The sex workers’ rights movement has, in the last few years, taken an unprecedented leap in visibility and recognition. Global organisations such as Amnesty International, the World Health Organization and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association have publicly supported sex workers’ rights. Prominent politicians such as the president of South Africa have called for decriminalisation. Particularly with regard to legal reform, the demands of sex workers have reached a tipping point.
Paradoxically, support has also increased for those who oppose sex workers’ rights in the belief that they exacerbate gender inequality and lead to trafficking. This has been particularly true in the policy-making arena. Due to the well-funded advocacy of these abolitionist groups, political support for the ‘Swedish model’, which criminalises the clients of sex workers but not the sale of sex itself, has continued to grow.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Sweden’s proclaimed flagship feminist law, which has, since 1999, taken root in many other parts of Europe and the world. Despite the negative impact of this law on sex workers, and particularly on migrant sex workers in an increasingly xenophobic Europe, Sweden and France are now united in promoting the model globally.
Resisting a model that punishes rather than protects
In the face of this abolitionist offensive, new sex worker collectives have sprung up alongside longstanding organisations to actively and vocally defend sex workers’ interests. These interests can vary greatly. One effect of the movement’s recent growth and diversification has been that we now know much more about the experiences and needs of some of the most marginalised sex workers in the world, such as migrant, black, trans, Roma and disabled sex workers. Conversations within the movement are now more nuanced and have moved well beyond the basic unifying slogans of ‘Sex work is work’. Discussions on issues such as exploitation at work, repressive migration control, economic and gender inequality, homo- and transphobia, ableism, and racism are becoming integral parts of the sex workers’ rights movement. These issues can impact sex workers every bit as much as the criminalisation of their work. This is nowhere more evident than in the intersecting issues and needs of migrant sex workers.
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