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Peer-to-Peer Support Services and the Nexus Between (De)Criminalisation and Sex Worker Policy
Thu, September 4, 2:30 to 3:45pm, Deree | Classrooms, DC 503Abstract
Sex work is subjected to many legal and policy restrictions within England and Wales, set against a backdrop of stigmatisation (see Armstrong 2019, Sandars and Campbell 2007) and quasi-criminalisation. The impact of this partially criminalised response to sex work includes wide-reaching restriction of sex worker agency, exacerbating ‘exploitation and creating a situation where sex workers' safety is reduced’ (Pitcher 2015: 41). Existing responses to sex work creates boundaries to both street-based and indoor sex workers seeking a range of support services (Grenfell 2015).
This paper presents findings from a co-produced, small-scale qualitative study exploring peer-to-peer support provision for sex workers in England. Through focus groups with sex worker organisers and activists, we investigated the existing landscape of peer-to-peer support, including barriers to access. Funding for sex worker support is often focused heavily on supporting sex workers to exit the sector (Cusick and Berney 2015) rather than supporting those within the sector. This project aligns existing laws and policy on sex work in England and Wales with sex workers’ perspectives on access to and experiences of peer-to-peer support.
Our findings show the value of these spaces as multifaceted, reflecting a strong but complex conception of community. Further, the shape and experience of peer-to-peer support in this area - as well as access to funding for such services - is greatly shaped by the wider legal and policy discourses that prioritise pathways to exit. This delegitimizes the more (often) informal community led peer-to-peer services, placing increased pressures on the capacity of organisers (most of which are sex workers themselves) to find ways to meet the increasingly diverse needs of service users with minimal resource. Sex worker support services are reimagined here as a product shaped by the wider power struggles and associated stigma concerning the (de)criminalisation of sex work.