewell This post is a response to the “meme” created by Nordic Model Now, claiming that the rate of sexual assault in New Zealand has increased since 2003, primarily because of the decriminalisation of prostitution in the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. Link to the meme: https://nordicmodelnow.org/2016/08/11/meme-about-new-zealand-since-the-full-decriminalisation-of-the-sex-trade/ The first thing to do to the […]
By John Owen, BBC Victoria Derbyshire programmeSex workers say they are being left more vulnerable to attack by laws making it illegal for them to share premises for safety, and that they feel unable to report abuse. Two such women have spoken to the Victoria Derbyshire programme.”I understand I am a sex worker for a […]
Campaigners warn threats from police and Home Office against sex workers who report crimes make women reluctant to report violence committed against them May Bulman The Brazilian woman, who was in the UK on a six-month visa, approached the police after she was robbed at knifepoint along with other sex workers by a group of […]