“We don’t want to confuse our messaging,” said a representative from one leading UK anti-trafficking NGO when Decrim Now, the sex workers’ rights group I organise for, met with them to discuss the decriminalisation of sex work.
Over the past few years, we have sat with academics, advisors, activists, and advocates. We hear this sort of thing a lot.
You can divide the anti-trafficking movement into three broad groups. Two of them, the sex work abolitionists and the harm reductionists, are both open about their politics. They may stand on opposite sides of a fence but they are, at least, transparent about their positions. The third group is much more cagey. These are the people who refuse to touch the issue or keep their position ambiguous in order to ‘not confuse their messaging’. In my experience this is the largest group.
