Sex workers on the frontline: An abridged version of the original ICRSE report: ‘The role of sex worker rights groups in providing support during the COVID-19 crisis in Europe’

This article interrogates the common sex worker rights’ slogan “sex work is real work,” a claim that yokes sex worker struggles to labor struggles worldwide. This article argues that US-based sex worker rights activism, which relies on the labor rights framework to confront stigma and criminalization, is unable to undo how racial capitalism constructs sex work as not a legitimate form of work. While labor protections are important, sex work offers opportunity for the development of antiwork potentials. Many people engaging in sexual performance or trading sex are already creating spaces where sex work itself exceeds analysis as a job. By foregrounding sex workers’ lived experiences and the theoretical moves of antiracist anticapitalism, antiwork politics, queer liberationists, and disability justice, this article locates sex workers at the nexus of important forms of subjugated knowledge crucial for undermining the criminalization of marginalized people.

Download Full-text

Stigma, decriminalisation, and violence against street-based sex workers: Changing the narrative

Sexualities ◽

10.1177/1363460718780216 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (7-8) ◽

pp. 1288-1308 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Lynzi Armstrong

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Worker Safety ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Multiple Risks ◽

Ongoing Work ◽

Starting Point

It is well documented that sex workers manage risks in their work – such as the potential for violence and the multiple risks associated with stigma. While sex workers are commonly understood to be a stigmatised population, few studies have considered in depth how stigma operates in different legislative contexts, how it relates to sex-worker safety, and how it may be reduced. Stigma is understood to be exacerbated by the criminalisation of sex work, which defines sex workers as deviant others and consequently renders them more vulnerable to violence. However, as full decriminalisation of sex work is still relatively rare, there has been little in-depth exploration into the relationship between this legislative approach, risks of violence, and stigma. Drawing on the findings of in-depth interviews with street-based sex workers and sex-worker rights advocates, in this article I explore the links between stigma and violence, and discuss the challenges of reducing stigma associated with sex work in New Zealand, post-decriminalisation. I argue that while decriminalisation has undoubtedly benefited sex workers in New Zealand, stigma continues to have a negative impact – particularly for street-based sex workers. Decriminalisation should therefore be considered an essential starting point. However, ongoing work must focus on countering stigmatising narratives, to enable a safer society for all sex workers.

Download Full-text

Managing Risks of Violence in Decriminalised Street-Based Sex Work: a Feminist (Sex Worker Rights) Perspective

10.26686/wgtn.17011400 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Lynzi Armstrong

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Worker Safety ◽

Sex Industry ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Risk Management Strategies ◽

The Law

It is widely understood that street-based sex workers are vulnerable to experiencing violence in their work. The Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) was passed in New Zealand in 2003, decriminalising sex work with the intention of supporting the health, safety, and human rights of sex workers. This thesis explores strategies to manage risks of violence amongst women working on the streets in New Zealand, considering how the law change has impacted on the management of these risks, and whether further change is required to better support the safety of street-based sex workers. Drawing from the perspectives of women working on the streets, this thesis challenges portrayals of street-based sex workers as passive recipients of violence. The experiences and perceptions of these women highlight the diverse violence related risks they managed from a range of potential perpetrators, including passersby, individuals approaching as clients, other sex workers, and minders. The shift to decriminalisation has not eliminated violence. However, the findings suggest that the law change has provided a framework that better supports existing risk management strategies. For instance, in removing the possibility of arrest for soliciting, the PRA has provided an environment in which these women have sufficient time to screen potential clients on the street. Moreover, the perceptions of these women suggest that the law change has to some extent improved the relationship between police and street-based sex workers. Nevertheless, whilst decriminalisation has created anenvironment more conducive to sex worker safety, it is clear that challenges remain in addressing violence against sex workers. Since the sex industry does not operate in social and political isolation, moral discourses continue to stigmatise and threaten the wellbeing of street-based sex workers. The overall conclusion of this thesis is that whilst decriminalisation was an important first step, moving forward to proactively challenge violence against street-based sex workers requires a paradigm shift away from discourses that support violence, to a more positive acceptance of street-based sex work in New Zealand society.

Download Full-text

Managing Risks of Violence in Decriminalised Street-Based Sex Work: a Feminist (Sex Worker Rights) Perspective

10.26686/wgtn.17005600.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Lynzi Armstrong

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Worker Safety ◽

Sex Industry ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Risk Management Strategies ◽

The Law

It is widely understood that street-based sex workers are vulnerable to experiencing violence in their work. The Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) was passed in New Zealand in 2003, decriminalising sex work with the intention of supporting the health, safety, and human rights of sex workers. This thesis explores strategies to manage risks of violence amongst women working on the streets in New Zealand, considering how the law change has impacted on the management of these risks, and whether further change is required to better support the safety of street-based sex workers. Drawing from the perspectives of women working on the streets, this thesis challenges portrayals of street-based sex workers as passive recipients of violence. The experiences and perceptions of these women highlight the diverse violencerelated risks they managed from a range of potential perpetrators, including passersby, individuals approaching as clients, other sex workers, and minders. The shift to decriminalisation has not eliminated violence. However, the findings suggest that the law change has provided a framework that better supports existing risk management strategies. For instance, in removing the possibility of arrest for soliciting, the PRA has provided an environment in which these women have sufficient time to screen potential clients on the street. Moreover, the perceptions of these women suggest that the law change has to some extent improved the relationship between police and street-based sex workers. Nevertheless, whilst decriminalisation has created an environment more conducive to sex worker safety, it is clear that challenges remain in addressing violence against sex workers. Since the sex industry does not operate in social and political isolation, moral discourses continue to stigmatise and threaten the wellbeing of street-based sex workers. The overall conclusion of this thesis is that whilst decriminalisation was an important first step, moving forward to proactively challenge violence against street-based sex workers requires a paradigm shift away from discourses that support violence, to a more positive acceptance of street-based sex work in New Zealand society.

Download Full-text

Women's experiences buying sex in Australia – Egalitarian powermoves

Sexualities ◽

10.1177/1363460719896972 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 136346071989697

Author(s):

Hilary Caldwell ◽

John de Wit

Keyword(s):

Sex Workers ◽

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽

Female Sexuality ◽

Phenomenological Analysis ◽

Sex Industry ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker ◽

New Ideas ◽

Sexual Services ◽

And Control

Evidence in this article addresses two popular political and scholarly concepts, female sexuality and sex-worker rights, which limit gender equality. Through description of interviews with 21 diverse women buying sexual services in Australia, and examination using interpretative phenomenological analysis, we introduce new ideas about women's therapeutic and pleasure-based motivations to buy sex and their concerns about their safety, money, laws, and stigma. Interviewees of the study described feeling transformative powers in pleasure as they gained skills and confidence to initiate, negotiate and control sexual activity. The experiences of the women who bought sex in this study directly challenge concepts of female sexual passivity and objectification generally and specifically in commercial sex settings. This article also promotes aspects of the sex industry as beneficial to society and demonstrates that destigmatisation and decriminalisation of the sex industry has potential to reduce harms experienced by sex workers and their clients.

Download Full-text

Examining the Role of a Community-Led Structural Intervention in Shaping Mothering Among Sex Workers in India

Affilia ◽

10.1177/0886109920939049 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088610992093904

Author(s):

Samira Ali ◽

Sambuddha Chaudhuri ◽

Toorjo Ghose ◽

Smarajit Jana

Keyword(s):

Sex Workers ◽

Well Being ◽

Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽

Community Based Interventions ◽

Structural Intervention ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Material Resources ◽

Semistructured Interviews ◽

Worker Identity

The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which community-led structural interventions (CLSI) shape the mothering experiences of sex workers. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 sex worker mothers from Kolkata, India. Participants were recruited from Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), a CLSI. Elements of constructivist grounded theory were employed. Results revealed DMSC mobilization (re)shaped mothering for female sex workers through (a) the subjective reorientation about establishing sex work as legitimate labor and disclosing sex worker identity and (b) access to material resources such as safe spaces, childcare networks, and educational opportunities. CLSI have the potential to influence the self-perception of communities that are marginalized and provide them with material resources that ultimately promote family well-being. While working with sex workers, it is imperative to understand their multiple, intersecting roles and co-develop community-based interventions not only with sex workers but their families as well.

Download Full-text

Influences on ethical decision-making among porn consumers: The role of stigma

Journal of Consumer Culture ◽

10.1177/1469540520970247 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146954052097024

Author(s):

PJ Macleod

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Support Worker ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Stigma Reduction ◽

Endogenous Factors ◽

Sex And Sexuality

This paper presents findings from a grounded theory study of consumer ethics among feminists who use porn. It presents a range of exogenous and endogenous factors reported to be influential on ethical decision-making in this context and demonstrates how such factors may be perceived as impeding or facilitating the types of behaviour that consumers consider to be more in keeping with their moral and political beliefs. It furthermore highlights how such influences are often undergirded by seemingly deep-seated stigma around pornography, and often around sex and sexuality at large. The paper concludes that the direct and indirect effects of stigma may present additional obstacles for “fairtrade” and feminist-branded porn projects seeking to leverage consumer demand to support the development of more ethical industry practices. While it has been argued that stigma-reduction efforts can help reduce exploitative practices in the porn industry – by improving sex workers’ ability to demand rights, freedoms, safety, and better labour conditions and remuneration – the analysis from this study suggests that such efforts may also result in secondary benefits. These may be brought about by (a) removing obstacles to the types of consumer practice that could in turn support worker rights and livelihoods, and (b) disrupting rationalisations used to justify consumer choices that threaten to undermine these ends.

Download Full-text

Managing Risks of Violence in Decriminalised Street-Based Sex Work: a Feminist (Sex Worker Rights) Perspective

10.26686/wgtn.17005600 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Lynzi Armstrong

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Worker Safety ◽

Sex Industry ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Risk Management Strategies ◽

The Law

It is widely understood that street-based sex workers are vulnerable to experiencing violence in their work. The Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) was passed in New Zealand in 2003, decriminalising sex work with the intention of supporting the health, safety, and human rights of sex workers. This thesis explores strategies to manage risks of violence amongst women working on the streets in New Zealand, considering how the law change has impacted on the management of these risks, and whether further change is required to better support the safety of street-based sex workers. Drawing from the perspectives of women working on the streets, this thesis challenges portrayals of street-based sex workers as passive recipients of violence. The experiences and perceptions of these women highlight the diverse violencerelated risks they managed from a range of potential perpetrators, including passersby, individuals approaching as clients, other sex workers, and minders. The shift to decriminalisation has not eliminated violence. However, the findings suggest that the law change has provided a framework that better supports existing risk management strategies. For instance, in removing the possibility of arrest for soliciting, the PRA has provided an environment in which these women have sufficient time to screen potential clients on the street. Moreover, the perceptions of these women suggest that the law change has to some extent improved the relationship between police and street-based sex workers. Nevertheless, whilst decriminalisation has created an environment more conducive to sex worker safety, it is clear that challenges remain in addressing violence against sex workers. Since the sex industry does not operate in social and political isolation, moral discourses continue to stigmatise and threaten the wellbeing of street-based sex workers. The overall conclusion of this thesis is that whilst decriminalisation was an important first step, moving forward to proactively challenge violence against street-based sex workers requires a paradigm shift away from discourses that support violence, to a more positive acceptance of street-based sex work in New Zealand society.

Download Full-text

Perilaku Wanita Pekerja Seks Melakukan Konseling dan Tes HIV

Jurnal Ilmiah Universitas Batanghari Jambi ◽

10.33087/jiubj.v18i3.514 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 477

Author(s):

Ruwayda Ruwayda ◽

M Dody Izhar

Keyword(s):

Sex Workers ◽

Female Sex Workers ◽

P Value ◽

Hiv Counseling And Testing ◽

Hiv Counseling ◽

Sex Worker ◽

Female Sex ◽

Counseling And Testing ◽

Hiv Test

The high prevalence of current HIV / AIDS problems is not only a health problem of infectious disease, but has become a very widespread public health problem, one of the high risk groups is Female Sex Workers (WPS). The number of female sex workers who counsel and test HIV in Rawasari Health Center is still low that is 27,67%. This research is quantitative research with cross sectional method, using Systematic Random Sampling technique with sample number 77 female sex worker. Instrument used questionnaire, analyzed by univariate analysis, bivariate and chi-square test. The result of the analysis of 77 respondents, 61% have bad behavior to do counseling of HIV test and 39% have good behavior do counseling of HIV test, 57,1% of respondents have low knowledge, 50,6% of respondents have unfavorable attitude and 50,6 respondents argue that the role of health workers is good for HIV counseling and testing. The result of bivariate analysis shows that there is significant correlation between knowledge (p-value = 0,000), attitude (p-value = 0,000) and the role of health officer (p-value = 0,013) with female sex worker conduct HIV counseling and testing at Payo Sigadung City of Jambi.It is hoped that health officers at Rawasari Puskesmas will improve direct and periodic counseling through information media, encourage and encourage female sex workers to conduct HIV counseling and testing.

Download Full-text

Sex Work/Prostitution in Africa

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.562 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Chi Adanna Mgbako

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

World War Ii ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Sexual Exploitation ◽

African Women ◽

Labor Rights ◽

Access To Justice ◽

Worker Rights ◽

Sex Worker

Sex work, the exchange of sexual services for financial or other reward between consenting adults, has existed in Africa in varying forms from precolonial to modern times (with a distinction between sex work/prostitution and child sexual exploitation, trafficking, and transactional sex). Sex work during colonialism was often linked to migration. As the colonial economy grew and as 20th-century war efforts developed, African male migrants were drawn to urban towns, military settlements, and mining camps, which increased opportunities for African women to engage in prostitution as a form of individual and family labor. Sex workers in the colonial period often achieved increased economic and social autonomy by becoming independent heads of households, sending remittances back to their rural families, and accumulating wealth. Colonial regulation of prostitution was often lax until the outbreak of World War II, when colonial administrators became concerned about the spread of sexually transmitted infections among European troops stationed in Africa. The modern African sex work industry, composed of diverse street-based and venue-based economies, is shaped by labor, migration, and globalization. The widespread criminalization of sex work and the failure of African states to protect sex workers’ rights embolden state and nonstate actors to commit human rights abuses against sex workers. These violations take the form of police and client abuse, lack of access to justice, labor exploitation, and healthcare discrimination, all of which increase sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. In response to these systemic abuses, an African sex worker rights movement emerged in the 1990s and has spread throughout the continent. Sex worker rights activists at the national and pan-African level engage in direct services, legal reform advocacy, and intersectional and global movement-building that reject the stigmatization of sex work and demand the realization and protection of African sex workers’ dignity, human rights, and labor rights.

Download Full-text