Guest post: "As sex workers, our lives depend on decriminalisation"

[JosephineMumsnet]

I was 19 years old when I made the decision to sell sex. An unorthodox choice, certainly, but one which helped me get through university without crippling debt, and later, a choice which would allow me to return to university as a single parent and complete my second degree. Please don't fall into the trap of assuming that because I'm a white, middle-class, educated woman I can't possibly understand the abject misery that is sometimes seen in our industry. I stood on Burlington Road in Dublin in the dead of winter, often drunk or out of my head on cocaine, or both, selling sex at £30 a time. That's not privileged. Now, with over 20 years behind me, I can finally put that experience to use, and educate people about the realities of our industry, and what would make us safer.

As the debate around the sex industry gathers steam, there are two schools of thought. Punish the punters by making it illegal to purchase sex, or decriminalise the laws around sex work. Let's look at both.

The law that criminalises the punter was introduced in Sweden in 1999 and has been an abject failure. Its aim was to reduce prostitution by reducing 'demand', but the Swedish government admits there has been no change to the number of buyers, or sellers. So what has changed? Violence against sex workers has increased sharply, with police targeting their homes to arrest buyers, often resulting in their being made homeless. The most vulnerable sex workers on the streets cannot be reached by outreach services, to facilitate condom distribution or needle exchange, as they need to work away from police detection. Sex workers are refusing to report violence to police, as they know they place themselves at risk from the very people supposed to protect them. Stigma has increased, with sex workers in both Sweden and Norway reporting having their children removed, and deportation of migrant sex workers is rife.

One of the most infuriating strands to the current feminist discourse around sex work is the assertion that we are abused, or even raped, every time we sell sex. That statement is injurious and grossly insulting to those who have survived abuse and rape, and it also strips sex workers of our agency. As much as we campaign for the right to say 'yes', we absolutely reserve the right to say 'no'. I detest the use of the word 'empowerment' in any debate on sex work. My job is no more empowering than anyone else's; it allows me to support my family and pay my bills. But as a community, there is no doubt that we are more empowered to say 'no' when we are permitted to work together for safety.

Under current legislation, and even more so under the Swedish model, sex workers are not permitted to work more than one to a premises. If I ask a friend to share an apartment with me so I feel safer in accepting visiting clients, we can be arrested and charged with 'pimping' from each other. That practice is commonplace. As cash, mobile phones and laptops are often removed as 'evidence', the women concerned are left with nothing but a criminal record, simply for wishing to stay safe.

So what is decriminalisation? Not to be confused with legalisation, it refers to the removal of all criminal prohibitions and penalties on sex work. In doing so, it protects the human rights of sex workers, as acknowledged by WHO, UNAIDS, The Lancet and more recently, Amnesty International.

Decriminalisation allows us to work together for safety, which is crucial. Decriminalisation also makes it easier to access justice and support services, and facilitates a better response to true exploitation in the industry. When the police work with us, not against us, we are best placed to identify and report others in danger.

On June 1 2015, the Northern Irish Assembly made it illegal to purchase sex. I have launched a High Court challenge to that law and will take it to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. You may not like or be comfortable with the exchange of sex for money and that's fine - that's not what this debate is about. It's about our right to safety in the workplace. 154 sex workers have been murdered since 1990. We ask for your support for decriminalisation. Our lives depend on it.

Read Kat Banyard's post here.

[hmmmum]

I don't support it. I hate the attitude behind prostitution (treating women as objects for men's gratification) - and hate the idea of putting any kind of official stamp of approval on it.
Good points made too about how trafficking increases where prostitution is decriminalised.

[TheRealPosieParker]

"Posie I don't think you have been around recently? It seems only a week ago we had a very similar thread. I'm happy to endorse your posts."

Lass eh??? What does that mean?

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Why would mnhq allow themselves to be used as a platform to raise funds for a gofundme page?

Is that permissible and within guidelines?

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

Posie, just that I can't be bothered repeating everything that was said on a very similar thread recently. I agree with what you have said here. I don't think you were on the previous one.

[EightNoineTen]

I don't support full decriminalisation - interestingly pimps and the men who buy sex do though. I have researched and believe the best solution on offer is the Nordic Model.

[CherryPicking]

I've gone round in circles with this awful conundrum for years. I've finally come out on the side of End Demand. But there's plenty of scope for doing things differently to Sweden.

[Batteriesallgone]

I don't support decriminalisation.

I don't support sex without consent. Money can never replace consent it only silences it.

Sex workers shouldn't be punished but men who buy sex certainly should.

[0phelia]

I would take every word of this article with a huge pinch of salt.

[Cathaka15]

it allows me to support my family and pay my bills. - are there sex workers who have a choice? Like if there was a choice between working somewhere where the pay was very bad and or sex work where money was better. Are there woman who choose the latter. I really never understood this. I know there are women who do this as there is absolutely no choice or are forced into this life. But never really understood women who willingly go into this work. Sorry for the very naive comment. And I know this was about safety for the workers and not why they do this. But it makes me wonder why women think this is ok.

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

ophelia why?

[TheRealPosieParker]

Understood Lass.

[MassiveStrumpet]

Cathaca I have a choice. Having sex for money doesn't bother me.

It's not fabulous and glamorous but it pays well and doesn't bother me. Some people bother me, but it's not the sex. It's like any other customer service job in that respect... most clients are pretty nice. Some are annoying.

You know those people who love spiders? Keep tarantulas for pets and pick up spiders in their house, holding them in their hands? Well, I really don't relate to that. Spiders terrify and disgust me. But I accept that some people don't feel that way about it. I'm like that about having sex with strangers.

I don't think I would like decriminalisation. I think it would encourage more pimps, etc. I don't like the look of the situation in Germany.

And while the stigma annoys me (like people assuming that I can't be a good mother) I recognise that the stigma is part of why it pays so well.

[Dollius01]

This post is completely illogical.

Mistakes and wrongdoings by the police in Sweden are nothing to do with whether buying sex is criminalised or not, that is a matter of hammering out the rights of sex workers.

Being allowed to share an apartment with another sex worker, for instance, has got nothing to do with whether or not the punters are criminalised.

[OlennasWimple]

I'm always suspicious when someone wouldn't encourage their children to go into the same line of work as themselves, whether that's teaching, working in Tesco or prostitution.

[nooka]

Just in case anyone reading this thread hasn't seen it, here is the link to the other guest post.

I'm in Canada where the prostitution laws were successfully challenged on safety grounds, and were then replaced along the lines of the Swedish model. It will be interesting to see if they are challenged again.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

I'd you are in favour of decriminalisation of all sex "work", why don't we take it to the next stage, and make it like a regular job, if it is work.

Health and safety legislation should be followed. I think when dealing with bodily fluids you should be wearing safety goggles, latex gloves, and possibly an apron.

It isn't like any other work.

I have spoken to women who have exited, and I completely disagree with you.

[AntiqueSinger]

"It's like any other customer service job in that respect... most clients are pretty nice. Some are annoying."

As I'm off to my customer service job later, I'll have to take a on that and respectfully disagree with you. I definitely have annoying customers; some of them are rude, some are sarcastic. None of them require I put up with it whilst they shag me.

[MassiveStrumpet]

I've been a waitress many years. The shagging bit is inconsequential to me. The annoying bit is the same. As self employed I have more rights to refuse service.

[WhereAreWeNow]

I don't support the arguments set out in this post. Those who sell sex shouldn't be criminalised but I do think the pimps and punters should be.

And I just don't agree with the view that sex work is work like any other work. It just isn't.

[JosephineMumsnet]

Hi folks,

Just to let you know that Laura is away this weekend - she'll try to come back to the thread today but doesn't have access to a computer, so please be patient.

[IPityThePontipines]

I don't believe sex work is like any work.

I especially find it difficult to believe that sex work is like any other form of work when any criticism of the sex industry is met with "only sex workers can have an opinion about sex work", because that's not how any other industry works.

Also, it's generally not considered to be beneficial for workers to be in an unregulated industry where the powers of bosses is unchecked, yet this is being touted as the golden standard for the sex industry - why?

Needle exchanges can and do run independently from the sex industry, without the criminalisation of users. The police can also adopt the Merseyside Model, which treats any attack on those in the sex industry as a hate crime.

As for children being removed from their mothers, as some familiar with child protection and the thresholds involved for removing a child from their parents, I would need to see a great deal of evidence before concluding that the Swedish Model was to blame.

Finally, your post has the same flaws as most trying to sanitise the sex industry; it makes no mention of the consumer demand driving that industry. The punter is this peculiar invisible force, yet again.

If sex work is really "just another job" why can't we look at the industry as an overall instead of being asked to always look only at the same self-selecting viewpoints?

[uglyswan]

"sex workers in both Sweden and Norway reporting having their children removed". The article linked to here makes no mention of this. Instead, it refers to French police threatening to take custody of the children of sex workers occupying a church in Lyon which, whatever your opinion on that may be, happened in 1975.