Decriminalisation of Prostitution
Sex Workers Oppose Northern Ireland Bill and End Demand Campaign to Criminalise Clients
In the Booth with Ruth – Tara Burns, Survivor of Labor Trafficking in the Sex Industry, Sex Worker and Sex Workers’ Rights Activist
We need anti-discrimination laws (as recommended by the Obama administration in 2010) to protect us from discrimination in accessing housing, employment, child custody, public services, financial instruments, health care, and education. This is not an abstract concept. If you don’t want people to be prostitutes, or even if you just want people to be able to leave the sex industry, making it impossible for sex workers and sex trafficking victims to get other jobs or rent a home is the opposite of effective...
Northern Ireland’s Criminalisation of Buying Sex Puts Sex Workers at Risk
Sex trafficking has been used as a in a moral crusade to end prostitution. Justice Minister David Ford does not believe criminalising the purchase of sex will reduce trafficking. He believes criminalising the purchase of sex will endanger sex workers. Research conducted by Queen’s University found 61% of the sex workers they surveyed in Northern Ireland believed criminalising clients would make sex workers less safe, and 85% did not believe that it would reduce trafficking. Indeed, UNAIDS has found that criminal laws related to sex work increase danger for sex workers.
‘No Human Involved’: Filmmaker PJ Starr Discusses Her Documentary Telling Marcia Powell’s Story
‘Criminalising the Purchase of Sex: Lessons from Sweden’ – Dr Jay Levy Discusses His New Book
In terms of the focus on Sweden’s sex purchase law, I was particularly struck by the extent to which the law is internationally influential, but in a context where the law hadn’t been involvedly evaluated by the Swedish government and where much work produced on the topic seemed hugely biased, and...
In the Booth with Ruth – Jemima, Sex Worker, Writer and Student
I was a sex worker, but like most isolated by the nature of the work. Whilst I knew the law as it applied to me I was unaware there were people campaigning to change the laws, or that other countries has different systems, many of which were a lot worse than the UK. I started talking to and reading other sex workers writings, and attended a few events. Realising that I was not alone was such a huge moment for me.
Collateral Damage: Sex Workers and the Anti-Trafficking Campaigns at Kampnagel, Hamburg
The Sex Trade: Lies, the ‘Voice of the Voiceless’ and Other Silencing Tactics
Most people are voiceless because no one is letting them talk or listening to them when they do. There is a lot to be said for quitting being the voice of the voiceless and letting people speak for themselves. But not by those seeking to abolish the sex trade. Words are put into people's mouths when they can be, and when they can't, those people are silenced and dismissed.
APPG on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade Report “Shifting the Burden” Increases Violence Against Women
With politicians' infamy for 'shifting the burden', this was not the best title for an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report. Chosen to reflect their recommendation of shifting the burden of criminalisation from the seller of sex to the buyer, in practice this fails as badly as when politicians endeavour a cover up - like why was this group funded by a religious anti-gay charity!?
26 March in Parliament, Stop the Criminalisation of Sex Work
In the Booth with Ruth – Pye Jakobsson, Sex Workers’ Rights Activist from Sweden
I am concerned with labour exploitation in general. I have my doubts regarding if the trafficking terminology is really helpful... Without a clear distinction between sex work and forced labour we can never really address the exploitation that happens in the sex industry as well as in other industries...
The Swedish Model Criminalising The Purchase of Sex Is Dangerous: The European Parliament Should Have Rejected It
In sound bites, the Swedish Government has been spinning their sex purchase ban, known as the “Swedish model” or sometimes the “Nordic model” though it is not adopted by all Nordic countries, as a success. However, research does not show it has reduced sex trafficking or sex work. In addition, their own police report demonstrates it has pushed prostitution indoors with nearly three times as many Thai massage parlours in Stockholm and the vicinity.
In the Booth with Ruth – Meg Munoz, Former Sex Worker, Trafficking Survivor, Ally and Rights Advocate
Too many human rights abuses are happening, too many opportunities being lost, and too many freedoms being denied... When you have those being trafficked being criminalized, we’ve got a problem. When you have sex workers being denied the full opportunity to engage, participate, and provide for themselves, something’s horribly wrong...