Tackling VAWG or attempting to abolish the sex industry? approaches to preventing violence against sex workers

• In Event: Sex work and criminal policy

Abstract

Sex workers’ safety is a fundamental aspect of ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). Globally, sex workers have a 45% to 75% chance of experiencing workplace violence (Deering et al, 2013). While literature shows that criminal sanctions exacerbate violence against sex workers (NSWP, 2017), there are continued attempts to regulate the sex industry through criminalisation. One approach is the Nordic Model, which criminalises the purchase of sex and sees the job of a “sex worker” as violence against women. This paper offers an examination of how The Nordic Model impacts sex workers’ experiences of violence and suggests that while there are global attempts to end VAWG, sex workers are often excluded from such initiatives or included through the proposition of the eradication of the sex industry. We argue the necessity to include sex workers' voices and needs in regional, local, and global initiatives to tackle VAWG and propose that a harm reduction approach through legal, political, and social recognition that sex work is labour, offers the greatest opportunities for tackling violence against sex workers.

Authors

• Daisy Matthews, Nottingham Trent University

• Larissa Sandy, University of Nottingham