"Sex Work Is Work" is a shit slogan.

[ScreamingMeMe]

I know the intent behind it is that sex work is nothing to be ashamed of, and it absolutely isn't. But there isn't a great deal of nuance to it, is there?

For every self-proclaimed "happy hooker" or Only Fans worker, there will be 1000s of women who have been abused and/or trafficed whose "choice" to do sex work wasn't really a choice at all, whose lives are grim and shit.

"Sex work is work" makes no such distinctions. So can we really expect the men who use sex workers to?

I'm trying to think of a better slogan, but can't come up with anything quite as catchy. But maybe simple, catchy slogans aren't possible for complex issues.

"Don't Shame Sex Workers"?

I dunno...

So for me the argument that

It's always gone on (so has rape, CSA etc).

Eastern European women/ girls and from other countries won't be brought here in the same numbers (but will be traffick8 somewhere else instead, abused. And UK men can go there anyway).

Thus abusive and criminal acts towards women will decrease as fewer trafficked (and the men making the money, who are that ruthless won't think to focus on vulnerable women and girls here to keep the money coming in).

I'm totally convinced!

Human rights groups aside, decrim is also supported by many health and anti-STD orgs. One reason is that with criminalisation or partial-criminalisation models (this includes the Nordic Model), condoms are less likely to be used because the police use them as evidence.

These include the World Health Org, UNAids, HIV Scotland and STOP AIDS (see link below).

stopaids.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/STOPAIDS-factsheet-sex-work.pdf

*The UK's National Aids Trust as well, to add to the list.

I emailed Amnesty Int asking them to clarify their views on sex work and Mr Fox. This is their reply if anyone is interested:

"Thank you for your email.

Amnesty International adopted a policy on the issue of sex work back in 2015, calling for the decriminalization model. Amnesty International spent two years developing our proposed policy to protect the human rights of sex workers. This policy is based on solid research and consultation with a range of organizations and people. Our policy is not about the rights of buyers of sex - it is entirely focussed on protecting sex workers who face a range of human rights violations that are linked to criminalization. Douglas Fox was not in any way involved in drafting our policy on sex work, he has not been a member of Amnesty for some time and had absolutely no input into our policy – you can read a statement we issued about him in 2014 on our website here. The policy was drafted by Amnesty International researchers and law and policy experts from across the organization. A range of organisations, from sex workers to those representing survivors of prostitution, to anti trafficking agencies, HIV/AIDS activists and many others, were invited to feed into this process during Amnesty International’s global 2 year fact-finding and consultation process. Our policy is based on research on the lived experience of sex workers, backed up by a wide range of academic and human rights based research, including Amnesty International's own, and hundreds of external submissions to our consultation.

We know that this issue is not without controversy and we understand that some people hold passionate beliefs about it but we are a global human rights organization and we have a responsibility to look at what causes and what prevents human rights violations. That often means making difficult decisions that some people may not agree with. The agreement to adopt this policy means that Amnesty International is saying that we believe that the rights of a group of people who are extremely vulnerable to human rights abuse should be protected.

Amnesty International is by no means alone on this issue. Other groups which support or are calling for the decriminalization of sex work include the World Health Organization, UN Women, UNAIDS, ILO, the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Human Rights Watch, The Open Society Foundations, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Anti-Slavery International.

Best wishes,
Rachel
Supporter Communications Team
Amnesty International UK"