new HO report on prostitution

[scotchling]

This is a disappointing report - a list of things that happen in the sex industry - not any analysis of the inequality and desperation and harm and abuse. It has a heading: "Sex parties" and describes a related practice as a gang bang where one or more individuals are paid to have sex with multiple people. I mean what? what about the risk? who are the poor sods who are usually on the receiving end (literally)? In fact this report admits it hasn't reached the marginalised, coerced and exploited in prostitution..... so what's the point!

scotchling
Could you link the report? I can't find a recent report.

here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/nature-of-prostitution-and-sex-work-in-england-and-wales

Thanks scotchling

In fact this report admits it hasn't reached the marginalised, coerced and exploited in prostitution..... so what's the point!

Box ticking, "We did this and didn't find any disadvantage".

Well at least you cannot accuse the authors of the report as biased

Marianne Hester-the lead author of the report and head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at Bristol University gave evidence in favour of criminalising the purchasers of sexual services (the Nordic Model) at the Home Affairs Select Committee enquiry.
here and also she was a signatory of a letter of support of Mary Honeyball (MEP) in her report to the European Parliament supporting the Nordic Model. See here

Natasha Mulvihill (who did a lot of the legwork on the report) is more nuanced in her opinions but cannot be regarded as a friend of decriminalization here

Another of the reports co-authors Andrea Matolsci's pHD thesis theses which she did under Mulvihill at the University of Bristol was entitled Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 on paying for the sexual services of a prostitute subject to coercion: Implementation and the views of practitioners

She is quite open about her position p108 I consider myself a feminist; I adhere to the ‘prostitution as abuse’ approach; and during much of this research I worked for a violence against women and girls charity which campaigns globally for the full criminalisation of the purchase of sex (alongside the decriminalisation and support of those selling sex)

I wonder if the Home Office picked this academic group to get a particular result? Or did they want to avoid accusations of bias?