Sex Worker Rights: (almost) Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Too Afraid To Ask
- Document number
- 3002
- Date
- 2013
- Title
- Sex Worker Rights: (almost) Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Too Afraid To Ask
- Author/publisher
- American Jewish World Service
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Guidelines/Recommendations, International Law, Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- sex work, prostitution, trafficking
- Summary
-
This resource is a briefing on why the organisation - the American Jewish World Service - funds sex worker rights organisations, but it is also a very effective introduction to the concept of sex worker rights, and the sex worker rights movement. It disccuses who sex workers are, and what is sex work, the rights of sex workers in places where sex work is illegal, and introduces a rights-based approach.
It goes on to tackle the inaccurate conflation of sex work and traficking, and point to ways that the sex workers rights movement can help to combat exploitation and rights abuses. It discusses why merely offering 'exiting' strategies is stigmatising and unhelpful, and looks at the harms of criminalisation, along with the benefits of decriminalisation. It notes the important difference between decriminalisation and legalisation, and tackles some 'feminist' responses to sex workers. It also discusses several of the many problems with the Swedish model or end demand approach. It concludes with a concise world hostory of sex worker organising, a list of 'Dos and Don'ts', and a glossary.