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Why Sex Work Should Be Decriminalized

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Human Rights Watch has conducted research on sex work around the world, including in Cambodia , China , Tanzania , the United States , and most recently, South Africa . The research, including extensive consultations with sex workers and organizations that work on the issue, has shaped the Human Rights Watch policy on sex work: Human Rights Watch supports the full decriminalization of consensual adult sex work.

Why is criminalization of sex work a human rights issue?

Criminalizing adult, voluntary, and consensual sex – including the commercial exchange of sexual services – is incompatible with the human right to personal autonomy and privacy. In short – a government should not be telling consenting adults who they can have sexual relations with and on what terms.

Criminalization exposes sex workers to abuse and exploitation by law enforcement officials, such as police officers. Human Rights Watch has documented that, in criminalized environments, police officers harass sex workers, extort bribes, and physically and verbally abuse sex workers, or even rape or coerce sex from them.

Human Rights Watch has consistently found in research across various countries that criminalization makes sex workers more vulnerable to violence, including rape, assault, and murder, by attackers who see sex workers as easy targets because they are stigmatized and unlikely to receive help from the police. Criminalization may also force sex workers to work in unsafe locations to avoid the police.

Criminalization consistently undermines sex workers’ ability to seek justice for crimes against them. Sex workers in South Africa, for example, said they did not report armed robbery or rape to the police. They said that they are afraid of being arrested because their work is illegal and that their experience with police is of being harassed or profiled and arrested, or laughed at or not taken seriously. Even when they report crimes, sex workers may not be willing to testify in court against their assailants and rapists for fear of facing sanctions or further abuse because of their work and status.

UNAIDS , public health experts , sex worker organizations , and other human rights organizations have found that criminalization of sex work also has a negative effect on sex workers’ right to health. In one example, Human Rights Watch found in a 2012 report, “Sex Workers at Risk: Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities,” that police and prosecutors used a sex worker’s possession of condoms as evidence to support prostitution charges. The practice left sex workers reluctant to carry condoms for fear of arrest, forcing them to engage in sex without protection and putting them at heightened risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Criminalization also has a negative effect on other human rights. In countries that ban sex work, sex workers are less likely to be able to organize as workers, advocate for their rights, or to work together to support and protect themselves.

How does decriminalizing sex work help protect sex workers?

Decriminalizing sex work maximizes sex workers’ legal protection and their ability to exercise other key rights, including to justice and health care. Legal recognition of sex workers and their occupation maximizes their protection, dignity, and equality. This is an important step toward destigmatizing sex work.

Does decriminalizing sex work encourage other human rights violations such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children?

Sex work is the consensual exchange of sex between adults. Human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are separate issues. They are both serious human rights abuses and crimes and should always be investigated and prosecuted.

Laws that clearly distinguish between sex work and crimes like human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children help protect both sex workers and crime victims. Sex workers may be in a position to have important information about crimes such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, but unless the work they themselves do is not treated as criminal, they are unlikely to feel safe reporting this information to the police.

What should governments do?

Governments should fully decriminalize sex work and ensure that sex workers do not face discrimination in law or practice. They should also strengthen services for sex workers and ensure that they have safe working conditions and access to public benefits and social safety nets.

Moreover, any regulations and controls on sex workers and their activities need to be nondiscriminatory and otherwise comply with international human rights law. For example, restrictions that would prevent those engaged in sex work from organizing collectively, or working in a safe environment, are not legitimate restrictions.

Why does Human Rights Watch support full decriminalization rather than the “Nordic model?”

The “Nordic model,” first introduced in Sweden, makes buying sex illegal, but does not prosecute the seller, the sex worker. Proponents of the Nordic model see “prostitution” as inherently harmful and coerced; they aim to end sex work by killing the demand for transactional sex. Disagreement between organizations seeking full decriminalization of sex work and groups supporting the Nordic model has been a contentious issue within the women’s rights community in many countries and globally.

Human Rights Watch supports full decriminalization rather than the Nordic model because research shows that full decriminalization is a more effective approach to protecting sex workers’ rights. Sex workers themselves also usually want full decriminalization.

The Nordic model appeals to some politicians as a compromise that allows them to condemn buyers of sex but not people they see as having been forced to sell sex. But the Nordic model actually has a devastating impact on people who sell sex to earn a living. Because its goal is to end sex work, it makes it harder for sex workers to find safe places to work, unionize, work together and support and protect one another, advocate for their rights, or even open a bank account for their business. It stigmatizes and marginalizes sex workers and leaves them vulnerable to violence and abuse by police as their work and their clients are still criminalized.

Isn’t sex work a form of sexual violence?

No. When an adult makes a decision of her, his, or their own free will to exchange sex for money, that is not sexual violence.

When a sex worker is the victim of a crime, including sexual violence, the police should promptly investigate and refer suspects for prosecution. When a person exchanges sex for money as a result of coercion – for example by a pimp – or experiences violence from a pimp or a customer, or is a victim of trafficking, these are serious crimes. The police should promptly investigate and refer the case for prosecution.

Sex workers are often exposed to high levels of violence and other abuse or harm, but this is usually because they are working in a criminalized environment. Research by Human Rights Watch and others indicates that decriminalization can help reduce crime, including sexual violence, against sex workers.

Aside from decriminalizing sex work, what other policies does Human Rights Watch support with regard to sex workers’ rights?

People engaged in voluntary sex work may come from backgrounds of poverty or marginalization and face discrimination and inequality, including in their access to the job market. With this in mind, Human Rights Watch supports measures to improve the human rights situation for sex workers, including research and access to education, financial support, job training and placement, social services, and information. Human Rights Watch also encourages efforts to address discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or immigration status affecting sex workers.

Human Rights Watch research documenting abuse against sex workers:

• Why We’ve Filed a Lawsuit Against a US Federal Law Targeting Sex Workers , June 2018
• Greece: Police Abusing Marginalized People: Target the Homeless, Drug Users, Sex Workers in Athens , March 2015
• “I’m Scared to Be a Woman”: Human Rights Abuses Against Transgender People in Malaysia , September 2014
• In Harm’s Way: State Response to Sex Workers, Drug Users and HIV in New Orleans, December 2013
• “Swept Away”: Abuses Against Sex Workers in China , May 2013
• “Treat Us Like Human Beings”: Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania , June 2013
• Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia, July 2010
• Sex Workers at Risk: Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities , July 2012

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Beyond the stereotypes: a deep dive into sex work.

Sex work. We all see it across tv, in the news, or maybe even on platforms like OnlyFans, but the diverse experiences of those involved in this profession are deeper and more comprehensive than you may know. Dispelling misconceptions, challenging stigmas, and promoting a perspective that recognizes the agency, rights, and well-being of sex workers is how we can ensure that we have a more holistic approach to ending health care disparities.

Navigate The Page:

Sex Work as Survival - Criminalization - Ending HIV - Support

Spectrum of Sex Work

Sex work is the exchange of sexual services for money or something of value (erotic dancing, adult film actors, BDSM workers, etc.). Individuals engage in sex work for a variety of reasons, which could include choice, circumstance, and coercion.

Sex Work As Survival

Sex work is often part of a survival economy. When society makes access to health care, education, food, water, and shelter extremely inaccessible or unaffordable to many people and families across the country, biased political leaders strategically use those barriers and the gaps they create to target marginalized communities or any group they deem as an “other.”

The criminalization of sex work is rooted in stigmatization and a sex shaming culture. Society over-polices and shames sex work under the guise of ‘ keeping the community safe, ’ but all it ultimately does is punish and dehumanize sex workers while perpetuating the existing societal structures that may have coerced or placed people in a circumstance where sex work becomes survival. This practice threatens human rights for vulnerable communities, deprives them of access to essential social, economic, and health systems, and makes it that much harder to end epidemics such as HIV, mpox, and health care disparities.

In addition to the desperation someone may feel in this situation, imagine the added burden for those who are medically dependent, such as individuals who need gender-affirming services and/or whose health and life depends on their adherence to sexual health services such as HIV treatment .

The “Legal” Targeting of Poverty

Social Determinants of Health are disproportionately impacted by current policies and legislation against sex workers. The policies affect historically marginalized identities such as LGBTQ+ communities, and have especially targeted transgender folks. These policies negate the survival economy sex workers are forced into, demonize and dehumanize them, and paint them not as people but “threats.”

Systemic Barriers that Sex Workers Face:

Criminalization:.

Legislation that encourages the policing and criminalization of sex work, such as criminalizing, loitering gives law enforcement a tool to harass and discriminate against communities.

Surveillance:

Institutions such as police departments, state legislatures, and corporate businesses, prioritize funding towards surveillance technologies that are designed specifically to increase the targeting of sex workers. This redirects public blame onto sex workers and diverts attention from the actual systemic problems that drove them there.

Incarceration:

Incarcerated, sex workers have a hard time gaining job and educational opportunities. It can also further debt, or even cause loss of life, especially during imprisonment. Ultimately, incarceration creates a cycle where sex workers lose too much access and opportunity to move from sex work to other careers and educational paths.

Lack of Safety:

Sex workers often operate in unsafe locations to avoid surveillance, debt, incarceration, and other forms of punishment -- increasing the risk of physical harm, hate crimes or even fatal assault.

Public and private entities are legally allowed to deny human rights and health care to people who are incarcerated, which negatively impacts their quality of life.

Difficulty Seeking Justice:

Fearing punishment and mockery, sex workers don’t always feel comfortable coming forward with their stories of abuse or seeking legal justice when attacked.

Shame & Stigma Prevents Ending the HIV Epidemic

Institutional punishment such as incarceration, and discriminatory policies in health care interfere with attempts to solve current health issues—such as the global HIV epidemic and the transmission of STD’s and STI’s across the country—and cause economic hardship and worsened access to health care. This hurts the ability for non-profits and health focused organizations to provide care towards ending the epidemic and dealing with public health crises, which worsens health outcomes for society as a whole.

The simple fact is that we can’t end HIV without providing support to both sex workers and their sexual partners, and the key to that is removing stigma and providing social aid. The prevalence of HIV in sex workers is 12x that of the average population . Our international goal of ending the HIV epidemic involves taking care of sex workers as an important factor in finding success. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

How You Can Support

See sex workers as humans.

Focusing on force, punishment, sex shaming, and excommunication from society instead of on solutions only contributes to the system of poverty and the dehumanization and fatal dangers that many sex workers face—especially, transgender women of color.

Support Decriminalization

HRC supports decriminalization legislation and the push for decriminalization of sex work across the United States. Decriminalizing sex work would allow those engaged to live without stigma, social exclusion, and fear of violence or fear of seeking justice. Removing surveillance, prosecution, and stigma from sex work would be recognizing sex work as work , and would enable society to protect sex workers and help them navigate workplace safety and health concerns. It would also open their access to additional opportunities to improve their well-being

Find Advocacy Opportunities

Below are a list of organizations that help provide life-saving resources and support to sex workers. Our partners may also be a good resource to find local advocacy opportunities in your area.

Urban Justice Center: https://swp.urbanjustice.org/

St. James Infirmary: https://www.stjamesinfirmary.org/

Asian and Migrant Sex Workers and Allies: https://www.redcanarysong.net/

Red Umbrella Fund: Sex Workers Rights: https://www.redumbrellafund.org/

Sex Workers Outreach Project USA: https://swopusa.org/

HIPS: https://www.hips.org/

Liberating LGBTQ+ People: https://www.blackandpink.org/

Read More About STAR: http://nswp.org/timeline/street-transvestite-action-revolutionaries-found-star-house

Decriminalize Sex Work (2020): DECRIMINALIZING SURVIVAL: POLICY PLATFORM AND POLLING ON THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF SEX WORK

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW), National Nonprofit: https://decriminalizesex.work/why-decriminalization/

The Stroll (2023) - Documentary on HBO detailing the experiences of trans women who were sex workers in Lower Manhattan in the 90s

Learn & Live into Sexual Health:

Learning about sex practices is empowering and important for everyone. Take control of your sexual health by checking out our My Body, My Health initiative to find sexual health resources, services on prevention, testing, treatment options, U=U, sex positivity, local providers, and more!

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Sex Workers And Sex Work Essay

The term sex work dates to 1973, when the organization Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics proposed replacing the term prostitute with the term sex worker to separate sex workers from dirt and disease and instead legitimize them as a social category engaged in an income-generating occupation (Uretsky, 2014). Sex work is commonly thought to be associated with dirt and disease. The public health field has used sex work as a “behavioral category” which is useful for targeting a population determined to be at high risk for HIV infection. This approach however is discriminatory against sex work and has torn sex workers away from the idea that they are actual workers with an actual occupation, to disease ridden and risk factors. Sex can be considered both work for men and women. Because sex work is often associated with disease, as are sex workers, they are branded, and have a reputation related to immoral behavior which leads to stigma and discrimination. Popular accounts of sex work tend to present prostitution as a product of the economy or as sex workers having psychological problems, lending to the narrative of sex workers as passive and as victims exploited and coerced into sex work. This paper takes a look at the lives of sex workers, male , female, and also transgender people, and the similarities between them, but also some differences as these cannot be completely ignored or overlooked. Chinese discourse on sex work, which is more developed than most discussions on sex work,

Essay on Sex Trafficking

• 6 Works Cited

Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a

Persuasive Essay On Prostitution

Prostitution is one of the oldest and most controversial professions on earth. According to records, prostitution was a normal practice of the earliest known civilizations. Ancient Greeks and Roma governments went as far as sponsoring brothels to ensure their citizens could afford a prostitute. The emergence of religions like Christianity and Islam transformed the moral views on prostitution. Following a tremendous pressure from the religious authorities, many European countries started to ban the practice on the bases of being immoral and harmful to society. The king of Spain made prostitution punishable law. Those caught could face a harsh punishment or they could be exiled. Pope Sixths of Rome went as far as making prostitution punishable by death .Despite the laws drafted by the authorities, people continued to provide and use sexual services. In this modern era, we are still debating the ethics of prostitution. Most people claim that prostitution is morally degrading and harmful to the wellbeing of society. While others claim that legalizing prostitution can help create tax revenues, undermine organized crime and reduce the spread of disease. Using utilitarianism, virtue ethics and Kant deontology I will prove that prostitution is immoral and it should be banned.

Sex Trafficking And Human Trafficking Essay

Human trafficking brings in billions of dollars into the U.S and all around the world. “The prime motive for such outrageous abuse is simple: money. In this $12 billion global business just one woman trafficked into the industrialized world can net her captors an average $67,000 a year” (Baird 2007). The laws around human trafficking are not strict and vary depending on what country it is happening in. Human trafficking is not something that is strictly foreign, it is happening right in front of our faces, in our neighborhoods, and all around us.

Moving Prostitution Through The United States

Abstract: This paper explores the world’s oldest and most controversial occupation and puts forth a foundational plan for legalizing and regulating sex work in a safe way that satisfies both radical and liberal feminists ideals. To understand how prostitution has evolved to where it’s at today, this proposal travels through the history of prostitution in the United States (heavily focusing on the twentieth century.) Prostitutes were initially accepted and openly sought after. A shift in societal norms and values placed sex work in a heavy degradation. The regulation of prostitution in Nevada began in 1970 and resulted in the first licensed brothel in 1971. Fast forward nearly fifty years and prostitution is outlawed in 49 out of 50 states. Vast amounts of money are being spent annually in failed attempts to stop prostitution all together. Radical feminists are those who would identify as conservative. They are against prostitution on the belief that it victimizes and degrades women in poverty. Liberal feminists strongly agree that the government has no place in a women’s body and that the right to perform sex work is human right. This paper analyzes these different perspectives and incorporates a model that will resemble the current working regulation in Nevada. Stricter stipulations such as health requirements and the legal age should help influence radical feminist to expand their perspective and acceptance.

Research Paper On Human Sex Trafficking

Rijken, C. (2009). A human rights based approach to trafficking in human beings. Security &

Sex Workers in Canada Essay

• 8 Works Cited

Sometimes, the term “sex work” is used, as well as “prostitution”. But whichever term we choose to say, it does not eliminate the stigma attached to it. Cases such as the Bedford V. Canada Case (144) indulges into the conspiracy of sex work and challenges certain sections of the Criminal Code that make business in relation to prostitution illegal. Ideally, a sex worker has a career just as a teacher or lawyer. For this reason, their human rights and dignity should be protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as are other professions. However, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Criminal Code do not seek to protect sex workers, yet, they seek to do otherwise using certain sections of the Criminal Code

Women Of Color Research Paper

Society pushing these women into this sex industry is severally impacting how these women daily lives are being lead. For example, the article written by Carmen Logie states "In multivariable analyses, paid sex and transactional sex were both associated with: intrapersonal (depression), interpersonal (lower social support, forced sex, childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, multiple partners/polyamory), and structural (transgender stigma, unemployment) factors. Participants reporting transactional sex also reported increased odds of incarceration perceived to be due to transgender identity, forced sex, homelessness, and lower resilience, in comparison with participants reporting no sex work involvement." This reveals to the readers that sex work extremely affects these women's lives. This sex industry has a major negative impact on these women's lives. The quote reveals that this industry that a large majority of transgender women are exposed to can lead to things like jail, homelessness, and abuse. Yet, no one acknowledges that societies stigma against these women is what is pushing these women into this extremely dangerous industry. Participating in sex work can even affect these women's health they can acquire HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. These diseases are extremely detrimental to these women's health and can even lead to their death. Women in sex work more also likely have mental

Prostitution Vs Sex Trafficking Essay

Most people throughout the world would think of slavery as an issue of the past, but sex trafficking is today’s form of “modern day slavery” (Countryman-Roswurm, 2014). Sex trafficking has become the fastest growing and most profitable criminal enterprise in the world due to the fact that people can be sold over and over again. Corrupt governments have tried to cover this issue up and have worked alongside traffickers to help them obtain illegal documents to continue operating (Deshpande et al., 2013). The effects of this crime causes victims of trafficking to have many emotional, physical, and mental traumas (Deshpande et al., 2013).

Sex Trafficking Persuasive Essay

Currently, 501 children mostly African American and Latino are missing out of Washington, D.C. since the beginning of the year. The police have good reason to believe that this is due to sex trafficking. These kids were taken from their lives and are threatened even with the thought of leaving their trafficker. Some children have been able to escape, but this is very risky. A young, 13-year-old girl who has a mental illness was brought into sex trafficking because she believes that her trafficker loved her. She was sold for sex to around 40 men per day. Because of these reasons sex trafficking needs to become a thing of the past. Sex trafficking in the United States can be reduced and possibly eliminated through education, government intervention,

Prostitution In Canada Essay

For the purpose of this study, male prostitutes and sexual acts such as pornography, stripping and erotic massages are excluded from the definition of prostitution. The terms ‘sex worker’ and ‘prostitute’ will be used interchangeably throughout the paper. The term ‘sex work’ was coined to circumvent the stigma that accompanies prostitution and to acknowledge that it generates income, like any other profession in our society (Sondhi, 2011).

Not A Choice By Janice G. Raymond

Often, when people think of sex work and sex workers their minds immediately go to human trafficking. Yet, I believe it is essential that one marks the difference between the two, because as social workers we will have clients who come to us who have chosen to be sex workers. As social workers we recognize that every individual has the right to self-determination and we must know how to best serve them. In Janice G. Raymond’s book Not a Choice, Not a Job, she explores the world of sex work and though her views conflict with social work values she presents great information into the world of sex work. I will be presenting the ideas from her book and also be offering other views that are important when working with clients.

The Stigma Of Prostitution, And Sexual Slavery

The first part of Nussbaum’s paper challenges to examine the stigmatization of prostitution by comparing it to six other kinds of jobs/professions in which the individual uses her body in ways that majority of us do not necessary find morally objectionable but are not far off from the ways prostitutes use their bodies in the trade. These range from the domestic servant who “must do what the client wants, or fail at the job” (pg. 375), the nightclub singer who pleasures her customers by her voice to the colonoscopy artist who allows herself to be probed without anesthesia in a “consensual invasion” (pg. 378) of her bodily space for the purpose of medical education. The further we go down the list of the six jobs/professions, we see a closer

Prostitution Persuasive Essay Outline

they were being forced, have a smoother system going, and making sure nothing was to go wrong.

The Issue Of Sex Work Essay

Sexual favours in return for money, just the thought of this has people cringing, although laws have deemed to move forward with the idea of prostitution it seems although socially there has not been much progress. The idea of prostitution still scares, or one could even go as far to say it disgusts people. The lack of knowledge and awareness of the details of sex work create this ongoing hate towards sex work, which continues to stigmatize sex workers. Regardless of changing laws, regardless of changing policies, why is it that sex workers are still afraid to proudly announce that their job is in fact the job of a sex worker? Unfortunately, it seems as though the idea of sex work that seems to be such a terrible one is not what bothers sex workers the most, it is the social misconception of what sex work is like that leads these individuals to feel highly stigmatized (Van der Meulen and Redwood, 2013). The primary harm for of prostitution seems to be the stigma against prostitution, women involved in prostitution are considered socially invisible as full human beings (Farley, 2004). Why is it that our changing and progressing laws are still unable to remove this stigma from the lives of sex workers? This paper will argue that prostitution laws continue to produce stigma around sex work. It will argue this through revisiting the historical laws, examining present laws and ongoing laws at this time.

Slavery and Sex Trafficking Essay

When we hear the word slavery our mind paints a picture of colonial America down in the South with big plantation houses harvesting wheat, with workers being unpaid and unfairly treated. At this time in our county we were struggling with the idea of equality for all. America has come a long way from those days but not with out a fight. Abraham Lincoln, the Civil Rights moment and free and public education has been addressed. Today, we face a new conflicts and a different type of slavery. Slavery and sex trafficking is occurring not just abroad but at home as well. In 2004, “800,000 to 9000,000 men women and children are trafficked across international borders every year, including 18,000 to 20,000 in the US. Worldwide slavery is in the

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Should Sex Work Be Decriminalized? Some Activists Say It's Time

Jasmine Garsd

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

LGBTQ, immigrant rights and criminal justice reform groups, launched a coalition, Decrim NY, in February to decriminalize the sex trade in New York.

Sex work is illegal in much of the United States, but the debate over whether it should be decriminalized is heating up.

Former California Attorney General and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently came out in favor of decriminalizing it , as long as it's between two consenting adults.

The debate is hardly new — and it's fraught with emotions. Opponents of decriminalization say it's an exploitative industry that preys on the weak. But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers, and would even be a public health benefit.

The Two-Way

Queen honors activist who fought to decriminalize prostitution.

RJ Thompson wants to push back against the idea that sex work is inherently victimizing. He says for him it was liberating: Thompson had recently graduated from law school and started working at a nonprofit when the recession hit. In 2008, he got laid off with no warning and no severance, and he had massive student loan debt.

Thompson became an escort. "I made exponentially more money than I ever could have in my legal profession," he says.

He says the possibility of arrest was often on his mind. And he says for many sex workers, it's a constant fear. "Many street-based workers are migrants or transgender people who have limited options in the formal economies," he says. "And so they do sex work for survival. And it puts them in a very vulnerable position — the fact that it's criminalized."

Thompson is now a human rights lawyer and the managing director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. It's among several organizations that are advocating bills to decriminalize sex work in New York City and New York state. They already have the support of various state lawmakers .

TED Radio Hour

Juno mac: how does stigma compromise the safety of sex workers.

Due to its clandestine nature in America, it's extremely hard to find reliable numbers about the sex trade. But one thing is for sure: It's a multi-billion-dollar industry. In 2007, a government-sponsored report looked at several major U.S. cities and found that sex work brings in around $290 million a year in Atlanta alone.

Economist Allison Schrager says the Internet has increased demand and supply. "Women who pre-Internet (or men) who wouldn't walk the streets or sign with a madam or an agency now can sell sex work, sometimes even on the side to supplement other sources of income," she says.

So what happens when you take this massive underground economy and decriminalize it? Nevada might offer a clue. Brothels are legal there, in certain counties.

In Shrager's book, An Economist Walks Into A Brothel , she investigated the financial workings of the Nevada brothel industry. She found that on average it's 300 percent more expensive to hire a sex worker in a Nevada brothel than in an illegal setting. Shrager thinks it's because workers and customers prefer to pay for the safety and health checks of a brothel.

"Sex work is risky for everyone," she says. "You take on a lot of risk as a customer too. And when you're working in a brothel you are assured complete anonymity. They've been fully screened for diseases."

Goats and Soda

Legalizing prostitution would protect sex workers from hiv.

But many activists and academics say decriminalization would help protect sex workers and could also have public health benefits.

Take the case of Rhode Island . A loophole made sex work, practiced behind closed doors, legal there between 2003 and 2009.

Baylor University economist Scott Cunningham and his colleagues found that during those years the sex trade grew. But Cunningham points to some other important findings : During that time period the number of rapes reported to police in the state declined by over a third. And gonorrhea among all women declined by 39 percent. Of course, changes in prostitution laws might not be the only cause, but Cunningham says, "the trade-off is if you make it safer to some degree, you grow the industry."

Rhode Island made sex work illegal again in 2009, in part under pressure from some anti-trafficking advocates. That's the thing: The debate about sex work always gets linked to trafficking — people who get forced into it against their will.

Economist Axel Dreher from the University of Heidelberg in Germany teamed up with the London School of Economics to analyze the link between trafficking and prostitution laws in 150 countries. "If prostitution is legal, there is more human trafficking simply because the market is larger," he says.

It's a controversial study: Even Dreher admits that reliable data on sex trafficking is really hard to find.

Human rights organizations including Amnesty International support decriminalization. Victims of trafficking might be able to ask for help more easily if they aren't afraid of having committed a crime, the groups say.

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. Erik McGregor/Getty Images hide caption

Cecilia Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC, an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York.

Former sex worker Cecilia Gentili says she might have been able to break free much sooner had it not been for fear of legal consequences. She left her native Argentina because she was being brutally harassed by police in her small town. She thought she'd be better off when she moved to New York, but as a transgender, undocumented immigrant, she says she had few options.

"Let's be realistic," Gentili says, "for people like me, sex work is not 'one' job option. It's the only option."

Gentili says that when police busted the drug house in Brooklyn where she was being held, she debated whether to ask for help. She figured she was in a very vulnerable position, as a trans, undocumented person. She stayed quiet.

These days Gentili is the director of policy at GMHC , an HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy nonprofit in New York. She's advocating for New York City and state to decriminalize sex work.

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. Jasmine Garsd/NPR hide caption

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York.

But many believe the sex industry is just fundamentally vicious and decriminalizing it will make it worse. Rachel Lloyd is the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services , a nonprofit for sexually exploited women in New York. She says there's nothing that will equalize the power unbalances in the sex industry.

"The commercial sex industry is inherently [exploitative]," she says. "The folks who end up in the commercial sex industry are the folks who are the most vulnerable and the most desperate."

When she was a teenager, Lloyd sold sex in Germany, where it's legal. But she says that didn't make it any less brutal for her.

The Surprising Wishes Of India's Sex Workers

"Those power dynamics of exploitation were still there," she says. "When ... legal johns came in, they were the ones with the money."

Lloyd says she doesn't want sex workers to be persecuted or punished. But she doesn't think men should be allowed to buy sex legally. She says that would be condoning the same industry that brutalized her and the women she works with today.

But decriminalization activists say that sex work has and always will exist. And they say bringing it out of the shadows can only help.

Read more stories from NPR Business.

• prostitution
• sex trafficking

Edited by Natalie West, with Tina Horn Essays on Sex Work and Survival

Paperback Edition ISBN: 9781558612853 Publication date: 02-09-2021

Foreword by Selena the Stripper

This collection of narrative essays by sex workers presents a crystal-clear rejoinder: there’s never been a better time to fight for justice. Responding to the resurgence of the #MeToo movement in 2017, sex workers from across the industry—hookers and prostitutes, strippers and dancers, porn stars, cam models, Dommes and subs alike—complicate narratives of sexual harassment and violence, and expand conversations often limited to normative workplaces.

Writing across topics such as homelessness, motherhood, and toxic masculinity, We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival gives voice to the fight for agency and accountability across sex industries. With contributions by leading voices in the movement such as Melissa Gira Grant, Ceyenne Doroshow, Audacia Ray, femi babylon, April Flores, and Yin Q, this anthology explores sex work as work, and sex workers as laboring subjects in need of respect—not rescue.

A portion of this book's net proceeds will be donated to SWOP Behind Bars (SBB).

“While mainstream media does not allow the space for a complex and nuanced portrait of sex work, because such coverage is often weaponized, this book is salvation. The writing is unfailingly keen, each piece individually capable of inducing radical empathy. This book and its fierce creators are ready to change the world.” — Booklist , starred review

“Offers a stop gap, a bridge, or a passage for sex workers enduring violence by uplifting both pain and survival with dignity.” —Autostraddle

“Funny and fresh and very not the same story you might have heard about sex work before—the pieces feel complex and exciting.” —Xtra Magazine

“As the essays in this powerful collection demonstrate, it has always been sex workers who have kept each other safe: from predatory clients, from pimps, and from the police. These essays reveal workers who are not helpless, but oppressed, and are increasingly organizing for their rights.” —Lux

“As infuriating as it is vulnerable, the book serves as a testament that sex workers deserve a central place in both the labor and feminist movements.” — In These Times

“ We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival  embodies the rallying cry: ‘Nothing about us without us.’ Featuring incisive essays by sex workers of all backgrounds, this vital anthology centers diverse narratives about sex work, labor rights, sexual assault, trauma, and healing that too often go unheard. Raw, gut-wrenching, and transformative,  We Too  is a powerful addition to the canon of books by sex workers and for sex workers and their allies.” —Kristen J. Sollée, author of  Witches, Sluts, Feminists

“ We Too  offers a sharp indictment of this world and a warm invitation to build another one. Against a #MeToo movement that represents some at a high cost to others,  We Too  places sex workers at the front lines of an anti-violence movement for the rest of us.  We Too ’s   vision knows the state is no ally, that freedom won’t come without solidarity, and that real cultures of consent will come from the ground up.” —Heather Berg, author of  Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism

“A necessary, wide-ranging, preconception-smashing collection of essays by writers who speak from experience within the sex industry. At turns, these essays are devastating, astute, funny, and heart opening. Taken together, they are a welcome antidote to the reductive narratives about sex worker experiences that we hear too often.  We Too  is an anthology that honors the humanity, diversity, and depth of insight within the field. Reading it made me want to stand up and cheer.”   —Melissa Febos, author of  Whip Smart  and  Abandon Me

“This incredible anthology has pulled together personal stories of sex work that speak to a reality that only so many of us know. There are even fewer of us who have the capacity and desire to relive some of these tacit moments that become predictable fodder for outsiders to bemuse themselves with temporarily. But beyond the buzzworthy story of selling sex is the truth and lived experience, and the understanding of value, self-worth, self-pity and self-empowerment.  We Too ’s firsthand accounts will give perspective and nuance to the ‘sex work is work’ conversation in this new era of informed consent.” —Lotus Lain, adult performer and sex worker rights advocate

“ We Too  is a powerful, engrossing collection of essays, each lending a unique perspective from a courageous and resilient voice. Together, these essays constitute a critical resource for understanding the complex and diverse world of sex worker experience.” —Isa Mazzei, screenwriter,  CAM

“In  We Too , the voices of those within the sex worker community come together on topics that don’t get much exposure outside our own private gatherings. This collection is incisive, generous, vulnerable, and insightful with a fair dash of humor and verve. It should come as no surprise that sex workers thinking and writing on harassment and interpersonal violence are much more multidimensional, tender, and thoughtful than most mainstream intellectuals on the topic. It’s so important that these stories are heard as told by us.” —Rachel Rabbit White, author of  Porn Carnival 

“The Me Too movement, started by Tarana Burke, was formed to fight for the working class, often left vulnerable to sexual violence with little to no justice. This anthology,  We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival , examines that sexual violence and labor with a lens that looks specifically at how sex workers experience and witness it. Documenting personal accounts of sexual violence in the workplace,  We Too  can be a hard pill to swallow but presents a path toward healing from and combating rape culture from people who have survived on the front lines. This anthology brilliantly showcases the billowing voice of the sex worker community and how it supports and should be supported by feminist movements like Me Too.” —Courtney Trouble, founder of NoFauxxx.com

“ We Too  is a crucial, brutally necessary book that works to create needed intersectionality within the Me Too movement and feminism generally. These stunning outsider voices are thick with inside information, personal and political, and most importantly they’re great, gripping reads. I’m very grateful for this collection.” —Michelle Tea, author of  Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions & Criticisms

Natalie West is a Los Angeles based writer and educator.

Tina Horn hosts and produces the long-running kink podcast Why Are People Into That?!

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26 Sex Work, Gender, and Criminal Justice

Ronald Weitzer is a Professor of Sociology at George Washington University.

• Published: 01 July 2014
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This essay examines key dimensions of contemporary sex work as they relate to gender and the legal system. Theoretical perspectives and empirical research on street and indoor prostitution, stripping, and pornography are reviewed. In most places, the law and criminal justice system focus on women working in these sectors, with much less official attention to male and transgender sex workers. Scholarly research on male sex work has expanded in the past two decades but remains but a fraction of the academic literature. The essay concludes with a discussion of two recent, divergent trends in state policies: increased criminalization and legalization.

26.1. Introduction

Sex work involves the exchange of sexual services or erotic performances for material compensation and includes pornography, commercial telephone sex, erotic performances (stripping, webcam), and prostitution. Depending on the society in question, these practices may be legal or illegal. Where legal, they are subject to some type of government regulation, such as restrictions on eligibility and location. Unlike predatory crimes with a clear victim, illegal sex work involving adults generally entails exchanges between willing buyers and sellers, which leads some members of the public to view it with a measure of moral ambivalence or tolerance.

This essay focuses on prostitution—and, to a lesser extent, pornography and stripping—with special attention to issues of gender and criminal justice. In addition, it documents some important international trends in state policy. These trends are not uniform, as criminalization has intensified in some societies just as legalization is being embraced by others ( McCarthy et al. 2012 ; Weitzer 2012 ). Importantly, under both trends it is typically women who are the focus of new legislation and enforcement practices. While the new laws are usually gender-neutral, they are drafted with women in mind: law enforcement (under criminalization) and implementation of regulations (under legalization) is usually directed at female rather than male sex workers. Male clients of female sex workers are targeted in some nations but not in others, while male and transgender sex workers are almost entirely neglected in the law-in-action.

This essay begins with a review of major theoretical perspectives on sex work and then addresses gender issues. It argues that gender is all too often taken for granted in this scholarly work in part because of its focus on female sex workers and male customers and the general neglect of male and transgender sex workers and female customers. Additional research on these latter actors will help clarify both the ways in which sex work is gendered and the ways in which it is experienced similarly irrespective of gender. The essay concludes with a discussion of the legal context in the United States as a point of departure for considering broader international trends in legislation regarding sexual commerce. In doing so, the essay examines research bearing on two trends—increased criminalization and legalization.

26.2. Competing Theories

Three main theoretical perspectives have been applied to sex work. The oppression paradigm holds that prostitution reflects and reinforces patriarchal gender relations. Advocates of this paradigm argue that sex work is harmful both instrumentally and symbolically. Instrumentally, exploitation, subjugation, and violence against women are viewed as inherent in sex work ( Jeffreys 1997 ; Farley 2006 ). Symbolically, the very existence of commercial sex is seen as implying that men have a “patriarchal right of access to women’s bodies”: Men can pay for sex or sexual entertainment from women who otherwise would be unavailable to them, thus perpetuating their subordination ( Pateman 1988 , p. 199). Oppression writers typically use dramatic language to highlight the plight of workers (sexual slavery, prostituted women, survivors) and to emphasize the notion that sex workers are victims of male exploiters and misogynists ( Jeffreys 1997 ; Farley 2006 ). Oppression theorists typically describe only the worst examples of sex work and treat them as representative, and they tend to ignore counterevidence to the paradigm’s main tenets ( Weitzer 2010 ). Female sex workers who claim they have agency or view their work positively are discounted by advocates of this paradigm. Male and transgender sex workers are ignored as well.

The empowerment paradigm is radically different. It focuses on the ways in which sexual services qualify as work, involve human agency, and may be empowering for workers ( Delacoste and Alexander 1987 ; Chapkis 1997 ). Advocates argue that there is nothing inherent in sex work that would prevent it from being organized like any other economic transaction (i.e., for the mutual gain of buyers and sellers alike). Apart from its material rewards, some types of sex work provide greater control over working conditions than many traditional jobs, and this work can enhance workers’ sense of self-worth. However, the positive potential of sex work, from the worker’s perspective, is diluted when it is outlawed, marginalized, and heavily stigmatized.

Few empowerment writers argue that sex work is empowering without qualification; rather they argue that it can be validating under the right circumstances. Writers in this camp highlight benefits and success stories, without claiming that these are typical. For instance, one analyst argues that sex work can be liberating for those who are “fleeing from small-town prejudices, dead-end jobs, dangerous streets, and suffocating families” ( Agustín 2007 , p. 45). A few writers go further and make bold claims that romanticize sex work. Chapkis (1997 , p. 30) describes a “sex radical” version of empowerment wherein sex workers and other sexual outlaws “embrace a vision of sex freed of the constraints of love, commitment, and convention” and present “a potent symbolic challenge to confining notions of proper womanhood and conventional sexuality.” Paglia takes issue with the very notion that commercial sex is an arena of male domination over women:

The feminist analysis of prostitution says that men are using money as power over women. I’d say, yes, that’s all that men have . The money is a confession of weakness. They have to buy women’s attention. It’s not a sign of power; it’s a sign of weakness. (Paglia, quoted in Chapkis 1997 , p. 22)

The empowerment paradigm is particularly salient when the discussion moves from mainstream, heterosexual sex work to alternative genres. Research on gay and transgender sex work highlights the ways in which the work can be identity-affirming for individual workers (and customers) and for these marginalized populations more generally. For example, pornography made by and for women and stripping by female dancers for female audiences can help to replace traditional and heteronormative ideals of sexuality with a woman-centered alternative ( Bakehorn 2010 ; Frank and Carnes 2010 ). Similarly, gay male pornography can help affirm the consumer’s sexual orientation. Thomas (2010 , p. 84) argues that gay pornography is “one of the few venues for seeing gay sexuality presented in a positive light.” Also, it is held in much higher esteem in the gay community than heterosexual pornography is within that population: Gay pornography has “achieved an almost respectable position in gay life” ( Thomas 2010 , p. 83).

Transgender sex workers report that prostitution can provide a haven from societal rejection and may foster a sense of pride in their identity. A Brazilian study of transgender women reports that prostitution provided a “sense of personal worth, self-confidence, and self-esteem” ( Kulick 1998 , p. 136). These transgender women sold sex for emotional and sexual fulfillment as well as income. A recent study ( Cortez, Boer, and Baltieri 2011 ) that compares Brazilian transgendered and male sex workers finds that the former are more successful in creating strong social bonds with other workers and in fostering a shared identity. In focus groups in San Francisco, researchers discovered that “sex work involvement provided many young transgender women of color feelings of community and social support, which they often lacked in their family contexts”; moreover, it gave these workers a “sense of independence and non-reliance on others (i.e., managers, coworkers) who might express discrimination or harassment” ( Sausa, Keatley, and Operario 2007 , p. 772). For these populations, sex work can contribute to a larger identity politics that challenges conventional heterosexual norms and helps to empower otherwise marginalized groups.

Yet both the empowerment and oppression paradigms are deeply flawed. While exploitation and empowerment are certainly present in sex work, neither paradigm reflects its rich diversity and the implications of such variation for the participants. An alternative perspective, the polymorphous paradigm ( Weitzer 2009 , 2010 ), highlights the wide variety of occupational arrangements, power relations, and personal experiences among those involved in sexual commerce. Sex workers differ in their reasons for entry, dependence on third parties, relations with clients, risk of victimization, contacts with the authorities, job satisfaction, public visibility, and impact on the surrounding community. Recognizing such diversity as a starting point, researchers can then identify the determinants of these varying outcomes.

Polymorphism is superior to the other two paradigms because empirical research amply demonstrates the variegated nature of sex work and because this paradigm encompasses everything highlighted in the other two paradigms (see Vanwesenbeeck 2001 ; Harcourt and Donovan 2005 ; Shaver 2005 ; Bradley-Engen 2009 ; Weitzer 2009 ; Attwood 2011 ). Because the oppression and empowerment paradigms are one-dimensional, they are clearly unsuited to the sociological task of identifying the structural conditions responsible for the uneven distribution of key outcomes—such as agency, exploitation, victimization risk, and job satisfaction. The polymorphous prism is well suited to precisely this kind of analysis.

26.3. Gender

In the popular imagination, sex work is perceived through a single-gender lens: Women sell sex or erotic performances, and men are the buyers. When people think of strippers, pornography stars, and prostitutes, they typically think of women. It is true that the mainstream sex industry is highly gendered in this way, and it is important to examine why so much sex work is performed by women. This gender imbalance clearly reflects traditional gender relations (i.e., men’s sexual objectification of women) that some women capitalize on, and the existence of sex for sale provides men with an avenue for reaffirming their masculinity, although this is hardly the only motivation for buying sexual services or erotic performances ( Milrod and Weitzer 2012 ). The gendered character of the sex industry is also evident in its power structure: Many of the owners and managers of sex businesses are men who exercise control over female employees and profit from their labor. Finally, it is likely that many of the women working in the sex industry would not do so if other jobs, paying the same as sex work, were available to them. In each of these ways, it is clear that gender inequality is deeply inscribed in the world of sexual commerce.

But it is also important to recognize that many sex workers are male or transgender. Male prostitutes, pornography actors, and strippers service or perform for women or for other men, and together these men constitute a sizeable proportion of the sex worker population. Yet, far less research has been conducted on them than on their female counterparts. While research on male prostitutes has grown somewhat in recent years ( West 1993 ; Browne and Minichiello 1996 ; Aggleton 1999 ; Uy et al. 2004 ; Smith, Grov, and Seal 2008 ; Logan 2010 ; Walby 2012 ), hardly any research has been conducted on male commercial strippers or pornography actors ( DeMarco 2007 ; Abbott 2010 ).

Even scarcer are studies that systematically compare male and female workers in the same occupational sector, research that can be particularly revealing. For example, a recent study of male and female independent escorts reports greater similarities than differences between them. Both groups placed a high value on working independently, rather than for an agency, and both were committed to condom use with clients. But the women charged much more for their services and also experienced greater stigma than the men, largely because sex work is “more socially acceptable within the gay community” ( Koken, Bimbi, and Parsons 2010 , p. 229).

A unique comparison of male, female, and transgender prostitutes in San Francisco identifies a number of significant differences between the three groups ( Weinberg, Shaver, and Williams 1999 ). The women in the study were more likely than the men or transgenders to have been coerced into prostitution and to have pimps, and the men experienced more sexual satisfaction at work than the female prostitutes, although the three groups reported similar levels of overall job satisfaction. Another study, of 100 street workers, finds that males were the least likely and females the most likely to have experienced assault and rape, while the transgender workers fell in between the other two groups in rates of victimization ( Valera, Sawyer, and Schiraldi 2001 ).

Research on strippers shows that female audiences tend to act more aggressively toward male dancers than is allowed in clubs featuring female dancers before a male audience—social control is more lax when men dance for women—but also that male dancers grapple with the same stigma and objectification as their female counterparts ( Dressel and Petersen 1982 ; Montemurro 2001 ). Men who strip for male audiences experience less stigma but the same challenges in maintaining boundaries vis-à-vis their male patrons ( DeMarco 2007 ).

Sex tourism also differs by gender. A study in the Dominican Republic reports that male prostitutes (known as “beach boys”) felt free to be seen in public (relaxing, partying) with female tourists, whereas female prostitutes used public space solely to solicit men ( Herold, Garcia, and DeMoya 2001 ). The male prostitutes were more likely to form relationships with female tourists over an extended period of time, but the female workers were more dependent on prostitution for their livelihood and felt more stigmatized by the local population. The beach boys often had other jobs, and they and the female tourists defined their relationships not as prostitution but as “romance tourism” ( Sanchez Taylor 2001 ). Yet these relationships have all the hallmarks of sexual commerce, provided that the man receives at least some material compensation (meals, gifts, money, lodging). Similar kinds of relationships, short and long term, have been observed among gay male tourists and local male sex workers in the Caribbean, Thailand, and other places ( Padilla 2007 ).

Much more comparative work of this kind is needed to document the ways in which the gender of the sex worker and of the customer influence both the social organization of sex work and the modal experiences of the participants. At this point, we know that female, male, and transgender sex workers share certain commonalities (e.g., negotiating transactions, managing clients, dealing with risks, coping with stigma), but they also appear to differ to some extent in the meanings they attach to commercial sex and in their modal experiences with clients and third parties. Additional research on male and transgender workers, as well as female clients, will help clarify the ways in which sex work is gendered as well as its more universal dimensions.

Like academic research, public policy and law enforcement largely focus on women in the sex industry, either as offenders or victims. Although most laws are written in a gender-neutral fashion, they are applied to female sex workers much more than to men. Arrests of male prostitutes are a minority of total prostitution arrests, for instance. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (2010 a )   Uniform Crime Report , males comprised 31 percent of those arrested for prostitution-related crimes in 2010 and 30 percent in 2009, which included solicitation, pimping and procuring, and owning or managing a place where prostitution takes place. Because these figures aggregate all of these activities, the percentages of men arrested for prostitution (i.e., solicitation) per se are not reported. We do know that most of the arrests of prostitutes take place outdoors. Having said that, females are more likely than males to be arrested in indoor locations, such as a massage parlor or a hotel where an escort agrees to meet an undercover officer posing as a client. Because national-level figures are not broken down by type of offense, we do not know either the number or the gender of persons arrested for pimping, procuring, or running a brothel. The conventional wisdom is that most of these third parties are males. Similarly, it is often assumed that the majority of persons involved in sex trafficking are male. An analysis of data from 2008–2010 by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics lends credence to this view: 82 percent of 385 suspected sex traffickers were male ( Banks and Kyckelhahn 2011 , p. 6). But worldwide, women are certainly not absent from the ranks of those who recruit or manage prostitutes, nor do they necessarily treat the individuals under their control better than male managers.

26.4. Victimization

The research literature draws three main conclusions about the risk of victimization. First, male sex workers are less likely than their female counterparts to experience violence while at work or to be controlled by pimps or other third parties ( West 1993 ; Aggleton 1999 ; Weinberg, Shaver, and Williams 1999 ). Second, transgendered workers report more frequent victimization than male sex workers ( Valera et al. 2001 ; Cortez et al. 2011 ); and third, indoor sex workers in developed countries who have not been coerced into prostitution are much less likely than street prostitutes to experience assault, robbery, rape, threats of violence, or murder. Street workers experience more frequent and more severe victimization over time, whereas some indoor providers report never having experienced violence on the job. This was the case for 78 percent of indoor workers in a British study ( Sanders and Campbell 2007 ). Similarly, about two-thirds of a Dutch sample of prostitutes ( Vanwesenbeeck et al. 1995 ) had never experienced physical or sexual violence on the job (most of the remainder had experienced violence infrequently). The Dutch sample included both street and indoor workers, so it is likely that the number experiencing violence would be even lower if the sample was restricted to the indoor population. Studies that directly compare indoor and street prostitutes tend to find substantial differences in victimization rates. A British study of 115 street and 125 indoor prostitutes ( Church et al. 2001 ), for example, asked whether they had ever been robbed (37 versus 10 percent, respectively), beaten (27 versus 1 percent), or raped (22 versus 2 percent) while working. Although random sampling was not possible in these studies, the common finding of significant street-indoor disparities lends credence to the general conclusion that “street workers are significantly more at risk of more violence and more serious violence than indoor workers” ( Plumridge and Abel 2001 , p. 83).

Indoor prostitution tends to be safer for two reasons: (a) It allows for more thorough screening of clients than is possible in street encounters, and (b) third parties may be present and willing to intervene in the event of trouble with a client. Street work involves very brief transactions that give workers little opportunity to assess a prospective client’s temperament. By contrast, indoor workers (whether independent or working for an agency) typically put clients through an elaborate screening process—requiring information about the person’s employer, a home address, social security and phone numbers, a referral from another sex worker, and completion of an online questionnaire. The Internet facilitates this screening, and a client’s responses can be confirmed with an online search and return phone calls. Such personal information helps to weed out both predators and police officers. A study of call girls finds that, as a result of phone screening, these workers develop “a sensitivity to detecting potential danger in the caller’s attitudes, manners, tone of voice, or nature of the conversation” ( Perkins and Lovejoy 2007 , p. 51). People who work for an agency routinely check in with a manager by phone before and after a visit and use code words if they sense trouble. In addition, compared to street customers, a larger proportion of indoor clients are regulars, who tend to be low risk ( Lever and Dolnick 2010 ).

For those who work in group settings—in brothels, massage parlors, saunas, bars, and strip clubs—the presence of managers and colleagues may offer additional safety; their very presence may preempt altercations with a customer, and they can intervene if a customer becomes unruly. Many erotic businesses also have video surveillance and alarm systems. Sex workers who work in bars and clubs have time to screen prospective customers; conversing over drinks allows them to judge the client’s character. Indoor sex work is by no means risk-free, but there is no doubt that it is generally safer than the streets.

26.5. The American Legal Context

In the United States, prostitution policy is largely devolved to the states. Federal law bans interstate transportation of a person for the purpose of prostitution (the 1910 Mann Act), sex trafficking is outlawed under the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and minors are banned from pornography under a recordkeeping requirement (the 2257 rule) whereby producers must verify the name and age of everyone depicted in sexually explicit material. Aside from these few national statutes, prostitution law is determined by each state, and decisions regarding pornography (i.e., whether it is legally obscene) are determined at the municipal level, under the doctrine of local “community standards” (there is no national obscenity test in the United States: municipal juries decide whether a work violates local community standards). All states prohibit solicitation for prostitution as well as pimping, procuring, operating a brothel, and running any other business that offers or allows sex for sale. The exception is Nevada, which since 1971 has permitted rural counties to license and regulate brothels. All prostitution is outlawed in Las Vegas and Reno, however, and in the counties where brothels are legal, other types of prostitution are prohibited.

In 2010, 62,668 Americans were arrested for prostitution offenses ( Federal Bureau of Investigation 2010 b ; the figure combines arrests for solicitation of customers; for owning or managing a place where prostitution takes place; and for procuring, pimping, or transporting a person for the purpose of prostitution; however, these statistics do not include figures on arrests of customers). Arrests are sporadic and selective in most cities, but in others they are more sustained and may have the effect of displacing street prostitution to another locale ( Scott 2001 ). Efforts against indoor operations are less common because they typically involve considerable planning and resources. In some departments, vice officers routinely monitor the Internet for the purpose of arresting individual prostitutes or shutting down escort agencies and massage parlors. Other departments prefer to target enforcement at the street trade ( Weitzer 1999 ).

Police agencies that conduct undercover stings sometimes cross the line of propriety. Officers involved in operations targeting massage parlors in Lynnwood, Washington, for example, allowed masseuses to masturbate them prior to making an arrest, while state police officers in Pennsylvania and vice officers in Louisville, Kentucky, and Spotsylvania County, Virginia, received oral sex prior to arresting the masseuses and parlor owners ( Weitzer 2012 ). In these and similar cases, the police claim that masseuses are savvy in detecting vice cops and thus some sexual contact is necessary to affect an arrest ( Almodovar 2010 ). But other police departments have strict policies prohibiting any sexual contact between officers and masseuses and rely instead on a verbal agreement of payment for sex.

Strip clubs are regulated by municipal laws in the United States. Undercover police officers occasionally visit the clubs to determine if anything unlawful is taking place—such as violations of rules regarding attire and physical contact between dancers and patrons. Police also look for signs of prostitution on the premises. A larger issue is the claim, made by officials in many cities, that strip clubs have “adverse secondary effects” on surrounding communities. Among the alleged effects are increased crime and disorderly conduct in the vicinity of a club. Although this claim is frequently made and used as a basis for prohibiting clubs in some jurisdictions, supporting evidence is lacking. Some carefully conducted studies, matching locales with and without strip clubs, report either no difference in crime rates or less reported crime in the strip club areas ( Paul, Shafer, and Linz 2001 ). A study of Charlotte, North Carolina, documents more crime in the immediate vicinity of bars and gas stations than in the area near strip clubs, and in Fort Wayne, Indiana, calls to the police in areas hosting strip clubs were no higher than in matched areas without such clubs ( Linz 2004 ). Looking only at reported sex crimes in a matched-area study of four Ohio cities, Linz, Yao, and Byrne (2007) find that there were no sex crimes near most of the strip clubs; where crimes occurred near clubs, there was a higher incidence in locales with fewer clubs. A study of San Diego, California, reports identical findings for areas with peep shows ( Linz, Paul, and Yao 2006 ). The researchers explain these findings in terms of club owners’ interest in maintaining a lawful business and the special security measures they employ both inside and outside their clubs to preempt problems with patrons and thwart criminal activity outside.

26.6. Recent Trends: Increasing Criminalization

Internationally, there have been two divergent trends in state policies toward sex work over the past two decades: increased criminalization and decriminalization/legalization. Those who champion the oppression paradigm, sketched above, have been in the forefront of an international campaign to outlaw currently legal forms of sex work and to intensify sanctions against already illegal forms. Recall that under the oppression paradigm, all types of sex work are regarded as harmful to the participants and to the larger society. Current efforts to expand criminalization echo earlier attempts, in the 1980s in the United States, to ban pornography ( Vance 1986 ). This effort met with some success during the Reagan administration, as indicated by the Justice Department’s increased prosecution in the late 1980s of pornography distributors accused of peddling obscene materials ( US Department of Justice 1988 ). Under the Clinton administration, prosecutions shifted toward child pornography, but under the subsequent Bush administration, adult pornography was targeted once again. The Obama administration has followed the Clinton model of focusing on child porn, not adult obscenity.

Much of the recent shift toward greater criminalization in the United States (and some other nations) has been driven by antitrafficking policy. Beginning with passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, the trend has been one of construing all types of sex work through the trafficking prism. The Bush administration (2001–2008) conflated sex trafficking with prostitution in general; some officials even argued that most prostitutes were trafficking victims. Rejecting the idea that legalization might help to reduce abuse, a State Department “fact sheet” claimed that legal prostitution “creates a safe haven for criminals who traffic people into prostitution” ( US Department of State 2004 , p. 2). Subsequently, the Bush administration began to float the idea that many of those who work in pornography and at strip clubs had been trafficked as well.

The Bush administration was heavily influenced by lobbying from prohibitionist activists who subscribe to the oppression paradigm. These activists enjoyed unparalleled access to state officials, testifying at Congressional hearings and networking at private conferences with government officials; government reports privileged their views, citing their work and providing links to their websites; and lucrative grants were awarded to the preeminent prohibitionist groups in the United States ( Chuang 2010 ; Weitzer 2011 ). There was thus a remarkable convergence between the dominant forces in the trafficking movement and the state during the Bush presidency. Over a short period of time, activists’ claims and demands were almost fully institutionalized in government policy and enforcement practices ( Weitzer 2007 , 2011 ). Other groups working against trafficking—those that did not accept the conflation of sex work with trafficking and advocated a more targeted approach—were completely marginalized by state officials ( Soderlund 2005 ; also see Goździak this volume).

A key part of the criminalization trend has been a robust crackdown on the clients of prostitutes. This is known as attacking “the demand.” The targeting of customers is a policy first adopted by Sweden in a 1999 law. The law punishes clients but not prostitutes on the grounds that clients are predators and women are victims who should be rescued rather than prosecuted. The rationale for the new law is described in a government publication:

In Sweden, prostitution is regarded as an aspect of male violence against women and children. It is officially acknowledged as a form of exploitation...which is harmful not only to the individual prostituted woman or child, but also to society at large...Gender equality will remain unattainable as long as men buy, sell, and exploit women and children by prostituting them. ( Ministry of Industry, Employment, and Communications 2004 , p. 1)

These declarations show that the 1999 law was firmly rooted in the oppression paradigm: Male domination is seen as the root cause of prostitution.

Some other nations have followed Sweden’s lead. In 2006 Finland passed a law outlawing the buying of sex from a trafficked person, and in 2009 Norway and Iceland enacted legislation similar to Sweden’s. In the same year, England and Wales passed a bill criminalizing those who buy sex from an individual who has been coerced into prostitution by a third party. The Finnish and British statutes construe the purchase of sex as a strict-liability offense: The client’s knowledge of the prostitute’s circumstances is irrelevant. In each case, advocates of the measures drew inspiration from Sweden, and the Swedish government has trumpeted the law’s success internationally. The available evidence, however, does not show that prostitution has been reduced in Sweden but instead that it has migrated into more clandestine and riskier settings ( Scoular 2004 ; Dodillet and Östergren 2011 ).

Not all anti-prostitution activists favor the Swedish approach; some continue to press for the criminalization and punishment of all parties involved in sex for sale, not just the clients. This is the prevailing approach in the United States, where increased penalties for purchasing sex run parallel to continuing enforcement against the prostitutes themselves. The official targeting of clients is evident in legislation reauthorizing the original 2000 trafficking law. The 2005 reauthorization bill, for instance, allocated $25 million per year for increased prosecution and programs, such as re-educational “john schools,” directed at those who purchase sex.

John schools are day-long seminars for men arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The program involves lectures on the harms of commercial sex, with the goal of preventing reoffending. About forty American cities operate such programs ( Ohtake 2008 ). Almost all of the men who have ended up in john schools were arrested on the street, not indoors. A comparison of men arrested for soliciting a prostitute who attended the city’s john school and men who did not attend the school found no difference in recidivism ( Monto and Garcia 2002 ). About 1 percent of both groups were rearrested for a prostitution offense, suggesting that the arrest itself is the key deterrent. Men arrested in cities without john schools are similarly unlikely to be rearrested for a prostitution offense, a pattern that suggests that the school experience per se does not serve as a significant deterrent ( Weitzer 1999 , pp. 97–98).

26.7. Recent Trends: Decriminalization and Legalization

The second and opposite trend in sex work legislation involves decriminalization and legalization. Several nations have recently decriminalized prostitution and third-party involvement in it (removing these from the criminal law) and legalized sexual commerce (imposing specific regulations on actors and enterprises). The few existing studies of legal prostitution systems indicate that many of the harms often associated with prostitution are at least partly due to its illicit status and may be alleviated when it is decriminalized and regulated by the state. Where it is illegal, prostitution is set apart from legitimate work, actors are marginalized and reluctant to report crimes to the police, and the authorities provide little if any protection.

The legalization and regulation of prostitution in some nations shows that criminalization is not the only option. It may be difficult for residents of nations where prostitution is illegal to imagine circumstances under which it can become normalized, but that is one of the goals of legal liberalization. The ideal situation is described by Overall (1992 , p. 716): “It is imaginable that prostitution could always be practiced...in circumstances of relative safety, security, freedom, hygiene, and personal control.” Most existing legal prostitution systems have registered at least some success in achieving one or more of these goals for at least some categories of sex workers ( Weitzer 2012 ).

Prostitution is legal and regulated by the government in more places than is commonly thought, and in some other places it is tolerated and regulated despite being technically illegal (e.g., Belgium, Thailand). Several Australian states decriminalized or legalized at least one type of prostitution in the 1980s (Victoria), 1990s (Queensland, New South Wales), and 2000s (Northern Territory, Tasmania). These jurisdictions vary in whether third-party involvement is permitted (e.g., running a brothel or escort agency), whether street prostitution or only indoor prostitution is allowed, and in other respects ( Sullivan 2010 ; Weitzer 2012 ). Legalization has also taken place in the Netherlands (in 2000), Germany (in 2002), and New Zealand (in 2003). Regulations vary from place to place, but a common objective is harm reduction—that is, lowering the risk of victimization, improving health, and reducing third-party exploitation. Government regulations dictate the type of prostitution allowed, who is eligible to work in the sex industry, the rights and responsibilities of workers and business owners, methods of licensing and governing businesses, special taxes, health and safety requirements, advertising restrictions, the location of establishments, and periodic inspection of premises. The regulatory apparatus in some contexts is extensive (e.g., Nevada) and compliance can be quite expensive (e.g., exorbitant licensing fees in Queensland). In other places, the controls are much more limited (e.g., Germany, New Zealand).

The available evidence suggests that prostitution, when legalized and regulated by the government, can pay dividends, although this is certainly not guaranteed. Nevada legalized brothel prostitution in 1971 and currently has about thirty such brothels scattered around its rural counties (but not in Las Vegas and Reno). These legal brothels “offer the safest environment available for women to sell consensual sex acts” ( Hausbeck and Brents 2010 , p. 272). Research on other legal prostitution regimes also documents certain benefits, including enhanced health and safety ( Weitzer 2012 ). In Queensland, Australia, for example, a government agency reports, “There is no doubt that licensed brothels provide the safest working environment for sex workers in Queensland...Legal brothels now operating in Queensland provide a sustainable model for a healthy, crime-free, and safe legal licensed brothel industry” and are a “state of the art model for the sex industry in Australia” ( Crime and Misconduct Commission 2004 , pp. 75, 89). In most of these cases, brothels have screening procedures, surveillance, and alarm buttons that reduce the chances of abuse by customers and allow for rapid intervention in case of trouble.

A comparative analysis of legal and illegal prostitutes working in Tijuana, Mexico—where about 1,000 women are licensed to operate legally—identifies several advantages of legal sex work ( Katsulis 2008 ). Legal status, in itself, has a multiplier effect, providing workers with a set of protections as well as a broad sense of empowerment. The legal regime is associated with improved working conditions, job satisfaction, and self-esteem; decreased victimization risk; a “barrier against police harassment”; and a “sense of legitimacy and community” and social capital among the legal workers ( Katsulis 2008 , p. 77). Illegal workers in Tijuana, by contrast, are subject to fines or incarceration and are at higher risk of police harassment and violence; they have less stable support networks; and they are about twice as likely to have been assaulted, robbed, or kidnapped as legal workers. A major evaluation in New Zealand, where prostitution was decriminalized in 2003, reports that more than 90 percent of sex workers interviewed were aware that they had legal and employment rights under the new law ( Prostitution Law Review Committee 2008 ); two-thirds felt that the law gave them more leverage to refuse a client or his requests; and a majority (57 percent) felt that police attitudes had changed for the better since passage of the law. This assessment is confirmed by other research ( Abel, Fitzgerald, and Healy 2010 ) that finds legalization has achieved many of its objectives and that the majority of sex workers are better off than they were under the previous system.

The argument here is not that legalized prostitution is preferable, across the board, to criminalization, but instead that legalization can be superior. What is crucial are the specific kinds of regulations in place and the degree to which they are enforced. Legalizing prostitution is one thing; implementing and enforcing regulations in accordance with a new law is another and has presented serious challenges in many nations postlegalization. Common problems include (a) difficulties getting prostitutes and business owners to comply with the law, (b) eliminating parasitical third parties, (c) preventing the growth of an illegal sector alongside the legal sector, and (d) in some places, unrelenting demands from social forces that seek to tighten restrictions or repeal the law entirely. These and other unforeseen challenges have arisen in most newly legal prostitution systems, taxing policymakers and enforcement agents. There are some exceptions (Nevada, New Zealand) where the aftermath of legalization was relatively smooth, but elsewhere (e.g., Germany, Australia, the Netherlands) the implementation of legal arrangements has been buffeted by unanticipated problems, including the persistence of illegal prostitution parallel to the legal sector—a two-tiered situation that has been difficult to resolve (see Weitzer 2012 ). Such problems are not unique to prostitution postlegalization but apply to other vices as well, as illustrated by the recent challenges (in implementation and oversight) facing the twenty states that now allow medical marijuana in the United States ( Geluardi 2010 ).

Although the laws and regulations in these systems are framed in gender-neutral language, they are either drafted with female sex workers in mind or have been applied largely to them. Male prostitutes and their managers are usually untouched by the new controls. In other words, authorities operating in legal regimes tend to focus on female sex workers just as much as their counterparts in jurisdictions where prostitution is illegal. Women are everywhere the chief concern. Why? Perhaps because women are construed as universally more vulnerable to victimization and as having much less agency than male sex workers—a rather blatant paternalism—regardless of whether prostitution is legal or outlawed. One obvious problem with this orientation is that male sex workers are left both unmonitored and unprotected (see Katsulis 2008 ). They are less susceptible to arrest when prostitution is legal, but this hardly translates into enhanced health, safety, or labor rights for them.

Another issue that arises in deliberations about legalized prostitution is whether sexually oriented businesses should be restricted to a particular locale and prohibited outside it or whether a laissez-faire approach should prevail, where such businesses may locate wherever they please. Some cities have both geographically delimited red-light districts in addition to brothels and clubs in outlying communities. Because these red-light districts are rather visible and sometimes controversial, it is worth discussing them in some detail here. Such zones were studied decades ago by Chicago School researchers, who described vice districts as socially disorganized areas of the city. In his detailed study of Chicago, Reckless (1933 , p. 252) observed “[v]ice resorts concentrated in those tracts of the city which showed the highest rate of community disorganization,” measured by rates of predatory crime, disease, divorce, poverty, and physical decay. These associations continue to be made today and are used to justify zoning ordinances that ban or restrict strip clubs and adult video stores in the United States. But red-light districts are not, as Reckless argued, universally anomic, criminogenic, and socially disorganized. Indeed, the social ecology of such zones differs tremendously from place to place, with some departing considerably from the traditional, marginalized “skid row” image ( Weitzer 2012 , 2013 ).

Some countries where prostitution is legally regulated by the government have restricted visible prostitution to particular geographic areas. For example, several Dutch and Belgian cities and towns have districts whose main attraction is window prostitution; prostitutes sit behind red-lit windows and seek to attract male customers (no male prostitutes work in these districts, but some transgender women do). The physical appearance, social structure, and level of public order in some of these red-light zones clash with conventional stereotypes of such areas ( Weitzer 2012 , 2013 ). Such zones exist in Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium and in Alkmaar, Eindhoven, Haarlem, Groningen, The Hague, and Utrecht in the Netherlands. Based on this author’s field observations in some of these places coupled with descriptions in clients’ online discussion boards, these cities’ red-light districts have the following characteristics: They are located in enclaves away from the town center, making them less obtrusive for persons who wish to avoid the zone; they are single-purpose environments, largely restricted to window prostitution with few if any other businesses in the district; they are limited to pedestrians; the ambience of the zone is fairly tranquil; and the area is clean and lacking in signs of physical disorder or decay. The level of social control is also high: Police patrols are frequent, which sends a symbolic message to visitors, and some of the zones have visible security cameras as well. Antwerp has a mini-police station in the heart of its red-light district (see Weitzer 2013 ).

The existence of these kinds of zones suggests that legal prostitution can manifest itself in an erotic landscape that departs dramatically from conventional stereotypes. At the same time, such areas are by no means preordained in legal prostitution systems. In the same nations hosting the zones described above, there are other red-light districts that come closer to the traditional disorderly vice district model (e.g., Brussels). The key point here, however, is that prostitution, once legal and regulated, can be organized in a manner that is likely to benefit sex workers, clients, and local residents alike.

26.8. Conclusion

Most research on sex work has been conducted in nations where prostitution is outlawed. This means that what we think we know about prostitution may be distorted by the disproportionate research focus on criminalized prostitution. Research that examines sex work under different legal regimes, from criminalization to legalization, is necessary if we are to understand how legal approaches influence the origin, character, and consequences of sex work. In addition, the literature is heavily weighted toward studies of street prostitution and female sex workers. A more balanced and comprehensive picture requires a major shift in research. First, researchers should, when possible, adopt a comparative framework that includes female, male, and transgendered providers. Investigations of this sort are necessary if we are to understand the ways in which gender influences involvement in sex work, its conditions, and its effects. Second, researchers need to further expand the categories of actors studied to include the customers as well as the owners and managers who operate legal and illegal erotic businesses. Regarding customers, there is a growing but still small research literature on prostitutes’ clients but almost no studies of the consumers of pornography in the real world—outside artificial laboratory settings (exceptions include Loftus 2002 and McKee, Albury, and Lumby 2008 ). Third, researchers need a broader lens, not only examining sex work as a deviant or illegal act but also as a form of income-generating labor and the working conditions associated with it.

Some recent research has begun to shatter prevailing generalizations about commercial sex, generalizations that are largely based on studies confined to female street prostitutes. This work highlights significant differences between women who provide sexual services indoors versus the streets and has begun to document ways in which female prostitution both differs from and is similar to male and transgender prostitution. Gender differences have been documented in stripping and pornography as well, differences that shape the experiences of male and female performers as well as their customers ( Dressel and Peterson 1982 ; Montemurro 2001 ; De Marco 2007 ; Abbott 2010 ; Thomas 2010 ). We are also learning that geographical context matters tremendously. Sex work can differ radically from one locale to the next, as some major, recent international studies demonstrate ( Steinfatt 2002 ; Agustín 2007 ; Katsulis 2008 ; Kelly 2008 ; Zheng 2009 ; Abel, Fitzgerald, and Healy 2010 ; Kotiswaran 2011 ; Liu 2011 ; Trotter 2011 ; Chin and Finckenauer 2012 ; Weitzer 2012 ). But much more research is needed to expand and deepen our understanding of sex work and the factors responsible for its polymorphous character around the world.

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This essay may be found on page 209 of the printed volume.

Sex Work is Real Work, and it's Time to Treat it That Way

Sex workers aren’t always a part of the conversation about police brutality, but they should be. Police regularly target, harass, and assault sex workers or people they think are sex workers , such as trans women of color. The police usually get away with the abuse because sex workers fear being arrested if they report. If we lived in a world that didn’t criminalize sex work, sex workers could better protect themselves and seek justice when they are harmed. 

Protecting sex workers from police violence is just one of the reasons we need to decriminalize sex work. It would also help sex workers access health care, lower the risk of violence from clients, reduce mass incarceration, and advance equality in the LGBTQ community, especially for trans women of color, who are often profiled and harassed whether or not we are actually sex workers. In 2020 the call for decriminalization has made progress, but there are still widespread misconceptions about sex work and sex workers that are holding us back. Some even think that decriminalization would harm sex workers. That isn’t true. 

Here are five reasons to decriminalize sex work that would protect sex workers, help hold police accountable, and ensure equality for all members of society, including those who choose to make a living based by self-governing their own bodies.

Decriminalization would reduce police violence against sex workers

Police abuse against sex workers is common, but police rarely face consequences for it. That’s partly because sex workers fear being arrested if they come forward to report abuse. Police also take advantage of criminalization by extorting sex workers or coercing them into sexual acts, threatening arrest if they don’t comply. Criminalizing sex work only helps police abuse their power, and get away with it. 

If sex work were decriminalized, sex workers would no longer fear arrest if they seek justice, and police would lose their power to use that fear in order to abuse people.

Decriminalization would make sex workers less vulnerable to violence from clients

Like the police, sex workers’ clients can also take advantage of a criminalized environment where sex workers have to risk their own safety to avoid arrest. Clients know they can rob, assault, or even murder a sex worker — and get away with it — because the sex worker does not have access to the same protections from the law. 

Sex workers became even more vulnerable to abuse from clients after the passage of SESTA/FOSTA in 2018. The ACLU opposed this law for violating sex workers’ rights and restricting freedom of speech on the internet . SESTA/FOSTA banned many online platforms for sex workers, including client screening services like Redbook, which allowed sex workers to share information about abusive and dangerous customers and build communities to protect themselves. The law also pushed more sex workers offline and into the streets, where they have to work in isolated areas to avoid arrest, and deal with clients without background checks.

Decriminalization would allow sex workers to protect their own health

Sex workers sometimes go without medical care out of fear of arrest or poor treatment by medical staff if it comes out that they are a sex worker. And because the law doesn’t treat sex work like a real job, sex workers do not have access to employer-based health insurance, which means that many cannot afford care. 

Criminal law enforcement of sex work comes with unjust police practices, like the use of condoms as evidence of intent to do sex work. As a result, some sex workers and people who are profiled as sex workers may opt not to carry condoms due to the risk of arrest. This puts them at risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Decriminalization would advance equality for the LGBTQ community

Sex work criminalization laws impact the whole LGBTQ community because members of the community — particularly LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ immigrants, and transgender people — are more likely to be sex workers . The passage of anti-sex work laws like SESTA/FOSTA harms the community by dramatically decreasing incomes, which further marginalizes members of the trans community, people of color, or those with low incomes to begin with. 

Trans women of color feel the impact of criminalization the most, whether or not we are sex workers. Police profile us and often press prostitution charges based on clothing or condoms found in a purse. We can’t go about our lives without fear of being targeted by police. 

If sex work is decriminalized, police would have one less tool to harass and marginalize trans women of color. Sex workers, and especially trans women, would be more able to govern their own bodies and livelihoods. Decriminalizing sex work would promote the message that Black trans lives matter.

Decriminalization would reduce mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system

The criminalization of sex work feeds the mass incarceration system by putting more people in jail unnecessarily. Those incarcerated tend to be trans and/or people of color, two groups that are already disproportionately incarcerated. One in six trans people have been incarcerated , and one in two trans people of color. 

Incarceration is violent and destructive for everyone, and even more so for trans people. While incarcerated, trans people are often aggressively misgendered, denied health care, punished for expressing their gender identity, and targeted for sexual violence. 

An arrest on charges of sex work can result in life-changing consequences that last long past the end of a sentence. A criminal record can prevent you from accessing an accurate ID, jobs, housing, health care, and other services. It can also lead to deportation for immigrants. Members of the trans community and sex workers already face discrimination in many of these systems. A criminal record further marginalizes and stigmatizes being trans or engaging in sex work. 

Decriminalizing sex work would be a major step toward decarceration and reducing racial disparities in the criminal justice system. It would keep sex workers from being harmed by the collateral consequences of a criminal record. It would help prevent the marginalization of sex workers and destigmatize sex work.

How to decriminalize sex work

The ACLU has supported decriminalizing sex work since 1973, and it became an official board policy in 1975. Since then, affiliates across the country have advocated for decriminalization at the state level by striking down laws restricting sex workers’ rights, such as condoms-as-evidence laws.

The fight continues in 2020, with active decriminalization bills in several state legislatures and advocates pushing elected officials like district attorneys to take pledges to not prosecute sex work. At the federal level, Congress has introduced the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act , which would study the effects of SESTA/FOSTA. There is a chance for progress if we educate each other on sex workers’ rights and pressure elected officials to decriminalize.

Sex workers deserve the same legal protections as any other people. They should be able to maintain their livelihood without fear of violence or arrest, and with access to health care to protect themselves. We can bring sex workers out of the dangerous margins and into the light where people are protected — not targeted — by the law.

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Palak Sharma

December 10th, 2019, legalising sex work: both sides of the debate.

7 comments | 114 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Sex workers are on the periphery of social and economic life in many countries. Increasingly, even governments look down upon sex workers as subjects unworthy of benefits or legal protection. There are 3 million commercial sex workers in India alone, of whom an estimated 40% are children, according to a study conducted by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development. There have been no further official statistics released on this section of population since, and both acceptance and acknowledgement are a distant prospect in developing countries.

Some jurisdictions have decriminalised prostitution-related activities, including New Zealand, parts of Australia, Germany, Netherlands, and parts of the USA. Yet although India has legalised sex work, issues remain.

How far can we go in legalising sex work?

The limited scope of sex education in schools makes clear that sex is considered a taboo in countries like India. And, in a social and cultural context that makes sex a taboo, legalising sex work is almost blasphemous. That taboo thrives on lingering homophobia and transphobia. For instance, Section 377, which decriminalised homosexuality in India, has still not been fully enacted. Despite India’s rich historical legacy of emancipation and female empowerment, extending as far back as ancient and medieval Buddhist literature that celebrated prostitutes who rose up to be monks (Amrapali), the inherent notion underlying sex work inspires widespread disgust and abhorrence.

The legalisation of sex work itself remains a conundrum. For example, one option for legalised sex work could make use of urban zoning centres where prostitution is permitted (although this strategy reported bleak results in Britain ). Alternatively, sex workers could be licensed, but this could promote discrimination and bias on the basis of identity ( e.g. , caste) and infringe on the sex workers’ privacy.

Legalisation is therefore contentious. But legalisation’s only alternative may be exploitation.

How do international laws restrict legalisation of sex work?

International laws and conventions such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) endanger sex workers. Article 6 of the CEDAW requires states to take “all appropriate measures to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.” Such measures threaten counterproductive laws to suppress trafficking that could seriously harm sex workers.

Furthermore, international aid programmes such as the US Leadership Against HIV/AIDS , Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act condition funding on a pledge of opposition to prostitution. This conditioning restrains the ability of aid recipients to chart their own courses of legalisation.

Is the grass really greener on the other side of legalisation?

In the face of growing support for the legalisation of sex work, critics worry about ignorance of legalisation’s true consequences. Studies show that most female sex workers enter into prostitution out of necessity, not personal choice. We might wonder whether continued criminalisation that keep workers trapped is justifiable, when we could instead focus on helping sex workers escape prostitution. Licensing or some other certification of sex work that adds to their résumé would be conventionally considered a possible blot on their record.

A second concern focuses on the risk that legalisation might increase human trafficking. Greater legitimacy for sex work could lead fuel that sector’s economy, yet sex workers would likely not benefit from such growth. Most sex trafficking networks operate in a shadow economy, and the profits are concentrated beyond the sex workers’ reach. We should be mindful that legalisation alone would not in itself transfer profit to lower reaches.

Lastly, sex work is still a fairly unorganised sector with many women operating from their homes. Legalisation would push many workers outdoors, and further stigma would soon follow. Some neighbours may forbid sex workers from living nearby. Those sex workers too reticent to come forward would also be excluded from the protections of labour law under a legalisation scheme.

It is important to listen to voices coming from within this community, in the form of unions like Organización de Trabajadoras Sexuales (OTRAS) from Spain or the DecrimNow campaign in Britain. Sex work legalisation is more than mere legal debate and affects sex worker health. At this time, legalisation perhaps requires the emergence of a consensus in the community more than a governmental diktat.

Note:  This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the Social Policy Blog, nor of the London School of Economics.

About the author

Palak Sharma is a student of MSc International Social and Public Policy (Development) in the Department of Social Policy since September 2019.She is also the co-founder of the think tank Green Governance Initiative in India.

Palak I appreciate you that you have courage to write on this topic as most of the bloggers have not because they think this is a wrong topic. They have to consider that this is the topic we need to pull out to help those who have stuck in this industry without their wishes.

This is really a very amazing blog. I like very much these types of blog please keep it up

Thanks for the wonderful share. Your article has proved your hard work and experience you have got in this field. Brilliant. I love it reading.

I love to visit your website here is good information for us thanks for us.

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Thanks a lot very helpful and interesting content…it’s article very nice… thanks you

great post keep posting thank you!!

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A Heated Debate: Theoretical Perspectives of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Work

Lara gerassi.

Washington University in St. Louis George Warren Brown School of Social Work

The theoretical and often political framework of sexual exploitation and sex work among women is widely and enthusiastically debated among academic and legal scholars alike. The majority of theoretical literature in this area focuses on the macro perspective, while the micro-level perspective as to theory and causation remains sparse. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, legal, and political perspectives pertaining to sexual exploitation of women and girls while addressing the subsequent controversies in the field.

Theoretical explanations of sexual exploitation and sex work are rich and diverse at the societal level yet sparse and underdeveloped at the individual level. The contentious theoretical and moral debates among macro-level perspectives not only influence other macro systems (e.g., law) but even determine whether a woman may ever choose to exchange sex for financial compensation. Academic and legal scholars alike weave contrasting theoretical perspectives into language choices of their publications and lectures, i.e., the use of sex work as compared to sexual exploitation. Conversely, micro-level theories attempt to explain the process of victimization or entry into, as well as the exit out of, sexual exploitation and sex work but are not empirically well supported. Keeping this in mind, the purpose of this article is to review the philosophical, legal, and political perspectives pertaining to sexual exploitation of women and girls as well as to address the subsequent controversies in the field.

Macro Theories of Causation at Structural Level

The bulk of theoretical progress and academic writing is grounded in macro theories to explain the causation of sexual exploitation and sex work at the structural level. Some theories, such as feminism, may appear all encompassing by general name and yet hold stark divisions that greatly impact the understanding of sexual exploitation and the view of what some refer to as its victims. The debates among neo-abolitionist perspectives are continuously active and rarely come to consensus. Influenced by this debate, structural theories lend themselves to divisive legal perspectives, such as criminal treatment of those who purchase or sell sex, as well as those who exploit or facilitate others into performing sex acts for money. Structural theories also explain the financial aspects of sexual exploitation within a larger political context, further politicizing and polarizing working frameworks. Thus, a review of these perspectives is imperative to understanding the national context and debate of sexual exploitation and sex work.

Feminist Theories

Most of the theoretical frameworks regarding violence against women are derived from feminist theories. Feminist theory is a broad, transdisciplinary perspective that strives to understand roles, experiences, and values of individuals on the basis of gender ( Miriam, 2005 ). Feminism is most commonly applied to intimate partner violence, framing an abusive relationship between intimate partners as a gender-based crime supporting the institutionalized oppression of women globally ( Nichols, 2013 ; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005 ). With regard to sexual exploitation, the feminist frame questions whether prostitution or any exchange of sex for something of financial value is or can be voluntary ( Wilson & Butler, 2014 ). Feminist theory and its subsequent contrasting divisions also significantly impact service delivery, as direct service providers disagree in the interpretation of the statistical overrepresentation of women and girls seen in practice ( Oakley et al., 2013 ; Wasco, 2003 ) and research ( Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, & Grace, 2009 ; Farley, Cotton, Lynne, Zumbeck, & Spiwak, 2008; Sullivan, 2003 ).

With regard to sexual exploitation or sex work, scholars and advocates are generally divided into two opposing theoretical camps. One group, usually referred to as neo-abolitionists, condemns all forms of voluntary and involuntary prostitution as a form of oppression against women. Neo-abolitionists, including radical and Marxist feminists, postulate that prostitution is never entirely consensual and cannot be regarded as such ( Tiefenbrun, 2002 ). The other group, including many sex positivists, argues that a woman has a right to choose prostitution and other forms of sex work as a form of employment or even as a career.

Neo-abolitionist perspectives: Radical & Marxist feminism

Radical and Marxist feminism serve as the roots of current day, neo-abolitionist perspectives with regard to sexual exploitation of women and girls. Radical feminism is rooted in its understanding of social organization and structure as inherently patriarchal, as sexism exists to maintain male privilege and patriarchal social order ( Loue, 2001 ). Radical feminists and patriarchal theorists frame issues of violence against women in a long line of institutional and structural sexism and paternalistic views. Dobash and Dobash (1979) first identified the tenets of this theory, which stipulates that violence against women is a systemic form of men's domination and social control of women. Thus, assaults occur primarily because of institutionalized male privilege, as men believe it is their right to enact violence against women.

The patriarchal organization of both government and society has provided a social context for the widespread sexist acceptance of hierarchy, thereby excluding women from the public sector, higher education, structural labor forces, and religious institutions ( Loue, 2001 ; Dobash & Dobash, 1979 ). This also contributed to a male centered perspective, in which women had no place in holding highly respected jobs in the community and were consequently confined to the home. Argued from this model of oppression, the central tenet of sexual commerce rests in male domination and the structural inequalities between men and women. Sexual commerce provides a patriarchal right of access to women's bodies, thus perpetuating women's subordination to men ( Farley, 2005 ). Radical feminists dispute the use of pornography, as they claim it causes harm and violence against women. For example, Gloria Steinem and presidents of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and Planned Parenthood sent a letter to President Clinton protesting the administration's refusal to define all types of prostitution as “sexual exploitation” ( Stolz, 2005 ). Because radical feminists generally view all commercial sex acts as patriarchal and oppressive, advocates should be inclined to ban all forms of sex work and sex industry from existence ( Weitzer, 2007 ).

Like radical feminism, Marxist feminism is another neo-abolitionist stance that generally views all forms of sexual commerce as a form of violence against women. Although Marxism had very little to do with women, Marxist feminists have argued that sexuality is to feminism what work is to Marxism, that which is most one's own and yet is taken away ( MacKinnon, 1989 ). Marxist feminism posits women's oppression on the economic dependence on men in a male-centric society ( Bryson, 1992 ) and argues that capitalism continues to be the overarching oppressor of women. As long as capitalism exists, women will live in a patriarchal state and economically depend on men in a society structured around social class.

In this model, economic exploitation includes many forms, primarily prostitution and pornography, and therefore must be viewed as oppressions of sex and class. Women's sexuality and sexual energy is appropriated by the men who buy or control the sexual services exchange (i.e., pimps) just as any worker's energy is appropriated to the capitalists for their profits, leading to alienation of one's bodily capacities and very bodily being ( Miriam, 2005 ). Marxist feminism specifically critiques the use of pornography and other forms of voluntary and involuntary sexual exchanges for money. Catherine MacKinnon, a Marxist feminist legal scholar, argues that all forms of pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking are abuses of sex and a form of power taken away from women ( MacKinnon, 1982 ).

Both radical and Marxist feminism have been criticized for their focus on sexually exploited or trafficked victims and the lack of women's rights to choose careers in sex work ( Kesler, 2002 ; Wolken, 2004 ). In addition, arguments have ironically been regarded as paternalistic, in that the abolishment of prostitution is viewed as for the good of prostitutes ( Meyers, 2013 ). Critics argue that categorizing everyone as victims of sex trafficking (or not) creates an unhelpful dichotomy within the law and social services of looking for victims that are always under some form of force, fraud, or coercion and therefore under the control of another ( FitzGerald & Munro, 2012 ; Snyder-Hall, 2010 ). Critics also argue that these forms of feminism do not support the autonomy of women currently exchanging or who have exchanged sex for money when they choose to leave the field or provide any subsequent form of advocacy work ( Meyers, 2013 ). Finally, some critics have argued that capitalism is a current reality, especially in countries like the U.S., and Marxist feminism loses the ability to view gender, sexuality, and class together within current day society ( Beloso, 2012 ). In response to many of these criticisms, a new feminist framework arguing for women's right to choose sex work has emerged, adding to an entrenched debate of feminism, choice, and freedom.

Pro-sex work perspective: Sex positivism

The pro-sex work perspective, or sex positivism, split from previously derived feminist schools of thought to advocate for women's right to an autonomous choice of sex work. Advocates of this perspective hold that sexuality, including paid forms, is consensual in many cases and that a woman should be free to make her own decision regarding the type of work in which she chooses to partake ( Ferguson et al., 1984 ). Similarly, sex positivists argue that the notion of intimacy and what actions or sexual acts are considered intimate should be decided by the woman. For example, former sex worker, activist, and writer, Maggie McNeil, argues that there are many professions that may be described as intimate (i.e., nurses, gynecologists, child care professionals) and that all women, including sex workers and prostitutes, should be able to choose what is considered intimate and what is not ( Russell & Garcia, 2014 ). Thus, any mandate or perspective dictating to women that their choice of work is wrong remains dangerous and patriarchal ( Kesler, 2002 ). Sex positivists shift the model of person-centered services from a typically neo-abolitionist model that rescues and protects victims from prostitution and sexual exploitation to providing services for women who work in the sex industry ( Shah, 2004 ).

Critiques of sex positivism are numerous. First, the neo-abolitionist view in itself directly disputes the main principal of sex positivism, as these two frameworks grapple with finding common ground on issues of pornography and prostitution or sex work ( Metcalfe & Woodhams, 2012 ). Others have argued that sex positivism and the issue of consent cannot be addressed without also considering the high rates of sexual assault and abuse histories, in addition to a lack of economic options ( Hughes, 2005 ; Potterat, Rothenberg, Muth, Darrow, & Phillips-Plummer, 2001 ). In addition to opposing feminist frameworks, some religious organizations state that sexual integrity is jeopardized on a national level with this framework, as moral culture is damaged when sex becomes commercialized ( Weitzer, 2007 ). Debates from both the feminist left and the religious right add yet another layer of complication to understanding these philosophical perspectives that pervasively influence law and social service sectors.

Intersectionality

Regardless of opposing opinions, intersectionality may be intertwined with previously described feminist perspectives to explain a woman's varied experiences based on her race, class, sexual orientation or another identity she holds in addition to her sex ( Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005 ). Intersectionality declares that the impact of sexism is qualitatively different depending on women's class or race identities ( Crenshaw, 1991 ). The impact of intersectionality was first utilized to explain the following within the context of domestic violence: (1) the socially structured indivisibility of certain victims (mainly that all women's experiences are not the same); (2) who the “appropriate” victims are and the denial of victimization; and (3) the real-world consequences of intersection and domestic violence ( Bograd, 1999 ). Since then, intersectionality has impacted the way in which scholars view relationships between interrelated social divisions in society and among people's lives ( Anthias, 2013 ). Feminists using an intersectional framework maintain that gender (or gender and class in the case of Marxist feminism) cannot be used alone to understand a woman's oppression and the impact of sexual exploitation on her ( Beloso, 2012 ). Subsequently, feminist legal scholars ( Wolken, 2004 ) and researchers ( Chong, 2014 ) have described the devaluation of women of color specifically as victimization by sexual exploitation, because they are even more likely to be considered as embodying perversions of desire and to be treated systemically as a lower class of individuals than their White counterparts.

Main criticisms of intersectionality include a lack of defined intersectional methodology and empirical validity ( Nash, 2008 ). In addition, some critics also argue that intersectionality has only primarily been used to address Black women's experience and is not politically and empirically inclusive of other identity intersections ( Anthias, 2013 ), such as sexual orientation or even other races. Intersectionality is more commonly viewed as a framework to understand the impact of multiple identities on the oppression of women but is criticized for actually contributing to or creating additional hierarchies for women.

Political economy perspective

First used to address intimate partner violence, the political economy perspective has evolved to recognize important tenets of intersectionality and is applied to all forms of sexual violence, including sexual exploitation and trafficking. The political economy perspective describes the relationship between the state and economy, arguing that violence against women occurs because of the economic welfare and political processes driving the state ( Adelman, 2008 ). For example, political welfare reform and the economic state exacerbate some women's experiences, as poor women became more dependent on cash and in-kind assistance from sexual partners, intimate relationships, children's fathers, etc. ( Edin & Lein, 1997 ). Marxist feminism and the political economy perspective share the understanding that political economy and lower social economic status may drive sexual commerce; however, political economy perspective is rooted more in capitalistic differences in wealth alone, rather than differences in wealth as a result of systemic oppression against women. Thus, the political economy allows for unequal opportunity and pay for women and drives women to be more dependent and find opportunities to survive (often times from men), thus shifting the discourse from individualized deviancy toward structural inequality.

In view of sexual exploitation, women who are poor and have few options for survival may fall victims to traffickers or may prostitute themselves when they seemingly have no other choice ( Anthias, 2013 ). Without the possession of cultural or social capital, women ranging from exotic dancers to trafficked women struggle against economic, social, and sexual oppressions ( Konstantopoulos et al., 2013 ). Women would not be compelled to sell sexual or erotic services if the political environment at the policy level afforded equal opportunities to gain social capital, thus increasing poor women's vulnerability to being preyed upon or trafficked. Proponents of the political economy perspective point to studies with disproportionate percentages of housing instability and poverty among youth who trade sex to survive, as well as the lack of economic options for girls and women who engage in prostitution ( Farley et al., 2008 ; Miller et al., 2011 ; Valera, Sawyer, & Schiraldi, 2001 ; Van Leeuwen et al., 2004 ; Watson, 2011 ; Wilson & Butler, 2014 ).

Like critics of Marxism or radical feminism, criticisms of the political economy include the removal of a woman's choice to prostitute or trade sex ( Weitzer, 2012 ). With this perspective, personal agency is removed entirely and replaced with structural and economic barriers to “appropriate” options of employment or money ( Wolken, 2004 ). A woman's ability to choose is called into question.

Legal perspectives

Divided feminist and political theories of exploitation have practical consequences, namely the laws and legal frameworks by which individuals purchase, provide, and facilitate sex. Contrasting theoretical frameworks drive the debate with regard to the prohibition, decriminalization, or legalization of prostitution and commercial sex. Although one approach has been applied to the confines of United States law, the debate remains heated and ongoing.

Prohibitionist perspective

With the exception of parts of Nevada, the U.S. currently maintains a prohibitionist stance on prostitution, as anyone who participates in the promotion or participation of sexual activities for profit in the U.S. may be charged with prostitution and commercial vice (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011). No distinction is made between those who buy, sell, or facilitate the selling of sex acts. Exceptions include cases that involve: (1) minors, in which any commercial sex act is illegal; and (2) adults, only when elements of force, fraud, or coercion are present.

Considering the complexity of perspectives on the concept of choice in prostitution, it is unsurprising that many would disagree with U.S. law. Some who support prohibition point to studies with high rates of homelessness, mental health trauma, and sexual/physical assault over the course of prostitution and indicate that most in prostitution do not freely consent; therefore legalization and decriminalization would not decrease its harm to women and girls ( Farley et al., 2008 ). Others, including many of those in the sex positivist movement, argue that countries like the U.S. set a high standard or burden of proof for trafficking victims and criminalize other women who sell sex who also may be in need of services ( Wolken, 2004 ). Pro-sex feminists, such as Carole Vance, argue that these standards are detrimental to women, as women are viewed and treated as criminals unless there is proof of force or coercion ( Vance, 2011 ). It is important to understand the current national legal perspective in order to understand the proposed and much debated alternatives.

Decriminalization & legalization

Utilized to varying degrees across the world and in parts of Nevada, two alternative and controversial methods of legally addressing prostitution are continually proposed among legal and academic scholars. First, the decriminalization of prostitution is offered, which would remove criminal penalties for any prostitution-related activity ( Hughes, 2005 ). There are a few different models in which this may apply. For example, in Sweden, the sellers of sex are decriminalized, however the buyers of sex, in addition to pimps and traffickers, are not. This contrasts greatly from the model in New Zealand in 2003, when all parties involved in the buying, selling, and facilitating of sex were decriminalized ( Wyler & Siskin, 2010 ).

Equally (if not more) controversial, the second method to address prostitution in the law is the legalization of prostitution in its entirety. This model is currently utilized in New Zealand as well as the Netherlands, Australia, and other countries ( Cho, Dreher, & Neumayer, 2013 ). As the name suggests, legalization of prostitution frees all those who participate in, sell, buy, or facilitate the selling of sex from criminal liability and responsibility. Thus, prostitution is redefined as a form of service work ( Hughes, 2005 ). With this method, selling sex may be regulated and taxed, contributing to national economies. Many who favor legalization argue that ability to apply labor standards will help women and provide them access to legalized health insurance or other benefits of the legalized working world ( Sullivan, 2003 ). Two independent studies respectively reported that 44% and 57% of female prostitutes in their samples indicated that legalized prostitution would help them or keep them safer ( Farley & Barkan, 2008 ; Valera et al., 2001 ); however, both of these studies concluded that this could be a result of the extensive rates of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and other mental health issues.

Advocates of both legalization and decriminalization argue that these methods reduce the stigmatization of individuals who sell sex ( Richards, 1979 ; Weitzer, 2012 ). Some former prostitutes and sex workers have also been influential in the promotion of legalization or decriminalization through writing and advocacy organizations ( Russell & Garcia, 2014 ). One such example is the organization COYOTE, an acronym for “Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics.” Founded by Margo St. James, a former sex worker convicted of prostitution, COYOTE is one of the major social organizations to challenge the prohibitionist stance on prostitution in favor of decriminalization ( Jenness, 1990 ). The organization and other similar-minded advocates maintain that voluntary prostitution is a legitimate and chosen work and should be reflected in legal policy and practice as such. Other prominent advocates of decriminalizing and legalizing prostitution have argued that the morality of prohibitionist stances has no place in the law and may cause further harm to women ( Richards, 1979 ; Wolken, 2004 ).

Criticisms of both decriminalization and legalization of prostitution or sex work are most often linked to one another. Critics claim that decriminalization is best understood as a transition or part of a legalization or abolition, but not as an endpoint itself ( Hughes, 2005 ). Some claim that either decriminalization or legalization of prostitution would result in the normalization of commercial sex and thereby legitimize sexual demands of an employer in any field of his (or her) employees ( Anderson, 2002 ). Although evidence has emerged globally indicating that legalized prostitution may increase human trafficking ( Cho et al., 2013 ), this analysis has not been conducted on domestic trafficking in the U.S., where the dynamics of prostitution and sexual exploitation differ from other parts of the world.

Scholar Melissa Farley (2004) , as well as other advocates of both forms of prostitution, condemned New Zealand for their legislature decriminalizing and then legalizing prostitution. She summarized the arguments of many abolitionists, stating that: (1) harm to women is not decreased by legalization or decriminalization; (2) stigmatization and violence against women continue to affect women under legalized or decriminalized policies; and (3) the choice to prostitute oneself is made because of a lack of other economic options and exists as another form of oppression against women. These arguments repeatedly appear in the literature and in response to growing global changes to prostitution laws ( Hughes, 2005 ; MacKinnon, 1982 ; Raphael & Shapiro, 2002 , 2005 ).

The criticisms and support for legalization, decriminalization and prohibition of prostitution are ongoing and continually divisive in the field. The breadth with which these frameworks guide actions of policymakers, activists, and scholars is extensive, with no end in sight to the debates. Although the bulk of the theoretical work has been and continues to be executed at the macro level, other perspectives have emerged and contribute to the dialogue of sexual exploitation and sex work.

Micro Theories at the Individual Level

In sharp contrast to the wealth of scholarship with regard to macro level theoretical perspectives, as well as the contentious debates and divisions among them, there is a dearth of academic theories at the micro or individual and relationship level. An extensive search among books and articles regarding sexual exploitation, prostitution, survival sex, and sex trafficking resulted in the utilization of varying theoretical perspectives that may be grouped to describe either: (1) the victimization or the process into sexual exploitation or prostitution; or (2) the exit process of sexual exploitation or prostitution. Unlike macro theories in this area or micro theories of other fields, there is very little support, debate, or even progress in the literature. Instead, individual articles or scholars have hypothesized and applied one theoretical perspective without the replication of other studies or support from researchers. As such, individual-level theoretical perspectives are reviewed here within the context of entry into and exit out of sexual exploitation and sex work.

Victimization and Entry Perspectives

While other studies address individual risk factors or common themes of recruitment and initiation experiences ( Cobbina & Oselin, 2011 ; Kramer & Berg, 2003 ; Wilson & Butler, 2014 ), they are predominantly descriptive and not theoretical or process oriented. A comprehensive search provided very few studies which report the integration or even guided use of theory in understanding the pathway into sexual exploitation or sex work. Although the exceptions to this, four studies in all, are described here, it is important to note that no theory applied to entry into sexual exploitation or sex work was supported or described by more than one author or study.

First, Reid (2012) applied life course theory to victimization in sex trafficking, which suggests that the impact of any experience, including victimization in this case, is influenced by the person's life stage. Reid found that indicators of harmful informal social control processes during childhood and adolescence in particular were common, creating a desire for acceptance and love commonly exacerbating initial entrapment. The desire for a better life and love, in combination with curiosity about sex work and attraction to fast cash, resulted in a girl's entry into the sex industry.

In the second study, Gwadz and colleagues ( Gwadz et al., 2009 ) were guided by the theory of social control, emphasizing the role of youths' bonds to conventional society as deterrents to delinquent or deviant behavior. Without these bonds, Gwadz and colleagues hypothesized a propensity for the initiation of homeless youth into trading sex. Their results showed that social control did play a role in homeless youths' initiation; however, other factors, such as benefits to street economy and barriers to formal economy, also contributed to the initiation.

Third, Whitbeck & Simons (1993) explored a social learning model of victimization in their study of homeless adolescents and adults. Adolescents in both the model and particular study were more likely to come from abusive family backgrounds and rely on deviant survival strategies such as survival sex. As a result, they were more likely to face criminal justice consequences and experience increased victimization.

A fourth study used structural-choice theory of victimization ( Tyler, Whitbeck, Hoyt, Cauce, & Whitbeck, 2004 ) to examine the context-specific effects of lifestyles and daily routines on the risk for victimization. Tyler and colleagues used this framework to interpret their study's observed association between survival sex and sexual victimization among homeless youth. The prevalent associations were a result of the choice afforded to them because of low income and lack of other survival options.

In addition to these individual studies, many descriptive studies of sexually exploited women and girls have showed high rates of substance abuse and addiction occurring before or as a result of sexual exploitation ( Burnette et al., 2008 ; El-Bassel, Witte, Wada, Gilbert, & Wallace, 2001 ; Tyler, Gervais, & Davidson, 2013 ; Valera et al., 2001 ), yet theoretical underpinnings of addiction theory with particular regard to this population remain vastly underdeveloped. Differences in the addiction process and its influence on the pathway to sexual exploitation or sex work are documented descriptively but not explored theoretically; therefore, it is important to consider how they may relate to the process.

Addiction has been theoretically understood as a disease, a behavioral disorder, a cognitive disturbance, and/or an expression of, or way of coping with, internal and interpersonal conflict and trauma ( West & Brown, 2013 ). However, the emerging theory of addiction has worked to combine several biological, neurological, and emotional aspects of these viewpoints. According to West and Brown (2013) , addiction should be understood as a chronic condition involving a repeated powerful motivation to engage in a rewarding behavior, acquired as a result of engaging in that behavior, that has significant potential for unintended harm. The pathologies underlying addiction involve one of three types of abnormalities which either: (1) are independent of addiction, such as depression, anxiety, or impulsiveness; (2) stem from the addictive behavior, such as acquisition of a strongly entrenched habit or acquired drive; or (3) exist in a social or physical environment, such as presence of strong social or other pressures to engage in activity. In other words, the theory of addiction may derive as a response to a mental health factor, an internal motivation, or a social environment.

While the theoretical component of addiction is not empirically tested in the sexual exploitation literature, use of substances and subsequent addiction is well documented, specifically among sexually exploited women ( Clawson et al., 2009 ; Schauer, 2006 ). Many women and girls often begin using substances prior to their exploitation or become addicted to substances as a result of a pimp's influence or as a coping mechanism ( Farley & Barkan, 2008 ; Miller et al., 2011 ). Only one study examined the differences in pathways to drug use and found that individuals who began trading sex in adulthood were more likely to use drugs before trading sex than juveniles, who were more likely to use drugs after trading sex ( Martin, Hearst, & Widome, 2010 ). With the empirical support in the literature regarding substance use/abuse and sexual exploitation as a risk factor that precedes or follows initiation into exploitation, there is a distinct need to explore substance abuse theories and their impact on the pathway into sexual exploitation.

Exit Perspectives

Similar to the entry progression, the process by which women and girls exit sexual exploitation or sex work is equally complex and theoretically underdeveloped. Drawing from qualitative analysis and observations of a woman's exit from prostitution, a few studies propose models or stages to exiting prostitution and sexual exploitation ( Baker, Dalla, & Williamson, 2010 ; Månsson & Hedin, 1999 ; Sanders, 2007 ; Williamson & Folaron, 2003 ). One theory of exiting prostitution is proposed as empirically testable ( Cimino, 2012 ). Few theories exist that explain the exiting process and those that do exist are difficult to test quantitatively. This article applies the integrative model of behavioral prediction to examine intentions to exit prostitution through attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy beliefs that underlie a woman's intention to exit prostitution. Constructs unique to prostitution—agency and societal context—enhance the model. This theory may explain and predict an exit from street-level prostitution ( Cimino, 2012 ), yet no studies have done so to date.

The “Phases of the Lifestyle Model” ( Williamson & Folaron, 2003 ) targets street-level prostitution only. This process involves phases of disillusionment with the lifestyle of prostitution after violence, drug addiction, arrests, and trauma and then exiting as a result of negative events and attitude changes. The second model, known as the “Breakaway Model” ( Månsson & Hedin, 1999 ) includes an experiential tipping point of a negative experience, resulting in the contemplation of and attempt to exit. This model postulates that women are successful in staying away from prostitution with a change of social networks. Third, Sanders' “Typology of Transitions” (2007) identifies four transitions out of prostitution: (1) reactionary transition—women experience a life-changing event sparking their departure; 2) gradual transition—women begin to access formal support services slowly, starting their progress; (3) natural progression—women develop a natural or intrinsic desire to exit; and (4) yo-yoing—women drift in and out of prostitution, treatment centers, and the criminal justice system. Fourth, the “Integrative Model of Exiting” ( Baker et al., 2010 ) draws on stages of change behavior, when the final exit occurs after numerous attempts are made, resulting in a change of identity, habits, and social networks.

Most recently, a predictive theory of intentions combined several theories to estimate the path to exiting ( Cimino, 2012 ). This article applies the integrative model of behavioral prediction to examine intentions to exit prostitution through attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy beliefs that underlie a woman's intention to exit prostitution. This proposed but untested theory assumes that all behavior is under a person's choice in light of four elements: (1) the action (e.g., to exit); (2) the target (e.g., the woman); (3) the context (e.g., prostitution); and (4) the time period under which the behavior is to be observed (e.g., permanently). The surrounding attitudes, norms, the woman's self-efficacy and intentions, skill, and environment also contribute to her choice. This proposed theory targets voluntary exits only, and does not address any pimp or trafficker-related quandaries.

Relation between Micro and Macro Level Theories

All four studies addressing entry into trading or survival sex focus on victimization as a partial consequence of additional vulnerabilities, which seem to support the neo-abolitionist perspective at the macro level. Authors point to the studies' reduced options because of various adversities and traumas, ranging from family backgrounds and abuse to poverty and homelessness. Theories of addiction also play a role in impacting the course of sexual exploitation and any choices a woman or girl may have. These studies do not necessarily dispute that individuals trading sex had the choice to do so, but rather suggest that they may not have made the same choices without increased vulnerabilities from childhood or in their present situations.

Like entry perspectives, both exit models seem to side with the abolitionist perspective in that they describe many reasons why a woman would not be able to be able to fully make a decision on her own, free of any other factors. Sex positivists would suggest that these theoretical explanations for prostitution remove the possibility of full personal agency and that a woman could make her own choice to do sex work. Neo-abolitionists would argue that sex work is chosen only because of the complete lack of other options and therefore can never truly be described as a “choice.” Even in these smaller studies, macro-level theoretical perspectives and the debate between the neo-abolitionists and the sex-positivists can certainly be found.

It is evident that the majority of the research and debate is centered in the macro and structural theories of causation and remains substantially underdeveloped in micro level theories at the individual and relationship level. The heated debates of various feminist perspectives have greatly influenced the divisions within the legal frameworks with which countries of the world are governed. Even with the extensive theoretical and legal writing at the macro level, the amount of empirically tested work remains limited. With the high levels of responses from one legal or academic scholar to another, often in rebuttal or defense of his/her own particular framework ( Farley, 2005 ; Raphael & Shapiro, 2005 ; Weitzer, 2012 ; Wolken, 2004 ), no clear consensus is likely to be reached any time soon. Micro level perspectives contribute to the understanding of entry and exit processes for women and girls in sexual exploitation or sex work, but contain very little outside empirical support. Regardless of the contrasting body of works between macro and micro level theories, theoretical advancements play an important role in understanding sexual exploitation and sex work among females as well as the policies, services, and interventions available to them in present day.

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Guest Essay

OnlyFans Is Not a Safe Platform for ‘Sex Work.’ It’s a Pimp.

By Catharine A. MacKinnon

Ms. MacKinnon is a lawyer, scholar, writer, teacher and activist. She teaches law at the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School and works for sexually violated people around the globe.

We are living in the world pornography has made. For more than three decades, researchers have documented that it desensitizes consumers to violence and spreads rape myths and other lies about women’s sexuality. In doing so, it normalizes itself, becoming ever more pervasive, intrusive and dangerous, surrounding us ever more intimately, grooming the culture so that it becomes hard even to recognize its harms.

One measure of this success is the media’s increasing insistence on referring to people used in prostitution and pornography as “sex workers.” What is being done to them is neither sex, in the sense of intimacy and mutuality, nor work, in the sense of productivity and dignity. Survivors of prostitution consider it “ serial rape ,” so they regard the term “ sex work ” as gaslighting. “When the ‘job’ of prostitution is exposed, any similarity to legitimate work is shattered,” write two survivors, Evelina Giobbe and Vednita Carter. “Put simply, whether you’re a ‘high-class’ call girl or a street walkin’ ho, when you’re on a ‘date’ you gotta get on your knees or lay on your back and let that man use your body any way he wants to. That’s what he pays for. Pretending prostitution is a job like any other job would be laughable if it weren’t so serious.”

“Sex work” implies that prostituted people really want to do what they have virtually no choice in doing. That their poverty, homelessness, prior sexual abuse as children, subjection to racism, exclusion from gainful occupations or unequal pay plays no role. That they are who the pornography says they are, valuable only for use in it.

Pornography’s power became clear once again last month, when OnlyFans , the London-based subscription service, announced that it would ban the “sexually explicit” from its platform, before abruptly reversing course amid criticism. “OnlyFans has been celebrated for giving adult entertainers and sex workers a safe place to do their jobs,” Bloomberg News observed . According to the A.C.L.U., a longtime defender of pornography, “When tech platforms like OnlyFans see themselves as arbiters of acceptable cyber speech and activity, they stigmatize sex work, making workers less safe.” On the contrary, it is the sex industry that makes women unsafe . Legitimizing sexual abuse as a job makes webcamming sites like OnlyFans particularly seductive to the economically strapped.

OnlyFans became a household name during the pandemic , when demand for pornography skyrocketed. People started living their lives online, domestic violence exploded, women lost their means of economic survival even more than men, and inequalities increased. OnlyFans, niche pornography as mediated soft prostitution, was positioned to take advantage of these dynamics.

OnlyFans has been to conventional pornography what stripping has been to prostitution: a gateway activity, sexual display with seeming insulation from skin-on-skin exploitation, temporary employment for those with their financial backs against the wall and few if any alternatives. It offers the illusion of safety and deniability for producer and consumer alike. But the outcry over the proposed ban made clear that only explicit sex — mostly, the sexual consumption of feminized bodies, usually female, gay or trans — sells well in pornography’s world. As Dannii Harwood, the first so-called content creator on OnlyFans, told The New York Times , “Once subscribers have seen everything, they move on to the next creator.” Empirical research has also documented that dynamic.

Though OnlyFans said its motive for the now-retracted ban was to comply with the policies of credit card companies that process payments on the platform, there is some reason to think that the platform was trying to get ahead of its Pornhub moment , in which the possible conditions of its girlfriend fantasy — youth, diminished agency and destitution among them — might be exposed. Allegations have already been made of inadequate screening for incest, bestiality and child sexual abuse. A complaint recently filed in South Korea alleged that OnlyFans hosted videos of minors. (OnlyFans has said the company “does not tolerate any violations of our policies and we immediately take action to uphold the safety and security of our users.”) There is no way to know whether pimps and traffickers are recruiting the unwary or vulnerable or desperate or coercing them offscreen and confiscating or skimming the proceeds, as is typical in the sex industry. OnlyFans takes 20 percent of any pay, its pimp’s cut.

Silent in the discussion of OnlyFans’s proposed rule is whether preventing underage youth from being used on the site has ever been possible. Prepubescent children, maybe. But almost anyone past the onset of puberty can be presented as a so-called consenting adult. Most women enter the sex industry underage, their vulnerability central to their appeal, hence marketability. Children cannot be protected from sexual exploitation as long as pornography is protected and prostitution of adults is tolerated, because these are the same group of people at two points in time, sometimes no more than one day apart, sometimes at one and the same time — children presented as adults, adults presented as children.

Equally missing in the conversation is any concern for people who have been forced, pimped or deceived or had their intimate pictures stolen. Much of the commentary on OnlyFans’s once-proposed rule wails that the consumer should have the right to buy what the producer should have the right to sell. Meanwhile, the coerced, violated, exploited and surveilled have no effective rights against being bought and sold against their will. As long as the violated lack effective rights and equality based on sex, ethnicity and gender, survivors of abuse through these sites — including Pornhub and SeekingArrangement and sites adjacent — will be exposed to theft, coercion and all manner of unauthorized expropriation of their sexuality.

Some U.S. states appear to offer legal recourse for people whose sexual materials have been made or shared without their permission. But in reality few provide usable or effective ways to deal with the materials themselves. Even in California, which has some of the better protections, legal requirements fail to reflect many of the conditions under which these visuals are made and distributed.

The state’s standards and exemptions enhance the power of the sex industry to escape liability for its exploitive practices: Civil trafficking laws applicable to adults, for example, are confined to “obscene” materials, a test notoriously difficult for even seasoned federal prosecutors to prove. Consent requirements are oblivious to the fact that phony consent videos are standard. Statutes of limitations are too short for many traumatized victims. Exemptions from liability for materials that were ever consensually sent or previously distributed by anyone make the “revenge porn” laws nearly useless. Deepfake laws aim only to protect the person who is falsely introduced, often a celebrity, not the person who is used for sex. Perhaps OnlyFans was reassured of the toothlessness of such laws when it decided to suspend its proposed ban.

This year, a California state senator, Dave Cortese, of San Jose, in Silicon Valley, introduced a workable and effective bill that adapts the best features of copyright, libel and trafficking law to solve this problem. If passed, it would create a civil legal claim for victims of online sex trafficking — naked or sexual visuals of minors or of adults who were coerced or tricked or victims of theft. Once notice is given, the trafficker would have to take the materials down or pay $100,000 for every two hours they remained accessible.

This law could be passed anywhere. Anyone who was sex trafficked this way could sue to stop materials created or distributed without permission. Those who are supposedly acting freely in this space — as the press onslaught frantically assures us that OnlyFans “sex workers” all are — and those who are not would finally have some real protection, giving their vaunted freedom of action a foothold in reality, reducing pornography’s power to make our world.

Catharine A. MacKinnon is a lawyer, scholar, writer, teacher and activist. She teaches law at the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School and works for sexually violated people around the globe. Her latest book is “Butterfly Politics.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

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Harm Reduction and Decriminalization of Sex Work: Introduction to the Special Section

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• Published: 16 October 2021
• Volume 18 , pages 809–818, ( 2021 )

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• Belinda Brooks-Gordon   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6304-7496 1 ,
• Max Morris 2 &
• Teela Sanders 3  

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Introduction:

This special section of Sexuality Research and Social Policy , edited by Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Max Morris and Teela Sanders, has its origins in a colloquium sponsored by the University of Cambridge Socio-Legal Group in 2020. The goal was to promote the exchange of ideas between a variety of disciplinary research fields and applied perspectives on harm reduction and the decriminalization of sex work. The colloquium took place during the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in February 2020.

We explore the impact of Covid-19 on understandings of sex work, outline the basic underpinning legal philosophical question, explore the intersectional politics of decriminalization, summarize contemporary international health and human rights campaigns, explore contemporary public opinion trends on the issue, and illustrate the universal principles. Finally, we summarize the special section papers (N=12).

The Covid pandemic provided a lens through which to analyse the changes that have occurred in sex work and sex work research in the past decade and it also exacerbated intersecting inequalities, accelerated many social shifts already in motion whilst changing the course of others. In combination the papers in this special issue examine sex work policy and research across 12 countries in four continents to provide and important space for international and cross-cultural comparison.

Conclusions:

We present the timely contributions of diverse authors and comment on the significance of their research projects which support a decriminalization policy agenda for the benefit of academics, policymakers and practitioners to improve public health strategies and international responses.

Policy Implications:

The research here amplifies the focus on harm reduction and strengthens the case for public policy that decriminalizes commercial sex between consenting adults as the best strategy to reduce harm.

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Understandings of Sex Work

A major shift that the pandemic accelerated was the move to online working patterns, a trend that had been occurring in sex work markets over the past two decades (Bernstein, 2007 ; Jones, 2015 ,  2020 ; Sanders et al., 2018 ). This shift included those performing non-contact sex work and those moving into online sex work for the first time, leading to an increase in the marketing of online sex work. Given the economic shock of the pandemic, it was also unsurprising that both online and in-person sex work continued to take place during national lockdowns, despite emergency laws which reportedly sought to restrict social and sexual contact. In the UK context, the economic impact could be seen in the number of people claiming welfare for the first time and the reported difficulty of claiming state benefits (Bambra et al., 2020 ). These are circumstances known to lead to an increase in the proportion of people in sex work, especially when poverty becomes feminized (e.g. Glendinning & Miller, 1992 ). Jobs in service and hospitality sectors were among the most badly hit, at least initially. Some jobs will never return as furlough schemes end, businesses close and more people turn to various types of sex work, whether in-person or online, a framework to ensure that people can work in safety is required.

In addition to lockdowns, curfews, mobility restrictions, physical distancing, mask-wearing, quarantine and self-isolation, other measures were enforced or encouraged in response to COVID-19 and, in part, continue to be our ordinary lives. Framed in terms of necessary public health interventions during the pandemic, lockdown policies adopted in many nation states provided a natural experiment that separated the variable of ‘working in isolation’ and its resulting impacts such as loneliness and mental health deterioration from other variables, such as ‘type of work’, ‘income’ or ‘class’ and enabled a re-analysis of work that has conflated harms and poorer mental health outcomes with sex work per se .

For example, a systematic review of general social isolation and loneliness by Leigh-Hunt et al. ( 2017 ) found associations with poorer mental and physical health was corroborated by cross-sectional research from the COVID-19 psychological well-being study during the first year of the pandemic (Groake et al., 2020 ). These studies show that risk factors for loneliness were younger age group, separated or divorced, greater emotion regulation difficulties and poor quality of sleep due to the crisis, whereas protective factors were higher levels of social support, being married/cohabiting and the companionship of a greater number of adults. It was highlighted by Saltzman et al. ( 2020 ) that, unique to COVID-19, the wide access to digital technology which can buffer loneliness and isolation may also lead to greater mental health problems (Smith et al., 2018 ). Additionally, Sippel et al. ( 2015 ) showed the importance of social networks in promoting resilience to stress and trauma. Indeed, a wide-ranging report by the US Academy of Sciences led to Lancet ( 2020 ) calling for recognition of loneliness as a public health problem. Such highly regarded evidence does by its very existence, in turn, challenge past findings on sex work that have conflated the isolated ways in which sex workers were forced to operate, as a prima facie case that sex work was inherently harmful.

Such findings support and add to the growing awareness of that the ways in which repressive governance has forced sex workers to work in isolation were itself inherently harmful rather that the work itself. This evidence, and the subsequent discourses around sex work, needs to be reassessed in this new context and knowledge. Such reassessment, placed alongside the evidence from public health science that has been established over several decades, shows that criminalization is harmful to sex workers by forging and reinforcing health inequalities, creating contexts for violence and discrimination. Sex workers are disproportionately at risk of violence, sexual, physical and emotional harms, all linked to criminalized frameworks of governance (Rekart, 2015 ; Shannon et al., 2015 ; Goldenberg et al., 2017 ; Deering et al., 2014 ). Platt et al. ( 2018 ) conducted the first systematic review and meta-analysis of qualitative and quantitative studies published from 2000 to 2018 and found that the context of criminalization, including the threat of police arrests, raids and harassment, had significant detrimental effects on individuals (Benoit et al., 2016 ; Krüsi et al., 2016 ). Platt et al. ( 2018 ) document the ill effects of criminalization as evidenced in the 134 studies they assessed noting how sex workers are more likely to work in isolation, be disassociated from their peers and related support and experience barriers to accessing services, with limits of harm reduction. This systematic review overwhelmingly states that the evidence shows ‘extensive harms associated with criminalisation of sex work, including laws and enforcement targeting the sale and purchase of sex and activities relating to sex work organisation’. It is this standard of evidence that needs to be used so that models of work and workspaces can be the healthiest they can be and can be facilitated in a decriminalized framework.

The coronavirus pandemic casts a spotlight on scientific expertise as crucial to effective governance and policymaking, with some scientists becoming well-known personalities and trusted public figures. Importantly, it exemplified that the respect, and even awe in some cases, shown to wet-lab scientists as they isolated genomes, developed vaccines, ran drug trials and discovered mutations across the world was not shown to behavioural scientists. By contrast, social and psychological researchers were questioned, their statistical modelling and hypotheses challenged and their personal lives ‘exposed’ in newspaper stings and criticized by parliamentarians choosing to promote false binaries between economic and social behaviour (as happened to Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College). This attitude, by policymakers and the media, is not unknown to those researching sex work when the rigorous findings of behavioral or social scientists are placed, with faux balance, alongside those of columnists, commentators or others with vested interests. Without the noise, however, that the false equivalence between expertise and commentary brings, the necessary discussion about rights, and the best way to protect them, can move forward with a proper analysis about how people can be made safer.

It is important to note that the news media’s visions of policymakers flanked by scientists and public health experts often followed in the media with powerful life stories and narratives to help the public understand the real-world impact may help critical reflection on the role of ‘expertise’ and its relationship to ‘lived experience’ as it has become an area of mild controversy in sex work studies where confusion can arise of the difference between representativeness to enlighten, and academic research to inform, policy. This is certainly an area where the pandemic parallel can be instrumental in critical reflection on sex work research. The discourses used in such discussions, however, stem from issues that relate back to the Hart-Devlin question.

The Hart-Devlin Question

Policy and academic discussions on sex work are often analogous to the Hart-Devlin debate which, in simple terms, equates to ‘fairness’ vs. ‘ideological morality’. Hart’s influential text of legal philosophy The Concept of Law ( 1961 ) made a distinction between the law and morality, and Hart’s Law, Liberty and Morality ( 1968 ) argued that law exists to protect individual liberty and should not be based on the popular moral consensus in the absence of harms. Devlin’s argument, on the other hand, focused on the role of the criminal law for the enforcement of morals. Devlin’s philosophy of law argued that when a behaviour reached the limits of ‘intolerance, indignation and disgust’, legislation against it was necessary. Discourse around sex work may focus on certain nation or federal states, as laws are changed, but these debates can often be reduced to the philosophical differences between pragmatists and idealists. The debate was prompted by Report of the Wolfenden Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution ( 1957 ). The heart of the report was that it was not the task of the state to legislate about morality. Rather, the role of the law, was

to protect the citizens from what is offensive or injurious and to provide sufficient safeguards against exploitation and aggravation of others, particularly those who are especially vulnerable because they are young, weak in body or mind, inexperienced, or in a state of special physical, official or economic dependence. It is not, in our view, the function of the law to intervene in the private lives of citizens...

The Wolfenden Report, therefore, divided behaviour into public/private realms; we legislate the former, leaving the latter to individual liberty and decision-making. While happy with the report’s recommendations, Devlin disagreed with the philosophy underpinning it and argued that it was acceptable, even right, for the state to legislate on individual morality (Devlin, 1968 ). He went further to argue that if a culture agrees on a shared morality, and there is agreement on what (most) people hold a deep sense of revulsion for, then it is appropriate to make that illegal. Hart’s response was that we must distinguish between that which ‘harms others’ (public) and that which is ‘private’ and critiqued Devlin’s assumption that all morality — sexual morality, together with the morality that forbids injurious acts such as killing, or stealing — form a seamless web, so that those who deviate from one will necessarily deviate from the whole. It is Hart’s philosophy of the separability of law and morality, alongside a pragmatic approach to policy, which underpins this special section as it takes forward a range of feminist, queer and social scientific concepts and evidence with a focus on harm reduction and decriminalization. Given that the Wolfenden report was successful in partially decriminalizing homosexuality a decade later (1967) in England and Wales, its influence on sex work was less pronounced (see Morris, 2018 ). First, therefore, we explore how this has played out in the intersectional politics of decriminalization as it pertains to intersecting identities of gender, race and sexuality.

The Intersectional Politics of Decriminalization

In the early twenty-first century — with notable exceptions such as New Zealand (see Armstrong; Aroney; Bond, in this special section) — legislative approaches trended toward the increased regulation of sex work. Policy advocacy in this area has focused on nebulously defined areas of concern such as online environments and global trafficking. For example, in the U.S. context, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) criminalized websites advertising any form of sex work (see Blunt & Wolf,  2020 ; Mia,  2020 ). It followed a string of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigations which shut down websites including backpage.com and rentboy.com. It is possible that the reason both online sex work and sex trafficking became a focus for carceral intervention is because these could be defined as anarchic spaces — there is no ‘world government’. The internet is a shared network — which circumvents hierarchical organization. Notwithstanding the significance of digital monopolies in tech giants (e.g. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft) and global entities such as the UM, these ‘sites’ of sexuality have no identifiable individual in control, which may be a reason that they have been constructed as ‘dangerous’ or ‘shadowy’, and thus deserving of sweeping criminal interventionism. In contrast to such regulatory intervention, which can range from criminalization to legalization, calls for decriminalization recognize both the moral and practical potentials of this ‘anarchism’.

In response to the social problems of harm and exclusion, knowledge production about sexuality through research and policy discourses is always an intrinsically political process (Foucault, 1978 ). Political philosophies of conservatism, liberalism, feminism and so on make different claims about the role of the state in regulating and safeguarding such behaviours. Similarly, anarchism (Goldman, 1969 ) — sometimes referred to as libertarian socialism (Chomsky, 2013 ) — has also informed calls for the decriminalization of other behaviours and identities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) people; HIV-positive people (see Ashford et al., 2020 ) and people of colour, who have tended to experience disproportionate incarceration and police violence. The simple slogan ‘defund the police’ used by some Black Lives Matter campaigners, and often misunderstood in this regard, calls for the state to (re)invest resources differently, away from a carceral and militarized state, towards public goods of healthcare and education. However, it is crucial to recognize the interconnectedness of so-called radical policies to decriminalize and deregulate, shifting resources away from the apparatus of the carceral state: courts, prisons, police and military technologies (Davis, 2012 ; Benoit et al., 2019 ). As such, an anarchist interpretation of the state (or, more appropriately, against the unjust, moralizing, centralized state) is key to debates around decriminalization.

Black feminist scholarship has also been central to understanding the ways in which privilege and power intersect (Crenshaw, 2017 ). Alongside healthcare and justice systems, an intersectional lens has also been applied to diverse forms of sex work (Jones, 2015 ; Logan, 2017 ; Morris, 2018 ). For example, focusing on webcamming, Jones ( 2020 , p. 97) has noted how online technologies have expanded work opportunities for groups often excluded from traditional labour markets, including disabled people, LGBTQ people and people of colour, where ‘camming provides a relatively stable source of income in a safe environment for people who face rampant and legally sanctioned discrimination in the economy, as well as in other institutions.’ Therefore, in this special issue, we have drawn attention to the diversity of communities involved in sex work.

Although paternalistic narratives of ‘hidden dangers’ to women and children have existed since at least the early nineteenth century, these have been widely debunked as moral panics and conspiracy theories closely aligned with antisemitism and homophobia (Cohen, 1972 ; Bristow, 1982 ; Morris, 2018 ). Returning to the Hart–Devlin debate and Wolfenden report, it is also important to note that the history of liberation campaigns which have called for decriminalization, legal rights and social recognition often intersect (Chateauvert, 2014 ; Grant, 2014 ; Smith and Mac, 2018 ). For example, the movement for LGBTQ liberation gained global recognition following the Stonewall riots of 1969, where gender and sexual minorities, many of whom sold drugs and sex, drew ‘inspiration from civil rights and women’s rights movements’ to resist homophobic, transphobic and racist policing (Morris, 2019 , p. 1). As she recalls, a decade later, Leigh ( 1997 ) would invent the term sex worker, to be a more affirmative and inclusive term for erotic labour within feminist movements. In more recent decades, however, both the LGBTQ and sex worker rights movements have seen attempts to move towards assimilationism or respectability politics (Chapkis, 2017 ).

As discourse analysts point out, in much of daily life, we speak of abstract concepts such as ‘public health’ and ‘sexual activity’ as if everyone understands terminology in the same way and that these concepts have universal meaning (Willig, 1999 ), so it is with sex work. Different meanings and concepts of what constitutes sex work depend on knowledge, experiences and standpoints. For example, if someone has chosen to do that work and self-defines as a sex worker, then it is their right to define, redefine or reject the terms on which such a label is understood. Beyond that, there are many areas where terminology is more contested. For example, is it ‘stripping’ or ‘lap dancing?’ Is it work carried out for a specific length of time? Recent work on ‘incidental sex work’ (Morris, in this special section) illustrates that men on platforms such as Grindr, who may have exchanged sex for money or goods, question how much or what type of ‘work’ would define one as a sex ‘worker’, as do others such as findommes (see Brooks-Gordon and McCracken, in this special section) who benefit financially from clients but do not identify as ‘sex workers, or people receiving illicit substances for sex at Chemsex parties’ (Brooks-Gordon & Ebbitt,  2021 ; 5). In the criminal law, a subjective test is used, i.e. something is sexual if the person involved defines it as such, as seen in common law cases of foot fetishism (Bainham & Brooks-Gordon 2004 ). In statues (inter alia The Sexual Offences Act, 2003 ), there are definitions about the type of payment that constitutes benefit. A sex worker is therefore someone who benefits financially from labour that their clients perceive as sexual — it is this definition with which we tentatively proceeded and also seek to explore. Sexual minorities have arguably always had to contend with the tensions between ‘fitting in’ with social norms, something which has been characterized as a ‘successful’ strategy for the LGBTQ rights movement, contrasted with forms of direct action which could be characterized as ‘queer’ in the postmodern sense of this term (Adler,  2018 ).

This tension also occurs at the level of ‘identity politics’, where policy is often shaped by which checkboxes a person chooses, or is able, to tick in the clinic or the courthouse. In deregulated spaces such as the internet, much has been written about the expanding variety of expression and identification which move beyond the gender binary or traditional categorizations, definitions and labels of sexual identity (Weeks, 2017 ). For example, how does the state classify and care for those who sell sex incidentally (on platforms such as Grindr or OnlyFans) but would not identify themselves as sex workers (see Morris, in this special section). This trend further complicates an essentialist focus on ‘women and girls’, usually constructed as vulnerable and victimized, and therefore without agency. This too can construct issues around who gets to speak ‘about’ and ‘for’ sex workers, especially when some of those defined as such by law, policy and research may not recognize that designation. It is an issue with a long history within the global sex worker rights movement, dotted throughout history, but emerged in the 1970s from the sex-positive part of the radical feminist movements that gave voice to women’s sexual choices and right to determination over their bodies has a large part to play in our understanding of decriminalization.

In the USA, the setting up of COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) by the late Margo St. James in 1973 was a call to arms across the world to galvanize, organize and politicize the issues faced by sex workers. The World Charter for Prostitutes Rights ( 1985 ) further set out the core parameters of laws, human rights demands, working conditions, health, services, taxes and public status of sex work as a benchmark for change (see Pheterson,  1989 ). The early actions were the start of the global sex worker rights movement and coupled with labour right movements that often harboured these issues have been present across much of the globe. Crago ( 2008 ) presented the activities of organizations in Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa and the USA who have been working tirelessly for decades to campaign for (and often provide) public health initiatives and rights for sex workers. Protests against the globe to defend the human rights of sex workers against incarceration, violence, eviction, exploitation, humiliation and extortion have been the work of global organizations such as SWAN (Sex Worker Rights Advocacy Network for Central, Eastern Europe and Centra Asia), ICRSE (International committee for the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe) (ICRSE, 2021 ) and APNSW (Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers). Individual nations have an abundance of service delivery NGOs and activist groups that have decriminalization at the core of their mission (see Jackson, 2019 and ECP, in this issue). We can learn greatly from these collectives and community strategies around the world, such as those explained in India by Dasgupta and Sinha in this issue. Therefore, drawing on Foucault ( 1978 ), this special issue recognizes that ‘policing’ is something which also happens beyond the disciplinary apparatus and machinery of the carceral state: the media and educational and healthcare systems have significant power to shape discourse and ideology in exclusionary ways. The regulatory role of the state also goes beyond punishment, including reforms to welfare and taxation (see Bateman, this issue).

Global Health and Human Rights Campaigns

As we noted above, the COVID-19 pandemic — not unlike the HIV/AIDS pandemic — has brought the importance of global public health to the attention of the media, public and international organizations which have long advocated for the decriminalization of sex work on health grounds. For example, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom, has relayed important biological and medical information to global audiences. This gives renewed weight to work done previously by the WHO, particularly to assist with HIV prevention and treatment, and as a means to promote human rights, including for sex workers:

WHO supports countries to address these structural barriers and ensure sex workers’ human rights as well as implementing a comprehensive package of HIV and health services for sex workers through community lead approaches. (WHO, 2021 )

In 2012, the WHO made a clear statement which recommended that ‘countries work towards decriminalization of sex work and urge countries to improve sex workers’ access health services.’(WHO, 2015 ). This was followed in 2016 by Amnesty International, which after comprehensive global consultation adopted a decriminalization policy for sex work, stating that

It recommends the decriminalization of consensual sex work, including those laws that prohibit associated activities—such as bans on buying, solicitation and general organization of sex work. This is based on evidence that these laws often make sex workers less safe and provide impunity for abusers with sex workers often too scared of being penalized to report crime to the police. Laws on sex work should focus on protecting people from exploitation and abuse, rather than trying to ban all sex work and penalize sex workers. (Amnesty, 2016 )

The Amnesty International policy, with its measured and forensic analysis of human rights, was a major boost to sex worker activists and campaign groups across the world, as it endorsed their lived experiences (and decades of campaigning) as a reliable source of evidence to promote legislative and policy change, supporting the work of the WHO. Other organizations which openly support the decriminalization of sex work include the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Human Rights Watch, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Commission of Jurists, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Open Society Foundation, Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2019 ) and the South African Commission on Gender Equality. The knowledge, particularly around the implications for safety and human rights, has seen traction in some key global organizations as policies and statements that support decriminalization have been adopted alongside the development of this evidence base. However, there is still a significant gap between policy proposals at the international level, legislators and decision-makers and public opinion. We now turn briefly to consider further where public opinion sits.

Public Opinion Trends Towards Decriminalization

A trend towards social liberalism in public opinion has continued for over 30 years on sexual relationships and sexual behaviour according to the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA, 2019a , b ). The long-term increase in socially liberal attitudes since the BSA began in 1983 and has accelerated recently with this year’s BSA list of questions including the use of pornography and transgender rights. Public opinion on personal freedom and the continued rise of social liberalism extend to a public in favour of decriminalization when polled along scientific principles — even though most polls are carried out when bills are introduced. For example, YouGov polled voters in the USA where New York lawmakers introduced bills on decriminalization and in one of the largest polls on the issue ever, with 175,41 adults polled on the issue of allowing paid sex between consenting adults while maintaining prohibitions on trafficking, coercion and sexual abuse of minors (YouGov, 2019 ). In 2020, the thinktank Data for Progress polled voters aged 18 to 44 years of age, of which two thirds supported decriminalization and across all age groups an outright majority support decriminalization. In the US primaries for President, many of the candidates ran for election on a ticket of decriminalization, as the growing consensus among civil rights; LGBTQ+ and justice and worker/labour rights; immigration justice and women’s groups in the USA recognize that it is the best way to keep people safe as part of an effective anti-trafficking strategy and the best way to service the needs of people in sex work and promote racial, gender and economic justice (Data for Progress, 2020 ). As many campaign groups are beginning to find out, there is solid support for decriminalization. For example, the campaign group Decrim finds that support rises to a 3 to 1 margin in voters of left-leaning views such as democrats in the USA (Decrim, 2019 ). In the UK, more Britons support decriminalization than oppose it, for example in a poll of 2000 people by Survation, 49% support decriminalization of the brothel keeping laws which prevent sex workers safely working together (Each Other, 2019 ). These public insights build on the corpus of research and commentary that reflects the mainstreaming of sexual consumption and labour in the west (Brents & Sanders,  2010 ).

With all the evidence in mind, in this special issue, we ask how rights can be protected within admissive statutes. What would a good sex work law look like? What would be a general framework for policy on commercial sex? The exploration moves to explore how the decriminalization of sex work might work in practice. The aim is to consider new models of practice, problem solving and harm-reduction in a contemporary context. This special issue explores evidence-informed policy proposals which move beyond false debates by focusing on the diversity of sex work, public health and harm reduction and which includes an examination of what policy would look like in a decriminalized context, something which is often speculative, as few countries have adopted this (see Armstrong; Bond, this issue).

Keeping these issues in mind, a special acknowledgement here must go to the work of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective because of their unwavering determination to work with allies such as politicians in 2000+ which saw the passing of law reform to a decriminalized model (see Aroney this issue) and also to the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee in Kolkata, India, who have advocated for the rights of the 65,000 sex workers of Sonogachi working against trafficking and HIV since 1992 (see in this issue Dasgupta and Sinha). So, it is well established that decriminalization is the supported model for better health outcomes, reduced violence and is backed by a range of global entities and has been at the centre of grassroots campaigns from the sex work community for some time.

Universal Principles

At the time of writing, we mourned the loss of Margo St James — a sex-positive feminist who pioneered the sex worker rights movement in the 1960s in San Francisco, establishing COYOTE at the start of the modern decriminalization movement across the globe. In her memory, and of those who have gone before and after her, we return to some key principles of rights to reiterate, reinforce and remember as we introduce the articles for this special issue. We hope the special issue will draw out the ways in which structural stigma is experienced and can be overcome (see Bruckert & Hannem, 2013 ; Krüsi et al., 2016 ; Benoit et al., 2018 ) and speak to the debates about how to improve and move forward sex work policies (see Overs & Loff, 2013 ; Abel, 2019 ).

If the underlying point of decriminalization is harm reduction and safety, and the overlying point is the exercise of rights at work, then we need to explore the environment in which this work takes place — and all the papers in this special section do so to a greater or lesser extent. In creating a safe world, there are minimum standards on food, water, air quality and so on. While there are disagreements amongst politicians about how achievable various standards is, there is a level of consensus amongst scientists about what constitutes minimum standards. What would one want to see in a decriminalized working environment where the documented injustices would not prevail (see NSWO, 2020 )? Barriers for entry cannot be set too high; otherwise, they prevent new entrants (especially those who previously worked for larger enterprises to work for themselves). Such barriers can be seen in Nevada, in the Netherlands with the introduction of regulations for licenses that migrants were not allowed to apply for and with the sexual services establishment licenses in the UK (Hubbard & Colosi, 2013 ; Sanders & Campbell, 2013 ; Pitcher & Wijers, 2014 ).

In thinking what needs to be done to obtain rights for sex workers, and improved living and working conditions, there is history on which to build. The consensus around various statements and charters across the globe covers these key rights: the right to associate and organize, the right to be protected by the law, the right to be free from violence, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to freedom from arbitrary interference, the right the health, the right to move and migrate, the right to work and free choice of employment. The global international movement, the Network of Sex Work Projects, promotes these rights which have a set of core foundations: acceptance of sex work as work, opposition to criminalization and support for self-organization and self-determination. As Ostergen ( 2017 ) notes, law reform to decriminalization is one state of inclusive citizenship, and other key elements such as the living wage, improved police relations and inclusive housing are essential. We hope the articles in this special issue continue to build on this existing knowledge regarding what would be the general framework of conditions, rights and principles. The papers we have selected for this special issue focus on both the lived experience of sex work and also the premises on which governance is built.

Summary of Special Section Papers

Comparing sex work with care work, Bateman’s paper calls into question the double standards of ‘radical feminists’ who seek to abolish the former for perpetuating gender inequality but do not demand the abolition of care. She provides a historical overview of how the ‘immodest woman’ has been constructed, contributing to contemporary ‘end demand’ approaches, and how it is ‘whorephobia’—rather than sex work—which harms all women.

McCracken and Brooks-Gordon’s paper explores the nature of online work by financial dominitrices or ‘findommes’ working via video call and webcams. In a large two-stage survey, they investigate the experience of 195 findommes on money-slavery websites and social media. Using netnography as a tool, their analysis reveals how findomme interaction progresses from text-based interaction to virtual face-to-face and voice communication to show financial domination on a continuum from being a lifestyle choice in the BDSM community that reaps financial benefits to a purely economic and legitimate form of commercial labour.

Their findings also show how findommes dictate and create their boundaries and maintain psychological health and enhance our understanding of how the microculture of findomming interacts with other micro-cultures in a paper that adds to the growing body of literature that destigmatizes consensual erotic labour.

Morris combines queer theory with empirical data in the first study of incidental sex work, drawing on mixed methods including interviews with 50 young men who agreed to sell sex on social media platforms without advertising or identifying as sex workers and an incidental survey of 1473 Grindr users aged 18 to 28, in cities across England and Wales, raising important questions about the limitations of identity politics for making sense of the diversity of sex work practices and campaigns for sexual minority rights.

Whitney Berry and Frazer’s paper provides a compelling comparison that sex workers make when a statute changes their everyday lives and lived experience. From interviews with sex workers in the Republic of Ireland following the introduction of punitive legislation, themes emerged that vividly highlight the differences in mental health, police interaction, housing, family relationships, client interaction, discrimination and relationships with other sex workers. Such in-depth analysis provides a rigorous assessment that illustrates that sex work legislation in Eire has failed in a stated mission to improve life for sex workers, and that other options, such as decriminalization, should now be considered.

Bowen and Swindells’s paper combines a survey of 88 sex working members of the National Ugly Mugs in England and with their data on victimization to provide insights on the factors that deter sex workers from involving police as part of their justice-seeking efforts.

The survey results demonstrate a disturbing trend of sex workers feeling alienated and distrusting of police and the courts. The implications of sex workers not sharing information about dangerous individuals with police and choosing not to participate in court processes signal significant flaws in our criminal justice system regarding safe and inequitable access and poses danger to everyone as violent men go free.

Benoit centres the voices of sex workers in her article, using the responses of 57 participants to ask what changes are needed to improve health, safety and rights under a criminalized system in Canada. Findings firmly advocate for decriminalization and for health and welfare policies to shoulder the governance of sex work.

In the European context, Henham’s comparative fieldwork in 2016 draws on interviews and observations of visible sex work spaces across ten cities in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, demonstrating the limitations of simplistic punitive legal or policy approaches noting both unexpected benefits and consequences of different regulatory regimes, alongside how changes which have occurred in the context of COVID-19 may offer an indication of what further criminalization might look like.

In an Asian context, Dasgupta and Sinha combine ethnographic studies between 2009 and 2016 to share findings of the impact of criminalization on sex workers in Kolkata, India. Their article shines a light on the resistance movements led by sex workers who try to mitigate harms through community-based strategies, NGO stakeholders and partnerships and self-regulatory bodies. Estacio, Alibudbud and Zsanila Estacio reflect on drugs users in the Philippines who are engaged in sex work to explore the stigma of HIV, drug use and selling sex. Their results construct an argument that calls for a shift to public approaches and community-based programs to address the needs of this group.

We are very pleased to have three papers which speak from New Zealand — the only country that has decriminalized sex work — where global scrutiny turns to see law reform, implementation and operation in action. Armstrong’s paper draws on the concept of zemiology (social harm), alongside interviews with 46 sex workers in New Zealand, noting how this country provides an exceptional case study to explore how decriminalization has worked in practice to improve the autonomy and quality of life experienced by sex workers. Aroney’s longitudinal research from 2012 to 2019 with a range of stakeholders traces the important journey that saw the development and implementation of the Prostitution Reform Act ( 2003 ) in New Zealand. The focus here is on how and why sex workers and their allies can work together for law reform, with sex workers taking the lead in educating. Bond’s paper coins the ‘Dunedin model’ revealing a specific place in New Zealand and examines what decriminalization can look like under localized interpretations around brothel organization. This paper speaks to the necessity of processes and key stakeholders needed to ensure that decriminalized laws are fully operationalized.

In combination, this special section provides an examination of sex work policy and research across 12 countries in four continents, providing an important space for international comparisons. The research represented here supports calls by global health and human rights organizations for sex work decriminalization as the best strategy to reduce harm.

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Acknowledgements

The Cambridge Socio-Legal Group provided support for the seminar; the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology provided the venue for the seminar.

The project was facilitated with a small grant by the Cambridge Socio-Legal Group.

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Brooks-Gordon, B., Morris, M. & Sanders, T. Harm Reduction and Decriminalization of Sex Work: Introduction to the Special Section. Sex Res Soc Policy 18 , 809–818 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00636-0

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Accepted : 11 August 2021

Published : 16 October 2021

Issue Date : December 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00636-0

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